Now that websites are such a crucial part of branding, the web hosting industry is booming. If you’re looking for another source of income, this is a great time to start your own company through white label hosting (also called reseller hosting). And the best part is that you don’t even need to know anything about web hosting! People who have started from zero are now running profitable web hosting businesses using private label hosting, and we’re going to tell you how.
What is web hosting?
Every website on the internet is stored on a server. Servers are expensive to own and to maintain, so most people who have websites don’t bother buying their own servers. Instead, they use a web hosting company. Web hosting companies own servers, which they allow people to use in exchange for a fee. But wait a minute. We just told you how expensive servers are. Do we expect you to go out and spend money investing in expensive equipment? Not at all. That’s the beauty of reseller hosting.
What is reseller hosting?
Reseller hosting is a special hosting package made for people who want to start their own web hosting company. With reseller hosting, you use your allotted server space to host other people’s websites. You’re called a reseller because you’re buying server space from a web hosting company, then reselling it as if it were your own.
Why is reseller hosting also called white label hosting?
Reseller hosting is also called white label hosting (or private label hosting) because of the arrangement between you and the parent web host company. When you buy a reseller hosting package from a reputable hosting company, we don’t plaster our branding and logo all over your final product. Instead, we give you permission to brand your product however you want.You get to come up with your own name, logo, and branding for your business, and sell your hosting packages as though they originated with your company. It’s called “white label hosting” because it’s as if we handed you a white label and told you to write whatever you want on it. Your customers will have no clue that you’re reselling web hosting.
Can I really make money from white label hosting?
The thing about white label hosting is that it’s designed for you to make money. You have low overheads because you don’t need to worry about buying your own servers or even renting a physical location for your company. If you choose a great private label hosting provider, you won’t even need to hire any additional staff when you’re just starting out. And you can use WHMCS to manage your users’ accounts, so you won’t need to spend any money learning about managing web hosting accounts. The biggest reason reseller hosting is such a huge money-maker is that it’s in high demand. Every business owner, social media influencer, and amateur guitarist in the world has a website. And those websites all need to be stored somewhere.
Do I need to be an expert to make money doing this?
Your private label hosting provider does all the boring technical stuff, so you can focus on creating an amazing brand that attracts customers. You don’t need to know anything about connectivity, hardware maintenance, or server updates. Your host will take care of all that. And if you choose a great web host, you’ll also get access to customer support, so you have someone to talk to if there’s something you don’t understand. (We offer 24/7 customer support, so you can reach us any time!)
How does white label hosting work?
So, you want to start your own private label hosting company. Here are the basic steps you need to follow:
- Choose a great hosting company
- Buy the white label hosting package that seems right for your business
- Determine your ideal customer
- Create hosting packages
1. Choose a great hosting company
When you’re reselling web hosting, the quality of your business is intertwined with the quality of your web hosting provider. If your web host has slow servers, guess who else has slow servers? You do too. So, choosing the right hosting company is essential if you want to set yourself up for success. Here are some things to look for when you’re choosing a hosting company:
- A website builder: Website builders allow you to create beautiful, professionally designed websites in just a few clicks. This is another way to keep your overheads low while still attracting customers. Your customers won’t be able to tell that you didn’t shell out lots of money on a web designer.
- Great customer support: Choose a web hosting company that offers great customer support, so that if something ever goes wrong (or if a customer has a question only your parent host can answer!), you can talk to someone without any hassle.
- cPanel: cPanel is an easy-to-use graphical interface that lets your customers manage their websites with minimum hassle. Not only is this great for your customers, but it also means that your customers won’t need your help as much.
- Authorised reseller seal: The authorised reseller seal lets your customers know that you’re offering web hosting from a highly secured data centre in Luxembourg. It’s also free!
- High uptime: We offer a *99.9% uptime. *Based on historical availability of our systems, information is adjusted from time to time.
- Fully managed servers: If you want your web host to handle even more of the behind-the-scenes tasks, look for a web host that offers fully managed servers.
- WHMCS: WHMCS is a powerful tool that lets you automate many aspects of reselling hosting, including billing, signup, support, hosting packages, domain registration, and payment gateways. It gives you a massive head start in creating your web hosting business.
2. Buy the white label hosting package that seems right for your business
Most hosting companies offer a range of packages with different features and price points. You don’t want to frustrate your customers by ordering fewer resources than you need, but you also don’t want to send your overheads through the roof by buying more server space than you need. Take an honest look at the current storage needs of your company, and choose the hosting package that seems most appropriate for your company. If you’re not sure, ask your web hosting provider.
3. Determine your ideal customer
Before you create your hosting packages, you need to figure out who your ideal customer is and what their needs are. Do you want to target young social media influencers who are creating their first website, or do you want to target small businesses?
4. Create hosting packages
This is one of the most important things you need to do. Bundling different services and offering them at a range of price points helps establish the legitimacy of your company and also helps you attract customers with different budgets. Don’t underestimate the importance of the more affordable packages, either. A low starting price is an excellent hook. Once you have the customer, you can upsell them on addons, and you can upgrade them to a bigger package when they outgrow the resources of your cheapest package.
Wrapping up
Reseller hosting is a great way to make money in the tech industry. Now that you have a better idea of how it all works, please don’t hesitate to get started on creating your own web hosting company. You can learn on the job, but you can’t get back the time you spent procrastinating. Good luck!
