Reseller Hosting: What is it?
Selling hosting packages to customers can be a profitable venture. However, sourcing and configuring hosting hardware and software can be expensive and challenging. With reseller hosting, you can offer services that rely on existing infrastructure, and still provide an excellent user experience.
What is Reseller Hosting?
Reseller hosting is a web hosting type in which the clients buy various web hosting plans in bulk from the web hosting service provider. The web host then resells the web hosting plan dividing it into parts. The web hosting company providing the reseller plan is the merchant company. You being the reseller, are called the reseller host.
When you work as a reseller web host, you might look like a reliable web hosting firm to your customers. In reality, you would be “reselling” the services of a well-known web host. Typically, you acquire a reseller hosting plan and then use the assigned resources to provide hosting to clients.
How does it work?
It works as a wholesale subscription to a reseller hosting plan from a hosting provider. The plan will include storage space, bandwidth, and the number of website allocations. It may also have free SSL certificates, automatic backups, and specialized customer support.
You are responsible for setting your prices and conditions, providing customer support, and managing your website. The parent hosting company provides and manages the underlying hosting infrastructure and may also provide technical support to you.
Some reseller hosting providers will charge a flat monthly fee based on your preferred package, while others will charge on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Benefits of Reseller Hosting
It’s time to look closer at how and why your company could benefit from this kind of business arrangement.
Affordability
Starting a traditional web hosting business is not a cheap endeavor. The high costs of securing physical storage for your hosting infrastructure, purchasing expensive servers and network equipment, and hiring staff to manage and market your services are barriers to entry for many. If you start your own hosting business as a reseller, though, you won’t have to worry about all those upfront infrastructure costs. The hosting provider handles most of them, leaving you free to concentrate on growing your business and serving your customers.
Manageability
Unlike Virtual Private Servers (VPS) and other multiple domain hosting plans, reseller web hosting makes it easier for you to manage your clients. Each of them is assigned unique accounts for their website hosting plans. You can administer each of these accounts without having to ask for login credentials every time there’s an issue. You simply have to manage customers and allocate resources.
Scalability
The great thing about reseller hosting programs is they can be scaled up as your hosting business grows. You can start with a smaller, more affordable plan and migrate to a higher tier when your customer needs exceed your current capacity.
Responsibility
If you were to build and manage your hosting infrastructure yourself, it would mean your company would be solely responsible for its maintenance and security. But as a reseller, you don’t have to worry about maintaining and updating your servers around the world. That job is handled by the web hosting provider who will ensure that all the hardware is always secure and up to date.
What’s the difference between Shared and Reseller Hosting?
Some people sometimes think that they are similar, but they aren’t. There’s a clear difference between hosting a certain website to make it live and accessible for users online (shared hosting), and offering hosting services as a business to website owners (reseller hosting).
For shared hosting, you share a server with other users. This is the most common type of hosting and the most affordable for many.
Let’s say that Site A will be located on the same server as other sites; in this case, Site A also shares resources like bandwidth and storage space with other sites within the same server.
On the contrary, reseller hosting is when someone buys a package from a hosting provider and then resells it to other users.
This type of hosting is more expensive, but it gives you more control over your server and resources. You can even customize your package to include additional features and services.
Conclusion
Reseller hosting is a dynamic and lucrative business opportunity that has gained significant traction in the web hosting industry. In considering a venture into reseller hosting, aspiring entrepreneurs should carefully assess their business plan, technical capabilities, and commitment to customer service. When executed effectively, it can be a rewarding endeavor with the potential for long-term success. So, make an informed decision, and take advantage of this exciting business opportunity in the web hosting world.