Resell Hosting Tips
Read these 19 Resell Hosting Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Web Hosting tips and hundreds of other topics.
Starting a Reseller Hosting Business
If you want to start your own reseller hosting business you should be familiar with HTML and scripting languages. You should also know about FTP and other publishing utilities. Think about what you want from your web hosting company and what type of support you might need. You need to know how to register new domain names, how to edit domain names, how to use and administer POP email accounts and how to send and receive emails from POP accounts. Most web hosting companies will offer some type of technical support to your customers however you should be as familiar as possible so you can offer support as well. Having your own reseller hosting business means you own your own business. You should ask lots of questions and do research about reseller hosting specifically as well as self-employed issues. You should find out what types of taxes you need to file. What is your target market? How will you advertise? Are you going to have employees? What services will you offer? Who will do your accounting? Can you provide customer service properly? Will you want to expand in the future and if so, how? The U.S. Small Business Administration provides many good resources about creating a business plan and getting started as a business owner.
Reseller Web Hosting
Reseller web hosting is basically a way for large web hosting companies with lots of servers, connections, and bandwidth to have other people sell their services for them. The web host creates a reseller hosting account for the reseller including how much space and bandwidth they have to resell. The reseller then finds customers looking for web hosting and resells the hosting packages to them. The reseller also provides support for their customers. The web hosting company provides hardware, maintenance, server software and basically making sure the server is online. It is fairly inexpensive to sign up for reseller web hosting and a good way to start a business. Then the reseller owns their own business and can expand as quickly as they want, and include more services such as web design, consulting services, etc.
Finding Customers for Your Resell Hosting Plans
When you decide to get into the resell hosting game, you will need to learn how to market your products. There is a lot of competition out there and something has to set you apart from the rest. Ways to make yourself noticed by potential customers include:
- Creating eye-catching advertisements.
- Developing a memorable slogan.
- Offering the lowest market prices of any other resell hosting company.
- Offering a unique service or special product.
- Hosting a contest or raffle.
- Offering ad-free Web hosting to non-paying customers. Paying customers can receive extra services from the site OR you can allow everyone to have free Web hosting and make a profit by enticing users to pay for needed extras.
- Getting a top placement on major search engines for popular Web hosting keywords.
- Affiliating yourself with hosting related companies (I.e. SEO professionals, marketing companies) who will recommend your resell hosting service to their clients.
- Offering a quality service for a decent price.
- Utilizing resell hosting link/banner exchanges.
- Promoting your company link through thoughtful & regular postings on various message boards. As readers come to know and trust you, they will be likely to go to your website the next time they need a Web hosting solution.
- Create an opt-in E-zine featuring answers and solutions to common Web hosting/Internet/computer related questions. This will help you for the same reasons mentioned above.
- Buy ad space in other popular E-zines.
If you can make a commitment to at least a handful of these strategies, it should get your resell hosting business off to a good start. Just remember not to be discouraged if customers don't come pouring in right away, many of these methods take persistence and patience.
How to Split Your Resell Hosting Packages
If you decide to purchase a resell hosting package that you can divide into your own hosting plans, then you are going to need to learn how to divide them up to receive the best profit for your money. Below are two of the best ways to split your resell hosting package to produce a maximum profit.
1. The first idea is to advertise that you can split your resell hosting package according to the customer's actual needs. This is the best way to get the most money out of the space that you have, while giving your customers a customized service. The problem with this is that you will not be able to advertise exact prices and many people would rather know that up front, without having to contact you directly.
2. The second idea is to split your resell hosting package into very small plans and ask for a very small price. For example, many companies offer 5,000 MB for $8 per month. While this may be a good price, very few people need that much space. Even a small service business will not need that much space. If you offer a 500 MB plan for $1/month instead, you will make $20 off of 10,000 MB, rather than $8. At the same time, your customers will feel as if they are getting a great deal because they are saving $7/month. Although you will have to find 7 additional customers to make the same $8, this is a way to undercut competition prices and appeal to average customers, without sacrificing your profit.
