Currently, there are lots of different kinds of hosting services out there. For business owners, web designers, and digital marketers, reseller hosting is a popular choice. Selling hosting to clients can be quite a prosperous venture. Nonetheless, configuring and sourcing the hosting software and hardware can easily become difficult and expensive.
Reseller hosting lets you provide services that fundamentally rely on already existing infrastructure so that you can focus on providing an exceptional customer experience. In this article, we’ll look at what reseller hosting is, and explain how to get started with it.
What is Reseller Hosting?
Reseller hosting is a service offered by web hosting providers that enable individuals and businesses to sell web hosting services as their own. Most of the reseller hosting packages work on the standard wholesale model. You first sign up with a large, reliable host, and then create a reseller account to get the wholesale prices. You can also add your branding if necessary, and then resell the hosting at a markup.
The main advantage of reseller hosting is that you don’t have to set up and maintain the hosting hardware and software yourself. Great web hosting providers already have the hardware and software setup for the different reseller packages. All you need to do is create an account for every new client you acquire. It’s then a matter of selecting the amount of bandwidth or disk space to allocate and going on from there.
In some cases, the reseller hosts may provide complementary premium services like automatic updates, backups, and free SSL certificates for your clients. They might even sell you domain names and provide specialized customer support. Still, your reseller partner should ideally provide you with all the infrastructure you need. It’s then up to you to personalize and promote packages to your clients.
Some web hosts may charge you a flat monthly fee and a separate fee for the services. Some will not charge you the flat fee and will instead let you pay on a pay-as-you-go model. Either way, when done right, you can make money in the business of hosting websites.
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What to Look for in Reseller Hosting
There are so many web hosting companies in the market today, with different kinds of service levels. As such, it’s important to assess each provider carefully. To find the most suitable hosting company for reseller services, you want to look for the specific features that will make your reselling business more successful. Here are some of the most important factors:
1. Scalable server resources
As your business grows, you ideally want to scale the server resources to accommodate the rising number of clients. For this reason, you should choose a reseller web hosting company that offers scalable server resources, so that you don’t have to switch to a new provider at some point. Such a transition would be time-consuming, not to mention expensive and bad for business.
2. Easy-to-Use Control Panel
Consider choosing a provider with a variety of control panel options. A complicated control panel or one you or your team is not familiar with could make it challenging to manage your reseller services. The most popular control panels in web hosting are Plesk and cPanel. Both offer a variety of features and tools to help you manage your reseller account. These include support for multiple domains, intuitive interfaces, 24/7 customer support, and reseller-specific features.
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3. Customer Support
Whenever you have any issues with your reseller account, you want to be able to contact your provider for support. Ensure that the company you choose provides 24/7 customer support, such that you will always be able to get the help you need. Be sure to also ensure that the provider offers support for your clients too. This helps make sure you can address any customer issues in a timely and efficient manner.
4. Automatic Backups
This is an important feature, just in case something goes wrong, and data is lost. Automatic backups ensure that the data in your account is always backed up and you can restore it where necessary. This can save you a lot of time and hassle, not to mention peace of mind. Moreover, you won’t have to worry about inconveniencing your clients.
How to Choose the Best Reseller Hosting
When considering a reseller hosting and enterprise hosting service, you want to pay special attention to the following:
- The reseller’s reputation for reseller hosting services.
- Whether the provider has a plan for you that not only meets your budget, but also your hosting needs.
- Does the reseller offer a money-back guarantee in case you’re not satisfied with their service?
- What kind of software interface do they provide to manage your reseller account?
- The level of access to technical support. Do they offer live chat, phone, or email?
The scalability of their service
Choosing the most suitable service is most often a matter of personal perspective and preference. However, the guidelines listed above should help narrow down your list, and eventually lead you to a host that provides the solution you need.
Final Thoughts
Reseller hosting provides a great opportunity for anyone looking to endeavor into making web hosting their business. However, make sure that you understand how reseller hosting works, plan accordingly, and choose the right partner for your business needs. If you can do this correctly, you will be able to create a great hosting reselling business, address your client’s needs, and make some money in the process.
