Reselling Web Hosting - Step 1: Get an Exceptional Domain Name.
It may be obvious to you, but having the proper domain for your web hosting venture is critical to your success. Why? There are two basic reasons: branding (recall) and search engine optimization. In order to sell web hosting to your prospects, they first have to be able to find you. That is, they have to know that you offer web hosting accounts for sale.
The most common form of online research is the ubiquitous search engine. There are really only 2 that matter: Google and Yahoo! In order to come up on the first few pages of any relevant search for web hosting related keywords, it is imperative that your domain name contain some form of that keyword phrase. You can prove this to yourself by conducting a search for the keyword, 'hosting' at
www.google.com. You will notice that many of the top results contain the word 'host' or 'hosting' in the domain name. It simply gives you an advantage in search rankings.
So where to get such a name? You can go to a good domain search site like,
www.whois.sc (use the domain explorer tab) and see if there is a name that has not yet been registered. The chances of a great, short, memorable name being available is low (but not zero) - so you can increase the odds of getting a great name in two ways: get a domain that is expiring or buy a name from the current owner.
There are many great names that are expiring each day - that is, the current owner has not renewed the domain by paying the yearly registration fees. In fact, around 20,000 expired domains come back into circulation each day. Sometimes the owner forgets, sometimes they lose interest - in any event, you can snag a great name if you are willing to do some research. For instance, click here to see a free list of daily expiring domain names.
Alternatively you can simply buy a domain name from the current owner. Sites such as
www.sedo.com can assist you in finding eager sellers for a wide variety of domain names. Okay - now you've got a great domain name - let's move to step 2.
Reselling Web Hosting - Step 2: Finding and Setting up a Great Web Hosting Reseller Account.
Unless you want to set up your own domain registration process, get connectivity from major bandwidth providers, and have a warehouse full of high end computers - you'll want to get a reseller account from an established supplier. A good reseller account will offer tools (control panel) to manage multiple domains and accounts from one central location. That way, you can log in once and check the billing and provisioning status of all of your customer accounts. Click here to view and compare web hosting reseller providers.
Here are a couple of very useful add-ons many reseller companies include for free -
Domain Reseller Account
Billing Manager
Multi-language Control Panel Support
Fantastico
Reselling Web Hosting - Step 3: Set up a Great Website and Order Form.
You have to look professional in order to convince customers to sign up with you as a web host. That means a website designed by a professional. You can either hire a designer (expensive)
teamgrowth.net or use a template (inexpensive) like those found at:
www.templatemonster.com. The benefits of hiring a designer is that you get a unique website that looks exactly the way you want. It may cost you quite a bit, though. In contrast, a template will be somewhat cookie-cutter, but will look professional and help you save some money during your startup process.
Whichever way you decide to go, make sure that you pay close attention to the sign up process. Make the order form as simple and easy to fill out as possible. If you can have something default checked to save time, by all means do so. Be sure to include a summary page of the order so that your customers can review their order before purchase.
Reselling Web Hosting - Step 4: Driving Qualified Traffic to Your Website.
You can't get customers with out having some traffic to your new website. There are complete textbooks written on how to market and gain website traffic. I will focus you on only one possible traffic-driving solution, but one which has proven to work for many small online businesses - Google's AdWords advertising.
Reselling Web Hosting - Step 5: Differentiate Your Offering!
You can't expect to sell your web hosting to anyone of you adopt a 'me-to' attitude. Make certain that you are different in some significant way from other web hosting offerings out there. You can differentiate by creating a unique special offer, by having an exceptional promotion or giveaway, or by bundling services that other companies don't offer together - it doesn't matter exactly what is different about your web hosting offer - just make sure it's different.
One last thing - remember to give a high level of customer service, or your new found customers will flee to a more attentive competitor.
Good luck in reselling web hosting. If you follow the five steps outlined above, you'll be on your way to a great new business venture!