The Advantages and Disadvantages of a Reseller Web Hosting Program

Web hosting allows individuals and organizations to store their websites on servers connected to the World Wide Web and subsequently present them to surfers looking for relevant information or products. Basically, there are two types of web hosting companies. Those that own the servers, the physical space needed to store the servers, and the equipment needed to connect them to the Internet such as switches, routers, hubs etc. are referred to as direct web hosting companies. The customer pays the subscription fees to the hosting company in order to get the service for a specified period of time. There is no intermediary between the client and the company. On the other hand, there are also indirect hosting companies referred to as reseller hosting companies. These companies rent the servers as well as storage space from the direct hosting companies, i.e. they pay a per month subscription cost ranging from $10 - $40 and then sell their hosting plans to individuals and organizations.

Reseller web hosting companies may be able to offer certain advantages as compared to direct hosting companies, especially in the realm of customer support. This is because they have less to worry about, since the direct hosting company is responsible for taking care of the equipment, the servers, and the storage space. As a result, they can deploy a better ticketing system as well as more service personnel to look after their customers. They may also be able to augment their hosting service with complementary services such as web design, search engine marketing etc.

During the last few years, reseller web hosting could only be run by enterprises having some background knowledge about the field. This trend has changed in the present times as more and more small business companies such as independent web design and search engine optimization firms are looking to tap into this exciting and profitable field. A major reason of this is also a rapid downturn in the economic situation worldwide. Because of the economic slump, the spending power of people has decreased considerably, as a result of which small business companies are losing out on daily business. A direct consequence of this is that they are in search of an alternative revenue source that can, if not completely, at least partially make up for their business losses.

The alternative source of revenue that has seemed appealing to many small business companies is reseller web hosting. The reason for its popularity as a source of extra capital is threefold. Firstly, because of being unable to attract a sufficient number of customers willing to buy their main business, small business companies have extra time which they can invest into some other activity. Secondly, as mentioned in the prelude, the cost of running a reseller web hosting program is sufficiently low in order to incentivize these small businesses to invest the money. Thirdly, with this new complementary service, small business companies are not only able to retain their existing customers by adding to their pool of services, but are also able to attract new customers who are looking solely for a web hosting solution. The result is an ongoing increase in the number of reseller web hosting companies emerging on the scene in the past few years. However, because of their relatively small size, these new reseller web hosting providers have had almost no influence on those currently engaged in the web hosting technology business.

An added advantage of a reseller web hosting program being run as a complementary business activity is that the company can focus more on customer service. As already mentioned, there is no a priori knowledge required in order to successfully operate a reseller web hosting program. This allows small businesses and entrepreneurs to make the best out of this new possibility. The same customer that was not initially interested in the fundamental services offered by the company may be tempted to buy a web hosting account. After acquisition, the customer is exposed to the main services offered by the company such as web design or search engine optimization, and may be willing to purchase those as well.

There are also some negative aspects of investing into a reseller web hosting program. Many small businesses are often willing to tap into this field only as a short-term business activity. As already mentioned, this owes to the low investment required as well as the extra time these businesses have during these hard economic times. However, what may damage the business in the long run is the inability to discern the negative implications of running such a program on the long-term business goals of the company. The available extra time could be invested into restructuring the business model, finely tuning the optimization parameters where possible, as well as training or further business development. This would probably be the best usage of the current idle time and would ensure that the business will skyrocket once the economy revives. However, many small businesses overlook these long-term goals, focusing only on the short-term ones, which may not lead to a brighter future for the company.

One of the dangers of this rapid upsurge in the reseller web hosting industry is the poor customer service that may be experienced. Despite the fact that it is easy to operate, reseller web hosting is not for every Tom Dick and Harry. Since lots and lots of small business companies are trying to make up their losses by investing into a complementary service such as reseller web hosting, the overall percentage of unprofessional and inexperienced reseller web hosts may increase. This may result in a serious disappointment for customers, because of which they may try to avoid reseller web hosting after their bad experience. To conclude with, reseller web hosting may be a really good option for small businesses seeking an alternative revenue source. However, it may also damage the long-term goals of the company by hampering its progress and development.

About the Article

This is a genuine article custom written for WHL (WebHostLead.com). WHL is an unbiased reseller hosting reviews directory based on actual customer reviews about the best reseller web hosts.

Note: WHL holds all copyrights to this article. If you would like to publish the article on your website, you must include the "About the Article" section as well.

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