Hi!
I am new here and make some researches about reseller hostings. What I couldn't understand is how to make money?
There are lots of cheap web hosting services on web. So you need to find cheap reseller option in order to make profit.
The bandwidths are always limited for reseller packages.
Think that I pay $25/month for 20GB bandwidth+1GB disk
In realistic I need to give my customer at least 2gb bandwidth that makes 10 hosting. If I sell that package $40, then total of $400. So only $100 profit per year from 10 person. Think that I make 100 customer, then it will be $1000 per year?
Is it the situation
In where I did wrong?
I have more question:
1)How many customer can you get in one year if you are new?(I know that it depends but at least give a range)
2)What percentage should I get profit from each hosting that I sell?
3)Can I change the interfaces or languages of the tools.
For example there will be webmail service, control panels for customer, Can I change the language?
Thanks for your help

First, you should never go with the cheapest by default.. to build up your business and reputation, you have to provide an excellent service that makes you different from the second guy who sells something similar.

Obtain a reseller account with a reputable company (Avoid the unlimited gimics) for a reasonable fee. Then start advertising it..

It might take a while to build up your customer base at first because you are new but focus on excellence.. You will make few dollars here and there but when you are known in the industry, you will get more customers and get more profit..

DO some research on other companies and see how they operate to get some idea.

Control panels have few choices.. like ensim, Cpanel and Hsphere.. (I find Cpanel the easiest to most)

Cpanel and Hsphere tend to have a higher cost due to it's own cost to the company..

If you have any specific questions in mind, just email me and will try to answer them.

It can be hard your first year if you are just starting out. If you have access to a local market start there. Word of month is the best way to do it.

Also forums and hosting directories are another good way to get the word out about the product you are advertising.

It can be hard for the first year. You want to provide good service, but you also want to be competitive and when you are new that can be hard to balance.

The other sigma is some clients will not host with you unless you have been around for a year. (This is a serious catch 22, I understand, but don't agree with.)

If you will not host with someone who has not been around for a year, how do you expect them to last a year without customers?
(Never understood the philosophy on this one.)

That's about it really, get a few decent clients, treat them really well. (They do provide good word of month and that is really the best way to get clients.)

Luck doesn't hurt, but it's not guarenteed.

Try advertising in local magazines or Newspapers... My friend owned a hosting company before he died and his customers increased 5x since he had started the ad campaign in newspapers and magazines.

It all depends on your exposure to your site. You can get allot of sales if you are known out there.

I can't give any phone support to my clients. Is it a problem?
Any also what kind of problems do the reseller mostly face with?
Also if you setup the account correctly and your server is up, then will there be any problems?
Thank you, again.

Phone support is only an issue for those that make it one. Many hosts do not offer it and I do not recommend it.

Most problems are probably starting out and realizing it can be difficult to market and once getting customers the reality that you need to be available to support your customers.

There can be any number of problems - if your car is running does that mean it has no problems? Same basics with hosting as anything goes pretty much.

Dig in... get your feet wet with reselling. That is basically the only way to find the answers to what effects you. Just be prepared to support your customers when they need it.

Whatever you do, don't do the free hosting thing. That seems to be my greatest source of new clients! Since we do design the natural thing to do is offer hosting as well. It makes for a nice residual income.

IMHO the best way to get new customers is to get the word out and advertise locally.

I would recommend adding yourself to all the major hosting directories straight away (you'll find a good list at: http://webhostdirs.com) and get your clients to leave you reviews as it ups your popularity and you'll see the click throughs flying in!

Rather than think in percentages first, calculate what your upfront costs are and how much time you expect to spend on your business per customer. That way, you can decide what your time and effort are worth, which will help you with pricing.

In other words, assume you spend $25 on your reseller account and resell 10 accounts for $40 apiece. That leaves you with earnings of $375 at the end of the month: if you spent only 10 hours marketing, managing, providing support, etc., that would come to $37.50 an hour, which you might be more than happy to live with. On the other hand, if you spent 50 hours on your business that month, that would mean you're earning $7.50 an hour, which might not be so hot.

If you're earning less per hour than you believe you're worth, you might raise your prices to bring in more cash (though that can backfire by driving away both prospective and current customers). Or, you can find ways to reduce the amount of time you spend working through things like recorded help messages, online self-help tools, automation, etc. to see if you can make the math work better for you.

I have observed that resellers offering a turn-key solution for their clients, rather than a piece-meal solution, is a good way to optimize reseller profits. For example, offer web hosting bundled in with a web design project as a more complete package - this brings in greater profit initially from the design project, and residual profit from the continual hosting fees.

If you provide your clients with quality service that they want to recommend to their friends, they won't mind that you aren't the cheapest host available. As most people discover the hard way - cheap does not equal reliable - and usually causes a lot of headaches in the long run.

You should remain available to your clients for support questions as much as possible, but email tends to be a popular communication source for this these days. Also, if you really aren't keen on maintaining a server after setup - I suggest you resell from a shared environment that the host will manage for you. Then, you can just focus on helping your clients with basic first-level issues.