The Ups and Downs of Reseller Hosting

There are many options for hosting your website these days - shared hosting, dedicated hosting, VPS hosting.  Each type of service will provide a means for you to upload your content to a server and make your pages accessible on the internet.  Contrary to popular belief, this can be achieved with a reseller account as well.  With a reseller account, not only can you host multiple sites for yourself, but sell plans to other clients.  Many small business owners have learned to profit from these services and went onto become successful web hosting providers.

What You Get with Reseller Hosting

A reseller account offers benefits to all walks of life - those with little knowledgeable about the web hosting industry and experienced professionals as well.  One of the biggest advantages to this type of plan is that its more flexible than shared hosting and more affordable than VPS and dedicated server hosting.   With an abundance of reseller plans available for under $30 per month, beginners are able to get into the web hosting business for next to nothing.

When signing up with a reliable company, your job as a reseller will be easier.  A respectable provider will set you up with many of the features of a VPS or dedicated hosting account such as a powerful control panel.  With a program like cPanel or Plesk, you can manage the accounts of all your clients and also provide them with control panels to manage their own sites.  Whether it’s creating hosting packages or checking on monthly resource usage, these tasks can all be performed from one location.

What You Risk with Reseller Hosting

The benefits of reseller hosting make it a very attractive option but there are disadvantages you should be aware of.  One major downside is the fact that reselling is essentially a form of shared hosting, as all of your clients are running their sites on a single web server.  Aside from your business, there are likely to be other resellers operating on the same server.  When examining these factors, it is safe to conclude that reseller hosting isn’t the most reliable solution.  The heavy load on a server could negatively impact your clients which results in bad news for you.   Business owners who are concerned about resource usage may be better off with a VPS or dedicated server.  Even though you can host multiple sites with a reseller account, keep in mind that the server does have its limits.

Another disadvantage of reseller hosting is the lack of root access, a luxury that is typically enjoyed on VPS and dedicated servers.  This means that you are unable to install your own software or scripting languages and are basically limited to what the reseller host provides.  If you are limited, your clients will be as well.

As reseller hosting has become more common, providers are developing more robust solutions to compensate for the disadvantages highlighted in this article.  You will find that companies have a maximum amount of clients allowed on a single server while others offer reseller packages on dedicated servers.  If this is something you’re really interested in, there is sure to be a web host that can make the transition as smooth as possible.

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Dec 19, 2008 : Reseller Web Hosting No responses yet

How to Become a Web Host

You probably ran across many different companies when looking for a place to host your website.  Looking at all the monthly fees, you begin to wonder if any of these web hosting companies are making money.  The answer is a definite yes.  In fact, web hosting is a multi-million dollar per year industry, employing thousands of people and essentially powering the internet.  The primary focus of these companies is to provide around-the-clock service to make sure the sites of corporations and personal users are accessible to the world.

If you’re struggling with ideas of how to profit on the internet, getting into the web hosting business is a good place to start.  It’s easier than you may think but there are some critical phases that must be completed in order to succeed.

Phase 1

Your first step is to find a provider that offers a reseller account.  With reselling, you purchase a hosting plan at anywhere from $25 to $100 per month which gets you a certain amount of features and server capacity.  After purchasing a plan, you have the power to divide up the provided space and sell hosting accounts to other businesses and personal users.  Most companies will set you up with a control panel that allows you to manage the accounts of your clients with ease.  Some will also refer a merchant account provider, enabling you to process online credit card payments from your clients.  A good company will set you up with all the tools need to run your business just like a traditional web hosting provider.

Phase 2

After signing up a few customers and establishing your business, it’s time to step up into the big leagues.  This means you need to invest into a dedicated server.  This arena gives you far more flexibility as your business does not have to compete with other resellers on the provider’s shared server.  When you reach this second phase, your best bet would be to install reseller control panel software such as Ensim or Plesk to effectively manage your clients and the server itself.  Although a reseller account on a dedicated server will be more expensive, several companies have dropped the price on these plans, some offering accounts for around $100 per month.

