5 Things to Consider in Choosing a Reseller Hosting Provider for your Web Hosting Business

Cost effectiveness, convenience, and scalability make reseller web hosting a hit among the entrepreneurs. For the uninitiated, Reseller hosting is a web hosting product in which the account owner can manage the bandwidth, cPanel, drive space and other monitoring tools to host multiple websites on behalf of third parties. This makes the web hosting reseller an agent who resells products and services to the hosting companies.

Is reseller hosting a good business idea?

Today, reselling hosting is considered a great business idea as it is logistically simple and involves minimal investment. It is perhaps the easiest way to get into the hosting business. The cost to set-up a reseller hosting business is minimal, as compared to other businesses. You also get to set up your own ‘Web Host Company,’ and have the complete freedom to expand the hosting business under your brand. The major advantage of this business is that all the technical undertakings including server maintenance, hardware setup, software upgradation, etc., is taken care of by the upstream host. So, even if you are not a hosting expert you can still opt to become a reseller.

Keeping all these benefits aside, reselling hosting is a very competitive field of business. Retaining customers in this domain can be quite tricky. As different clients have varying hosting needs, you need to ensure that the upstream hosting provider you have a tie-up with offers impeccable service.

5 Things to Look for in Reseller Hosting

Here are five attributes you should look for when narrowing down on an upstream hosting provider:

1. Good Uptime Score:

The first thing on your checklist should be the parent company’s uptime score. As a reseller, it is essential to opt for a 24×7 operating web host that operates on powerful servers and stable network connections. The minimum Uptime score should be above 99.5% percent. An uptime score below this may negatively impact your customer’s business.

2. Customizable Packages:

The need of every client or business is unique. So, as a reseller, you should be selling customized packages. Each plan should have assigned bandwidth, disk space, and emails along with a number of domains to it. Before customizing the packages, you must forecast the growth of your clientele. Also, you must keep the target group of your business in mind. These inputs will help you determine the bandwidth or storage space that your clients’ enterprise/website may eventually need.

To address the needs of your clients, check whether your parent firm offers customizable packages. This will help in scaling the services as per the requirement of your client. Also, check if your web host partner offers up gradation option. Many of your clients may grow over a period of time. In such scenario, you will be required to upgrade their plans as well.

3. Sound Customer Support:

Every client expects round-the-clock support and quick response in any business, which makes a sound grievance redressal and a robust client support system crucial facets of a reselling business. Keeping this aspect in mind the hosting partner should be able to offer sound customer support to you and your clients. After all, in reseller hosting business, you are the face of the parent web host. However, all critical backend processes are controlled by the parent web host. One-on-one contact and support should be offered to fix urgent issues instantly.

4. Regular maintenance:

The parent web host should be able to look after timely hardware setup, server maintenance, pushing software updates and implementing security measures efficiently. To ensure 24×7 operating servers, your upstream hosting provider also needs to ensure DDOS mitigation services, custom Firewall configuration, and Hyper Availability (H/A) with multiple redundancies.

5. Favorable Reviews:

Lastly, look for client reviews and try to find out what other clients have to say about the hosting company that you’re about to choose. Opt for an upstream host that has favorable reviews. Dig deeper into the number of years of experience and feedback related to client satisfaction. If the host has been infamous for network problems, security issues, and unplanned downtimes it is best to look for other providers in the market.

Reseller hosting is a quick and reliable way to set up a web hosting business. This idea particularly suits IT service providers as they have the technical expertise, infrastructure, and resources to add additional service to their brand. However, before you take the plunge, conduct thorough market research and look for an upstream host who is offering excellent service and competitive pricing. These are essential prerequisites to establishing your name as a hosting provider in the market.