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In the Internet business world, there are those who have the technical expertise required to put together large networks of computers and there are those who have experience and expertise in a more traditional sales role. The latter are prime candidates for becoming resellers of products and services offered by Hosting Providers. Reseller Defined A reseller is basically an independent contractor who buys web space from an ISP and then turns around and sells that same space, in smaller increments, to businesses and individuals. The reseller often assists individuals with less technical skill by giving them an opportunity to put their company, their personal pages, or other interest, onto the Internet. Resellers, on the whole, are independent contractors dealing in many different Internet related areas, the most common being web space. Other items that can be resold include: Bandwidth, Co-Located Servers, Dedicated Servers, Dialup Access, Merchant Card Services, Network Backbones, Network Operating Centers (NOC's), Real Time Credit Card Processing Services, Search Engines, Tech Support for Virtual Dialup Access Operations, Telephone Gateways (VOIP) and Virtual Servers. Almost every Hosting Provider offers some sort of reselling plan. These plans come in all shapes and sizes and are generally presented in a way that emphasizes that particular Hosting Provider's strengths. Some Hosting Providers have strong e-commerce packages, which include free or discounted e-commerce software. Their reseller plan reflects this by catering to resellers who wish to resell to e-commerce sites. Other providers may have a simple feature set and their prices reflect low cost solutions. They would cater to resellers who wish to have 'bargain-based' plans Does the Plan Correspond To Your Customer Base? Before you go with a reselling plan, check to see what type of customers you wish to cater to. If you already have a customer base, check to see what features they need. Look at your client's requirements and determine if the reseller plan meets those requirements. If you are reselling web space to e-commerce sites, be sure to get a plan with plenty of e-commerce extras. What happens if you've found the perfect plan, but they don't have a few options you need? Your best choice is to ask them for it. Many Hosting Providers are adding new features everyday, and if they haven't added it already, you may be able to get them to add it. How to Keep Expenses Low It is a given that you are in the reselling business to make money. Regardless of the scale of your reselling efforts, you always need to consider how much you pay as opposed to how much you bring in. While the initial costs of a reseller plan can be substantial, also consider monthly costs and upgrade costs as well as buying software packages for your clients. Many Hosting Providers will include discounts for multiple reseller packages. Be careful to not overlook extra savings that can be achieved through paying for a year or more in advance. Many providers will also include discounts for pre-packaged software. By ordering software bundles from your provider you could save a substantial amount of operating capital. Discounts As stated above, be on the lookout for discounts and better deals. Always plan ahead: items such as yearly discounts for paying in advance might seem costly at first, but will save you anywhere from 8% to 20% off of your total bill. Another tactic is to sign up multiple accounts ahead of time so you can take advantage of multiple reseller plan discounts. As usual, if you are not sure if your provider has such discounts, ask. Chances are, if they don't now they may later. Features Select a reselling plan that provides a wide variety of features. Many reselling packages have many valuable features at no extra cost. Items such as ASP database support and even e-commerce ready sites are, often times standard with many packages. The key here is the more features, the more equipped you are for gaining future web projects and clients. Getting all of these features up-front saves time (upgrading downtime and development time) and money (pre-packaged software is substantially less than upgrading at a later date). Technical Support Time is money, and in the reselling business, your clients come to you with problems and you go to your provider. Therefore, it is imperative that your Hosting Provider has developed a knowledgeable technical support staff. If you have a question, or your clientele has a question, you must have a technical support representative that can answer the question both thoroughly and efficiently. Twenty-four hour support is not a must, but is recommended. If 24-hour service is not available, then at the very least get technical support that works during business hours. Before you pick a provider check with their clients and ask them if the provider's technical staff is up to snuff. Developer Support In addition to quality technical support, check to see if your provider also has a development staff that can help you with your work. Although development support usually has an hourly fee or a consulting fee, it never hurts to have professional help when you need it. In the long run, a good development team backing you up can be a real lifesaver when it comes to handling your business, ensuring that things are done correctly the first time. Is the Web Host Company Stable? There is nothing worse than moving your web sites from one host to another. Web host stability is a very important factor. Always try to select a well-established Hosting Provider. Logistically speaking, switching from one Web Host provider to the next is not only a hassle and potentially a significant downtime creator, but can also have a profoundly negative effect on your checkbook! When looking for a stable provider, check their background and make sure they do not change company policies to meet the marketing whims. Also ask their clients, preferably other resellers, and get their opinion on how stable the provider is. If you have any doubts at all about a provider's stability, you should strongly consider choosing a different one. It can be extremely difficult to resell services that change on a month to month or week to week basis. Can the Hosting Provider's Equipment Handle Your Clientele? Finally, you must make sure that your Hosting Provider's hardware can handle your business. The provider should have redundant connections that include more than one backbone, uninterruptible power supplies in case of outages, plenty of bandwidth during peak times, etc. In addition to these resources, make sure that the provider performs daily backups of your data. The last thing that you and your clients need is for their information to be destroyed or their web sites to go down. As a reseller, your provider will not get the blame when things go bad, you will. Conclusion It is up to you to choose which items listed above are your primary concerns. Rarely will you find everything listed above exactly the way that you want it. Generally speaking, you may have to sacrifice a discount or two or developer support for say... stability. Be sure to have your priorities straight before you go into finding a plan. Outlining your needs and wants is an important first step in shopping for a Hosting Provider to stand behind your reselling efforts. Reselling is not difficult, but by no means is it easy. If you do your homework, research the different reselling plans, and compare that to your needs, then you are half way there. The next step is a matter of advertising and implementation; if done correctly your reselling company will be making money in no time. To find reliable reseller hosts, visit the link below to go to WebHosing-Reviewz.
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