You may want to try both of these resell hosting strategies to see which one will bring in the best profit.
Becoming a Web Hosting Reseller
In order to become a web hosting reseller, you first need to decide what you want to resell. Do you just want to resell web hosting packages? Or do you want to include consulting, web design, resell servers and e-commerce packages? It all depends on what you want to do with your business. Once you have decided what services you want to provide to your customers, you should look into the various web hosting reseller programs. There are many to choose from. Make sure the company you choose has a good reputation and has an established program. Some companies will offer higher returns but may not be around very long and you will lose all of your time and effort. Make sure you choose a hosting company with multiple internet connections so your customers will be happy with the service you provide. Also, consider the customer support your web hosting reseller program offers. You don't want to be stuck waiting for answers from them, while your customers wait for you.
Introduction to Web Hosting Reseller Programs
Resellers are small business owners who sign up to sell web hosting services in behalf of web hosting companies. Web hosting reseller programs provide web hosting services under the brand name of individual business owners, when in reality they are leasing servers, connections and bandwidth from other hosting companies. Reselling offers large companies a way to cut down on expenses but still offer services. Resellers are not considered employees, and are generally paid on how many clients they can sign up per month, as well as a percentage of continuing customers. Each reseller can determine if they offer other services besides web hosting and can expand their business to whatever degree they desire.
Web Hosting Reseller vs. Direct Web Hosting
Web hosting resellers are like anything, there are good resellers and there are resellers who give the others a bad name. If you have your hosting with a good reseller, you shouldn't have any reason for concern. However, some resellers are not experienced and will not be able to provide you support or answer your questions. You can weed them out by emailing them with a few questions before signing up for their service. If they do not respond within 24 hours or do not respond to your contentment, look elsewhere. Often resellers are small business owners and may have more time to give to their customers (since they do not have as many customers as the large hosting companies). Basically, if you do your research and find a web hosting reseller who provides you what you are looking for, there should be no difference between them and getting your hosting through the web hosting company directly.
Benefits of Reseller Web Hosting Programs
There are many benefits of reseller web hosting programs. It is an easy way to start and own your own business. There is usually not a large investment and someone else maintains all of your equipment. You do not need to know much about the web hosting industry however you should be familiar with the basics and be able to provide support to your customers. The more knowledge you have the better service you can provide and the better reputation you will get. You can charge whatever prices you decide, and can offer more services than your web hosting company such as consulting, internet marketing, website design, and more. It is a great way to become a business owner without much risk. But you should make sure you are ready for a commitment before beginning a reseller business because once you have clients you should fulfill your obligations to them.
Paid vs. Free Resell Hosting - Which is Best?
Although paid and free resell hosting both share many money-making and time-freedom advantages, they each also have their own advantages and disadvantages over each other. Below are a list of these pros and cons, to help you decide which option is right for you.
- With free resell hosting, you don't have to worry about losing any money if you don't gain any customers. Not only can you resell hosting plans for free, but you can also try many free marketing ideas. This will enable you to start reselling without any money. It is important to know that it may take you longer to build a steady income using free marketing strategies.
- With paid resell hosting, you have a variety of wholesale companies to choose from and can make sure you are providing your customers with a quality product. Many free resell hosting companies may not have the bandwidth and other resources to provide a qualify product to everyone.
- With paid resell hosting, not only can you choose from a variety of wholesale companies, but each company will also have three to five resell hosting packages to choose from. Free resell hosting companies are few and far between, plus most only have one or two resell hosting packages available.
Ultimately, only you can decide which option is right for you. If you have the money to go through a paid resell hosting provider, that is likely to be your best option.
How to Find a Reseller Hosting Package That Will Make You a Success
Before you purchase a reseller hosting plan, it is a good idea to make sure that you will have the necessary tools to make your reseller business a success. A good reseller hosting plan will include, at the very minimum, a client billing utility, a dedicated IP address, and your own customizable nameserver. These three items are absolutely necessary for running a reseller business.
