6 Steps To Start a VPS Reseller Hosting Business

A guide on how to start a successful VPS reseller hosting business.

A virtual private server (VPS) is a virtual machine that is preferred by those who want a more powerful server than shared hosting, but may not be able to afford a dedicated server. Users are guaranteed private resources that only they can use.

Reseller hosting is when a web hosting company rents out their hard drive space and bandwidth to others, who then rent it out to a third party.

1. Pick a Niche

The first step in starting a successful VPS reseller hosting business starts with planning. Decide on a target market and let that guide your decision making. This could be clients from a particular location or industry, for example.

2. Set Your Standards

Now that you have an idea of what your potential clients’ needs are, you can begin looking at plans. Rule out the ones that do not meet your basic requirements. Potential factors that you may want to take into consideration include:

● Location. Having VPS servers in specific locations leads to a faster hosting experience. Look for hosting companies that have data centers in your desired location.

● Operating Systems. In order to deploy your VPS reseller servers, you need to decide on an operating system to use. Leading hosting companies like UKBSS are able to deploy your servers with almost any operating system. Operating systems that you should look into are CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora. Whatever you decide on, you should make sure that your hosting company supports it/them.

● Security. If a hosting company is not emphasizing security in their offering, it is probably best to avoid them. Security is of the utmost importance, and should be included in your package at no cost. 3. Pick Your Plan

Now that you have ruled out the plans that don’t meet your basic needs and those of your potential customers, it is time to start narrowing your choices down. You should aim to get the best value from your account, competitive companies should offer:

● 100% Uptime.

● Reliable Backups. Your data should never be at risk, UKBSS offers snapshot and backup facilities for your VPS.

● Speed. UKBSS is up to 16x faster with RAID10 SSD storage, directly attached to the node.

● Security. As previously stated, security is a must for web hosting. Our servers have free, enterprise-grade DDoS protection at no cost.

● Flexibility. You shouldn’t be stuck paying for resources that you don’t use.

● Fast deployment. Utilise our OS templates or use a custom ISO and have your server online in seconds.

● Powerful Performance. Our VPS servers offer powerful performance that is backed by Intel Xeon Processors. No task is too demanding.

More involved web hosting companies will offer more involved services for their resellers. An example of this is white label support, a service where your hosting provider will provide support to your clients under your brand.

4. Pick Your Prices

UKBSS’ VPS reseller plans start at £6.65/mo, so it is fairly easy to make a profit when you are offered an affordable price by your host. UKBSS also offers flexible pricing, so you can add and remove RAM, CPU, storage and IP addresses as you need them and only pay for what you use.

Look at what others in your niche are charging, and decide if you want to be on the affordable or premium end of the pricing spectrum.

5. Set Up

At this point you have purchased your plan and know what you want to charge: it’s time to go live with your business. General setup involves receiving an email from your host that welcomes you into the portal. Industry standard for VPS reseller hosting packages is downloading WHMCS which should be included in your purchase. UKBSS utilises Virtualizor (powerful, web-based VPS control panel) to support reseller and cloud accounts, it is extremely simple to use and the set up prompts are self-explanatory. Once you have installed your WHMCS module, you can begin to create your unique API key, create products, adjust the module settings, and begin filling out the custom fields.

A complete set up depends on all of the features that you purchased. If you are new to this industry and are having trouble, reach out to customer support or your sales rep and ask for assistance. They should be happy to help you.

6. Market Yourself

Congratulations, you’re up and running! Now you just have to let people know that your new venture exists. If you already have a related business, such as web design, and are using web hosting as a complimentary service you can reach out to your existing customers. Send out an email campaign to your client base and let them know that you are now offering high-end hosting services. You can also update your business’ website and highlight your new service. Other ways to market your business include paid ads, search engine optimisation, implementing referral programs, participating in forums, and cross-promoting with partners related to your business.

For a more in depth explanation of how to market your reseller business, read our marketing guide.

While reseller hosting requires minimal effort, you should still treat it like any other business. Follow up and ask for feedback from your customers to ensure that you are offering your clients the best, and always make sure that they are satisfied.

If you are interested in VPS reseller hosting, use our ‘VPSR15’ promocode to get 15% off your first 12 months with a UKBSS VPS reseller hosting plan

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