Most start-up resellers first elect to purchase this type of service because) it is hosting option with least expensive cost of entry and ii) option provides substantial savings as reseller's customer base grows.

The most advantageous discounts offered usually range from 15 to 30 per cent of original account's price. With reseller able to set retail price for its consumers, profitability can accrue very quickly via this resale model.

AFFILIATE RESELLING

The other popular resale option is affiliate reselling. Under this model, resellers are offered a simple, uncomplicated payment structure that pays commissions on all referrals for Web hosting services and hosting accounts that recur monthly.

This option is extremely popular with smaller Web designers, developers and system integrators, since it allows them to collect an up front fee for placing their client's hosting services at a particular higher-tier Web hosting firm.

By utilizing this option, system integrators need not spend thousands of dollars to offer their clients hosting infrastructure that is constructed in-house. In wide contrast, integrators can collect a fee while relocating rather involved responsibility of hosting onto a firm that makes hosting its core competency.

While this resale approach will satisfy most small system integrators, it would not likely satisfy a value-added reseller (VAR).

VALUE ADDED RESELLER OR PRIVATE LABEL RESELLER MODEL

A VAR is a vertical, market-centric, solution provider who integrates specific products into its own offering as part of a complete customer solution. Because VARs are focused upon providing transparent and integrated products and services, they usually select private label hosting solutions.

Private label hosting allows resellers to utilize services of an outsourced, higher-tier service provider while reaping benefits of a fully customized look and feel. Private label solutions are considered most complex since most offer a high level of customization and automation.

For this reason, private label solutions have most expensive cost of entry, and are used by largest of resellers, who posses hundreds and even thousands of accounts.

LEARN, LEARN, PROSPER

An excellent reseller will take time to learn everything about product/service he/she is selling, this is a crucial component to your success as a reseller, if you don't know how your product's features can benefit your customers, how will convey that message to them?

You must step into mind of Company you are reselling for, involve yourself in their culture by thoroughly reading all their manuals, subscribing to their forums, ezines, and updates. Look for communities built around product and interact with other resellers and users to learn strong points and weaknesses of your product so you may be better prepared to answer pre-sales and support questions.

Reselling programs can be a low risk way to start your online business, picking correct reseller program(s) is as important as any aspect of your business plan. Follow above guidelines and you increase your chances of finding and implementing a successful reseller program.

Setting up your own web server is not best approach for an individual or a small/medium business. You can rent space for your web site from a web hosting provider at a far lower cost.

If your web site is text-based, you won't need much web space - text takes almost no space at all! Select a provider that supports CGI and other advanced features that you think you might use in future. Better safe than sorry! And in this category, BrandBlast offers our Bronze package for only $9.95 / month!

If you're developing a web site for a small/medium business or organization, you should carefully evaluate possibility of further expansion in future. It will be a bit of a hassle if you discover later that you need a database for your web site, but your provider doesn't offer it.

If you're planning to sell a product (or products) online, look for a provider who can provide you with a commercial web solution such as a Merchant Account, Shopping Cart Software and a secure online payment system certificate that is compatible with their hosting platform. Choosing a large web space with a high bandwidth allowance is a good idea in this case.

Data Transfer allowance really depends on how many visitors you're expecting and how well you promote your web site. For most sites, 3 to 5 GB should suffice, and are provided by our Platinum and Diamond plans.

With all hosting plans, there will be some features that you need and some offered that you don't need. Be sure to focus on essentials that are required to launch your website.

You may want all nice extras but will you use them? It's a good idea to choose a host that will allow you to expand and upgrade your plan as and when your website grows. If you want to start selling online, for example, an additional e-commerce option for an extra fee will be easier and quicker to implement than looking for and transferring to a new host.

BrandBlast's plans differ only in their web space and data transfer allowance, features such as shopping carts, website builders, technical support, and much more are available as standard options on all of our hosting plans, you can upgrade or downgrade plans at any time, and manage multiple domains from one control panel. View a demo of our control panel.

Lesson Four: Evaluate their support service?

Customer support is very important - often critical. To cover yourself from start, take some time to look around at several providers' web sites to see what their support policies are.

Email them with a few sample questions to check speed and quality of their responses. Nothing guarantees that they will respond at same speed and manner if you do become a customer, but this approach is quite accurate and telling about 90% of time.

Look at a number of providers' web sites to see how they handle support. Many providers provide lists of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and support documents on their web sites.

Closing Thoughts

Selecting a provider with many years of experience is a good decision. Look at provider's web page for a list of its customers and check out some of their pages. Take a minute to view some of BrandBlast's current hosting and webdesign clients.

Nowadays, web hosting market is full of resellers. Even well-known providers can be resellers of a large web hosting provider or wholesaler services. Sometimes, they are resellers of resellers. Choosing a reseller provider is not always a bad idea. The reseller may provide you with faster technical support service. They usually offer other services too, such as web design or web maintenance.

To investigate reliability of providers, we recommend you check contents of their web sites. Experienced providers should have a large web site containing several pages of services and support documents, plus their phone and fax numbers, as well as their physical address.

You have gained valuable knowledge in this quick lesson, we at BrandBlast wish you best in your search for a website hosting provider.