Starting a reseller hosting business means that you need to prioritize choosing the right hosting plan. But with so many options available, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of picking the least expensive option. This, however, is often a bad idea for several reasons.
Strangely, picking the “cheapest” reseller hosting plan for cost alone could result in spending more money later. Moreover, you could encounter numerous problems that may disgruntle your clients. As a byproduct, your industry reputation may suffer; this is an even bigger problem if you’re new and haven’t yet built up trust.
If the option you really need also costs the least, that is a nice bonus. However, this should not be your primary consideration. Today, you’ll discover all the main reasons why you should not pick the cheapest reseller hosting plan based just on price. To help you make the right decision, we’ll also reveal what you should do instead.
1. You’ll Probably Spend More in the Long Term
Many business owners (and people in general) choose the cheapest option because they think it will save them money. However, the opposite is often true. “Cheap” often isn’t just a reference to the price; it also means the product quality is worse in many cases.
When you pick the cheapest reseller hosting plan for price alone, you may spend more for several reasons. First, you might have to manually migrate your clients’ websites. Doing so is time-consuming, meaning that you’ll earn less money. It’s also more costly and potentially risky.
Eventually, you’ll also probably become frustrated with the service you receive. In many cases, you will then look for an alternative plan and have to move everything over there. You will therefore have to spend more money again, along with losing a lot of time.
Part of being a successful hosting reseller involves a willingness to invest into your business and get the right tools. Start looking at this as a game; each time your profits increase, look at places you can optimize and subsequently deliver an even better product.
2. You May Experience Issues With General Performance
Performance will significantly impact your longevity and customer satisfaction. This, therefore, is another reason why you should avoid choosing a reseller hosting plan just because it’s the cheapest. In many cases, you could encounter issues with overall performance; for example, you may experience worse downtime than would otherwise be the case.
You also need to consider the impact on your clients’ websites. I can tell you from using multiple web hosting providers that choosing the right plan has a huge impact on site speed. Yes, your clients can do all the best practices to speed up their websites – but don’t discount how important the right servers are.
Prioritize the aspects that will make your customers happier, and you’ll earn more money. First of all, you can charge a higher price and, therefore, scale your reseller hosting profits. Secondly, more people will want to work with you – meaning that you’d make more money anyway based on volume.
3. You Might Not Get the Best Customer Support
Knowing that you have excellent customer support on hand makes it much easier to focus on the essentials of running your business. It’s also why you should consider experienced support team members as one of your first reseller hosting business hires.
Generally speaking, the higher-quality reseller hosting providers also have better customer support. As a result, you’ll solve problems faster and can limit the impact on your clients. This, however, is typically the opposite when you pick a reseller hosting plan just because it costs less.
Prioritize customer support when considering what to look out for in a reseller hosting plan. More importantly, think about how it will impact your customers.
4. Scalability Issues May Arise
As you start to get more customers, you’ll need more resources. Doing so is vital for ensuring that everyone’s websites continue to run without issues. In many cases, the cheapest reseller hosting plans do not have good scalability options – meaning that you’ll encounter problems you could easily have avoided.
Ignoring the importance of scalability is one of the biggest reseller hosting mistakes to avoid. At some point, your bigger clients will start becoming frustrated that they can’t get the most out of their websites. Those clients’ audiences will also likely get annoyed about poor website performance, meaning that nobody wins.
5. The Cheapest Plans May Not Have the Tools You Need
More often than not, I’ve chosen the cheapest option knowing that it won’t fulfil my needs. This goes for website hosting and software, but it also extends to clothing, household items, technology, and more. Besides having to spend more money later, I also get annoyed that I can’t maximize my potential. You will inevitably feel the same if you choose a reseller hosting plan based solely on price.
Some of the things you might miss out on are pretty big. For example, you may not have the servers you need to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Smaller aspects, such as a lack of rebranding options, could also bother you.
If you don’t have access to the tools you need, you will not be able to provide the best possible service. As a result, you’ll needlessly give your competitors an advantage that they didn’t need to have. When learning how to resell hosting, you should therefore make a list of non-negotiables.
6. Customers May Respect You Less
Customers will always want the best possible experience, and providing this to them is one way to increase their chances of staying loyal to you. But on the other hand, they’re also really good at sensing when you’re trying to save money just for the sake of it.
Not choosing the best possible reseller hosting plan suggests to customers that you aren’t serious about turning your business into a success. This will naturally deter some because they don’t think you’ll give them the best possible service.
While you need to make smart investments, businesses that spend money on finetuning their systems often have more long-term success. And because customers know that they’ll get a better experience, they’ll be more likely to spend more money in the long run.
