Useful Reseller Hosting Tips
Are you planning to get into the web hosting business? In this article, we will talk about reseller hosting and try to give you some useful tips for starting your own successful hosting company. Becoming a reseller is the easiest way to get into the business as it costs less than renting an entire server and saves you a lot of trouble when dealing with technicalities.
Which Reseller Hosting Plan is Right for You?
Before looking at the reseller plan – look at the company. What does it offer? What is their reputation? Are clients generally happy? Have you used them yourself?
Even if you’re unaware of the provider, you can see if they offer some trial period, so you can check the service for yourself. Once a client, start monitoring your uptime and run some speed tests to see what performance you can expect.
Support should also be a prime consideration as you would be the one solving your clients’ problems.
Try the live chat or mail of your potential host and see how fast they are able to come with a solution. Test the support team in different scenarios so you can ensure they are knowledgeable enough to help if things go downhill. If they are friendly enough and you seem to have a good understanding with different operators – that’s one checkmark in favor of reselling with this host.
Cheapest Reseller Hosting – Is it a Good Idea?
When it comes to choosing a reliable hosting provider – quality always comes at some price. If the offer looks too good to be true – most often it is.
Be ready to pay at least $10 per month for the reseller account and another $9 for a billing system such as WHMCS.
Hosting companies claiming to provide quality reseller hosting plans under $5 per month are rarely a good choice because they would have no way to cover their costs in the long run. They resort to overselling their servers, which results in poor performance and uptime.
Now, that’s something you definitely cannot afford…
How to Bill my Clients?
Platforms like WHMCS completely automate most of the tasks of the modern-day reseller. You can create new accounts, invoice clients, suspend/unsuspend services, and many other essential operations with its help.
The tool proves even more effective in the long run. WHMCS has many useful built-in features like reports and analytics that will show you the bigger picture of your reseller business.
Do I need White-Label Services?
Becoming a reseller, you often want to hide all relations with your hosting provider. After all, you are trying to establish your brand and build up your own reputation.
This is what white-label services are all about.
You can mask the brand identity of your host and put your own logos on it. This includes the control panel, extra tools, company website, the works. Private nameservers are also a big part of the process, allowing you to rename your domain nameservers to your own branded ones.
Becoming an independent entity also gives you the opportunity to set your own pricing and server packages.
What About Security?
Apart from taking advantage of your host’s infrastructure, you have to think about security certificates for both you and your clients.
SSL certificates encrypt the passing traffic between client and server, making it an inseparable part of many online projects. Not only are there obvious security benefits from such solutions, but there is an immense SEO boost as well.
Google has indicated on several occasions that HTTPS-encrypted websites get a headstart when we talk about search engine ranks.
Protecting your reseller brand and your hosting customers? What’s not to like!
Don’t Forget to Promote
If you just publish your reseller page and wait for the clients to come – you might be in for a bad surprise. In a business so competitive as web hosting, you not only have to put yourself up there – you need to outline your clear benefits.
Find your unique trait and press hard with it – be it the hardware, support, price, whatever.
You can try some paid advertising as well. Check out the possibilities offered by Google Ads and similar paid mediums. Make sure to research the best ways to make a campaign, so you’re not throwing money in vain.
Conclusion
Nowadays, becoming a reseller is the easy part. Numerous excellent hosting providers offer such programs while there is no shortage of clients looking for the best deal out there.
Whether you are a designer, developer, web agency, or just an entrepreneur looking to get into the business – reseller services are a perfect place to start.
