Selling web hosting accounts is a good business to be in, and it’s a great example of recurring revenue. People generally don’t change their web hosts very often so, once you’ve made a sale, you get revenue from that sale each month or each year, depending on the pricing plans. Generally, there are three ways to go about this:

Purchase specialised reseller web space. You then sell accounts using this space. This gives you a lot of flexibility but you are having to pay out a monthly or annual fee for your reseller space and you have to set up new accounts and collect the fees yourself.

Act as an affiliate for a web hosting company. Companies such as 1&1 Internet, HostGator and so on simply pay you a normal affiliate referral fee. There’s little work to do apart from sending people to the sales site via your affiliate link, but the rewards are consequently lower.

Act as a reseller for a web hosting company. There are not too many of these types of hosting company. Normally you get a personalised sales page, the ability to set hosting fees (within limits) and a lot more flexibility in operating the service. Similar to acting as an affiliate, you don’t have to set up new accounts or collect hosting fees. There’s no start-up cost, but you might have to spend a day or so configuring everything to your liking.

The third option was the one I chose when, a few years ago I decided to add this particular revenue stream to my portfolio. I spent a lot of time checking out different companies. My choice eventually came down to two. I then took out a hosting account with each of them to see what the facilities and service were like. It’s very important to have confidence in whatever you are selling.

One of the two companies was good. The other was excellent! And that company formed the basis for my Hosting4Marketing web hosting service:

http://www.Hosting4Marketing.com

I have been as pleased with the reseller services of the company as I have been with the services they give to their hosting customers.

You can either use one of their templates, which you can personalise, or you can go the extra mile, as I have done, and design a “private label” template.

You can decide which of their standard packages you feature on your sales page, and you can set a selling price for each package.

Invoices go out from the company with your chosen reseller trading name, although naturally, their own name is also on the invoice.

The reseller’s control panel is superb, and you really do feel that you can get all the information to run your web hosting business.

So, if you fancy running a web hosting business, I’m happy to share with you the name of the company behind my very successful Hosting4Marketing business. Once you’ve set up your account, all you need to do is to send people to your sales page.

If you want to follow me - or maybe even overtake me! - go and get your free reseller account here:

http://www.IanSays.com/SetUpWebHostingBusiness

If, once you have signed up, you need any advice from me, you know you only need to ask