In addition to these tools, it is also a good idea to look for a reseller hosting plan that offers an unlimited amount of email accounts and MySQL databases to ensure that you can build hosting plans that will be attractive to your future customers.
How to Find a Reseller Hosting Package That Will Make You a Success
Before you purchase a reseller hosting plan, it is a good idea to make sure that you will have the necessary tools to make your reseller business a success. A good reseller hosting plan will include, at the very minimum, a client billing utility, a dedicated IP address, and your own customizable nameserver. These three items are absolutely necessary for running a reseller business.
In addition to these tools, it is also a good idea to look for a reseller hosting plan that offers an unlimited amount of email accounts and MySQL databases to ensure that you can build hosting plans that will be attractive to your future customers.
Paid Resell Hosting
Paid resell hosting is when you
A) pay a resell hosting company a monthly fee in order to sell their products for a profit or,
B) buy a certain amount of Web space from a resell hosting company upfront and resell it to others for a profit.
There are many companies out there to choose from and finding a good, reliable company can be fairly easy. However, large companies, who have a good reputation in the Web hosting world, may be more pricey when it comes to what they charge you to resell their products.
There may be some smaller, less costly resell hosting companies out there that will give you and your customers the same great service as the “giants”. Weeding out the good small resell hosting providers from the rest of the crowd can be tricky. Below are some tips:
- Use a resell hosting company who guarantees their services to you and your customers. Of course, the longer the guarantee, the better. If they are confident in their products, you can be too. Be sure to pick a company that has been around awhile though. If they are new and gather a lot of money-back requests in a short period of time, they could run off and leave you hanging.
- Getting recommendations from others in the resell hosting business will also help you know which companies to avoid. Some webmaster discussion boards may even have a special section where members can post when they encounter a less-than-quality company and help warn others.
- If you have ever had a website before and were satisfied with the hosting services you received, see if that company offers resell hosting options and how competitive their prices are. This is probably your best option when choosing a resell hosting provider.
Choosing what resell hosting provider to purchase from may be the most difficult decision you will make in this business. Remember to take your time. The worst thing you can do is rush the process of finding a good resell hosting company, because you are excited to get started.
What is Resell Hosting?
Resell hosting is when you purchase a bulk website hosting package that you can sell to others for a profit. Resell hosting packages come in three forms:
1) You can buy a resell hosting package that is already divided up into many small, but equal, hosting plans. This first option will only give you one size of hosting plan to resell. If you want to resell several different sizes, you may have to buy more than one resell hosting plan.
2) You can buy a resell hosting package that contains a certain amount of web space, and then divide it up how you want. This second option allows you to buy one resell hosting package and still sell several different sized plans, which enables you to customize each customer's plan and bring them the service they need.
3) You can sign up with a hosting company to be a reseller and pay a monthly fee. This monthly fee will give you the right to resell any of the company's hosting plans and keep whatever profit you make. This option, like option #2, will let you resell several different sized plans, but you will not be able to decide how big each plan is.
Resell hosting can be an easy way to start your own online business without investing hundreds or thousands of dollars. The first step is choosing which type of resell hosting you feel would be most profitable for your situation.
The Advantages of Resell Hosting
There are several advantages to becoming a Web hosing reseller. Below are the four biggest pros for starting your own resell hosting business:
- With resell hosting, you are able to make an income from home simply by marketing a product on the Internet.
- You can make this at-home income without producing your own product to sell.
- An at-home income through resell hosting allows you freedom to work on your own time and around your other obligations.
- Resell hosting can require little to no up front fees, depending on which company you buy from and where you market your hosting plans.
If you have decided that resell hosting is a good way to make extra income, make sure that you choose a wholesale company that is reliable. This way your customers will be satisfied and want to order from you month after month, year after year.
Marketing Your Web Reseller Program
Once you have built your web reseller business, you need to find customers. A good resource is the Chamber of Commerce, and word of mouth. You can start locally or spend lots time and money marketing online. Look for small business owners and individuals who are probably working with smaller budgets. Smaller business owners may feel more comfortable with a local web host provider if they are just getting started. Most of them will not require higher end hosting packages, and probably will not need as much support as larger entities. Start out small and then as you work the kinks out of your program you can expand. You also need to make sure you have the technical expertise and customer support necessary to provide service to large companies. One of the biggest mistakes resellers make is by trying to start out really big and then discovering they don't have the resources they need to keep client happy and then they lose time, money and reputation.
