How to shop for reseller hosting

Lesli Schauf - owner, TLM Network

Shopping for web services is a challenge. You have to know what you want, you need to be able to judge a good offer and a good provider, and you may want to shop for future needs as well as what you need today. This is challenging enough when buying an automobile, or a home theatre - things you can see. When shopping for an intangible service, things get a little bit more fun. When you decide to take the step of becoming a web host yourself, you add another layer of complexity. As a web hosting reseller or web services provider, you’re not just shopping for your own needs - but those of your customers. It puts an extra spin on things.

Since web hosting is a service, you’ll want someone who provides good service. Unless your previous job was as a system administrator (and sometimes even then), you’ll have plenty of questions for your provider: your own questions as well as those from your clients. You’ll also want to look for a host that answers your questions well. The precise definition of “well” varies for each person: some just want the answer, some just want the task taken care of, some want to be taught how to troubleshoot a problem themselves, some want a mixture of all three. Figure out what kind of answers you look for from your service provider, and check out their support forums (if available). Then ask them some questions of your own. See if they’ll be the kind of resource you’ll be able to use easily and well.

When I first decided to become a reseller, I looked for a good, solid support staff that talked with and to its clients rather than at or down to them. I found good, geeky folks...and about a year later, the company began offering dedicated servers. I eventually moved to their dedicated servers, and while I could conceivably get servers for less money each month with any number of other companies or datacenters, I feel very comfortable knowing that these particular people are taking care of the network infrastructure, that they’ll teach me when I have questions, and that they’re going to be here for a while. I feel comfortable not just on my behalf, but on my clients’. It’s always good when the folks taking care of your servers can tell you their experiences with their particular setup, and guide you through that ground.

What should you look for in terms of features? That depends on what you think your customers will need or want, and how you plan to allocate resources. Since more and more solid, stable applications that use the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) are available and in use, look for a provider that will allow you to offer these to your clients. More sites, even small ones, are running some kind of blogging or CMS software; so plan to offer at least one *SQL database with any size hosting plan. Look for a host that offers an easy-to-use control panel, so that your customers can easily handle some of their own tasks without feeling completely lost.

Were I in the reseller web hosting market today, I’d go with a web host that offered a wide range of options for myself and my customers. I’d look for a host that offered, or was thinking of offering, both reseller plans and dedicated servers - so that when I made that move, the transition would be relatively painless. I would look for a host that seems to have plans about where it’s going to be in three years, and how it will react if disaster hits its primary datacenter. (It’s one thing to handle the day-to-day issues well - it’s another to have plans for growth and emergencies, and not all hosts know what they’ll do in situations outside the day-to-day.)

Good luck! The comparison shopping can drive you right out of your tree. Still, once you find a home, you may be lucky enough to find a long-term home that will let you stop shopping and start taking care of your business.