Affordable strategy to start selling web hosting

Server room

Here is our useful guide if you are considering selling web hosting to potential customers, we will talk about a range of solutions depending on your budget to get you up and running including preferred hosting types to getting your first customer.

Working your way up

Working your way up from nothing is always the hardest part and requires the most determination. A couple of options are available depending on your knowledge and budget.

  1. No budget - We recommend if you have zero budget but you want to sell web hosting is to find a company that offers an affiliate program. As an affiliate this allows you to sell the companies products without any upfront cost, giving you a percentage of each sale.
  2. Small budget - With a small budget this gives you a few more options such as reseller hosting, this allows you to manage all of your customers under one account without having to manage the server should anything go wrong. Reseller hosting is also a great way of start out without the large ongoing cost you would have if you had a dedicated server or your own server in a data centre.
  3. Bigger budget and an in depth knowledge of server management - If you have a more in depth knowledge of how servers work and how to maintain them we would recommend a VPS (Virtual Private Server) or a dedicated server for your needs. These give you more control and also allows you to customise your server such as adding a control panel and billing system.

We would usually recommend choosing a reseller hosting package to keep your costs down if you are managing your own customers, this gives you time to grow without having to pay for an expensive hardware solution.

Your own website

As you are offering an online service it wouldn't be right without having your own website. You will need your own domain and somewhere to host depending on the option you have chosen above. If you have chosen to go down the affiliate route then having your own site would be more optional.

Designing your own website depends on your knowledge, if you are new to web design you could design yourself using a content management system such as WordPress, or if you have more knowledge then you can create this from the ground up or even get a web design company to built it for you depending on your budget.

Customer management

Once you have the main part of your website built you will need to decide how you would like to manage your customers and also invoice them for your hosting service. They is a couple of billing management system options depending on the amount of products you have create and wanting to sell including Blesta, which is our preferred choice because of costs, automation and the ability to customise the site as it is built on Bootstrap.

You can use Blesta to automatically activated a service once the client has signed up and paid their invoice, other options including WHMCS and Box Billing.

Control panel

Most users require a control panel so they can manage their account, some of the most recommended or most popular control panels include Directadmin or cPanel.

Deciding which control panel you'd like to use depends also on your budget, cPanel recently announced another rise which has now made Directadmin the most popular choice amongst web hosting companies.

Creating products and testing

Before you start advertising your service it is always best to test so that you have no nagging issues that prevents users from either signing up, getting into their account or any other problems they may have along the way.

Create your products first within your control panel so you can apply these to your customers, unless you are offering a customised plan for each user.

Test the accounts and customised plans so that all is working and they have the correct requirements.

Advertising

Now that you are confident everything is working you can start advertising. Some recommendations for advertising may include:

  • Facebook advertising - Advertise on specific pages, create your own business page relating to your service or pay for Facebook advertisements.
  • Google Adwords - Pay for advertising with Google if you have the budget.
  • Instagram - Show images of your products along with a good description to convert customers to your website.
  • Twitter - Regular tweets on Twitter with hashtags to get users notice you and the services you are offering.
  • Forums - They is loads of forums out there where you can give advice and put your website in the signature section of your profile page.
  • Word of mouth and friends - Some of the best ways to get customers is face-to-face, it shows you are genuine and they can contact you directly if needed.

    • Summary

    Research your competitors, as potential customers like value for money and a reliable service. Create a website to sell your services, but also consider your budget so you can apply this to the right service e.g. reseller hosting.

    Decide on the right control panel and billing software you are confident to use if you are choosing a VPS or dedicated server. Test your service before you go live and advertise.

    If you're looking for an affordable way to get started, check out our website as we offer a web hosting affiliate program and reseller hosting packages.