If you are looking to enter the reseller hosting market, the most important decision you make will be the web host you select. The level of services you are able to provide all depend on what the host can provide to you. As the "middleman," you need a partner that can support your business and drive it to success. There are three important qualities that make up a viable reseller hosting solution: reliability, features and support.

Service You Can Depend On

Reliability is extremely important in the web hosting business, and the same holds true for the reselling sector. Everything could be smooth sailing in the beginning, but once your business starts to grow, you may encounter some problems. It could actually be the success of your customers and their traffic that results in slow response times and presents the threat of unavailability. This is when the complaints start to arrive, as customers become concerned about the performance and availability of their websites, leaving you with no choice but to contact your web hosting provider for assistance.

Unfortunately, if you have not taken the time to seek out a reliable host, you could be in for a rude awakening. Perhaps the provider is utilizing inadequate hardware or takes the common approach of overcrowding its server with customers for the sake of profits. Maybe they take forever to respond. Each of these scenarios equals a disadvantage for your business.

There are many signs that point to reliability. You can start by identifying and then verifying the hosting provider's uptime guarantee. They keyword here is "guarantee" so you need to find out how you are to be compensated if the host cannot assure its uptime claims. It is also advisable to learn more about what measures are being taken to protect against system failures, power outages, environmental issues and security breaches, as each of these elements can severely impact the overall reliability of the service.

Functionality for You and Your Customers

Whenever reseller hosting is mentioned, disk space and bandwidth are the features most often discussed. These resources play a major role in how many hosting packages you can sell. Therefore, when shopping for your reseller package, you must pay attention to how much you are being provided and at what price. You need to plan carefully here, as not all of your customers will have the same requirements. Some may have moderate needs while others have demands that eat up tons of disk space and bandwidth. In this scenario, it is wise to acquire more than enough to comfortably suit the business as your needs increase.

Another critical feature of the reseller hosting process is the control panel. This software acts as the office that allows you to manage customers and your entire account. The control panel aims to provide administrative authority that permits you to create custom hosting plans, create, suspend and delete accounts, view bandwidth usage, bill customers and much more. Most notably, this software also provides an interface that allows your clients to manage their own individual accounts. The reseller software you decide on could either make your venture a smooth experience or a turbulent ride.

Other features you want to consider will be to accommodate the needs of your customers and your personal preference as well. Features abound, but some of the basics you may want to have onboard are multiple email addresses, webmail and file managing facilities. Because sensitive business transactions will likely be conducted frequently, you need to provide must-have e-commerce features, such as shopping cart programs and SSL for security measures.

The Backing of a Solid Business Partner

Support is vital for the longevity of any reseller hosting business. This is such an important aspect that you may want to consider testing the company's response time before even singing your name on the dotted line. Give the host a call or send them an email, as this contact information should be openly published and easily accessible on their website. The response you get and the time in which it is received can tell you volumes about the overall quality of a reseller hosting solution. If a host cannot provide an acceptable service and support, then they are not equipped to meet the needs of your business.