I just wanted to get an idea of what it would take for someone to start a Reseller Hosting business from the Ground Up?

Any and all idea's are and would be appreciated, Thanks.

By that do you mean start a hosting business from a reseller account.

Either way you should plan first pick a target marked and decide what your going to sell and how.

Yes.. From a reseller account... Target market I would like to host is game servers/gaming market, or high bandwidth applications. This may not be feasable though. I'm really just wondering how one would go about building this from ground up, more of a layout or a step by step.

You're going to need...

A reseller account (clearly).
A billing system/client management system.
A support system (unless it's integrated with billing).
Enough staff to manage the above systems.
Advertising. Lots and lots of advertising.
A front end website.

Those are really just the basics for getting started. In time, you may find you want to add live chat, or a toll free number, or remote backup services... Remember, a hosting company doesn't just spring up overnight. It takes time and effort to build a stable, successful company.


Alex

Yes.. From a reseller account... Target market I would like to host is game servers/gaming market, or high bandwidth applications. This may not be feasable though. I'm really just wondering how one would go about building this from ground up, more of a layout or a step by step.

Game servers = heavey server resources. You wont be allowed to do this in a shared environment if thats what you are thinking.

Yea... I'm going to have to get dedicated servers for the application. But, from there its gonna be uphill.

Yea... I'm going to have to get dedicated servers for the application. But, from there its gonna be uphill.

I would recommend reselling someones gaming servers/slots to start off with.

you need to worry more about advertising, google is expensive for that kind of business since a lot of ads will show instead of yours for the common keywords for your business and you have to pay more to keep your ad appearing and running.

<snipped quoted removed post>

Subtle advertising. :rolleyes:
You should consider reselling VPSes, which is most likely your best option as it is cheaper than dedicated servers. You could find VPS reseller plans for as low as 70$/month, though wouldn't hope for much lower than that.

Subtle advertising. :rolleyes:
You should consider reselling VPSes, which is most likely your best option as it is cheaper than dedicated servers. You could find VPS reseller plans for as low as 70$/month, though wouldn't hope for much lower than that.

VPS's cant be used in some cases for gaming servers, but overall its not a good idea.

i would recommend doing to research and learning about servers and more importantly the hosting industry, rather then jumping into something way over your head.

reseller accounts are as cheap as $20, so it does not cost much.... NOW if you want a successful web hosting company.. your going to need a good amount to invest (or have a VERY unique idea to make yourself stand out)

Start with reseller hosting!

Start with reseller hosting!

yes reseller hosting is best to start

You need a business plan.

If you complete this correctly, you'll have all the answers you need because any deficiencies (such as lack of in-house expertise or budget) will come to the surface during the process.

Then you need a marketing plan.

Not just an idea of what to do, but a full-blown marketing plan, which is about as extensive as a business plan.

Most businesses fail because they didn't do a thorough business plan (or one at all) and figured they'd just wing it and figure it out as they go. Bad mistake.

If you don't know how to do a business plan then you probably aren't ready to start a business.

Even if you do get a business off the ground and make it survive, if you don't do business and marketing plans, and keep them as living documents, you aren't maximizing your profits or growth potential.

Remember; measure twice, cut once.

Believe it or not game server providers do have some sort of reseller/affiliate program, but its not always advertised. I'd send off a few emails to some asking about it. I'd suggest just participating that way. WIth an affiliate service, you wouldn't have to worry about supporting said servers and if you can resell them, you may or may not need to support them.

I will warn you though, from what I've seen, being a GSP has a big turnover rate. You have kids who buy server slots for a month or two for the gaming clans, and then they dry up and are gone. Its just a big investment where people want to be in charge of something big, but then realize that its a lot of work instead and that they are paying a pretty good chunk of money for it.

Just my 2 cents.

lol.. I forgot to mention you also need an operational plan and a financial plan (some people lump them as the business plan and have the marketing plan separate). These could all be summed up as parts of the overall business plan but They should also be viewed as individual plans.

A thorough plan will contain:

Background info (who are the major players and what are you trying to accomplish)
Marketing plan
Operational plan
Financial plan

Sorry...it's been a long night.

Sure you could do it with a reseller plan. However, you will need to work your butt off to succeed in this industry this day and age.

I think that starting off with your reseller plan is the best bet.
And dont think just because you are on a reseller plan that you cant offer what other hosts can. To be honest, I think most of my servers with like 200+ clients could easily fit into your standard reseller plan as far as disk space and bandwidth is concerned. The CPU usage is the problem - that is when you should consider upping to a Dedicated server