The Reselling Model


Resellers face several significant challenges, and not least of these is technical support. While resellers can reasonably expect that they will be given some support by their parent hosting companies, in almost all cases they are responsible for directly fielding the complaints of their own customers.

 

In other words, if a reseller\’s client calls to complain about downtime, it is the reseller who must address the matter – even if \’addressing\’ it just means complaining to the original host. This is a source of frequent complaint among resellers, because they feel that while they cannot directly remedy many of the most common hosting problems (bandwidth, space limitations, downtime, etc.), they are the ones who have to deal with end users whose sites are down, or are loading too slowly.

 

Ideally, however, resellers should not operate according to the same business model as hosting companies. Although resellers may market themselves as hosts (indeed, some deliberately foster an appearance of being first-generation hosting companies), they are ultimately a sales and services company, not a technology provider.

Resellers do not actually own the server space that they are selling, and their two principal responsibilities consist of recruiting new customers and servicing those accounts once they are established.

 

Resellers are valuable to hosting companies because they are middle men; they concentrate their resources on sales and support, and the hosting company, freed from the need to employ a bank of CSRs, can funnel its resources into technology. If resellers could hand off their sales and support duties to the original host, then there would be no reason for the host to even include them in the business model!

Ultimately, however, this system tends toward greater efficiency, particularly because resellers are often based in countries other than their host. For example, when a British host\’s server goes down, the company\’s French reseller might receive complaints from each of its twenty clients – but would then lodge a single complaint with the hosting company.

Reseller Host


A reseller, is merely a merchant who sells the services provided by the actual provider. This is not to say that the reseller does or cannot offer their own services, like web design services for example, in addition to the hosting services. Resellers do not own the servers, or manage the network, or any of the truly technical stuff that the actual provider does. When you call a reseller for support issues, most of the technical problems are relayed to the actual host. In essence, the reseller functions in a similar fashion as a retailer, reselling goods provided by someone else at a profit.

An actual web host provider is selling services from servers that it owns and maintains. Typically, they manage the machines, networks, DNS, and the actual uplinks to the Internet backbone. When you call a true hosting provider for support, they handle it directly.

If you have a high traffic website, or if you wish to purchase a dedicated or co-location account, it may be worth your while to ensure that you are working with an actual hosting provider. This ensures that your account can receive the highest level of attention possible, since all agreements and issues are addressed directly with the people who are responsible for the work, instead of through intermediaries who may or may not communicate your needs effectively.

Now, this is not always the case. Some hosting resellers are well equipped to handle even the most demanding of needs. But overall, for those with an overpowering need for the highest quality relationship, working directly with a hosting provider is your best course of action.

Multi-Domain Web Hosting


In the first case the customer is really looking for a large shared hosting plan that allows multiple domains. More frequently in the industry you see the term ‘Multi-Domain account‘ to refer to these plans. These customers can be webmasters with a network of websites, web designers, or a company that wants separate websites for their different brands. Most people doing business on the internet have more then 1 website. Hosting companies have recently taken notice to this and started offering ‘multiple domain’ accounts. Before customers were left with the choice of a full blown Reseller plan, dedicated server, or multiple hosting accounts.

 

These accounts can also be less inexpensive then traditional Reseller plans because they do not need to offer all of the services such as Private label branding. They are essentially shared hosting accounts that allow for several domains.

The second customer is really looking for a turnkey business, a franchise of the parent hosting company if you will. These customers are hosting companies who do not want to carry the overhead of a datacenter or series of managed servers.

Using a Reseller Hosting plan allows a hosting company to have a complete professional hosting company without all of the traditional startup costs. It allows them to focus on growing a customer base and not infrastructure issues. These hosting plans are more expensive then shared and multi-domain hosting plans but offer extra services. They usually come with private label branding, private name servers, marketing discounts, and forum boards with other resellers of the company. As you can see from this discussion the hosting industry has many customers with different needs. The Reseller and Shared hosting markets are converging the meet the demands of the customer with multiple websites.

Reseller Hosting Guide


What is Reseller Web Hosting?

