Moonfruit Resellers - a case study
More and more people are making a living out of Moonfruit as professional web designers. Once people discover how easy it is to do, they realise that they can do it, not just for themselves, but for others also. And they can make money ;-). So we thought we'd give you a bit more information on what life is like as a Moonfruit Reseller.
Alistair at SDDesigns joined Moonfruit in June 2006 and has been designing sites ever since with clients in the UK, US and Portugal. He was kind enough to answer a few questions for us...
1. What is your business called and how did you get started?
I actually started web designing as a hobby, my first website was for a very good friend who became a client: www.councillorcreswell.co.uk. As time went on more and more people asked me to design for them, so I started my own small business.
SDDesigns originally started as scrappydoodesigns but as I progressed I realised the name, although catchy, was not really doing my profile any good and I rebranded.
SDDesigns now has clients in the UK, New York and Portugal. I design commercial and political websites, with the newest one being www.kenthouseinc.com
2. What was the challenge you faced in your business that led you to use Moonfruit SiteMaker?
My first ever websites was designed on Microsoft Front Page, but it wasn't flexible and I found myself getting frustrated as I knew how I wanted it to look but couldn't get it right. So I surfed the net and tried several products then came across a new product “Moonfruit”. It was so easy to use that I have used it ever since.
3. Why did you pick Moonfruit over other reseller options?
I picked moonfruit because the look was right, the features and the programming where already done for me. I liked the way I could instantly change something when a client was online, and if you got in trouble, help was only an email away.
4. How has Moonfruit allowed you to achieve your business goals?
Moonfruit has allowed me to achieve a better understanding of the internet, ease in my business and most of all allowed me to enjoy my job.
5. How successful has your business with Moonfruit been?
My business owes its success to Moonfruit, as it has allowed me to achieve the look that my clients require.
6. What advice would you have for someone thinking about setting up a Moonfruit Reseller business?
If you are thinking of setting up a reseller, just do it, you have nothing really to loose. Be honest with your clients at all times, say what you can do, and most of all enjoy doing it. If you don't enjoy designing then it will show.
So there you have it. You could be making a tidy living from Moonfruit. And some of you probably are ;-).
Reseller packs are different from our standard packs that you see on moonfruit.com as those packs are designed for personal and not commercial use. We tend to make the distinction that if you're receiving money to build a website you should really be using one of our Reseller packs. Reseller packs have higher disk and bandwidth limits, plus more free domain names. If you're interested in becoming a reseller, then please contact us. Other types of partnership are also available, see our partners page for details.
Comments
I have been a moonfruiter now since 2006 and have to say i have been impressed with what site maker can do.Even though my main line of profession is photography, i have also dabbled in a spot of web design from as far back as 2001/02 using mainly dreamweaver and a program called serif web plus
Sitemaker is my second go at using an online web-builder which seeing from the feed back and response i am getting only says one thing which is its very easy to use
any designs or creations i do yo my website i keep as to show people what i can do
As with moonfruit and becoming a reseller this is one area i wouldn't mind getting my teeth in too
Hi Andrew, which sites have you built? We'd love to see some.
It's a great feeling, as the developers of this software, when we come across fantastic sites online, and sometimes don't even realise they have been built using our tools. We always wanted to allow people to create sites that didn't look like 'moonfruit' sites and could have any design possible, and I think we've finally got there in the last couple of years. So we're always surprised and impressed by the things people have built using our tools, and it's a great pleasure and honour to see them.
Thanks,
Joe
I have been with Moonfruit since 2004 and so love it I have upgraded my package over that time. I now have around 10 websites with you from my arts and photography to my family tree to my sales shop as well as my holiday snaps website I really do love all of moonfruit so long you shall grow and stay I would be in a depression for years if you went away now
Hi Drew,
Similar to what Joe said, it's great to hear from customers who've been with us for ages, get such enjoyment from building a variety of sites and get the chance to express their creativity.
As for going away, we have no plans whatsoever to go anywhere but on and on and on ;-)
We survived a dot com crash and we'll survive the financial crisis too. So, we will be around for quite some time.
Cheers,
Walt
Well I have read all about reseller acounts and the case study.
