How to Resell Web Hosting (and Why You Should!)
Reselling web hosting is a fantastic way to generate recurring revenue every single month and continue to grow your design business. And the best part is that it’s incredibly easy to start. (It’s even easier to resell managed WordPress hosting, but I’ll come back to that in a minute!)
So what exactly does it mean to resell web hosting? And how does it help your business? This guide will answer all of your questions and help you learn how to strategically sell those services. Let’s dive in.
What Does it Mean to Resell Web Hosting?
When you resell web hosting, you get to act like your own agency is the hosting provider (even though you’re secretly working with an actual hosting company). You can do this with just about any type of hosting, but we’re going to focus on managed WordPress hosting.
Part of the benefit is that you can buy hosting services in bulk at a discounted rate, and then you can resell the WordPress hosting to your own clients at whatever price you want. This allows you to bundle up your services in ways that’ll give the client everything they need while also drastically increasing your profits!
For example, let’s say you’re working with a client who wants you to build them a brand new site and help them set up the hosting. Even though the hosting plan may only cost $15/month, you can resell it for $40/month and pocket the extra change—how great is that? You know your clients need hosting services for their WordPress sites, so it’s a super easy sell.
And that’s just the first perk of becoming a web hosting reseller. Let’s talk about a few more.
Why you Should be a Reseller for Web Hosting
As we’ve mentioned, reselling hosting has the obvious perk of adding some sweet recurring revenue to your agency’s bank account. Especially once you start to resell hosting to a multitude of clients, you’ll start seeing a large increase in profits.
But on top of increasing your income, reselling hosting offers a bunch of added benefits for your team. When you decide to resell web hosting, you’ll want to partner with a hosting provider that you trust. And partnering with a great managed WordPress host allows your agency to easily know the state of each of your clients’ sites.
Then when one of those clients calls on you to update a page, you’ll be well-versed in the standard setup instead of fumbling through a different and unfamiliar hosting panel each time. By having all of your client sites on the same host, your team won’t have to waste a bunch of time reacquainting themselves with the site.
If you’re ready to grow your agency, reselling hosting is a natural next step. Now let’s talk about a few tips to make sure you start selling these services without a hitch!
How to Resell WordPress Hosting
While reselling WordPress hosting is an easy addition to your agency’s existing packaging, there are just a few things you’ll need to do first.
To start reselling WordPress hosting, you need to:
- Partner with the best WordPress host for your business.
- Set good margins.
- Package your services.
- Have a support plan.
Partner With the Best WordPress Host for Your Business
When you’re reselling hosting, you need to work with a host that you trust. One that understands both the reseller and agency model, and will help you achieve your revenue goals. If you’re offering SEO services, speed becomes crucial. If you’re offering turnkey solutions, better workflows become super important. Or perhaps you’re hosting high-traffic websites and you’re looking for a host that you can consult with on how to effectively scale your client sites. Whatever the case is, choosing the right host to partner with will help you optimize your work and provide superior services for your clients.
Take WP Engine, for example. We were built from the ground up to be the best possible WordPress hosting and management solution for agencies. Our easy-to-use dashboard allows agencies to access all of their clients from one location. Our platform comes equipped with blazing-fast performance, top-notch security, and nightly backups for every single site. And if anything ever goes awry, our world-class WordPress support team provides help for both you and your clients. It’s a great solution for reselling hosting.
Whoever you partner with, make sure you have an exceptional relationship with them and know they’ll be there to support both your agency and your clients.
Set Good Margins
The next step in successfully reselling web hosting is to set good margins for what you’re selling. If you’re going to do it, make it worth your while. If you’re paying $10 per site to your host, don’t just charge your clients a measly $12. Healthy margins will help make reselling a main drive of recurring revenue.
Package up Your Services
Some clever clients may see that you’re charging $50/month for hosting and seek out a cheaper price on the web. If you’re offering maintenance plans, include the hosting services for free. This avoids the cost of hosting becoming a discussion point and will discourage your clients from looking elsewhere, since the price is attached to multiple services that you’re providing.
Have a Support Plan
When choosing a hosting partner, remember that your client considers you the host of their site, not the actual hosting provider. If their site is down or they’re seeing a “white screen of death,” they’ll be calling you, at which point the quality of support you receive from your host may mean the difference between reselling hosting earning you money or costing you money.
So back to that first point, find a great partner that understands the agency model and will help you provide stellar support to your clients. That’s exactly why WP Engine created our Agency Partners Program. Through this, agencies are easily able to resell hosting and earn recurring revenue without a bunch of extra work and with a bunch of extra perks!
From hosting your agency site for free to dedicated account management, our Agency Partner Program is the easiest way to resell WordPress hosting and start making more money!
