If you’re a web developer and you want to expand your business, offering web hosting services to clients is a winning situation for both of you.
As a developer, you can make recurring income by selling web hosting space to your existing clients, or you can court new clients for a package deal of your services. This is a great addition to your developer services because your clients won’t have to set up a hosting account on their own. This is particularly beneficial for your non-tech savvy customers.
The great thing is that you don’t have to start a million-dollar company to sell web hosting space. Instead, you can sign up for a reseller web hosting service and rent hosting space to your customers.
This article will demonstrate how to build a web hosting business using reseller hosting. However, before we do that, let’s look at what exactly reseller hosting is.
What is Reseller Web Hosting?
Reseller web hosting lets you sell white-labeled hosting services to your clients under your own brand name. This is the ideal option for people who want to get into the web hosting business but don’t want to invest in expensive resources for managing servers and hosting infrastructures.
The way it works is, you purchase hosting space from a web hosting provider, and then you divide up and sublease that space to your clients. Most web hosts will offer reseller plans where they offer a wholesale rate for hosting space.
Another way to look at reseller hosting is to look at it as though the hosting space were a building. You rent the building from a large corporation, paying a monthly fee to do. You then divide the building into different compartments and charge people to rent each compartment for their uses.
What To Consider Before Starting Your Hosting Business
There are a few things you need to think about when you start your hosting business.
- All web hosts are not created equal. Therefore, you must make sure you choose the reseller hosting provider that can best meet your needs.
- Select a provider that offers white-labeled reseller plans, so your customers don’t know they’re on a reseller hosting service.
- Ensure that the hosting company you choose offers technical support 24/7/365.
- Figure out how much you want to charge clients for your plans.
Building a Reseller Web Hosting Business
Step 1: Get a Website
If you don’t already have a business website, you’ll need one to promote your reseller hosting business.
Step 2: Select a Reseller Hosting Plan
After you’ve set up your business website, the next step is to choose a reseller hosting plan from the web hosting provider of your choice.
Step 3: Change the DNS
If you’ve registered your domain name with your hosting provider, you can skip this step. However, if you registered your domain name with another registrar, your next step will be to change your DNS. This process can take between 24 and 48 hours.
Step 4: Build Web Hosting Packages
The next step is to create hosting packages for your clients. It’s recommended that you create a minimum of three different pricing options. Each package should allocate specific resources such as disk quota, monthly bandwidth, number of email accounts, etc.
Step 5: Upload a Client’s Website
When a client decides to use your web hosting services, you will need to use an FTP client or cPanel to add your client’s site to your reseller hosting account.
Before you hand over your client’s account credentials, you may want to customize the web hosting interface with your own logo and branding. This will help your customers identify you as their hosting provider rather than the host you purchased the reseller account from.
Summary
Reseller hosting is the easiest way to build a web hosting business. With reseller hosting, you purchase hosting space from a large web host, divide it up, and sublease the portions to your own clients. To build your business, you will first need a website to advertise your services. You will then need to find a reseller plan, create hosting packages, and lastly upload your clients’ website to your reseller account.
