I want to start making money web hosting. I know a lot about it and would not regard myself as a beginner. Should I buy a reseller plan from a big company and sell from there or buy a domain and point it to the affiliate site created by the company (resellerspanel does this). I really just want hosting where support is given through a third party and not myself.
In my opinion (I may have forgotten few points), I would recommend you to go for a reseller plan or a small VPS. Reseller plan from a big company: Advantages: You can customize and allot the package plans as you desire. Name your own reasonable price to at least match monthly reseller fee. (No need to worry about base fee + profit for each value) Most likely, you won't paying extra for white-labeling as well. (Making your hosting site/service not hinting who your main provider is). You can administer the server to the extent you are capable of and leave the greater level admin works to the service provider support. Disadvantages: You have to pay up front / invest for the hosting plan so you can have an account. If not provided, you have to acquire the billing software on your own or purchase a monthly license (it's cheap though). You'll be limited to third-party payment processors unless you also have a system to also accept/charge CC solely. *If you are hosted with the wrong company, you will be having troubles with account suspensions for "overusages/overloads". affiliate site Advantages: You can customize and allot the package plans as you desire. Well, disadvantages above will become advantages here. Disadvantages: You will be paying many extra to get each of anything customized to your needs. You are stuck with their rules and EACH of their base fees EVERYTIME. You have greater chance of exposing who your main provider is and your potential customers may move on directly to the big company. Even their support will have "Thanks, Name, Company Info". Again, *If you are hosted with the wrong company, you will be having troubles with account suspensions for "overusages/overloads". So... But keep in mind that the advantages and disadvantages are not the only things you should be considering. Most of the disadvantages I've listed above under Reseller form a big company can easily be resolved with a good hosting provider. There are few companies out there who can provide you with guaranteed specs they listed on their order page AND also provide 24/7 support from script installation to server-side module installation to 100% server management (depending on shared reseller plan or a VPS/Dedi) I would recommend you to go for a reseller plan or a managed VPS from a reputable company that can truely provide you a superb customer service and support. With them, support is given through the third party (except that there would be few delay in your relay of message to them).
Thanks for taking your time out to make sure a brilliant post. Which big hosts would you recommend with a reseller? I'm leaning towards dreamhost even though they don't offer cPanel.
What you say is hard to explain, but I have been in the same situation. First of all, think about yourself. Could you possible handle the pressure you will go through when having a reseller company yourself? Having a hosting company eats up a lot of time (especially in the beginning) so you might have to concentrate a few months on it and get into costs with no or very few earnings. But once that you got the company launched, you should also think about the (usual) lifetime earnings. Once a client hosts with you, he will most likely stay for at least a few months/years. Being an affiliate is good, but requires a lot of efforts too. You should do a lot of promotion and will get short-term money, but a lot of money will get wasted. You're giving away potential clients you could be earning from. I chose for the first option and it's paying off already. We have concentrated for a few months on our company and have now our employees already for our newest hosting company. We take most major decisions and do still help from time to time for support, but most is done by our employees and we're 'sitting back and relaxing'. (Take that last thing with a grain of salt, because there is still pressure and decisions to be made) If I would be you, I'd take a paper, write all advantages and disadvantages on it and take the right decision. Got the time and you want long-term earnings? Go for reseller hosting. As our reseller hosting page says: We spend our time working behind the scenes, so that you can spend your time getting new clients. Best luck and hope I helped you out a little bit.
You see, you will lose nothing if you join affiliate program.. But you will earn much more money if you start reselling.