What Is Reseller Hosting and How Can You Make Money from It?

If there has been some notion in your head about launching a web hosting business but you lack the physical facilities and human capital to own a data center, reseller hosting will be ideal for you. This idea enables one to purchase hosting space from a recognized provider and in return sell to own clients at a higher price. Our intention in this article is to explain reseller hosting, its concept, principles of earning money through it, and more.
Use of terminology in reseller hosting
When it comes to web hosting.Padding, reseller hosting is arguably one of the most compelling chances of creating a business out of the selling of hosting services but without owning or operating a data center. But what does ‘reseller hosting’ mean? To better understand the idea let us take a closer look at what makes it function.
What Is Reseller Hosting?
Reseller hosting can be described as hosting that bargained from a main hosting provider where you set up and resell service from a larger host to your own customers. You act as the go-between for both the hosting provider and the customer handling customer relations, payment, and sales.
It is just like leasing a space on a server from a major host company and then selling them to clients as if you were the host company. So you can offer hosting services without having to invest big money in the kind of equipment that you would need to set up a data center.
So, basically HOW does reseller hosting work?
Actually, when you subscribe to a certain reseller hosting plan, you get quotas of disk space, bandwidth and more. You are then able to partition this hosting space and then sell it to clients in small chunks. Reseller hosting providers utilize the familiar and relatively simple interface to create and manage host client accounts.
There is no need to manage server space, hardware problems or software changes — these responsibilities fall on your reseller hosting service provider. You will centre your efforts on selling and promoting the services you offer, that is, hosting services, the management of your customers, and assistance.
To the point :Important features of Reseller hosting
There are many advantages that come with reseller hosting making it the preferred choice for many new ventures that want to get into the hosting business.
Low Startup Costs
Firstly, reselling hosting does not have high entrance costs which are considered one of the major strengths of the reselling model. They do not require organizations accreditation, expensive server hardware or concern about powering one’s data center. Let’s say that you are using an existing hosting firm’s investment and then reselling those benefits to your clients.
Since it does not need a lot of investment at the beginning, this kind of hosting is suitable for everyone who wants to enter the hosting business at all.
Flexible Pricing Plans
As a web host, you have full discretion over price with reseller hosting. You can then offer various hosting plans to your target market depending on who your target market could be, it could be individuals, small business owners, large business entities etc. You can also sell extra features which include website backups, SSL certificates or even domain registration for instance in order to enhance your revenue earnings.
This flexibility allows you to change your prices and services in order to gain competitive advantage where there are lots of competitors.
Full Control Over Branding
Since you’re hosting is reselling under your own brand, you can offer full control over branding, pricing, and customers. This affords you the leeway to establish a brand, in this case, marketing of hosting as your brand. You cannot be held down by the hosting provider’s name or reputation, which does offer more flexibility when building a business.
How to Start with Reseller Hosting
It is actually relatively easy to start a reseller hosting business and here are the steps to follow. Therefore, it is reassuring to know that you can launch your hosting business immediately under the correct plan and strategy.
In this article, we will be looking at how to select a proper hosting provider.
The first thing that any reseller hosting businessperson would want to do is to select a hosting provider. Choose the provider with high performance, uptime and impressive customer service. This is also engages choosing a provider that is capable of providing a scale up services in order to address the need for more resources as the business expands.
There are providers that provide reseller hosting services to you that gives you a set of tools, control panel, and features that help managing your clients. You need to make your investigations before deciding on a particular provider and ensure that the provider meets the needs of your business and technical criteria.
Choosing the Right Reseller Web Hosting Plan
However, if you have identified your preferred provider, the next thing to do is to choose the reseller hosting plan. When choosing a hosting provider you should look at the factors, which are storage space, the bandwidth, and the number of customer accounts. Customer-base: Seek service providers who offer a leveled structure that enables you to extend your resources with customers.
There are usually many reseller hosting packages provided by most host providers as stated above. Make sure that your chosen plan offers you enough space for your growing business whilst not using more of the resources provided than you need.
Company Formation In The Hosting Business
Creating your hosting packages, with or without restrictions, setting prices for your hosting plans to offer to your customers is the next step of process of hosting company. You will also need billing scheme, payments, and customers’ support system among other issues. Most reseller hosting plans are sold with a pre-set control panel by the hosting providers, for instance WHMCS, to cater for all these activities.
Hosting business can also provide its potential clients with valuable information about your packages, frequently asked questions, or simply create a website to attract customers.
All the information you will need to know about reseller hosting to make it big in your business.
The business model of reseller hosting is to make money, however, it is not a instant success business one needs to plan for it a little. Below are the ways you can gain the most out of your reseller hosting business.
It is important for a hosting business to target clients with hosting plan products.
The main source of your revenue is to provide resolution through the means of web hosting the different plans offered to clients. You can have the basic web hosting as usual for personal websites and sell premium web hosting for business websites. That is why it is necessary to analyse the necessities of your clients, and provide hosting services that correspond to the customers’ demand in price.
Upselling Additional Services
In addition to selling hosting plans, you can increase your revenue by upselling additional services such as:
Website backups
SSL certificates
Domain registration
Website migration services
Dedicated IP addresses
They can also greatly increase your profit margin making your clients happy to have gotten more than they expected.
A Guide Towards Marketing Your Hosting Business
If you are in business, the main thing you want is to make cash, but how do you get the people to pay for your goods or services? Apart from having a website, you should employ various internet marketing tools such as SEO, PPC and social media marketing to publicize your hosting business. One way of reaching out to potential consumers is by giving a trial or at a less expensive rate.
This can also be a good means to growing your business base, for you will be connecting with recommended clients only. Promote your own hosting services through word of mouth and word of mouth is kept alive by offering bonuses or rebates for existing customers to refer new customers to the hosting services being promoted.
These are standard problems that most reseller hosting firms face:
Despite the fact that reseller hosting business can be extremely profitable, it has its difficulties.
Technical Assistance
As you are using the hosting reselling services your customers will turn to you for help when something goes wrong. Despite the fact that your hosting provider takes care of most of the technical problems, you will be the one to take charge of customer support in issues to do with billing, account creation and general technical assistance. Be ready for good customers’ relations or to look for someone who will guarantee good customers support in case you have no time for that.
Managing Client Expectations
The second is in capacity to control the expectations of the clients. The direct control inflicted by the web host provider complicates this issue, as clients may not have enough information about their service to be clear on it, much less satisfied with it. They can be eliminated through a proper relay of information and passing of educational materials.
Conclusion
Reseller hosting is a very lucrative business for those wishing to start a hosting business with little capital and no physical infrastructure investments. Selecting the best web host, delivering superior services and advertising your own business are some of the strategies used to develop a profitable hosting company. Being a web developer, an entrepreneur or an individual who wants to earn money on the Internet should consider reseller hosting a business opportunity.
FAQs
We know the differences between reseller hosting and shared hosting.
Reseller hosting can be used to sell hosting to your own client while shared hosting is for ordinary users who do not want to resale hosting.
How many dollars one can earn in reseller hosting?
Agent revenues are directly proportional to the number of clients attained and the amount of money you set for Web hosting and other services.
This is another important question that prospective entrepreneurs planning to start a reseller hosting business should answer: Technical knowledge.
While technical knowledge at this level is not necessary, many hosting providers have built interfaces on top of the technical services for easy management of the clients.
Can I engage myself in providing customer support although I little or no information about hosting?
You can fulfil it yourself or delegate it to your hosting provider or an external service provider company.
What should I charge for my hosting plans?
Investigate the market, know your overhead and tailor your prices according to your services. Here, make sure you include profit margins.