Phase 3

When profiting with your reseller account on a dedicated server, you just may be established enough to become a certified web hosting provider.  This reward often comes with a huge investment of capital.  You have the option of renting out a data center to store your servers and network equipment or building a facility of your own.  Of course this requires a lot of dedication, but if you’ve made it this far, you already know the reward is well worth it.

As of 2006 there was reported to be well over 8,000 web hosting companies through out the globe.  Do you have that competitive edge?  If so, a reseller account just could be your ticket to success.

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Dec 04, 2008 : Reseller Web Hosting No responses yet

Reseller Mistakes to Avoid

Reseller accounts offer aspiring entrepreneurs a simple and affordable way to get into the web hosting business.  How does it work?  You purchase an account and a host provides you with space on their server to sell hosting plans of your own.  While several business owners have used reselling as their vehicle to success, there are many more who have failed.   To prevent becoming another statistic in the latter, there are a few critical mistakes that must be avoided.

An Unprofessional Site

Having an unprofessional website is a crucial blow against any business and especially a reseller.  At the same time, this is also one of the most common mistakes.  If you are trying to present yourself as professional web host, your site needs to reflect it.  One too many resellers have failed due to unprofessional designs, spelling errors and broken links.  Others don’t get the results they are after because their sites are difficult to navigate and don’t clearly explain the purpose of their business.  As a reseller, you need to make sure your presentation is together with a professional site that is easy to surf through.  If you want clients to purchase your hosting plans, make the needed forms and shopping carts accessible.  Additionally, you could establish more credibility with an About Us page with some background information on your company.

Too Many Ads

One surefire way to scare off potential customers is to litter your business homepage with advertisements.  This is something you generally find on free hosting services and may send the wrong message to your visitors.  If anything, going crazy with ads will blemish your credibility and make people think twice about doing business with you.  Unless you are running a special promotion on your hosting plans, ads should be avoided at all costs.

Doing Too Much

Even if your goal is to become a successful provider, always remember that you simply can’t complete with larger web hosting companies.  Don’t make the mistake of trying to beautify your plans with unlimited bandwidth and disk space.  Instead, focus on providing mid-level hosting plans that target your niche market accordingly.  If you want to capitalize on the popularity of blogging, find a reseller host that offers some of today’s hottest blog engines.  If you think clients would prefer an easier hosting solution, look for a provider that offers technologies such as FrontPage extensions or PHP programming.   More than likely, these individuals are not after the most bandwidth, storage or even the cheapest price, but a provider that caters to their specific needs.  Knowing what your ideal client is looking for is the key to reseller success.

Lack of Research

One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a reseller is not doing your homework.  Instead of signing up with the first attractive provider you run across, search around the net and seek out the most reliable hosts.  Check out a few reviews and find out what other resellers are saying about a particular company.  Rash decisions could leave you and your customers frustrated and eventually out of business.

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Nov 20, 2008 : Reseller Web Hosting No responses yet

The Benefits of Windows Reseller Hosting

It looks as if the battle of Windows and Linux has spilled over to the reseller hosting arena.  Although Linux is a popular hosting choice well known for its flexibility and stability, resellers may find that the Windows system offers advantages that could make it a more viable solution.

Easy Management

Providers such as ResellerChoice offer all-in-one solutions on the Windows platform.  For example, reseller customers are not required to administer multiple accounts to keep track of their clients, whereas the operation is generally spread amongst various control panels with Linux.  This make things quick and easy by allowing you to manage the accounts of all your clients from a centralized interface, saving you the time of not having to switch back and forth.  Windows reseller hosting supports a wide range applications scripted in various languages and development tools.  This gives you the ability to run a site scripted in PHP and driven by MySQL databases right beside your Microsoft technologies.

