Managed VPS for Reseller Hosting: Growing Your Business the Right Way

Getting online brings a ton of monetization opportunities. You can become a shop owner, a successful blogger, or a trusted affiliate – practically anything you put enough effort into can become a great extra source of revenue. 

But what is the common denominator for all those online entrepreneurs, the thing that no businessman can survive without?

The answer is simple – web hosting!

Every website needs reliable hosting services to thrive, and finding the right partner is sometimes easier said than done. Laying the groundwork for a successful website involves a stable environment, stellar performance, tight security, and a plethora of functionalities. Finding the right vendor is like finishing a complex puzzle – all the pieces fall into place, and the whole picture suddenly clicks.

But did you know that the right host can also bring you money?

Behold, as reseller hosting comes to the stage. As the name suggests, this is something that allows you to sell your providers’ services as if you were a vendor yourself.

Today, we will look deeper into the nature of Reseller Hosting and determine how useful it is as an extra revenue stream. Let’s not waste any time and jump right in. 

Introduction to Reseller Hosting

Reseller hosting is a type of service where a client can become a provider and sell their own hosting solutions. This is widely adopted by web developers and agencies with numerous clients, allowing them to act as hosts and cut out the middleman. The reseller does not need to possess any server equipment or have vast technical expertise – the vendor takes care of the technicalities, allowing you to grow your business in the meantime.

Many of the smaller hosting companies are resellers themselves. This works great for them as they don’t have to make significant investments to start a company, and many of the day-to-day tasks are completely automated. Aspiring entrepreneurs just need to have a domain name and secure some web hosting to get started.

What’s more, going for a white-label service allows resellers to hide all affiliations with the vendor on top and appear as a fully-fledged host. You are not limited in how you form your prices as well, allowing you to get as much overhead as you feel fit. 

Depending on your needs (and your host’s offerings), you can use practically any type of server for your clients – shared, VPS, dedicated, you name it.  

Advantages of Managed VPS for Reseller Hosting

Just as managed VPS hosting is quite lucrative for end users, the same can be said about reseller clients. The nature of the service and the underlying server environment are what makes VPS plans so special:

• Scalability and Resource Allocation

Very few online projects can be put into a fixed frame in terms of the resources and functionalities they’ll need in the long run. Sure, you can predict how much you’ll need for starters, but businesses are dynamic, and what works today might be insufficient tomorrow.

Resource scalability is one of the most important selling points of VPS solutions. You see that you are running out of CPU? Not a problem to add another core. A great marketing campaign resulted in sudden bursts of traffic created by new, unique visitors? Getting more RAM is as easy as clicking on a few buttons.

Managed VPS resellers are always ready to react to the changing business environment of their clients. That’s even more apparent if you opt-in for a cloud virtual server. The vast cloud network allows users to tap into a practically limitless resource pool, ensuring that your clients can easily avoid service interruptions and downtimes. 

• Custom Branding and White Labeling

Imagine you are already a reseller and welcome your first clients. They log in and see the branding elements of a completely different company (your vendor). They then go to the control panel – same thing. They try to point their domain to you, but the nameservers also state another name. All of this seems fishy, to say the least.

Nothing to worry about, though, as you can easily avoid confusion.

White-label services are an integral part of reseller packages nowadays. With their help, the reseller can remove all branding elements that connect them to the vendor and apply their own. This is absolutely crucial if you are trying to start a hosting business and don’t want your clients to know who provides the actual servers and maintenance. Not only that, but you can start making a name for yourself – your company name, logo, and colors will appear everywhere.

• Security and Compliance

The importance of cyber security cannot be overstated. The evolution of technology has brought exciting opportunities not only for online entrepreneurs but also for hackers. Website security breaches are becoming more prevalent, as are the methods by which someone can gain unauthorized access to your app.

Luckily, web hosting providers are not wasting their time and constantly searching for new ways to respond to online threats. Advanced security monitors, firewalls, DDoS protection, malware scans, anti-spam filters, SSL certificates – you have plenty of weapons to defend your project.

Going for a managed VPS reseller plan, you have many of those tools available for you and your clients for free. For example, at ScalaHosting, we give you the unique SShield monitoring platform, spam filters, SSL certificates, daily backups, dedicated IP, and real-time malware protection at no extra cost. Resellers can have peace of mind knowing that both they and their clients are well-protected from outside breaches.

• Support and Expertise

Getting customer support as a reseller can be a bit tricky. Managed VPS plans come with the expert assistance of your vendor, but they can only help you, the reseller. If one of your clients comes and seeks support directly – the host will not be able to help.

It’s quite logical, really – as a reseller, you want to appear as a fully-fledged provider and cut all affiliations with the company above you. Serving the reseller clients directly opens the door to all kinds of issues: 

• Ownership disputes
• Branding confusions
• Overstepping boundaries

And many more.

The reseller is the only actual client of the web hosting provider, and any of their users can only be served by the account owner. That’s why it’s always important to keep a close report with your users and personally contact the vendor if you need to deal with issues above your competence. 

• Profitability and Cost Management

In terms of profitability, reseller hosting can bring some hefty extra revenue to your bank account. 

For starters, the actual vendor does not impose any limits on the rates you will apply to your clients. You can get as much overhead as you want, but we advise always going for a realistic number. There are literally thousands of hosting companies out there fighting for the same customers, so asking too much can easily push your potential users to another company. 

