
A Guide to Reseller Hosting: How to Start Your Own Hosting Business
Reseller hosting has now become the best place to start a hosting business, which requires the least overheads in managing the servers. Quite simply, reseller hosting is where an entrepreneur buys hosting resources in bulk and resells the same under his brand. It is highly scalable with negligible startup costs. In this guide, learn what reseller hosting is, the benefits and the elementary steps that would get you up and running with a hosting business.
What is Reseller Hosting?
It is a hosting service whereby you buy the server resources from an upper-level hosting provider and resell those resources to your own customers. In other words, it means leasing hosting services in bulk and reselling them in smaller and customized sizes. That would be ideal for a Web designer or developer or anyone who wants to sell Web hosting but not maintain the servers.
Advantages of Reseller Hosting Business
Following is few of the advantages one accrues from the reseller hosting business. They include:
- Low startup cost: One will not need to invest in expensive hardware or data centers.
- Recurring Income: Most of the clients pay for the hosting services on a monthly or yearly basis, offering you a more predictable flow of income.
- Full Branding Control: You are allowed to sell rebranded hosting services for your company business and sell them with your name.
- Flexibility: With it, you could develop customized-made hosting plans depending on client needs, hence giving you an opportunity to service diversified clientele.
How to Choose the Right Web Hosting Company?
Your success as a reseller depends upon your choice of a good hosting company. The thing is, once you decide on choosing a provider, you will have to consider several variables such as the following:
- Uptime Guarantees: Providers ready to guarantee 99.9% or more will keep the sites of your clients running.
- Customer Support: Choose one that can provide 24/7 support so that it may come handy in case something goes wrong.
- Scalability: Ensure the hosting provider has scalable plans where you can scale your business with a growing client base.
How to Kick-start Your Reseller Hosting Business?
Step 1: Buy a VPS
Get your Virtual Private Server ordered to start off your reseller hosting business. The Virtual Server Hosting will give you more flexible control and resource quota than the shared reseller hosting plans. With VPS, you will have the option to configure the server environment to optimize your resource allocation or install custom software to suit your needs. In VPSHosting.lk , we will offer VPS hosting solutions that help in reselling hosting services with full control over server settings.
Step 2: cPanel WHM/Plesk Installation
Immediately after you are done setting up your VPS, the second thing you will do is install a control panel from where you will manage your reseller accounts. Two leading control panels that you may want to consider are cPanel and Plesk. Both of these have user-friendly interfaces from where managing hosting accounts, domains, and services is easy.
- cPanel WHM
This is a tool that will allow you to host consumer cPanel accounts. You could create several clients' cPanel accounts each one may be created in a different way and will have different emails, different databases amongst others.
If you want to learn more about cPanel, check our article about Why cPanel is the Best Control Panel for VPS Hosting in 2024 .
Our community guide on cPanel Manual Installation will take you through step-by-step to manually install cPanel on your VPS.
- Plesk
This is another powerful control panel, highly in use for the management of both Linux and Windows hosting environments. Some of the key highlights of Plesk include its sleek interface and several solid security features. You can read more about it in our article, Why Plesk is the Ideal Control Panel for VPS Hosting .
If you need any helps while these installations, VPSHosting.lk supported for you.
Step 3: Plan for System Administration or Server Management
A VPS requires knowledge in server management because running a VPS means making sure your hosting environment is secure and reliable. A well-planned strategy on server management, in relation to the smooth running of your reseller hosting business, is absolutely necessary.
- Security: regular updating of software on servers, including installation of security patches. This covers firewalls, malware scanners, and SSL certificates that are important in helping protect clients' data.
- Backup: automate data backup in case any system failure or attempt at hacking would happen, hence keeping the clients' data safe.
- Performance Monitoring: Regular checks on the performance of the servers, preventing over-allocation of resources. This includes disk space and CPU usage monitoring to avoid overloading of servers.
Managing a server is normally an overwhelming task, and that is why VPSHosting.lk offers managed VPS hosting wherein we take care of the technical nitty-gritty involved in the server management process while you focus on building your business.
Best Practices for a Successful Reseller Hosting Business
Following are a few best practices that should be followed when building and scaling the reseller hosting business.
- Excellent Customer Support: Provide the best possible support to your clients. Timely response to any sort of technical glitch may be a key differentiator between good and not so good reputation.
- Resource Management: Give due respect to the management of the resources concerning the servers. A little overselling never hurt anyone, but never overdo it just so each and every client may get as much resources as his requirements for seamless performance.
- Security: Implement firewalls, SSL certificates, and backup facilities such that the data of clients is backed up daily.
Conclusion
Reseller hosting is an excellent business opportunity with minimal upfront investment and significant growth potential. By purchasing a VPS, setting up control panels like cPanel or Plesk, and managing your server effectively, you can build a successful hosting business. Be sure to choose the right provider, focus on branding, and offer exceptional customer service for long-term success.