Reselling Hosting Services: The Top 5 Things To Look For

By Jim Ciampaglio, Vice President of Channel Partners, Hostway Services

Here are five essential questions you should ask as a reseller of hosting services:

1. What additional solutions are offered? Designers should consider a vendor’s complete portfolio of offerings, including the additional services it provides beyond hosting. An individual or organization that already offers design and development offerings should look for solutions that can be easily added to the portfolio. Hosting is a natural profit-boosting addition here; it not only bolsters the reseller’s capabilities, but offers three more options for its client base as well. Clients are billed directly for hosting services through the designer, enabling the developer to set the mark-up amount. In addition, when developers select a hosting company that offers a partner program, they stand to benefit from a special discount just for resellers.
2. Is the product suite easily resalable? Developers considering becoming resellers should fully examine the granular details of a vendor’s product suite to ensure that it will be easily resalable. Experts recommend that designers ensure that their hosting partner offers solutions that are both technical and non-technical. Advanced offerings like dedicated solutions and virtual private servers should be available alongside other offerings like shared solutions or email solutions. A product suite that provides many of the top solutions in today’s marketplace will provide more value for the reseller and a wider range of options for customers.
3. Is onboarding support offered? Another critical consideration to make here is regarding onboarding support. Not all vendors offer the level of onboarding support that is necessary in today’s marketplace. Designers should specifically look to ensure that the vendor can provide a dedicated account manager to help walk the reseller through the onboarding process. Having a dedicated account manager in place can make all the difference, and help ensure that the reseller correctly and efficiently establishes all the critical pieces of its service portfolio (and who does not like a little hand-holding).The most beneficial partners can offer free or discounted services during the initial reseller establishment period, helping keep costs down as the developer sets out on a new business venture.
4. How are sales and marketing efforts supported? It is essential that the vendor is able to support the designer’s sales and marketing efforts, helping to reach a wider range of potential customers. The best vendors have the capability to provide sales and product training to the reseller’s team, ensuring that sales agents have all the knowledge and materials they need to engage current customers and attract new ones. In addition, it is also ideal to find a vendor that will take part in joint marketing efforts with co- branded marketing materials, webinars, videos, white papers and presentations. This helps the developer leverage the vendor’s established reputation and brand presence to make a name for itself in the hosting industry. 
5. What other support systems are offered? Working with a vendor that has superior support systems in place will help the developer face any challenges head on and alleviate any pain points. Support is an essential piece of the puzzle, during both the initial onboarding process and throughout the reseller’s lifecycle. Ideal partners will offer tier-two and tier-three technical support that offers access to system administrators. In addition, having access to a reseller program ecosystem that connects the developer with other resellers can be a considerable boon.

In this way, the designer can reach out to others in the community for tips and best practices, other lessons and to ask questions.