New to Reselling

[David Tayler]

I am based in the US and interested in starting a host business. I would be intested in hearing from some vets who have some advice - hot companies, companies not to touch and why.

dave

[NS-Icon]

Hi David,

Starting a hosting business is a great idea, but understand that the hosting industry is already very competitive so will require a good amount of dedication to make a success.

It’s usually not possible as a new hosting provider to be competitive against some of the larger providers who have been in the industry for four or more years, so you must plan an alternative approach allowing you to obtain clients.

Most new providers tend to offer local development services and obtain clients this way to fund the service and then tend to approach the hosting industry for me as they have some financial backing at this stage through their current clients.

With regards to hosting providers, this is usually down to what it is you require from your provider. It would be better if you thought about what services you feel you need and outline them here for others to see, based on this I am sure someone can provide you with some recommendations on a good hosting provider.

Good Luck

[JodoHost]

Hi David,

I would recommand you to search about reseller hosting and hosting trends over net and have a checklist. And evaluate the hosts based on this checklist.

The features that you must look at..

# Platform supported (linux, windows, vps).
# Support methods and availability.
# Price vs benefits.
# How they reply to your queries.
# Versions of applications they support.

Ask all your questions and remember that a good host cannot offer things as Free, On demand. Do extensive search before you open your pocket.

Ravi Agarwal

[ASP-Hosting.ca]

I am based in the US and interested in starting a host business. I would be intested in hearing from some vets who have some advice - hot companies, companies not to touch and why.

dave

I've started as a reseller a couple of years ago and I had many, many problems with several different reseller hosting providers. I sleep better now having my own servers .

[dyna]

reseller is a good choice to start with, although getting a dedicated server would be a wiser choice since you monitior everything

[hostingoption]

Hi David,

It's very good choice to start hosting company.

Before start think on below

Budget
Server OS
Host Company
Support

Then select the company

Best of Luck

[peter phillips]

Reseller is good to get started with the hosting business but you should plan to get a dedicated server within few months of starting as you may not survive in this competition if you prefer to remain a reseller for a long time.

[ASP-Hosting.ca]

I would start with dedicated server right away. You can get decent fully managed linux server for less than $150 per month and this includes control panel.

[mikeerwin]

Starting a hosting company is great. I have worked support for some other webhosting providers and decided to go on my own. I bought a dedicated server and have done well so far. Yes I am still new but my client tell is building very well. I am getting ready to buy my second dedicated server. I want to eventually have 3. 3 different servers with each server being different from each other with 3 differnt hosting packages available to offer the clients depending on there needs. I have drawn my clients by hosting free webhosting with no adds and no popups and very suprisingly have had alot of them upgrade to a paid plan.

[ASP-Hosting.ca]

Starting a hosting company is great. I have worked support for some other webhosting providers and decided to go on my own. I bought a dedicated server and have done well so far. Yes I am still new but my client tell is building very well. I am getting ready to buy my second dedicated server. I want to eventually have 3. 3 different servers with each server being different from each other with 3 differnt hosting packages available to offer the clients depending on there needs. I have drawn my clients by hosting free webhosting with no adds and no popups and very suprisingly have had alot of them upgrade to a paid plan.

What is your website?

[ojinfo]

Me and my partners have bad experience with reseller based in Australia. Half of our clients moved to another hosting company. Peter Philips was right, reseller is good for a start but after that you should plan with a dedicated server.

[ASP-Hosting.ca]

Me and my partners have bad experience with reseller based in Australia. Half of our clients moved to another hosting company. Peter Philips was right, reseller is good for a start but after that you should plan with a dedicated server.

Exactly my point. Move to your own dedicated server as soon as you can or start directly with one .

[ManXP]

Me and my partners have bad experience with reseller based in Australia. Half of our clients moved to another hosting company. Peter Philips was right, reseller is good for a start but after that you should plan with a dedicated server.

It depends on company itself. For example, we ahve a customer who is paying hundreds of dollars per month for reseller hosting. He could buy his own dedicated server for such a price, right? But he still uses our reseller package (of course, his accounts are located on different our servers) because he likes the support and he does NOT need to manage server himself, as our staff does all the "dirty" work for him

[ASP-Hosting.ca]

It depends on company itself. For example, we ahve a customer who is paying hundreds of dollars per month for reseller hosting. He could buy his own dedicated server for such a price, right? But he still uses our reseller package (of course, his accounts are located on different our servers) because he likes the support and he does NOT need to manage server himself, as our staff does all the "dirty" work for him

For a hundreds of dollars per month he can get fully managed dedicated server. what is the advantage of having reseller account?

[peter phillips]

Making the decision to start a hosting business and choosing a reseller plan or a dedicated server is an important one. Your decision should be based on your own objectives, the financial and strategic plan you have in mind. Figure out how many customers you expect to have in one year, and then work on the finances.

IMO the safest bet would be to go with the reseller plan first if you have absolutely no server experience or very little knowledge. Learn the basics with a reseller plan, build up your client base, make a few contacts, learn more about servers and then acquire your own dedicated server once you’re done with this.