I fail to understand how it works. What are the benifits? if you wish to design for others and they become involved Great.. They can become involved with moonfruit with out me for such a smaller amount. I want to design for others and let them have editing rights
Can someone point me in the right direction please Thanks
Rgds Thomas
Hi Thomas,
it's really for people who want to build sites for clients, charge them a webdesign fee, and use Moonfruit as the tool to power the site. Under our normal T&Cs, you can't built sites for profit on a single account (e.g. put lots of client sites on a single Max account). So the reseller packs allow you to keep all your client sites on a single login, and charge them whatever you like for building/hosting/maintaining the site.
If you want to build a single site that has multiple collaborators, you can do this with the membership tools, and give people edit rights per page. We are in the process of revising our membership tools, so that you are able to give full admin rights to members, but that won't available until early next year. I hope that helps,
Joe
Thanks for your responce Joe
Yep, well I want to build sites for others.
I have a four or five prosective customers in the waiting.
So please advise. I am anxious to get the ball rolling
What do I do firstly? How do I go about it ? How much will this cost.
Any tips and know how would be much appreciated and I'm sure would save me a lot of time.Thanks Again
Rgds Thomas
Hi, I'm always here despite my laziness to 'add a comment' these days. However, this is something I am keen to build on, since I love building sites for others and using Moonfruit.
I am just not sure how to go about with it. How much and where do you purchase a 'Reseller' pack? (my, Moonfruit has expanded so much since 2000)
Been with Moonfruit since 2000 and have upgraded to Sitemaker Plus recently.. since my friend requested a Wedding site. Love Moonfruit and love seeing it grow.
I have one idea (none related), how about a Facebook status bar widget?
Visit my babies:
http://www.louise-redknapp.co.uk
http://www.phili.co.uk
http://www.yumla.co.uk
http://www.judyandgordon.co.uk
http://www.alanmacdonald.co.uk
Hello Moonfruit!
Well, I don't want to be a party pooper here because all the love being given to Moonfruit is valid. I have had a great time using Moonfruit and it is the best tool in the universe to date and hopefully it will only get more cutting edge. I have had a few ups and downs along the way with sitemaker the company, and I must say that I have even had a few run ins with somebody somewhere in support. My frustration was considered rude, but somehow in the midst of the complications all I wanted was answers-that did not come. Joe, I had contacted moonfruit several times to inquire about reseller packs because I was very interested in the whitelabel aspect. I have not recieved any response though I have contacted you. I don't know what happened but I would hope that it was just a technical issue. Who knows. Anyway, I have been setting up customers on their own websites using my credit card to do their monthly billing. It's the only way I could think of to help my clients without screwing with my own accounts. That said, I am paying very well for my service and I am slowly but surely bringing more clients to Moonfruit. I hope somebody can help me out here before this gets out of control. Thanks alot in advance and no hard feelings whatsoever. I do love Moonfruit-it IS the nectar of the Gods! Truly and forever Michael
Hi MIchael,
I'm sorry to hear about your frustration. It sounds like what you've been doing with setting up customer sites individually is fine. I do answer all the emails I receive, so apologies if you haven't got the response. The best thing to do would be submit another 'commercial' ticket via our contact form on moonfruit.com, and then once I get it, I'll check the email and see if I've received others before and what has happened to my responses. In any case, I'll make sure you get your answers. Many thanks,
Joe
Hi Joe
you wanted to know what website's i have built well the only one i have done is my own one here http://photo-art.org.uk where i am constantly changing the design/layout
on the subject of moonfruit and the reseller program i have contacted the team who deal with this by voicing my interest
Hi Moonfruit,
I have just read what Michael has said, he has contacted moonfruit several times, same as myself. So now it has been seen and read by Joe Great Fantastic stuff ... You should be on your way now Michael, Joe has read it he knows your dilemma, no more flustration for you Michael, only the fact that you have got to submit another ticket for Joe to read again just like you have done several times before make sure it's a commercial ticket though just in case. Here we go round the mullbery bush don't get flustrated yet.
Joe wise up help the man he doesn't want confirmation that what he has done is your "quote" fine "Unquote"
You know his questions you know the answers and his dilemma don't suggest "quote" The best thing to do would be submit another 'commercial' ticket via our contact form on moonfruit.com "Unquote"
By the way Michael if you do find the answers let me know. I would not continue such a quest. I would not beg. Straight talking is the only way. As soon as Joe read your views he should have emailed you to assist you. not suggest another ticket. I would have made contact to help if I had this knowledge I would make it available to all.
