|
|
Article : Started With Reseller Hosting
Reseller Hosting
allows you to host multiple websites which in most
cases is impossible with regular Shared Hosting;
most Reseller Hosting packages also allow you to
create separate sub-user accounts for each website
allowing you in effect to resell your assigned web
space onto your clients – reseller hosting is seen
as the starting point for web hosts. Getting started
with reseller hosting can be a complicated task
because of the many factors which you have to take
into consideration when planning your web hosting
business. Most webmasters and website designers
would like to setup their own hosting business
because of the appeal that it could have to their
existing customer base, but don’t have the necessary
skills to administer a dedicated server; this is the
audience which reseller hosting is designed for – it
allows you to host multiple websites for multiple
clients, yet the administration of the hosting
server is normally taken care of by the web host
itself. To get started with your reseller hosting
package, you need to make sure that you have a
billing package of some sort and are able to receive
support requests via any form of communication,
whether it be phone or email; you also need to have
your own active website so that the general public
are able to find your web hosting plans, and
purchase them if they find that they suite their
needs. Once those two pre-requisites have been
checked and complete, you can get on with starting
out with your reseller package.
Where to Start
In general, your main starting point for getting
starting with your reseller hosting package should
be organising packages so that your web space can be
divided up and sold on to clients; this process can
be a lengthy one since you have to take into account
the space and bandwidth that you have been provided
as well as the likely needs of your clients. As well
as the specifications of your web hosting packages,
you should think about the different features which
are provided such as an auto-script installer or a
statistics tracking system. You will need to
remember that all your clients have different needs,
and you will most likely have people coming to you
asking for custom hosting quotes – this is something
which you should train prepare yourself for so that
you quote the right price. You will also need to
work out different pricing scenarios so that at the
end of the day the prices you charge are making you
a profit so that you can continue to pay for your
reseller package but also have some money which you
can keep for yourself as well as an amount which you
can then invest back into your venture so that you
can upgrade to a VPS or dedicated server when the
time comes; working out the pricing structure of
your business is critical to your success, because
setting your prices too low can result in little to
no profit leaving you out of pocket and could result
in the business failing altogether.
Your Website
Your website is the first thing your customers see
before they order any of your hosting packages; it
is for this reason that it is important that you
make it look as good as possible and that you use it
to show case your hosting packages and any other
products or services that you wish to sell. As well
as having a good looking website, you should also
make sure that all the text on the site is free from
spelling errors and is readable as well as
grammatically correct. Your website should be the
place where your TOS, AUP and privacy policy are
located so that they can be viewed by both current
and prospective customers. SEO and link backs should
also be used to ensure that your website receives
the highest Google PageRank available and to ensure
that it gets ranked high within search results -
both of which can lead to increased custom.
Selling Domains
Selling domains can give your web hosting business a
big boost and will definitely help you to make the
most out of your reseller package, the main reason
being that you can make a large profit out of
selling domains alone. To begin selling domains, you
must first sign up with a reseller registrar such as
eNom or DirectI; eNom accounts are pricey but you
can normally get a free one through your web host,
DirectI accounts on the other hand are completely
free. Once you have chosen a reseller registrar, you
should then move on to choosing a billing package
which can then register the domains for you.
Billing Software
Once you have your hosting packages and prices
sorted, you will need to choose a billing package so
that you can bill your web hosting customers as well
as manage them with ease; there are many different
web host billing systems on the market so choosing
the right one can be difficult. You should always
make an informed choice when choosing your billing
software, meaning that you should always read
reviews of the software which you are thinking of
buying over at forums such as Web Hosting Talk, and
also on the testimonials section of the software
vendor’s forums. Things which you should take into
consideration when looking around for a billing
package include whether the package supports the
control panel you are using, the domain registrar
gateway you are using and what payment gateways are
supported by the package; these 3 factors are the
most important because you want to make sure that
you are able to interact with your server from the
package so that tasks such as auto-setup will run,
registering domains is also something that most
billing packages do so you must make sure that the
one you choose supports the domain gateway which you
are planning on using. Considering the available
payment gateways within the package is important as
well since you want to be able to receive payments
from your customers online.
Legal Documents
Any hosting business, whether it is large or small,
has several publicly-viewable legal documents
accessible at all times; all clients agree to them
whilst signing up for a hosting plan. These
documents are known as TOS (Terms of Service), AUP
(Acceptable Usage Policy) and then the standard
privacy policy which nearly every business carries.
A TOS normally consists of the full terms of the
business including issues related to billing,
support and ownership of the contents of websites as
well as the minimum age a customer must be; AUPs
normally consist of information to how a customer
may use their allocated web space, the detailed
information normally covers issues such as server
overloading, the hosting of illegal content, the
hosting of adult content and bandwidth overages; the
privacy policy should consist of a description of
what information is collected when a visitor visits
your website and whether the information is passed
on to third parties, and if that is the case then
the third parties should also be stated – the
sharing of information section should also be
extended to cover information which is entered on
the purchase of a domain or web hosting package. It
is always good practice to have the three listed
legal documents in place and easily viewable by
anyone because it can give the customer assurance as
well as giving you as a business something to fall
back on or to refer to if a customer is no longer
wanted because of reasons which you should always
state within your TOS and AUP.
Conclusion
With the use of affordable web hosting packages
along with a website where SEO has been applied in
an effective way with an appealing design, you
should receive a good amount of visitors which
should lead to a good amount of custom at your
benefit. Also, with the implementation of reselling
domains and other services you should build a solid
hosting business; all of these factors added
together will help you make the host of your
reseller package.
| |
| |
|