Free Resell Hosting
Free resell hosting is when you are allowed to market and sell a company's web hosting plans without charge. You will have to give the company a certain amount for each plan that you do sell; however, free resell hosting offers a no risk, no money down solution for those who are looking to start their own home business with little to no start up capital.
Free resell hosting companies can be hard to come by, but they do exist. You should be cautious when choosing a wholesale company to get your resell hosting packages from, as some free providers do not offer a service that is as reliable as many paid providers. Here a few pointers on finding a reliable provider:
- Ask for recommendations from other resellers who have taken the free route. If you don't know any resellers, try visiting a resell hosting discussion forum.
- Take out a cheap account of your own. This will allow you to experience the provider's services first hand. You should try it out for at least a week (preferably longer) before you sign up to be a reseller, to see if there is any significant down time.
- If it is company that you recognize and whom has been around for a while, chances are that they will offer a reliable service.
If you cannot find a free provider that you trust and you still want to pursue resell hosting, then you may need to shell out the cash to purchase a resell hosting package from a paid provider.
The Disadvantages of Resell Hosting
Although resell hosting is a great way to make money from home and start your own business without producing your own product, there are some disadvantages to this option:
- Marketing your product can be pricey. Pay-Per-Click campaigns through the major search engines and getting a good banner on popular websites will both cost you a pretty penny. On the other hand, free marketing methods can take a long time to pay off and will only work if you do them consistently.
- In order to make a decent income with resell hosting, you need to know how to market the product. Customers will not just fall into your lap, you have to know how to find them and reel them in.
- If you buy a large resell hosting package, you could risk not finding enough customers and losing out on money.
- If you buy a small resell hosting package, you could risk not having enough space. You can always purchase another small package; however, if you had purchased a large resell hosting package in the first place, it would have saved you up to $50+ per month (depending on how much extra space you need) over two smaller packages.
The biggest factor with resell hosting is learning profitable marketing strategies and keeping your Web space-to-customer ratio as low as possible. If you can master these two things, you should do well in the resell hosting business.
Pay for it Yourself
Often, a web developer or web hosting reseller will offer to resell hosting services to you, rather than have you deal with the web site hosting company yourself. Be careful here. It might sound easier, but remember that if the developer pays the web hosting company, he effectively owns the site platform and domain name, not you. No problem, as long as you and the developer maintain a good relationship. But if you don't, you could end up in a difficult situation. It's better in the long run if you pay for and control the web hosting platform yourself.
How to Find the Best Resell Hosting Providers
There are many ways to find the best resell hosting providers. You will want to be careful as to which companies you resell with. After all, you will be representing their products and want to make sure that your customers are getting what they paid for. Below are some tips:
- Try to find a resell hosting company that is 1) popular, 2) has been around for at least a few years, and 3) has a good reputation. Your customers will be hosted on the same servers as their direct customers, so you know that any downtime will likely be minimal. This option may be a little pricey, but worth it.
- Search for “resell hosting” using Google or Yahoo! search engines and see if you recognize any of the names that pop up. Good name recognition usually means that it is a reputable company (unless you recognize it because of a negative experience).
- There are a few good resell hosting review websites out there, which you can use to find the best wholesale company. Be careful with this option, however, as some are merely affiliate sites. This means that they will collect a commission for referring you to the site and therefore may give a good review where it is not deserved. A site where customers can submit their own resell hosing reviews will be most reliable.
- A resell hosting forum will be a great place to get the honest opinion from current resellers on their experiences with certain wholesale companies. If you scan the forum and do not already see a thread on this topic, just post one of your own!
If you follow these tips, you are sure to find a resell hosting provider that you are confident in.
| Guru Spotlight |
| Jolyn Wells-Moran |
