Hosting is an area of high demand. Businesses rely on websites for growth. And many reliable hosting providers can help your business be accessible online by hosting your website.
But if you want to try to be on the other side of it and profit, reseller hosting could be for you.
If you were wondering about the concept of reseller hosting, its inner workings, and how you can start a reselling hosting business, you will find your answers here.
What does reseller hosting mean?
Reseller hosting means that you purchase hosting services directly from a provider, and then resell it to the customers. This can look like buying a large and resourceful hosting plan from a web hosting provider and then offering to sell some portions of it as individual offerings.
The company a reseller purchases from provides it with hardware, and software necessary for giving a quality service to customers.
Some companies prefer white-label reseller hosting specifically. Here, “white label” implies that a reseller company offers the services it rents from the parent hosting provider as its own. White labeling occurs under one brand, including logos, web designs, control panels, etc. In this business model, usually, it’s the web hosting provider who deals with the technical side of things such as server management, not a reseller.
It might seem “shadier” than it is. Many web hosting providers actually have dedicated reselling plans that you can buy, and legally start your hosting reselling business.
How does reseller hosting work?
If it all seems a bit vague, we hope that the following aspects can make it clearer.
When it comes to server resources, a web hosting provider offers a reseller a fixed amount of memory, bandwidth, etc. Then, the resources are usually divided between different reseller plans or packages that should ideally address the various needs of potential customers.
Regarding server management, the initial control over the server stays with the web hosting provider. The reseller often gets access to the control panel that allows managing hosting accounts the company supports. Control panels allow resellers to manage the existing accounts, create new ones, and engage in other management activities.
Web hosting providers also usually offer technical support to both the reseller and its customers. Thus, the reseller shouldn’t worry about the technical aspects of hosting.
Why do people start reseller hosting?
There are certain benefits to reseller hosting, which are ultimately the reasons why people go into it.
Minimal budget required
Unlike the hosting business, where you need to invest funds right away into data centers and related infrastructure, reseller hosting can be started with a minimal budget. Yes, you ideally need a website, and a hosting plan ready to be re-sold, but the cost of it is not as near high as the actual hosting investment.
Scalability
You can easily upscale your resources, as your hosting business grows. Reseller hosting makes it easy to match the demand since there are no hardware limitations to what you can and cannot upgrade.
Minimal technical knowledge needed
Reseller hosting eliminates the need to deal with the technical side of things. Your web hosting provider is the one responsible for server hardware maintenance, and security measures. Your role revolves around increasing the visibility of your business, offering a good user experience to new customers, and supporting your existing clients.
How to start reselling hosting?
You need to keep in mind and take care of the following aspects before you launch your reselling hosting business.
1) Build your website
To start building a website, you need to have a domain name. For the actual task, you can use a website builder or hire a team of professionals to build it for you.
2) Set up a customer support service
You need to set up a system that will manage your customer requests. Based on the system you decide to use, you can additionally hire a customer support team. Alternatively, you can delegate the support function to your web hosting provider if the terms of your collaboration allow you to do so.
3) Set up a billing system
You can create or use the whole system dedicated to managing subscriptions from your customers. Consider billing automation tools to better handle everything related to billing.
4) Determine your business goals and map out your budget
Figure out what your business goals are, and what you want to achieve in a specific period with your reselling hosting business.
And considering your business goals, map out your budget. Make sure to include things like ads, overall marketing, supplies, and anything you might need. At this stage, you can also set preliminary prices for hosting plans.
5) Outline a marketing strategy
First, determine your target audience. Then, outline a marketing strategy including things like ads, collaboration, etc.
6) Create your hosting plans
Do market research before creating hosting plans or packages. Based on your findings, make up optimal packages that would fit different user needs. Also, don’t forget to include a unique proposition or value to stand out among the competition.