Make life easy. Simplify the system
Rgds Thomas blenhome@btinternet.com
Any one who want's to make contact please feel free I need help myself but I won't ask again.
Hi Thomas,
Thanks for your broadly sarcastic response. I'm certainly not trying to frustrate you or Michael and I'm happy to explain why I gave him the answer I did.
I suggested that Michael submit a ticket via our commercial form, because having done a search on the email he supplied in his post, I have no prior emails from that contact. It is possible Michael (like many of us) has many email accounts and submitted his original request to me via one of those. But not knowing his address, I can't check.
The reason I suggest using our commercial contact form is that submissions are tagged by us to avoid being classed as spam, so I can guarantee I get them. I can also guarantee I reply to them all, because that's what I do.
So in Michaels case he has either not submitted his request via our form, or its by an email address I don't know, so can't check. If he does it again, I should be able to tie it all together and answer his question.
The reason I did not answer his question here, was that I could see that he had asked a specific question. He says he had contacted us to "inquire about reseller packs because I was very interested in the whitelabel aspect", but that is a very broad question to which there are many different answers.
If you or Michael have a specific question, I am very happy to answer it here, but if you have a very general question, I would have to talk to you further to get clarification about what you really want.
We very much value the contribution our customers make to Moonfruit, and want to support you in developing your sites and your businesses. Like every company we won't always get it right, but will always try to fix anything that comes to our attention that has been dealt with less well than it could have been.
If you do have a support issue or question about our services, either ask it here, or submit it as a ticket with traceable information (e.g. using the email address you normally do) and then we can tie it together with your original tickets, assess the problem and provide a suitable response.
Many thanks,
Joe
loving moonfruit :--)
Is moonfruit down? all my sites are down and moonfruit.com is down.
Get a telephone help line
and reply to my request:
> Summary: Reseller Package.
> Message: Hello
> I want to open a re seller account.
> I know nothing about it I am a complete newbie.
> However I can find my way around the moonfruit tools and build websites.
> Some questions are.
> How much does it cost?
> How does it work, where can I learn about it?
> One of my concers is that if I build a website with moonfruit tools for a
> client for say £250.00 and that client askes for access to edit the website he
> or she will know my business by going to log in they will find the product
> info and pricing. This doesn't seem proffesional. It's like the shopper at
> Tesco's discovering the price that Tesco paid the wholesaler.
> Is there a way round this. Please let me have as much info and advise. I have
> clients waiting in the wings
> Thank you Very Much Mary Jones
YOUR REPLY
For the reseller products, the major difference is that under the T&Cs of
these products you are allowed to build multiple client accounts on a single
Reseller pack (for normal packs, e.g. SiteMakerMax, it is against the T&Cs to
build sites for clients, as these packs are designed for personal use). The
reseller packs have higher bandwidth allowances, diskspace, and in the next
few months we will introduce the ability to assign members full site leader
rights, so you can give clients a full login to the site while keeping your
master login to all your sites (clients will not have access to billing
information).
So this means you would build sites for clients on your own account and then
bill them separately for whatever you like. For the reseller product there are
4 levels, all have access to all features.
Just login to your site, click on Edit, Account Details, Upgrade, scroll down
to the end of the form and enter the word 'reseller' in the space for the
promotion code and Submit. Now you should be able to see the 4 reseller
products.
The SiteMaker Team
MY REPLY
Followed your instuctions
when I typed in the word reseller into the promotional code box a small window appeared saying invalid code
I beleive the instructions confussing as well try following them. I am fed up of waiting its been along week end, all your customers, teleworkers that work from home can work 24/7 as they choose. It seems if you put in one of the dreaded so called email tickets on a Friday you wont get no answers until the following week. I have a 10 website package with moonfruit I am considering sacrificing them all and starting again with another company with telephone supportand can answer my questions without sending me on a wild goose chase to find out the cost of a reseller package and how it works the mystery continues. I will not be treated like this in the future. Get a telephone helpline and get it manned all top companies do. I would be prepared to pay extra, time is money and I do not wish to wait 4 days for a reply to a simple question. A question once answered would allow me o continue my work and studies.