That’s not the only day to keep your costs to a minimum, though. Hosting providers love to come up with promotions for new clients, and that sometimes applies to resellers as well. Not only can you benefit from lowered initial prices, but the rates go down even more with the more accounts you purchase. So developers and agencies that have a good number of clients will be getting an even better deal. 

Extra features are great for cost savings as well. Depending on the chosen plan, you can get a lot of free stuff as part of the deal, many of which are essential for the smooth operation of your accounts. Managed VPS resellers get the most out of that fact, flaunting the best feature-cost ratio on the market. 

• Value-Added Services and Features

Speaking of extra features, they are one of the greatest sources of adding value to your clients. When you look for a reseller vendor, make sure they offer a rich feature set, even if some goods seem useless for your projects. Reselling web hosting is a dynamic business, and you would be surprised how many different things you can miss when starting off. 

The value-added feats strongly depend on the type of server you will choose. Shared resellers still enjoy some perks – you may get a free SSL certificate, some kind of backup solution, even the occasional website transfer if you don’t need to move too much data. A managed VPS plan can easily take that to the next level, though. 

For example, even on the lowest virtual server plan with ScalaHosting, resellers can benefit from:

• Dedicated IP address
• OpenLiteSpeed caching
• Unlimited number of SSL certificates
• Unlimited website transfers
• Unique control panel with no licensing fee
• Blacklist monitoring
• Anytime moneyback guarantee
• White-label services

That’s just a small part of the package but a great indicator of the free features and services you can get with a classy hosting provider.

• Managing Client Accounts and Resources

The largest percent of resellers out there use a well-tested combination for account management – cPanel + WHM. 

WHM (or Web Hosting Manager) is your administrative tool. With it, you can create as many client accounts as you wish, allocate any amount of resources, and include whatever features you see fit. Each account comes with a control panel (cPanel), which is the platform utilized by your end users to manage their own websites, apps, files, databases, mailboxes, domain names, and more. 

But what if you don’t have cPanel+WHM or simply cannot afford the rising licensing fees?

Nothing to worry about, really. 

For example, managed VPS resellers with ScalaHosting get access to SPanel – a cPanel alternative that offers excellent account management on a lightweight, multifunctional platform. You don’t need WHM for that setup, as SPanel comes with its very own Admin interface that gives you full control over the server. Creating, editing, and deleting client accounts is a matter of a few mouse clicks, and you can get a good night’s sleep knowing that your licensing fees won’t skyrocket overnight. 

• Building and Growing Your Web Hosting Business

The greatest thing about becoming a VPS reseller is that you don’t have to be a technical genius or know much about web hosting at all. If you find the right host, you can always count on them to help you with any question, regardless of whether it concerns your admin account or your client’s projects. 

Virtual servers allow for both steady and sudden business growth. Keeping a close eye on your customers allows you to easily predict if a user is close to hitting limits, and you can allocate more CPU/RAM/disk space to their associated account. The same goes for clients who choose to discontinue their services – you can simply delete their account and use the free resources to accommodate a new partner. 

At the end of the day, the combination of a reliable host, a fair pricing structure, and attention to support is almost a sure win for resellers, bringing an exciting revenue stream with little to no effort. 

Conclusion

Reseller services are not new in any way, but they are certainly here to stay. There is something very lucrative in the idea of making money without practically doing anything significant. If you find the perfect hosting provider – chances are your clients will appreciate their quality as well. 

Choosing a managed VPS plan for your reseller business is quite the logical step in this endeavor. You can have full control over all client accounts, allocating as much resources as each of them needs. When their project gets too popular – you can easily add more CPU, RAM, or disk space, even move them to a separate virtual server. Not to mention all the free extras you can get with a VPS reseller plan.

The best thing is that you don’t have to be a web developer or agency with a lot of clients in order to take advantage of the service – you can easily do this with a few trusted projects and still get some neat extra revenue at the end of the month.

Don’t delay your success in the future – contact ScalaHosting and see how you can become a VPS reseller today.

FAQ

Q: What is VPS reseller hosting?

A: Reseller hosting is a type of service that allows you to offer web hosting services without being a provider yourself. With the help of white labeling, you can add your own brand elements so your clients will never know where the service is coming from. 

VPS reseller refers to the type of server you are using to accommodate customer accounts. Going for a virtual private server means you can reap all its benefits – dedicated resources, scalability, and customization control. 

As a reseller, you are responsible for providing support to your clients, but some specific plans allow you to use your provider’s operators for the job.

Q: What is the difference between shared reseller and VPS reseller hosting?

A: The difference between shared and VPS reseller hosting lies in the type of server you are utilizing to sell your services. With shared solutions, you are placing your users on servers that accommodate multiple clients within the same environment. On the other side you have VPS resellers who get their own virtual machines that are completely isolated from one another. You still have full control over the server and can split it in increments of different sizes and resources.

Q: How much does reseller hosting cost?

A: Your monthly rate for reseller hosting services depends on your server environment and the number of clients you are managing. As VPS solutions are much more powerful than their shared counterparts – you can expect their prices to be slightly higher. You can find many shared reseller plans within $10-20 per month, but as your business grows – you might need to spare more for a virtual private server. In such cases, there are still reasonable options that start from $25-50/mo. 

ScalaHosting offers feature-packed VPS reseller plans from just $14.95/mo, making it one of the most affordable deals to sell your own web hosting.