Reseller Web hosting is a form of web hosting where the provider company may split their hard drive and bandwidth and resell web hosting. Generally resellers are web consultants, web designers, web developers that offer web hosting solutions to their clients as an add-on service. Resellers are allowed to set up their own prices and even market under their own brand name. Reselling hosting generally does not require much knowledge about web hosting. As a reseller you are not responsible for maintaining web server or other maintenance related tasks. In other words all you do is to sell space and bandwidth for another company.

How does Reseller Web Hosting works?

As a reseller you need to purchase a ‘reseller package’ from a provider. You have a reseller hosting account control panel called Web Host Manager(it can be called other names as well). Web Host Manager is where you go to create your customer accounts. After filling in their account information you click ‘create.’ This will instantly set them up with their very own control panel. This is where they will go to administer their website. Once they are logged into control panel they can create sub domains, email addresses, change passwords, and much more without requiring any help from you or main provider.

 

Where to find providers with Reseller Web Hosting?

Majority of Web Hosting providers offer Reseller Hosting plans. Unless of course they are resellers themselves. This information generally is located some where on the site of provider, if not sure just call provider and ask.

#hostingplans

Reseller Hosting Ethics


Web host reseller is a business that buys server space at a discounted price from a higher-tier Web host and then resells it to its own clients.

 

Usually a reseller is an independent contractor who buys Web space from a reseller hosting service provider in order to sell that same space, sometimes in smaller increments, to businesses and individuals for a substantial profit. The reseller often enhances the value of Web hosting services by offering special expertise on top of raw Internet presence provision.

 

Many resellers are similar to affiliates, and are paid based on how many customers they sign up every month. The difference between affiliate programs and cheap reseller hosting services is that resellers continue to be paid each month for every client they sign up, whereas affiliate programs are generally paid a one time commission. The first thing you will want to do if you plan on becoming a reseller is to decide what products or services you want to sell.

 

Resellers are able to enhance customer care through offering more personable service and by leveraging their human resources to create more in-depth, customized documentation for their clientele. By so doing, resellers have endeared themselves to a large number of small to mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) who purchase Web hosting services.

 

Resellers that physically maintaining a rack of Internet servers is not required to be successful at providing Web hosting services. Indeed, the fact that they do not maintain infrastructure means that resellers can provide additional value-added services to their clients due to cost-efficiencies. For this reason, the majority of Web host resellers are either Web developers or system integrators who provide e-business solutions to their customers. Typically, their customers want ‘integrated solutions, which include Internet connectivity as a central component. Since their customers contract them for their expertise, Web developers and system integrators are usually granted the responsibility to provide hosting to ensure compatibility with the solutions that are deploying.

Most resellers are second-tier hosting companies, Internet service providers, Web designers, publishers, domain registrars, or individuals who wish to capitalize on the expanding market for enterprise-class Internet services.

Beginners Reseller Hosting


A reseller buys a hosting package from a hosting company and then tries to sell it independently. As a reseller you create your own hosting plans you are free to resell each plan under your own brand name and charge your customers whatever you want.

For example you can purchase a reseller package for $100 per year, and then sell 20 individual hosting plans for $15 per year. When picking a solid reseller hosting program look at how many clients you can add per account before you sign-up. Some reseller hosts limit the number of accounts you can create. But,you can always upgrade your reseller hosting package, if you have more clients and need more space or bandwidth.

 

You will have full control over all of your customers\’ hosting packages via a central reseller control panel. You can add, remove and modify any of your customers domains within your reseller hosting plan directly from this central control panel, called web host manager.

 

As a reseller you can decide what kinds of services you will sell. You can provide shared hosting, dedicated hosting or co-location web hosting. Start small if you are very new to the concept of host reselling, and then you can expand as you get more and more customers. In that case offering domain registration is an excellent way to make money.

Running your own web hosting reseller company has never been easier. There are tens of thousands of people earning extra money or full time salaries as hosting resellers. To become a reseller, you don\’t need to have a lot of technical knowledge, but some sales and internet marketing knowledge is required. Also, you do not require a lot of upfront investment. All you need is a decent computer for your customer accounts management, and a good Internet connection.