Copy to blog to hopefully get a quicker responce maybe.
Hello Joe
Re: white Label
I have submitted a 'ticket' but feel that the questions I have may be of use here, if you think the answers will be of use to others, please answer the following:
1) Can I include my own templates in the 'build a site' section, and can I add new templates in the future
2) Can my other 200 moonfruit sites be transferred to my white label.
3) If I have 100/1000's of sites in my white label account will it give my site more punch in google, according to Google, moonfruit.com has 103,000 pages which are mostly pages from your clients sites. i.e. yourclient.moonfruit.com - I think I have answered my own question but can you clarify please.
4) Are you using moonfruit to build moonfruit?
5) What will you use to build my white label?
Many thanks.
Leonardo
Hi Leonardo,
Thanks for your note. I've answered your questions below:
1) Can I include my own templates in the 'build a site' section, and can I add new templates in the future
- Yes this is possible, but you have to follow the templates guide on http://www.moonfruit.com/contributi... carefully. Best to build one first then ask us if it's ok.
2) Can my other 200 moonfruit sites be transferred to my white label.
- yes we can transfer any sites you have over to your white-label and change their URLs to reflect your offer
3) If I have 100/1000's of sites in my white label account will it give my site more punch in google, according to Google, moonfruit.com has 103,000 pages which are mostly pages from your clients sites. i.e. yourclient.moonfruit.com - I think I have answered my own question but can you clarify please.
- Yes, any free sites will link back to your site, so this will increase your clout with google
4) Are you using moonfruit to build moonfruit?
- No, to use our 'partner' modules to create and manage sites your site needs to be built in HTML and not using Moonfruit (yes the irony ;-)
5) What will you use to build my white label?
- That's up to you, as you'll have to build it yourself. We'll give you some HTML snippets to embed our modules in your site, then we'll match the colour of our modules to your site.
I hope that helps,
Joe
What can I say, FANTASTIC!!!!!. I always get lumbered into building sites for friends etc, and after using Dreamweaver for some time now it is such a boost having site builder to make things so easy. Some of my clients are shocked as to how fast and pro the sites look, it has given me the contacts to now become a re-seller. Be in touch soon, a big fan,Mark...
Read all the comments and will follow up the re-seller idea as I enjoy designing web sites using your facilities. I have to agree with many of the comments regarding telephone support. I too would be happy to pay extra for the facility. Why not include it with the reseller packs, it would make resellers more likely to use moonfruit, more revenue for your company and happier customers. What more are we all looking for.
If you are reluctant to talk to your customers, why not expand the Sitemakers Beginners Guide, to give more information on all the extras - and how to use them. It takes hours to search through the forums to get answers to questions which could be incorporated in one simple Guide. How about an Intermediate Guide followed by an Advanced user Guide. Keep up the good work.
I have many clients waiting for websites.
As you do, I have looked into other web builders for brandable packages, Just to see what is available and at what cost.
Now dont get me wrong i am happy with moonfruit and thinks its great for creating websites and i am even looking into whitelable (Or i was)
I have found many other companies to offer site builders with Blogs, Forums, Automated classifieds, Auction pages etc....
Some even have vista look templates and the abillity to create these yourself from scratch.
I have used one on a free trial and the reults, Ease of use are amazing!!
Add HTML codes, Design and create flash.... Just everything a pro website would want, Need and look like.
Best of all....... No setup fees, Monthly is around £30 and is all completly brandable.
Create a login for clients and EVEN decide what they have access to for editing once they are logged in (Just text and pictures or design or the whole lot)
Now as i said, I love moonfruit, Its great.... But not amazing and you lack sooo much it seems that your years behind your competition.
Im not here to put you down in anyway, But seeing what 80% of others can do, How does moonfruit justify the setup costs of a whitelable site when it seems you will need another 2 - 3 years to catch up and be able to offer anything near to what is available with a lot of others.
Also i dont know your setup time, But this is done manually through a control panel in just 10 mins, I was up and running with this in 30 mins (On trial)
OR...........
Am i missing something big?
Does your whitelable sites compete with any of this?
