Reseller hosting vs web hosting affiliate programmes

If you are a web design agency or freelance web developer, you are always looking for ways to increase your revenue stream while remaining helpful to your clients. For most people, managing their web server can be a nightmare, especially if they are not tech-savvy. Instead of letting your client handle their hosting, why not offer to do it for them and solve their burning issue? Your clients will be much happier, and you will enjoy an extra stream of income as well.

There are two routes you could follow to start offering hosting services to your clients: via reseller hosting or by joining a web hosting affiliate programme. Here, we’ll look at the pros and cons of both approaches to see which is the best solution for your business.

With reseller hosting, you rent out a third party’s servers to sell hosting plans. To your clients, you are the hosting providers. You’ll pay a monthly fee to the third party depending on how many resources you utilise. The biggest advantage is that you can charge whatever price you want. However, keep in mind that reseller hosting requires a high level of dedication. Your clients will rely on you for support. If there’s a problem and you are not there for them, you risk losing their trust. Again, the quality of your hosting service is only as good as the quality of the third-party hosting provider you choose. A wise choice can save you from a lot of troubles down the road.

Pros of Reseller Hosting

 

• Total freedom to decide the mark-up.
• Opportunity to upsell with domain registrations.
• Provide extra value to your client.

 

Cons of Reseller Hosting

 

• Choosing a bad third-party provider can end up eroding all the extra profits due to the time lost fixing the problems with your clients’ hosting.
• Even though you decide your own mark-up, you will have to strike the balance between making sure the price isn’t too high that it will scare away the clients but it also covers the support time you’ll need to dedicate to managing their hosting.

If you want a more hands-off approach to hosting, opt for web hosting affiliate programmes. Instead of setting up a private-label hosting service, you’ll promote a well-established, well-liked hosting provider and earn a reward on each sign-up.

• With hosting affiliate programmes, you have more freedom to choose any hosting provider that you trust
• You don’t need to provide hands-on support to your clients since the hosting provider will take care of everything.
• No costs to get started.
• You can help clients make a better choice, by providing a valuable hosting recommendation.
• It’s a win-win situation if you already have clients asking you to point them in the right direction, so instead of just being a great word of mouth promoter for the hosting company you’re shouting about, you will receive a nice reward yourself, such as, a credit voucher for doing what you always do anyway.
• A highly-scalable approach to expanding your business. Since the hosting provider handles everything, you won’t have a single problem even if 1,000 people sign up at once. On the other hand, with reseller hosting, you’ll be inundated with support requests.

The only disadvantage of hosting affiliate programmes is that you’ll only get credit on the sale. This credit can vary from scheme to scheme and you should check what credit is offered to compare the most beneficial referral scheme for your business.

Having said that, hosting affiliate programmes is still a recommended choice for smart web developers and web design agencies looking for extra income. If you are interested in Nimbus Hosting’s attractive referral programme, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Related: How to upsell hosting as an additional service for your agency