A mix of online and offline methods to make money can be very effective in creating new sources of revenue. Web hosting affiliate programmes are one of the most rewarding. You can earn $50-125 per referral. However, it is just a one-time income. How about owning a web hosting company that gets you recurring income?
Starting a web hosting company is a simple process. You do not even need any hardware or infrastructure. You can buy reseller hosting plans from reputed hosting providers such as HostGator reseller hosting or GoDaddy reseller hosting for as low as $25 per month. As a web hosting reseller, you will use servers of your web hosting provider to offer your service, while focusing on getting new clients. Your clients will never get to know that their websites are hosted on some other company’s server. You can also become a domain reseller.
Most web hosting resellers will start advertising on the web to acquire clients. You can get an edge over such hosting providers by taking the offline route. Start by advertising in local newspapers, handing out flyers and talking to prospective clients over the phone or in person.
How to make money through reseller hosting?
Instead of offering stand-alone web space, you should offer complete website solutions to local businesses and individuals. Most of the local businesses might not be aware of the advantages of online presence. Make them aware of the advantages of a website in acquiring new customers. Let them know how a listing in Google Places and Search can bring new customers for their business.
Once you have convinced the prospective client about the advantages of online presence, offer them a complete website solution. You can make your offering more attractive by giving them “websites for free” and charging them only for web hosting. Setting up a template-based website will take 15-30 minutes. You can charge your clients $10-25 per month for web hosting. I hope you are able to see the difference between a hosting affiliate programme and having your own client. Instead of getting a one-time $125 payment, you can have a recurring $10 per month, year after year.
Sell additional services
Apart from the basic website package, you can offer them other services such as search engine optimization (SEO), Facebook fan page, Twitter and Facebook fans, social media management and Google Places listings. SEO and Google Places listing services can be used to offer a one-time assignment or a long-term project with monthly payments. Social media management (Twitter, Facebook) will obviously be a long-term assignment with monthly payments.
You can also offer “premium web designing” services. You can also charge a fee for managing websites or adding new content.
Innovative sales strategy
Always ask your clients to give their feedback on your web hosting service. If you can include the testimonials of local businesses on your website, it will add credibility to your service. Having a popular local business on board means prospective clients will be more open to buying your services.
If your can provide good service and keep your clients happy, you will get some customers through word of mouth. You can also offer small incentives to your existing clients for referring new customers. An additional one-month hosting free can be a good incentive for your clients.
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Great tips Pritam. but which company to choose for reselling. Might be hostgator is good, what you think?
Hi Ifham, SpeckyGeek.com is hosted on HostGator. So, I would surely give you a go-ahead for HostGator.
Reselling hosting is a nice way to build some passive streams coming your way. Good call. Great thing about some of the bigger ones is that not only can you resell through them, but they offer an admin page for ‘your’ customer so they can see statistics, set up mail accounts, et cetera. Easy breezy.
Reseller hosting is an inexpensive yet profitable business that you can do online. To get potential customers, try to market your business at online forums where many users are discussing about web hosting topics. Just avoid making blatant promotions to avoid getting your post marked as spam or deleted by the admin.