Essential Tips for Those Starting a Reseller Hosting Business Online

Setting up an online business is not an easy game, let alone setting up a reseller business. When you decide to resell hosting from other data center providers, you are likely to come across a number of challenges. While most hosts will help you tackle these things, you will have unprecedented encounters that are bound to make your journey tougher. Given the amount of focus on data center services and reseller accounts, we knew it would be a good thing to dedicate an entire blog.

So, with this article, we aim at helping our resellers figure out their perfect host.

Here are key tips that will help you excel as resellers –

1. Do not start out blind

There’s an old saying that goes ‘test the waters before you dive’ or, in other words, know what you are doing so you do it right. When you first start your reseller business, make sure you know the competition prevailing in the market.

Analyze your competitors and identify customer pain points. Take it from a reseller consultant, not one person is going to buy from you unless you have that little extra to offer. The key is, if you are like everybody then why would anyone buy from you, especially when you are a new player in the market.

2. Operate on low margins

When you start, start low. Keep your operating margins low but good enough to keep your business viable. Most resellers that I know of started out with no profit, no loss model. This is essential because you need to develop a competitive reseller market. There is nothing more alluring than a product that is affordable.

Several resellers that I know invested their marketing budget and offered it as discounts on their hosting services. The move paid off and the tactic worked better than marketing would have worked.

3. Allow affiliates

Internet marketing is a relatively new domain. The amount of focus that has shifted towards the internet has caused marketers to realign their marketing strategy.

Affiliates are programs that allow third-party websites to redirect customers from their websites/blog to yours and, in turn, earn commissions. The amount of commission that each affiliate marketer earns may vary as per the mutually agreed terms.

No matter how effective your business is, always have an affiliate program – even Amazon has one. Reach out to marketers and pitch them affiliate programs. Ask them to get you customers and hand them a handsome payout. Become popular among affiliate marketers and you would eventually become popular among customers…unusual but effective.

4. Know your host’s business

Not all hosts are the same, nor are all customers. Some hosts offer excellent uptime, while some excellent customer service. It is therefore essential that you know what the ultimate selling propositions of your hosts are. Since your reseller hosting is almost entirely dependent on the original host, it is crucial that you know how they function.

For example: if you are planning to aim excellent customer service with your reseller business, look for a host that has an excellent customer service already. If you are specifically planning the high-uptime market, search for an appropriate data center service provider.

5. If possible, collocate your servers

More than half the hosts I know have co-located their servers. This is the easiest way out there to get started with the reseller hosting business.

There are two main advantages of starting out as resellers with colocation servers –

1. It offers more control than any other reseller hosting account.
2. You will have a better margin to operate because the expenditure is drastically reduced at your end.

Colocation, however, will come packed with its own challenges. For example, you will need to setup a reseller account from scratch and create your own website.

Need assistance setting up a reseller account? We are here for you. Drop us your contact info and we will help you with everything it takes to become a hosting reseller. We know what it takes to become a successful reseller.

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