Professional Programming Tools

One of the biggest advantages Windows gives to the reseller is the use of ASP and ASP.Net.  These tools are more powerful than the average language and are able to create dynamic web pages with ease; technologies that are not widely available on a Linux server.  ASP and ASP.Net also work well with some of the most popular content management systems, allowing you to create sites that exceed the norm.

When hosting your reseller account on Windows, you will generally have access to the latest technology which can be added to your services.  You can offer Exchange 2007 to your clients along with services such as ActiveSync, Push Technology, SharePoint and Windows Mobile.  These additional services give you a more efficient means of marketing your professional hosting service and can go a long way at bringing in extra income.

Another reason more resellers are flocking to the Windows is because of the SQL Server, Microsoft’s database management system.  This software has proven to be very efficient and reliable at handling a wide variety of complex applications.  MS SQL is one of the fastest growing solutions on the database market, able to give you the competitive edge needed with a reseller account.

Power and Flexibility

In comparison to Linux, a Windows-based control panel acts a clustered solution, powered by Microsoft’s AD (Active Directory) technology.  This simply means that the platform is designed for Enterprise level hosting, offering enough flexibility that is able to meet the demands of your growing business right from the start.

Linux will always make a solid choice whether it’s for a shared, dedicated or reseller accounts.  At the same time, you should also know that the Windows platform can provide solutions that just might work out better for you and your clients.  When partnering with a reseller host making use of this platform, you are essentially offering your clients a wealth of opportunities to benefit from - the latest technology along with the capacity their businesses need to grow.  If you desire a high-quality reseller solution able to endure the long-term, look no further than the Windows OS.

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Nov 13, 2008 : Reseller Web Hosting No responses yet

Why You May Want a Reseller Account

Although reseller accounts are designed for individuals looking to ease into the web hosting industry, there are many reasons why other online business owners should give it careful consideration as well.  Aside from providing benefits to the seller, this type of hosting offers huge benefits to anyone looking to run an online business.  In this article we will discuss why you may want to skip over the conventional shared host and invest into a reseller account.

Affordable Multiple Domain Hosting

There are a number of business owners that have a need to run multiple websites.  More than likely, they will need to purchase several web hosting accounts in order to accomplish this.  Some choose to buy additional accounts with their current provider while others seek out different companies.  This means they might have to work with different control panels and other software, making their job as a webmaster far more demanding.  Not to mention the fact that paying for all of those separate accounts becomes very expensive when considering that most companies want you to pay for service on an annual basis.  A reseller hosting plan makes a perfect solution to this issue as you are provided with a generous amount of server space - enough to sell to other clients and build multiple sites of your own as well.

When comparing the rates, reseller hosting becomes even more attractive.  There are currently reseller plans that cost as low as $30 per month and allow you to host up to 100 domains.  A plan such as this may also give you 30 GB of monthly bandwidth and 3 GB of disk storage.  While this is very nice package, you can find easily find reseller deals that offer an even greater value.

Your Business Your Way

The mere concept of reseller hosting is a turn off for many small business owners.  They cringe at the thought of having to act as a provider and sell hosting packages, believing they will fail and end up stuck with all that extra space.  The reality is that you don’t have to sell it.  And if you choose to, those packages can be set at your own prices.  If you are not all that confident about selling space from a reseller account at $10 a month, you can make your service more tempting at only $3 a month.  Gather up 10 customers and you have the cost for your monthly reseller account - anything after that is all profit.  Many providers will set you up with advertising tools and allow you to brand your name into the business, a helpful boost than can make reselling much easier than you imagined.

Reseller hosting is an ideal hosting solution for most online businesses today.  When doing business with a reliable company, you will be provided with all the resources needed to support your business and compensate for its growth as well.  This is especially important as all that heavy traffic takes a toll on your precious bandwidth.  With a reseller account, you can rely on the fact that you are receiving a generous yet accurate capacity suitable for you and your clients.

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Nov 04, 2008 : Reseller Web Hosting No responses yet