You’re the webmaster of more than one website. You
design websites for clients. Your business needs more than one site.
Is a web host reseller account for you?
What is a web host
reseller account?
A web host reseller account is a web
hosting account that allows you to create hosting packages to sell
to your clients. You can also host multiple sites of your own using
the disk space allotted to the one hosting account.
Typical features of web host reseller
accounts:
They come with a reseller-level control
panel that allows you to create your own packages.
You can
allocate disk space and bandwidth to each site on the account and
change the space and bandwidth specifications if the site’s needs
change.
Most reseller accounts provide the option for
private nameservers (also called private label, personalized
nameservers, or virtual nameservers). For example, if your reseller
account is with SomeName Hosting and your company name is
ExampleName Services, your clients will enter ns1.examplename.com
and ns2.examplename.com for the nameservers for their domains.
With a web host reseller account, you handle account setup,
billing, and (usually) support for your clients. Your web host
provider maintains the servers and answers your support questions.
While a few starter reseller hosting packages are as small
as 500 MB, most reseller providers offer packages starting at 1 GB
or larger. A range of packages is usually available, a few going as
high as 30 GB of disk space.
Who should become a web
host reseller?
1. Individuals or businesses
with more than one website
If you have more than one
website and the total disk space you need is 500 MB or more, you can
benefit from having a reseller account. The cost for web hosting is
lower than if you have individual accounts for each site. Also, you
can adjust the disk space and bandwidth allocations for each site.
2. Related service providers
A reseller
account is also useful for people who provide related services. If
you’re a web designer, for example, why stop at designing sites?
Provide your clients with web hosting under your company name, and
you continue to earn revenue from your web design clients.
Let’s say that you pay $40 a month for a 3-GB reseller
account. If you offer 30 100-MB packages at $7 a month, you could
earn up to $170 a month (after subtracting your cost) from that
reseller account. Add on additional services such as search engine
optimization and website maintenance, and your revenue increases
again.
Advantages and disadvantages of having a
reseller account
Advantages
*You can have more
flexibility with your web hosting accounts.
*You can save money.
*You can earn more revenue at little cost to yourself.
*You
can focus on customer support and leave technical support to your
web host.
*Your web host, not you, absorbs server maintenance
costs.
Disadvantages
*Your service is only as good
as your upstream provider. If the server is frequently down, for
example, you may lose clients.
*If you ever have to change web
hosts, the move will be an inconvenience for your clients as well as
for yourself.
Steps to becoming a web host reseller
You’ve decided to get a reseller web hosting
account to resell web space. What now? Here’s a step-by-step
guide.
1. Choose the platform you want to
use.
More open source software programs are available
for Linux than for Windows, which makes Linux less expensive. While
most programs (Perl, PHP, Flash, etc.) run on both platforms, a few
run on only Windows or Linux. A site that requires ASP or MS Access,
for example, requires a Windows platform.
2. Choose
the control panel you want to use.
Control panels for
websites range from very basic to loaded with features. As a
reseller, you’ll also have a control panel for you to set up and
control hosting accounts.
In Choosing Your Hosting Automation
Software, we compare several control panels, all of which offer good
features for web host resellers.
3. Choose your web
host.
The web host company that you choose for your
reseller account is a key decision — your business success depends
on the quality of your host. Factors to consider when choosing a web
host for a reseller account:
*The platform and control panel
*Account features
*The company’s reputation — search for
online reviews by clients
*The record of server uptime
*The
level of support — how fast does tech support respond to support
requests, especially time-sensitive ones?
*Flexibility — does
the web host have packages that allow you to upgrade when your needs
increase? Will they customize plans if necessary?
*How long the
web host has been in business — while a new web host may be very
good, many web hosting businesses fail within the first year
*Price — consider what is included in the price
*Get Started
with reseller hosting.
4. Set up your hosting plans
and prices
Divide your bandwidth by your disk space
to find out the ratio of bandwidth to disk space that you can offer.
Take into account any ratios that differ if you upgrade to a larger
package, and then base your packages on that ratio.
For
pricing, consider what competitors charge, but also factor in any
additional services you’ll be offering.
5. Develop a
business website
You have three main choices for website
development:
Create a website using an existing website
template
*Hire a designer or a design company to design your
site for you
*If you have web design skills, design your site
yourself
*Include all the information that clients will want to
know about your services and company.
6. Make your
site e-commerce ready
To be able to accept payments for
hosting accounts, you’ll to set up:
*An SSL certificate
*A merchant account
*A payment gateway
7.
Set up a helpdesk
A helpdesk allows clients to contact
you with support requests and you to track and respond to those
requests.
8. Set up billing
With an
automated billing system, clients are billed and payments are
registered with little effort on your part. Most billing software
licenses are priced per month or per year, with some billing
software companies offering prices for lifetime
licenses.
Some popular billing and payment processing
systems:
*Modernbill http://www.modernbill.com/
*ClientExec
http://www.clientexec.com/
*WHM.Autopilot
http://www.whmautopilot.com/
*Whois.Cart
http://www.whoiscart.net/
When you choose a billing software
program, check if it’s compatible with your server platform and if
support is included.
9. Create a welcome
email
After you set up hosting accounts for your
clients, you’ll need to send them a welcome email. Include in this
email:
*A confirmation of the plan details
*The
nameserver names
*A username and temporary password
*A link
to the control panel
*Links to your knowledge base / FAQ and to
your helpdesk
10. Market your
website
Submit your site to search engines. Tell your
family, friends, and business acquaintances about your website.
Include a link to it in your signature line in outgoing emails. But
don’t stop there — market your website
http://www.marketingcontrolpanel.com via incoming links,
advertising, newsletters, and special offers. |