Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has comments about pros and cons about starting your own reseller hosting. I'm thinking about it, but the way I see it, it's too hard to find new customers, it can be a lot of work and it's not very profitable.

Is this true? False? What are your comments about reseller hosting?



Thanks,

Karel

I think it's profitable but only procentual.

I mean you invest 100 dollars, you can get 900% profit. But 900 dollars aint much as money. Got my point?

overall. i think it worths. Just make yourself a nice and functional site.

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has comments about pros and cons about starting your own reseller hosting. I'm thinking about it, but the way I see it, it's too hard to find new customers, it can be a lot of work and it's not very profitable.

Is this true? False? What are your comments about reseller hosting?



Thanks,

Karel

Welcome to the forum! That is great to hear that you would like to venture into the hosting industry. I will not lie to you, it is very difficult to do it the correct way. You must first find a provider that offers great support, because if you are brand new to the game, you will be asking alot of questions, and have tons of support I am sure. Also there are good ways to promote your new hosting business that is FREE. The following ways include Forums, such as the great WHT ;) there is also press releases, when you company does something that is news worthy write a press release on it. Most directories will publish it for free. Now when advertising you obviously are going to have to shell out a little bit of money, you can do good with ROS banners, and local adverts. I wouldn't try and compete with Pay-Per-Click search engine customers, you could be spending ALOT.

As far as the profit goes, its all about how dedicated you are to it. If you think that you going to put some automated billing software, put up a few adverts, and wait for customers, you are dead wrong. It takes some time to gain a good customer base, and loyal customers. Keep at it, and it can become profitable for you. It is a very lucrative industry, so why not have your part.

Reseller hosting is the perfect way for an individual or company to enter the hosting industry. As I said before, make sure you get with a good provider that will offer great support. Word of advise, don't get cheap plans. I say this because alot of "cheap" plans...come with cheap service, and support. So beware. I think its great that you are looking to get into the hosting industry! Therefore I wish you luck. If you need anymore help, please feel free to ask :)

I have finally designed a reseller site that looks and works great. It is finally starting to become profitable for me (after 4 months) which I'm starting to enjoy. You just need to make sure you're hosting with a reliable company or else the customers that you bring in will be very unhappy with your service, whether it is your fault or not. If you need anything let me know, I'm more than happy to answer your questions.

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Belive me , it is profitable but need hard work and dedication. if you can support your clients , then the clients would support you down the line

Welcome to WHT Karel,

It might be a bit more difficult to start a reseller host from scratch rather than one with an established client base. I deal exclusively with resellers as clients, and most of my clients run web design businesses and see hosting as add-on service for their clients. Web hosting can be a profitable revenue stream if you are willing to put in the work and you can find your own unique niche that separates you from the rest.

Hope this helps. :)

Thanks for the replies everyone. I guess web hosting would be a good idea. I think once I get my advertising-design company up and running (hopefully launched by April) I will get started on the hosting. One of the services I have always wanted to provide is free hosting for my web design clients, so maybe reseller hosting would be a good way to go.

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Thanks,

Karel

I will not lie to you, it is very difficult to do it the correct way.


Well, I can understand that it is difficult to sell hosting but a bit surprised to know " the correct way"

What are the correct ways and what are the ways you would suggest?

Many resellers are people who are already in the internet industry. Examples: SEO and Web Designers. Also, most resellers start out locally. They have local clientel.

Is making money hard to do with reseller hosting? Yes and No.

Yes, because any business, at first, can be hard to tap into the desired market. Keep in mind how much reputation has to do with Web Hosting.

No, with a solid business plan, some knowledge about the industry, and advertising in the right places, you will do just fine. Some reseller hosts even offer Free E-Commerce Support.

When you choose a reseller host, take notes about the process you went through to pick your ideal host, write them down, and then realize that your customers will be going through the same process to find you. Then, you can tailor your site to cater to their needs based upon what your reseller provides to you.

One of the biggest mistakes resellers makes is pricing their services too low. Just because you have cheaper prices, doesn't mean you will compete with the major players in the industry.

Example: 100mb of space, 1Gb bandwidth - $1.99 per month.

You have to ask yourself, how are you going to make money selling plans like that, and your customers are going to ask, what kind of support and what is the integrity of the company if they are offering that.

Hi Karel,

Great to see you are coming in to the hosting business,

Its a great business but very competitive, It is hard when you first start off, finding customers is hard. as above the WHT forums are a great place to look around and the advertising forums are really good!

I wish you all the luck in your hosting business for the future :)

Hi,

Webhostings a great industry. Just look around the forum to see all the great people in it!;)

Of course its competitive, but there are still unsaturated markets out there, and your local market is probably one of them. You would also have a 'Heres one I made earlier' market right on your doorstep from your advertising company - good luck with that btw - and you will already have one of the most important things in hosting: their trust.

So overall you would probably be in a pretty good place to start up, and you just have to make sure you do your research properly (and often - new hosts with good reputations can pop up all the time) and find the host which is right for you.

Good luck on the hosting front

Mike

I 100% agree with Mike, just looks around and enjoy the great people and friendly environment on WHT. It seems a reseller account is exactly what you need for your web design clients. Good luck!

Thanks for the replies everyone. I guess web hosting would be a good idea. I think once I get my advertising-design company up and running (hopefully launched by April) I will get started on the hosting. One of the services I have always wanted to provide is free hosting for my web design clients, so maybe reseller hosting would be a good way to go.
Karel

Think what you want to do. I am not sure if you have staff enough, but if you do yourself, and want to focus on advertising-design work, you should pay more attention to it. Your idea about free hosting is very good. We have many resellers do that. However, as said, you should focus on your main work.

So, you can signup a reseller package with a host that can support your customers as well. In that way, you can still create accounts for your customers anytime, and you dont have to spend your time to support your customers. Both are growing :)

Good luck

Well, I can understand that it is difficult to sell hosting but a bit surprised to know " the correct way"

What are the correct ways and what are the ways you would suggest?

Correct ways by not overselling, be true with your customers, making the most out of your marketing, staying on track as far as the business plan. I didn't mean this as the correct way to actually "sell" hosting plans.

Correct ways by not oversellingAhh.. so the datacenters are doing it all wrong... :P

You know what I mean by that. I am talking about smaller companies, not mid to larger companies, remember this was for a start up not established. If you feel like overselling then oversell!!!!! Thats key I guess!