Reseller hosting services are geared towards consumers who want to add web hosting to their online money-making arsenals. As a web hosting reseller, you’ll be selling hosting space on behalf of a third party hosting company. In most cases, you’ll be able to white label these hosting services as your own with the ability to use the full range of services the third party hosting company has to offer.
Because there are hundreds of hosting reseller programs to choose from, it’s often difficult to determine how to start reseller hosting for the average consumer. The following tips will help you decide which reseller hosting program is right for you.
Create a Business Plan
The first thing you must do before you start to look for a hosting reseller to partner with is to create a business plan.
Your business plan must be concrete and list revenue streams, estimated costs in the future and marketing ideas that you plan on implementing. If you already have a business, you should add reseller as part of your revenue streams within your current business plan.
Determine Costs
Become a hosting reseller requires that you have a website. In some cases, large reseller companies will help set up a basic website with their hosting options for a small fee however, if you want a quality website that’s optimized for SEO, your best option is to hire a professional to design one for you.
As part of the planning process, you must take into consideration how much the website design will cost, how much you need to set aside for purchasing a reseller hosting package, and how much you intend to invest into your marketing strategies. Make sure you have enough money for marketing to last you for an entire year.
Search For Reputable Hosting Companies
Not every top hosting company offers white label reseller accounts to consumers. Find three or four reputable hosting companies and ask some of your Internet-savvy friends about them. If possible, try to find reviews from previous clients, both good and bad, that can help you determine whether or not you should still consider them.
A reputable hosting reseller will likely be one of the top reselling websites you come across when performing a search on Google.
Examine the Specifications of Each Company
Once you’ve chosen three or four hosting companies, you must examine the features and benefits of each one. The most important factors that will help you determine whether or not to use a hosting company are:
- White Label Capabilities: You must be able to sell their hosting products under your brand.
- Bandwidth: The amount of bandwidth allotted for hosting is very important. The more bandwidth available the more traffic will be allowed to enter into a specific site.
- Account Configuration: You should be able to configure accounts as needed without contacting the third party hosting company. This will give you the ability to cater to various types of clients who will likely need to change their hosting types in the future.
- Account Features: Each account you sell should have the exact same features that come with the hosting accounts opened through the original company. This includes cpanels, installation scripts accessibility and more.
Support for Hosting Resellers
The ability to contact technical support during the first few months after launching your reseller website will factor in to how successful you become in the future.
Bugs will always appear during this time and you must know how to fix them. It’s very important to choose a hosting company that offers support 24 hours a day, seven days a week should any problems occur with your website.
Choose a Host, Market Your Company
Once you’ve chosen a host for your reseller website based on pricing options and quality of services provided, it’s time to get your website designed and attract traffic. This will likely be the most difficult part of the entire process.
In the beginning, you should set a monthly budget for marketing. Whether this will be $200 or $2,000, you must have money to spend on link building, content creation and Pay-Per-Click campaigns, if necessary. Without proper SEO and quality content, your website will sit there with little to no traffic at all.
Navigating the Difficult Times
When you thought about the question how to start reseller hosting the thought of easy money might have crossed your mind. As is the case in most business endeavors, making money will not be easy.
There are many hosting reseller competitors vying for the same traffic that you are. You must be vigilant with your marketing techniques and know how to attract traffic that will convert into sales.
