Reseller Hosting

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The definition of a web hosting reseller can be summarized as buying a web hosting package from a web host and then selling web hosting services yourself to your own clients. In short, a reseller gets disk space and bandwidth from the web host – he can then decide to divide that space and bandwidth in the manner he decides, to offer them to its customers at a price that he chooses.

Typically, a web hosting reseller can either choose between a dedicated server or a virtual server, and a web hosting reseller plan from a big web host. When the reseller uses a dedicated server or virtual server, he gets an account with the host, just like he would do to host his own sites. The control panel then allows him to create different accounts for his clients so that they can self-host their websites.

Types of Reseller Hosting

When the reseller uses a reseller plan from a web hosting company, he usually has access to a shared hosting account, which is allocated a certain amount of web space and bandwidth that can then be assigned to clients via a reseller control panel provided by the host. For example, HostGator provides reseller package which starts at $19.96 per month. It gives you 50GB of disk space and 500GB bandwidth. HostGator offers control panels WHM / Cpanel. WHM allows you to adjust the parameters of the web hosting packages you offer to your customers and set up their accounts. CPanel is the control panel that allows each website owner, so each of your clients, to manage their website.

Responsibilities of a Web Hosting Reseller

As a web hosting reseller through a host, the reseller is responsible for all the interactions with his own customers. The reseller is responsible of the advertising to attract his potential customers, billing (although the best reseller hosting packages offer free billing software that you can use) and customer service. Thus, if customers have questions, the reseller is the one who answers them. For its part, the company that provides the web hosting reseller plan provides technical support to the reseller, but usually not directly to the reseller’s customers. Therefore, although you do not need to possess advanced technical expertise to become a hosting reseller, you must still be quite familiar with web hosting in order to assist customers.

Reseller Hosting Plan or a Dedicated Server / Virtual Server

If you wish to become a web hosting reseller, you will have to choose a dedicated server / virtual or a reseller hosting package offered by a web host. Here are some things you should keep in mind when making your choice:

  1. The first thing to consider is your business goals. Do you want to host your own websites, and just offer hosting to some friends? Are you planning to offer hosting to your customers? If so, how many do you have? Is your goal to become a web host with multiple clients? To host only a few sites, a reseller package is ideal, much easier to manage and will cost you less. However, if you intend to become a real host with a very large number of customers, you must also consider the following item;
  2. Your level of expertise in web hosting. If you have lots of experience in web hosting, especially with dedicated and virtual servers, choosing a server can be advantageous for a reseller who plans to host a large number of websites. The cost will be higher, but you will have more control in the configuration and management of the web hosting plans you will provide to your customers. However, if you are not very experienced in this field, a reseller web package has a learning curve that is not as steep. Support from the host and a ready-to-use reseller package will be useful and handy in your case;
  3. Finally, the third thing to consider is your budget. Web reseller packages are less expensive than virtual servers, and certainly less expensive than dedicated servers. For example, a basic Bronze Reseller HostPapa package costs about $19.95 per month, while a dedicated server at LiquidWeb starts at $189 per month.

How to Choose a Web Host Providing Reseller Hosting

The best advice I can offer you is to choose a web host you use or have used in the past. If a host offers you a good service when it comes to hosting your website on a server, or even via a shared hosting plan, chances are good that their Reseller options will also be up to par.

If you have never hosted websites in the past, or if the host you trust does not offer servers or reseller hosting packages, here are some things to consider when it comes time to select your reseller hosting supplier:

  • Reputation: Given that being a reseller is about becoming a web company for the long term, it is important to use a web host that will stay in business for a long time – and the past is often a guarantee of the future. Make sure the Web hosting company you choose has been in the business for at least a couple years. Read reviews about it, and browse discussion forums to see what other resellers are saying about their services;
  • Services: As a reseller, from a technical point of view, the amount of disk space and bandwidth offered is important. Remember that you will share this amount between your customers. Choose a web host that offers reseller packages that are expandable, that is to say that you can increase these quantities easily. Besides, a good reseller package should provide up-to-date control panels, and free software to help you run your business (billing, customer support, site builder…). If you plan to offer domain name registration to your customers, make sure the host offers this possibility, and that this can be integrated into your website;
  • Technical Support / Customer Service: This is often one of the most important criterion and it is often linked to the reputation of the host. You might think a good reseller package should not be a problem nor require technical assistance, but it’s not true. Regardless of the quality of the host, you will undoubtedly face challenges, especially when you consider you’ll be getting questions from customers that you need to respond to. Since you will be responsible for customer support, it is important to know that the host behind you will be quick to respond to you when you receive questions that are beyond your field of expertise, or require technical changes that you just cannot do yourself;
  • Price: Cheap is often not good, but very expensive is not always a guarantee of quality either. The price should be the final criterion for selecting your web hosting reseller package. Once you’ve narrowed down your list of candidates by applying the first three criteria, and after reading the our web hosting reviews, compare the prices to finalize your choice.

    • If you have questions about how to select a web hosting reseller host, please leave a comment here – we’ll help you out.

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