Reseller webhosting can be a great way to earn some extra money on the side for your business or even a full time job once you get into it. Though this can be a great way to do business, it can come with some un-foreseen downsides and a whole lot more. Not to say that you can't be successful at it, but you must first take the steps to assure that down the road it doesn't ruin your business.
An important part when dealing with reseller hosting is that some of the control has been taken out of your hands. This is important because you have to trust in the company you are doing business with and this limits some of the things you can do. The worst thing you can face when reselling hosting is having a great amount of downtime.
How much uptime and downtime you have is really not for you to decide, as you are not the one looking over the server. The company you are going through may not be as professional as you and they figure what is a few hours of waiting to get your site up, right? The worse thing I have seen is clients sites going down and when you go to that company's website who you do business with, their site is down and you cannot get in contact with them. This can cause a lot of headaches for you and your clients, as well as cost your business.
The best thing to do before signing up with a hosting company is to get a list of reference sites to see if they go down. Also watch the company's site you are planning to go with and see if it ever goes down. If so, how quickly does it come back up? Another great thing to do is ask around, if the company has good or bad service, then there will be people out there to comment on them. Also, don't be afraid to email those people who had a problem with that hosting company and ask them what exactly happened.
Also when dealing with a company, make sure they offer a good list of services and features that you can offer to your clients. Check with them to see how flexible they are with different scenarios as well as adding on new features. Remember a good company will go the extra mile to show you that they can be trusted.
You can expect to pay between $20 and $120 per month to be a reseller hosting company. What this includes is 1. the right to sell hosting accounts to your own customers and 2. the ability to host your own sites at no additional cost. The monthly cost will be dependent upon the amount of space and bandwith you intend to use. Do not fall for the false statement of unlimited bandwidth. If your site or a customers site uses excessive bandwidth then you will get dropped one way or the other. This could jeopardize every domain you set up on your account. It should be fine to start with a small reseller package and upgrade as your business requires more space and bandwidth. Check with the hosting company to determine that this option is openly available.
An additional thing to check is whether you are going to be a reseller of the source of the hosting or a reseller of a reseller. You will be able to provide a more reliable service if you are dealing directly with the company that is in charge of the diagnostics and maintenance of the equipment you are relying on. Ask the host if they are the source and where their equipment is located.
Starting your own hosting company is very simple these days. It does not require alot of technical ability as you are not dealing with the actual servers or hardware. As long as you are using a reputable reliable hosting company and you follow up on all customer support inquiries you will build a good client base that will choose to stay with you. Their success depends on you.
)