Reseller Hosting in Kenya
Want to get into the web hosting business? Reselling web hosting is an easy way to enter the web hosting industry without owning and operating your own servers. These excellent services supply the attractive features and prices you need to get started.
It takes a lot of effort and resources to operate a web hosting business. You may be able to provide helpful customer service, but what about key server infrastructure? Don’t fret, there’s a great solution: reseller hosting, also referred to as “white-label hosting.”
With reseller hosting you rent server space, software, and bandwidth from a larger, experienced web hosting company at wholesale prices, and then resell the resources for profit to someone looking to build a website.
If you’re looking to get into the reseller business, check out these 4 reviewed web hosts that offer the valuable tools needed to get started, followed by everything you need to know about reseller hosting.
Top 4 Reseller Hosting Companies in Kenya
How Does Reseller Hosting Work?
Reseller hosting enables you to sell web hosting plans to others and make a profit. Essentially reseller hosting plans and programs enable you to start your own web hosting business by selling other hosting companies’ web hosting plans. It is particularly common amongst web design agencies who offer fully-managed website services to clients who pay them one fixed monthly rate.
One of the main reasons people get into reselling web hosting, as opposed to building their own web hosting service from scratch, is the ease of entry. Reseller hosting does not require the extensive technical understanding of infrastructure that hosting from the ground up does.
Resellers are responsible for interacting with their customers but are not responsible for hardware, software, or connectivity problems. Web hosts’ data center operators are responsible for that type of troubleshooting. However, resellers may be placed in the tricky position of liaising between the hosting provider and the customer for other kinds of technical support, such as billing and payment issues. In other words, you’ll need to demonstrate patience and understanding when dealing with irate customers.
Ideally, you should be able to provide some basic support yourself. For those problems you can’t solve, you’ll need to contact the web host to find a solution. So, the level and quality of support provided by the service from whom you’re renting your servers to resell can be quite important.
In addition, you must market your services to the public in order to attract clients. For example, if you already have an established web development company, then you have an established client base to which you can pitch your new hosting packages. Otherwise, you must hustle to spread awareness about your brand. After all, Person X may be familiar with web hosting packages of say HostPinnacle , but she may not be familiar with your brand.
If you’re part of a big company with big marketing shillings to spend, you may not have much to worry about. On the other hand, a one-person operation may have difficulty spreading the word about its new web hosting packages. Still, there are many would-be customers out there who prefer to deal with a smaller, more intimate company. That might be your sweet spot, as a reseller of web hosting.
Reseller Web Hosting Checklist
If you’re planning to become a reseller, consider all the steps below.
- Estimate how many customers you can bring to start the business. This will determine the reseller package you’ll need.
- Determine the types and sizes of packages you will offer your customers.
- Determine the price you will set for your packages.
- Compare reseller hosting plans to see which company meets your needs and your budget.
- Pay for the best reseller hosting plan
- Configure templates for each of the packages you decide to offer.
- Market these packages and sell them to customers.
- Support your customers.
What Are the Key Reseller Hosting Features You Need?
With a reseller account, you get a selection of Linux or Windows-based servers, email, custom cPanel account management apps, File Transfer Protocol, MYSQL database management software, standard and solid-state storage, money-back guarantees, and a variety of hosting types, generally including shared, dedicated, and VPS hosting.
You can also expect WebHost Manager (WHM) apps, reseller-specific software that lets you control your customers’ dedicated or VPS server accounts. You are also likely to encounter WebHost Manager Complete Solution (WHMCS) software that lets you manage many customer-related features, including sign-ups, automated billing, and account termination.
What is the difference between Reseller Hosting and Shared Hosting?
The major difference between shared hosting and reseller hosting is that in shared hosting customers only get one cPanel account to manage all their hosting resources. They can host many websites, but the allocated hosting resources, such as storage space, bandwidth, etc., are shared with all the websites under that account. On the other hand, reseller hosting allows the creation of multiple cPanel accounts, which are allocated storage and bandwidth resources that cannot be shared with other cPanel accounts.
Difference between WHM and WHMCS
Web Hosting Manager (WHM) is a software that provides administrative access to the backend of cPanel, while Web Host Manager Complete Solution (WHMCS) is a system that automates billing processes, provides automated account provisioning, support and ticketing, reports and analytics, and also offers third party integration for accounting software, marketing automation and domain registrars. Both WHM and WHMCS are important in the web hosting and reseller business.
What are the benefits of reseller hosting
If you are contemplating starting a business that resells hosting services in Kenya, there are many benefits to pursuing this business model.
Firstly, it is cheap to start compared to buying and maintaining your own servers, as you will not need to own software licenses and also maintain the hardware.
Secondly, since web hosting providers allow resellers to white label their services, it is easier to brand yourself and establish a name in the highly competitive industry.
Thirdly, reseller hosting offers flexibility, as you are able to customize your hosting plans depending on the storage space, bandwidth, etc. and still make a profit.
Individuals or existing businesses such as digital marketing services or web designers are able to generate additional revenue by offering affordable hosting services to their customers.
