Reseller Web Hosting – Pros and Cons

Reseller web hosting is not for everyone but it is becoming more and more popular in the hosting and web design industry. Many web developers, marketers and web designers purchase reseller web hosting since it is a great way of offering their clients a complete package and making extra money. Reseller web hosting comes with both pros and cons - here are five points representing both sides.

The Pros

• The first, and probably most obvious, advantage with reseller web hosting is that it can be very profitable. The hosting itself is not expensive and when offering it with something extra, like web designing services, you will be able to sell it at a much higher price.
• If you want, you could stick your name or logo to everything you create, also called white labeling. Remember though that doing this can damage your credibility if done poorly. Running a branded hosting with flare and passion will successfully increase the strength of your brand.
• High costs, such as server maintenance, will still be the headache of the web host. All of the really technical issues will remain the job of the web host and they will not charge you anything extra for this. Customer support however, can either be the responsibility of you or the hosting provider – all depending on the type of reseller hosting you are offering.
• You will have more flexibility than say a shared hosting plan because one hosting account can manage all of your clients.
• Themes and user-interface of the control panel with which your clients will work can be changed and tweaked by you. This will not only be appreciated by your clients, it will also make your professional work more enjoyable.

The Cons

• If you ever were to change web host then you will notice that it is not as easy to do as with other forms of hosting. This will not only be inconvenient for you – your clients will be affected by this.
• You will have to place trust in the hosting provider. If they are having problems with their servers then all of your clients will have problem with their websites.
• When you run out of your portion of disk space or bandwidth then it will not be possible to increase it immediately; which could lose you a client or two.
• As with all businesses that become popular, the reseller industry is competitive. Do not count on making thousands at the beginning.. First you have to deliver an excellent product and understand the business, then market the product well.
• Investigate everything from the uptime to the quality of the customer service; your reputation depends entirely on host’s reliability. Also remember that there will be a lot of sunken costs at the beginning. The hosting itself may not be pricey, but you have to set aside money for marketing and advertising.

All in all, this kind of business is not for everyone. If you are in business that completes this type of hosting, expanding your business along the hosting lines is perfect.

People who tell you they make thousands every month and do nothing, are pretty much lying. Keep that in mind. Yet in a tough economy, the internet is sitting in its own world. Startups and new ideas are successful everyday; good tidings for us then. If you have technical know-how and enjoy web hosting, then reseller hosting would be a great business opportunity. Good luck and if you start a reseller business, be sure to post it here at ScrappyUpstarts!

Guest Author - David Walsh, of WebHostingSearch.com

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