7. You’ll Start Letting Scarcity Creep Into Your Business
A scarcity mindset is when you think that resources are limited, and it’s one of the worst things you can do when running a reseller hosting business. Choosing the cheapest reseller hosting plan is one manifestation of this mindset, and if you don’t tackle it, you’ll quickly encounter problems.
Subconsciously, you’ll constantly start looking for places to cut costs with a scarcity mindset – even if it’s at the detriment of the service you provide. Given how competitive reseller hosting is, you will inevitably fall behind to someone who is willing to pay for a better hosting solution (and general infrastructure).
Understanding why you have this mindset is essential, and you should also spend more time around people who think the opposite.
What to Do Instead
It’s all well and good to say why you shouldn’t pick the cheapest reseller hosting plan, but it ultimately doesn’t mean much without solutions. So, to help you make a better decision, here are some pointers to what you should do instead.
1. Assess Reseller Hosting Plans Based on Needs
Whether you choose shared hosting or reseller hosting (or something else), you should first assess your needs. Sit down and analyze your business objectives before thinking about how any purchase can help you achieve these. Some useful questions to ask yourself are:
- How many clients do I expect to sell reseller hosting to?
- What security infrastructure would I like to have?
- Where should my server locations be?
- Who would I contact if something goes wrong?
Look deeply at every single reseller hosting plan you’re thinking of and critically assess your options. If the option that meets your needs happens to cost the least, that’s great – but if you need to pay more, this shouldn’t be an issue.
2. Focus on ROI Rather Than the Upfront Cost
One of the biggest lessons you need to unlearn as a business owner is looking at things based on their cost rather than the return on investment (ROI). For example, most people would look at a $150/mo software subscription as“expensive”. However, if that same subscription helps you make an extra $5,000 monthly, it’s clearly worth buying.
The upfront cost is just what it is, and you should focus on whether the reseller hosting plan you choose will help you move forward. If you pick one with excellent security, high-quality customer support, and scalability options, it’s a significantly better purchase than just going for whatever costs the least.
If you’re worried about your investment seeming risky, use it as motivation to grow your business. You should spend within your means, but at the same time, you need to spend money to make money.
3. Take Customer Reviews Seriously
When you read customer reviews for any product or service, certain things will stand out to you as green or red flags. All too often, it’s easy to ignore the red flags and have them become evident later.
Look carefully at customer reviews before you choose your reseller hosting plan. If someone says that they struggled despite the price with performance and support, it’s probably worth taking this seriously.
4. Focus on Increasing Your Income Rather Than Saving Money
Another important mindset shift for business owners is to look at possibilities rather than limitations. It’s very easy to think about saving money, especially when many people receive this advice from an early age onwards. But the truth is that if your expenses aren’t crazy high, trying to save money almost always diminishes the quality of your product/service.
It’s often easier to increase your income than it is to save money. So, if you’re worried about picking a reseller hosting plan based on price, you should adopt this way of thinking. Rather than viewing your subscription as “expensive”, use it as motivation to offer an amazing service and boost profits as a byproduct.
Summary
Despite the cheapest reseller hosting plan seeming like a cost-effective option, you’ll probably spend more trying to fix your errors. Moreover, the quality of your business will suffer, and your customers will subsequently become frustrated. Instead of focusing just on cost, you should choose a plan based on your business needs. The ROI will often be much higher.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Brand My Reseller Hosting Services?
Absolutely! Reseller hosting allows you to create a unique brand, offering hosting services under your name while using the infrastructure of a larger hosting provider like Verpex.
What are the benefits of reseller hosting?
With reseller hosting, you have the potential for more sales, you get access to a previously untapped market, and you get increased brand awareness.
Can you make money with reseller hosting?
You definitely can. There are countless success stories from entrepreneurs that have managed to take on hundreds, even thousands of clients, just be aware of the work you’ll need to put in.
Read our article to learn more about web hosting business income.
Can you make money with reseller hosting?
You definitely can make money with reseller hosting. There are countless success stories from entrepreneurs that have managed to take on hundreds, even thousands of clients, just be aware of the work you’ll need to put in.
Read our article to learn more about web hosting business income.
Danny is a seasoned freelance copywriter with 10+ years of managing his own websites in WordPress and other content management systems. He's an expert in eCommerce and sells his own photography prints, in addition to knowing about hosting domains having used several providers. Danny's strong writing expertise is evident in his bylines across several major tech publications, including Lifewire, MUO, and Make Tech Easier.
View all posts by Danny Maiorca