Reseller hosting is a kind of business requiring only a small amount of start-up capital. The way it works is you purchase a reseller hosting plan or a dedicated server from a company. You then use that to start your own hosting plan. This means you can sell web hosting plans to users by dividing up your plan into small segments and offering them for sale to businesses or individuals launching a web site or blog.
Individuals and groups of people need a web site to start a blog to attract traffic, hoping to drum up sales. These are the people who will need a web hosting company. If you’re new to the reseller hosting business, you can start on a small scale by offering web space to your community. Once you get the hang of it, you can venture out into bigger communities.
If you’re thinking of purchasing a reseller hosting plan, go with a company that offers unlimited domains and large web space. You want to sell a service that people will not be disappointed with. For instance, if the web pages of their site load too slowly, your customers can get frustrated easily.
Go with a reputable seller that offers the “extras” such as:
- Unlimited domain names
- Unlimited disc space
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Templates, scripts, API
- 24/7 support
How do I Make Money from Reseller Hosting?
Reseller hosting can be lucrative. First, reseller hosting provides a passive income stream monthly. Depending on the type of reseller hosting plan you have, you can charge anywhere from $5.00 to $25.00 a month. The prices will vary depending on the amount of bandwidth and disc space they want to buy from you.
Here’s an example: basic packages that you can buy as a hosting reseller usually start at $25.00. That includes 24 GB (or 24,000 MB) of disc space and 250 GB (250,000 MB) of bandwidth. If you break that down in 10 smaller segments and sell them to your own customers charging $10.00 for each segment, that means you make $100.00 a month. Your original cost per month is $25.00, so your profit comes to $75.00. But remember: you need to provide value.
Second, there’s referral business. If the clients you serve are happy with your service, they will no doubt recommend their relatives and friends to your hosting company.
Third, you can help your customers with any special problems or issues they have and charge them a small fee for performing this service, if this service is not included in your sale package.
Fourth, you can advertise. You can choose to advertise with ad networks like Google Adwords or Microsoft Adcenter. Imagine building your customer base to 100,000 active customers! Some of the top reseller hosting companies service that many customers and they’re still growing.
How do I Automate my Reseller Hosting Business?
You can definitely automate your reseller hosting business and this you do with the company you sign up with to become a hosting reseller.
The first automation task is to become familiar with a control panel called the WHM (web host manager). When you sell to customers, each of them will have this panel without having direct contact with the company. Their only contact is with your company. Most reseller hosting companies provide a panel called cPanel. With cPanel, they can upload their files, create e-mail accounts and perform other tasks.
Businesses vary so their needs vary. You can automate your business and theirs by taking advantage of the many account features that come with your package. For example, you can use MySQL databases, video streaming, PHP, content management systems like Drupal or Joomla. E-mail services are also automated: spam detection, mail forwarding, autoresponders, etc. You don’t have to be a programmer because scripts like Fantastico will also be provided. You will also have access to the company’s application programming interface (API) which will provide you with the tools to control your customers’ panels.
If your customers are selling products or services, they can automate the transaction process by using PayPal.