How a Web Designer Can Sell Web Hosting As a Value-Added Service
Many Web design clients prefer to avoid the process of separately finding a hosting provider and setting up an account. This is time consuming and requires them to learn about complex concepts like bandwidth and IP addresses. Web designers can solve this problem by selling hosting services to their customers.
Major Benefits
Design firms gain an extra source of income if they supply or resell hosting. They receive monthly or annual payments from clients in exchange for this service. Web design is primarily a one-time sale, so it’s quite helpful to add an ongoing revenue stream that demands relatively little effort.
When they offer hosting services, designers also simplify the technical process of setting up a website. They don’t have to learn how to access other servers before they upload and configure websites. This makes the setup process faster and more predictable. Designers can also ensure that servers have the appropriate capabilities to match the websites they build.
Getting Started
At one time, people could only sell hosting by purchasing servers and other costly equipment that needs to remain in operation at all hours. Web hosts also need highly reliable Internet connections and backup power generators. This option isn’t realistic for most website design firms.
Fortunately, a number of Web hosting companies enable designers to resell their services. The provider owns the equipment and takes care of complex maintenance tasks. Meanwhile, Web designers with reseller accounts receive specific amounts of storage space and bandwidth that they can divide among clients.
If you want to resell hosting, the first step is to compare different Web hosts that supply reseller accounts. You’ll be selling this private label service under your company name, so you must make sure that the provider is reliable and trustworthy.
Pricing
After signing up, you will pay for the hosting service in bulk. It’s up to you to decide how much you want to charge clients for each portion of it. You could set monthly, quarterly or yearly rates. A few designers include a month or year’s worth of service with each design package.
There are many different strategies you can use to attract customers. Some clients may favor an all-inclusive fee that covers design, hosting, maintenance and possibly marketing services. Others might be attracted to a low price or be willing to pay extra for convenience.
Configuration
You’ll need to decide how much storage space and bandwidth to give each customer. Bandwidth determines how many hits they can receive, while disk space limits the size of a website. If some clients run fairly large organizations, you may benefit from offering a high-end account option with greater capacities.
One way to add value to this service is to handle every aspect of the setup process and offer to perform ongoing maintenance. For example, a designer can upload all of the customer’s Web pages, configure CRON jobs, create databases, set up email accounts and so on. This is easier to accomplish when you’re a reseller.
Domain Names
You may also offer a seamless, inclusive package by registering domain names for customers who are establishing new websites. Clients with limited technical expertise often appreciate it if a designer can register domain names and link their websites to these Internet addresses.
If you resell hosting and a domain name to a customer, it’s easy to make the appropriate changes to both accounts. You won’t have to ask the client to find and supply nameserver details or passwords. Some hosting companies also enable designers to earn money from domain sales.
Maintenance
Small business owners often find it difficult to update or fix problems with their websites. They can easily lose the necessary usernames and passwords, especially if a firm changes hands. Reseller accounts enable designers to update, maintain or expand websites whenever clients request these services.
At the same time, Web design customers should have the ability to modify and configure their websites as desired. Be sure to supply the client with a control panel password and detailed instructions after setting up an account and receiving the first payment. For better security, print this information and hand it to the client in person.
To sum it up, reselling Web hosting really isn’t much more complicated than setting up an account to host your own website. The only major difference is that you’ll purchase server space in bulk, split it up among clients and set up separate cPanel accounts. Your customers will appreciate the greater convenience and simplicity.
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