Starting a Reseller Web Hosting Company

In order to run a good web hosting company successfully, you should have a good knowledge of computer science apart from plenty of patience. Since the development of the Control Panel, people believe that it is no longer necessary to have technical know-how as the Control Panel makes the task of getting a pre-built server and therefore hosting a site, very simple. Things can get complex. You can get a dedicated server on lease and have a sound knowledge of the Control Panel and you can then start hosting of sites, but you should remember that some restrictions are associated with the Control Panel.

For a successful run of your web hosting company in the long run, consider the ten steps that are mentioned below:

Step 1: Choose a policy that you want to utilize

You can think of using UNIX over Windows as the former is an open source program, and therefore cheaper, besides having a stable environment for web hosting. Although most of the programs can run on both of them, ASP, MS-SQL, .NET, etc. are supported by Windows only. If you are not sure about which host you want to use, you can choose a web host that will offer both the operating systems under one plan.

Step 2: Select the Control Panel which you wish to use

Control Panels differ from the easy ones that are extremely accessible and have essential characteristics together with the organizational ones and also the multifaceted ones for example the H-Sphere System.

Step 3: Select the reseller hosting provider

This is a very vital choice in beginning a web-hosting corporation. Ensure that the corporation orders same rank at par with your favored reseller-hosting corporation. Clients will not believe that corporations giving inexpensive systems are good. Points where the web host can win are:

* Client backing: Make sure that the corporation gives 2 hours phone service to the clients. If this does not work, they must have an efficient email system with fast answers to questions. Such points give clients a good concept of how the corporation could support them whenever needed.

* Control Panel and the platform: Make sure that your Control Panel has many features which you can use.

* Characteristics and simplicity: Ensure that the primary cost charged to the clients contains sufficient bandwidth to start the trade easily and also be enough as the trade grows.

* Status of the corporation: An efficient corporation will have a client forum. Then clients will be able to look into the forum and communicate with other associates and share experiences.

* Knowledge of the business in the area: If the business has been dealing with web hosting work for a long time then it is superior.

Step 4: Get your hosting plans set up and decide on matters of price

Although you may want to offer a host of plans to your customers, do not burden them with too many to choose from. To begin with, offering them three to five plans will be enough. You should also have a close look at your competition and keep a check on what they are doing. You should also attempt to find a niche of the customers that is still left unsatisfied. It is fine if you oversell your resources if you can compensate for it by charging the individuals with services such as domain registrations, IP addresses, web stats, etc.

Step 5: Get a business website developed

You should ensure that you keep your site as simple as you can and also make sure that it is user0friednly. Customers will look for what they want and you have to satisfy their needs. Thus, there is no point wasting the customers’ time telling them about you. You should utilize the space to tell them how you can satisfy their demands at a reasonable price and offer great service. You may use as few words as possible but make sure that the main page has 500 words at least. This is important for getting results in search engines. You can design the site yourself or hire a professional to do it for you.

Step 6: Get the site ready for e-Commerce

You shall have to get an SSl certificate, apart from a payment gateway and a merchant account to be able to accept payments online. These are some e-commerce features which you should equip your site with.

Step 7: Offer the customers good support

Getting the backup of your clients is essential as far as web-hosting plans are concerned. You can get either a policy or a Control Panel with a ready helpdesk, like H-Sphere. For starters you can use these service system that you will be producing, but after that it’s your choice. You can have a column of Frequently Asked Questions [FAQ's] that will solve some preliminary troubles of the clients. Ensure an efficient email system and a fast phone backing to solve the clients’ problems in a short time.

Step 8: Setting up the billing of your client

For this purpose, you will require a billing soft ware with a merchant gateway, mainly the one which integrates with your control panel like the H-Sphere. Some examples are:

* H-Sphere: IT includes a full-fledged billing system which gives you full control over all resources and enables you to plan prices which you would like to charge from the customers.

* PayPal: This is a relatively simpler system which is compatible with a majority of the Control Panels.

* Authorize Net: It is an adaptable entry method that is well matched with the foremost credit card sellers, and many of the Control Panels.

Step 9: Prepare an email for greetings

A welcome email is a must for your new clients. In your welcome email, you can include the following things:

* full detail of the plan the customer has selected

* the registrar and the DNS changes

* An username and a provisional password

* a direct link to the Control Panel

* links to the important areas like customer support, FAQ’s, etc.

Step 10: Marketing the website

Promoting a website is an expensive matter and eats up a great amount of time but it is very essential as high-quality advertising will make sure that clients come to the site continually. Remember that website promotion is not a temporary matter done once, but it is a continuous process. Some details you have to keep in mind are:

* attracting search engine results

* Associate plans and remunerated promotion

* newsletters

The steps mentioned below are just the basic ones, and not exhaustive. Though building of a web hosting site is challenging, it is not impossible if you are committed to it. Though many new companies are coming up each day, the market is not at the saturation point since there is a lack of good companies. You just need to take care of customer needs – word of mouth will do the rest. Remember, customer is the King!

Tagged with: access • account • Advertising • art • article • articles • avi • busines • Business • commerce • company • competition • credit • dedicated • design • e-commerce • email • form • host • hosting • hour • Links • Marketing • merchant account • niche • offering • Online • phone • pr • promotion • search • search engine • search engines • server • services • site • site promotion • Source • success • successful • uaw • web • web host • Web Hosting • webhosting • website • website promotion • www

Filed under: Web Hosting

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!