You may have thought it would be a great idea to provide reseller web hosting to a few clients to make a few extra bucks on a recurring basis, and you would be right to think so! This is a very nice passive income stream that can, assuming no problems on your end, and the clients’ sites don’t go down all that much, last for years, or at least as long as they own the site. Here are a few items you’ll want to bear in mind as you go about setting up good web hosting services for your prospective clients.
Decide On Your Focus – Determining the direction of just where you hope your business will end up will go a long way toward making sure you succeed in this venture. Many new resellers try and compete in a very big pond with all the major hosting companies, and truth be told, few survive. Unless you have very deep pockets and a superior support staff your hopes are slim from the start. Better to find a hosting niche, and prove that you can deliver reliable web hosting to a number of clients before trying to wade into deep water. These days, with the emphasis on recruiting local offline businesses, a person could make a nice chunk of recurring monthly change selling web hosting to their local area. Don’t think globally just yet!
Customer Service and Support – If you are hosting clients on your own servers, you had better make sure that you have very good web hosting support systems in place long before you open your virtual doors. You need to be able to handle not only the technical aspects of clients’ requests, but also more mundane billing and account details. If you are selling hosting as a reseller through a major hosting company, then much of this is taken care of for you as part of your deal. Still, make sure you know what is and isn’t your responsibility so there won’t be any nasty surprises in the middle of the night!
Brand Yourself! - Make sure you have a great looking storefront site, branded with your company’s name, and perhaps a Facebook fan page and Twitter feed as well. You want to present as professional a presence as possible, and that alone will project an air of legitimacy. This is important when you are new, as no one has any reason to take a chance on you. Many times this will not matter to totally new-to-the-web clients, who are just happy to find someone who knows what they need and will help them get good web hosting. Other times, you will need to do some convincing.
Reseller web hosting can be a ticket to a nice monthly stipend, which can grow if nurtured correctly. Make sure you encourage loyal customers, and reward them if they bring you new business. Small price to pay to have someone else grow your business for you! You may even want to institute an affiliate program if it grows to a point where this makes sense.
Make sure you keep your hosting clients happy, and answer their needs promptly. If you do so, you may find an income stream that keeps enlarging year after year!
