Reseller Hosting: Survival Tips

[PyroPixelCom]

The e-commerce marketplace is constantly in flux, and several important new services have evolved over the past few years. One of the most significant of these is surely reseller hosting: an arrangement which involves a single consultant acting as intermediary between host and end user. But far from being unnecessary "middle men", resellers occupy an importance place in the hosting industry - so long as they partner wisely, and offer their services to the right people.

Western Reserve Internet Services is one of the great reseller success stories. Founded in 1995 by Charlie Meyers, Western Reserve began as a two-man after-hours business, operating out of a log cabin. Now, however, it has several full-time programmers, consultants, and sales personnel, and is continuing to expand rapidly.
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Western Reserve first partnered with NCS Datacom Inc., a company specializing in network consultation and Internet services. NCS provided Meyers with Web development expertise, while Western Reserve providing hosting on the NCS Internet servers. As Western Reserve grew, it branched out into ASP services, and partnered with Do

cMan Technologies. Most recently, Western Reserve has partnered with Allaire, in order to provide its customers with ColdFusion support.

In fact, establishing the right partnerships is probably the most important thing that a reseller host can do to in order to ensure its success. Many ISPs and hosting companies offer discount packages to resellers, but not all hosts are created equal, and a reseller may have to examine several in order to pick the best one.

"We allow resellers an opportunity to take advantage of the simplicity, ease-of-use, and cost-effectiveness of our system, and to position themselves as one-source suppliers of high quality solutions for their end-customers," says Toney, a representative of Resell Host. "Enabling them to set up packages within 10 minutes, eliminating the need to inventory unneeded space on a complete server, [allowing them to] simply purchase packages as needed. We allow our resellers to provide our complete line of services to the end-user - without excessive startup cost."

In fact, some resellers may have too many options to choose from, but it is important for reseller hosts to maintain a strong focus. Many companies fail because they adopt a shotgun approach to their services, rather than providing exceptional service within a well-defined niche. While it is good for a business to expand its horizons, expanding too quickly can either sink the company or drive it into stagnation.

[StreetballForum.com]

Thanks PyroPixel

I will add this to my favourites, this is a truly good read!

[Brian315]

Awesome read my friend!