Hi Joe
Just wanted to give you an update on my query i posted here last year about looking into signing up for a moonfruit reseller package well i have now taken that plunge finally after getting so much feedback from people who was looking at how i was building my website and so on then to be told yes i probably could actually build one and sell it on did a lot of research as well as with getting clients already have someone interested through twitter
if you have a chance see the site i have now not finished yet also have a second site too
Hi
As instructed I typed reseller into the promotional code box only to be given the package prices for resellers. I am a little confused as I cannot find what the packages consist of. The increase in price from package 1 to 4. Can anyone direct me where I can find the info detailing what each reseller package offers.
Hi Andy,
Details are provided below:
In GBP
* Reseller 1 (£25/m or £250/a)
- 3GB storage 90GB bandwidth - up to 15 sites, 2 free domains
* Reseller 2 (£50/m or £500/a)
- 5GB storage 120GB bandwidth - up to 35 sites, 3 free domains
* Reseller 3 (£100/m or £1000/a)
- 10GB storage 150GB bandwidth - up to 100 sites, 4 free domains
* Reseller 4 (£200/m or £2000/a)
- 15GB storage 300GB bandwidth - up to 250 sites, 5 free domains
In USD
* Reseller 1 ($50/m or $500/a)
- 3GB storage 90GB bandwidth - up to 15 sites, 2 free domains
* Reseller 2 ($100/m or $1000/a)
- 5GB storage 120GB bandwidth - up to 35 sites, 3 free domains
* Reseller 3 ($200/m or $2000/a)
- 10GB storage 150GB bandwidth - up to 100 sites, 4 free domains
* Reseller 4 ($400/m or $4000/a)
- 15GB storage 300GB bandwidth - up to 250 sites, 5 free domains
Hope that helps.
Do I need a reseller package if I create separate sitemaker lite accounts for each individual client?
I am sooo confused! Different people are telling me different things!
Alfry
Hi Alfry,
Our policy on reselling is fairly uniform. If you earn money by reselling our software then yes you need to upgrade to the Reseller pack. Regardless of the package you are on, if you generate income by designing, reselling, managing or building sites then you will need to upgrade. This is also covered on our Resellers & Partnerships page: http://www.moonfruit.com/partnershi...
Thanks
On Thursday, November 20 2008, 15:21 Joe tells us that setting up clients on separate accounts is fine but then on Wednesday, July 15 2009, 16:16 Walt tells us this isn't fine.
Please Guys can someone explain this. The seller pack I received gave the option of using affiliate program and setting up clients on their own individual accounts which implies this to be acceptable.
Clarify please for the sake of all our sanities :-)
Tomas
Hi Tomas,
Either way is still valid. What has changed between Joe’s comment in 2008 and my comment this year is the release of new membership features, which now allows for site administrators.
In Joe’s example you can spin off the sites to separate accounts if you like and give access to that separate account to your own customer. This is still valid. Or, you can set up site-level membership and create your users as Site Admins who will then have control over the site you select for them while keeping that site still under one main account with you as account owner. So the choice is yours.
Hope that helps your sanity ;-)
Walt
Seems like the private label isn't totally private as the clients domains when trace still come back to moonfruit.com. How can we hide this?
I LOVE working with Moonfruit! Thanks for offering such a great product that I can use for my client's sites.
I'm a bit confused on reselling, however. I can't seem to find the product features/description for what the different reseller levels offer (Reseller 1, Reseller 2, etc.).
Also, this confuses me... The reseller terms say that :
"Resellers using our Reseller pack can continue to keep all their sites on the same master username/password so that it is easy to administrate your clients sites..."
but then it says:
"NB. It is against our T&Cs to build multiple client sites on a single Max account, so please be nice ;-)"
Can someone please explain the difference.
Thanks in advance!
Kim
Ooops - sorry, I missed the answer to the Reseller levels posted above my question. However I'd still like some clarity on the latter of my post.
Thanks!
with the reseller packages can you buy additional storage and bandwidth
Are the private label setups still tracing back to moonfruit?
What if Moonfruit goes bust? Would I lose all my sites as a reseller and therefore all of my clients lose thier sites?
Or do you cover this in your terms and conditions??
Hi Digi,
I'm afraid it is not possible to transfer Moonfruit sites to other hosts. However, we are not planning on going bust any time soon - we have been around for 11 years now, with increasing customer numbers and financials, and have recently taken on investments from several sources. We are in this for the long run.
HTH,
Gary