Forum Moderators: phranque
Two hosts that used are www.westhost.com and pair.com. At pair I simply resold space under my own account. It was a good money maker but I couldn't allow clients to access their sites since they would be able to see every other client etc. The money was good but I was too tied to the client.
This is a small hosting company which uses a larger colocation facility. You get 20% off all reseller accounts, you can start with as little as 3 accounts. Pricing is very reasonable. I have had some down time with one of my accounts, but they handled the situation well.
Usually, I offer a year's hosting at a discounted rate as an add-on to a customer's web design quote. Most of my clients they aren't really knowledgeable about hosting. They've put their trust in me to build them a website, so there's no real reason to go elsewhere for hosting. Since we're in it to earn a living, may as well earn a few extra bucks from add-ons.
An added bonus is that you will know the hosting server back to front. There's nothing worse than spending hours on the phone with a clueless tech when your customer chooses a hosting company that has quirky servers.
Check out ReadyHosting.com. You earn about $50.00 a re-sell. They're inexpensive and good if you don't want to get into it too heavily.
I had found hosting with a reseller plan that offered all hosting after the first site at 50% off, which is the best deal I've seen. What I've found with *only* doing hosting after the design is that since there's a continued relationship, some people are not aware that once the site is finished and delivered, if there's an addition or change it's not necessarily included with the hosting. It's important to specify that routine monthly maintenance and hosting are offered separately.
I had offered a package deal including hosting, minor maintenance and a bit of minor tweaking and resubmission to make sure the sites retained the original rankings. There again, one assumed, until reminded otherwise, that the routine maintenance included major changes and additions, which it did not.
The major advantage with handling reselling the hosting is that there's a degree of control and recourse in the case of delinquent accounts. You're also familiar with the particular features of the hosting, and if you're doing search engine work along with the design you're sure to have the stats you need.
It's a convenience to just go into the control panel, add a resold account and make the nameserver change at the registrar. You can have a new site set up within an hour. But there are drawbacks, particularly if it turns out that it's not a client you'd care to remain tied to, which can and does happen.
What I'd personally stress is that even though sometimes it might have to be explained all over again, it's important from the start to clearly define exactly what's included with each of the services you're offering, even down to minute details.
