Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about hosting reseller. Reseller hosting isn’t just limited to resellers. Web design studios, web developers, freelancers and website owners can also benefit from being a reseller.
Whatever the case, if you have any questions about reseller hosting, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s start with the most obvious.
What is reseller hosting?
As a reseller, you can treat your end customers like a real web hosting company. In effect, you will be “reselling” the services of an established web host. Typically, you purchase a Hosting reseller package and then provide hosting to customers using these allocated resources. In this way, you can get a healthy income as you can invoice your own customers the price you want. Each of your customers has access to their own control panel, so they can manage their accounts completely themselves. In the end, your customers think you are your server and services.
How does reseller hosting work?
Here is a real-world example. Let’s say someone you know owns a restaurant. They have no idea about hosting. But they know they need it to keep their restaurant’s website online.
You are offering to host their website because you can probably offer them a cheaper price and better service than they are currently paying. Additionally, most of the vendors have other services they can offer – web design and development, online marketing, SEO etc.
Long story short, they get the hosting service and you use your partnership status with the hosting company to provide the service.
Your client gets their own control panel so they can manage everything themselves (like managing their email account). In their eyes, you are the real hosting provider. The actual service provider is not specified anywhere on the interfaces they will access. On the other hand, you can make a profit by charging them a higher fee than you actually pay them.
What are the benefits of hosting a reseller?
Web hosting is a complex business. You must install and maintain servers, rent or build data centers with reliable upstream providers around the world, hire and maintain highly skilled workers (system administrators, technical support, account managers, and others) who work in shifts around the clock. Install and maintain the entire software stack (server OS, web server, database server, email, etc.), implement billing solutions and backup systems. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The great thing about Hosting reseller is that it takes all that complexity out of the equation. While you focus on acquiring new customers, you let someone else do all the “dirty work”. With a good reseller hosting program, your end customers won’t even know the difference. They appear to them as the real hosting provider and can charge whatever fee they want. As a result, they can get quality web hosting while making a nice profit.
A key advantage of reseller hosting is minimal operating and investment costs. You don’t need to spend money on server hardware and software, data center infrastructure, employee salaries and related costs that need to be updated regularly. All this is taken care of by the actual web host whose services you will be reselling.
Another great benefit of Hosting reseller is the recurring revenue stream. If you’re a web design company, you usually get a one-time payment to actually build your client’s website, and you may receive smaller payments to do maintenance/update work in the future. The best thing about web hosting is that it is a service with an expiration date and needs to be renewed monthly or annually. Thus, it can help you create a stable income stream.
