Article
Website Hosting
What Is Reseller Hosting

What is Reseller Hosting? And How Does It Work?

Last updated on April 14th, 2023 by RGB Web Tech

Reseller web hosting is an option that involves one company (a hosting provider) renting hard drive space and bandwidth to another company (small-midsize business), who then rents the space to third parties (entrepreneurs-small business). Simply put, reseller hosting is the ability to provide hosting to your own clients as if you yourself were the web hosting company.

This is typical for aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start their own web hosting firm or for current web developers and designers who desire to add additional services to their brand.

Advantages of Reseller Hosting

1. Cost : Plans for reseller hosting are fairly cheap. This is why they’re a good option for people looking to get into the web hosting business. Additionally, it simplifies things because you don’t have to purchase the technology, infrastructure, and equipment usually needed to become a web hosting service provider.

2. Focus on the Business : When you choose reseller hosting you can focus on the business aspects rather than the technical aspects of running a web hosting business. This is because all of the tasks related to updates, server maintenance, connectivity, security and so forth, are the responsibility of the web hosting service you’ve rented or purchased from.

3. Room to Expand : If you have a website that gets a lot of traffic, has a lot of pages or your business has several sites, reseller hosting will provide you with a larger number of features and space. For instance, you can run different parts of your sites from different URLs and different servers without having to purchase additional hosting plans.

4. Additional Features : In comparison to basic hosting plans, reseller hosting has a greater number of features. The control panel for the website will also be more powerful, enabling you to manage your site more effectively. Furthermore, a lot of companies will offer unlimited SSL certificates as well as features such as Cpanel.

5. Build Your Brand : Although you’re selling the resources of another web hosting service provider, reseller hosting lets you build your own identity and brand. Essentially, this means that clients won’t know that you’re renting from another web hosting company.

6. Income Opportunities : It’s possible to make additional profit from reseller hosting by selling add-ons such as SSL Certificates, Dedicated Hosting, VPS Hosting, Dedicated IP, domain name registrations, etc.

Disadvantages of Reseller Hosting

1. You’re Dependent on the Original Web Hosting Company : The quality of the original web hosting company will determine the success of your business. This means that if their server regularly goes down or if there are a lot of technical issues, your business will be affected.

2. You’ll Need to Dedicate Time to Customer Service : If you’re providing a web hosting service, even if it's reseller hosting, you’re still responsible for answering questions from clients. If you don’t take the time to answer these questions correctly, it could ruin your business.

3. High Level of Difficulty : Unless you’re an expert at running a website you’re going to find the features and control panels of reseller hosting difficult.

4. Changing Providers will Affect Your Clients : If you decide to change your web hosting provider you have to shift all the data from your clients. This can be incredibly difficult so it’s recommended that you have a dedicated server or Virtual Private Server (VPS). Having a dedicated server or VPS will make it easier to change providers but it does make things more expensive.

5. Limited Access to the Server : You are going to have to go through your web hosting service provider for most things because reseller hosting only offers limited access to the server.

How Do You Make Money as a Reseller?

Nobody is going to pretend you’re going to get rich with reseller hosting but you can make extra income from it. You also gain an income from those clients attracted by the complete packages a web designer can offer that includes site setup and hosting in one.

Essentially, if you offer full managed hosting to your customers, you can charge a premium as compared to standard hosting, where you would charge let’s say $50/month to each client, but handle all their technical needs and maintenance, such as upgrades of core CMS, plugins, backups, security, etc.

Your residential income depends on the wholesale price you pay to the host and the maximum your market can sustain. As mentioned, some hosts charge a monthly maintenance fee for reseller hosting accounts but many don’t. It pays to research the market, what’s on offer and at what price before you settle on one provider.

Most reseller accounts are scalable so you can start small when you first launch your offering and scale up only when you need to. This is a cost-effective way to do business and keeps your costs down as much as possible.

How to Choose the Best Reseller Hosting?

If you have your business plan in order then the main task left to you is to choose the best reseller hosting for your needs. When you’re considering a web hosting service that has reseller plans make sure to check for the following:

Does the reseller have a solid reputation for reseller hosting?
Does the hosting service have a plan that meets your budget and hosting needs?
Do they have a good software interface to manage your reseller account?
If you’re not satisfied, do they have a money-back guarantee?
Do you have access to technical support? What kinds of support services? Phone/email/chat?
If your business grows and requires an upgrade, will they provide an upgrade path for your hosting service?

Choosing a service is often a matter of personal preference and perspective, but this checklist should help lead you to a reseller host that will provide the solution you need.

FAQs - Reseller Hosting

1. What is reseller hosting?

Answer : Reseller web hosting is an option that involves one company (a hosting provider) renting hard drive space and bandwidth to another company (small-midsize business), who then rents the space to third parties (entrepreneurs-small business). Simply put, reseller hosting is the ability to provide hosting to your own clients as if you yourself were the web hosting company. This is typical for aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start their own web hosting firm or for current web developers and designers who desire to add additional services to their brand.

2. How does reseller hosting work?

Answer : Here are the (perhaps over-simplified) steps to establishing a reseller business:
1. Research and select a hosting company.
2. Purchase the reseller package that meets the goals of your business.
3. Know and understand your target market to locate your new customers.
4. Create your own branded hosting packages.
5. Decide your price.
6. Sell hosting packages to your clients.
7. Earn profit

3. What’s included in a reseller package?

Answer : Below are some of the common features often included in Reseller packages:
1. Disc Space
2. Bandwidth
3. Domain Hosting
4. Ability to brand your own web hosting company with the hosting provider company unknown to your client (also known as “white label”)
5. Latest cPanel control panel.
6. Manage your own plans and configure different accounts based on your needs.
7. Pass on features to your own clients such as email, control panel, additional scripts and monitoring tools.
8. Premium support (usually 24/7) offered by hosting providers.

4. Will my clients know it’s me…or my hosting company?

Answer : They will believe it’s you! You see, you can run your own hosting business under your banner and brand without your clients knowing who your actual upstream hosting provider is. This gives you total control in promoting your business with your name written all over it!

5. Do I need to be a hosting expert to succeed at this?

Answer : Nope. Your provider will handle all the backend, “dirty” work, so you can focus on building your business. Server hardware, connectivity, network infrastructure, hardware setup and maintenance, security and updates for your servers are all addressed by your web hosting provider. It’s a good idea to check into these things as you do your research to ensure that you’ll receive the best tech support if certain issues arise…and they likely will.

6. If my business grows, can I upgrade at any time?

Answer : Absolutely…you can upgrade your reseller hosting account at any moment to expand with the demands of your business.

7. How do I get started?

Answer : To get started, you simply follow the steps outlined in FAQ-2. The foundation to your success will lie in choosing a good reseller web hosting provider that not only meets the objectives of your business, but can provide you with consistent, reliable service and support because it's your name that is on the line when dealing with your customers. Choose wisely…which leads to the final FAQ…

8. How do I choose the best hosting provider?

Answer : It’s important to know that you can offer your own customers the best possible web hosting experience prior to building your clientele. Here are just some qualities to keep in mind when searching for your reseller web hosting service:
1. Easy to use cPanel
2. At least 1 site builder
3. Satisfaction guarantee
4. Private nameservers
5. Brandable client panel
6. 24/7/365 impeccable support
7. A 99.999% uptime guarantee
8. Fully managed services

Conclusion

In sum, reseller hosting can be lucrative if you’re looking to get into the web hosting business or if you’re a developer or designer. However, it is a lot of work and is certainly not for everyone. Make sure you research web hosting service providers to ensure they can offer your site optimal performance and make sure you’re comfortable with advanced website controls.