Are you looking to enter the world of reseller web hosting? You may have heard that reseller hosting is a great way to make money. Besides, if you already offer web based services such as graphic design or website creation, it seems like an obvious service to add to your portfolio. Although reseller hosting may not be a full time job for you, you should treat it just as seriously because it could potentially make or break your current business. In order to have a profitable reseller hosting business, consider these five key factors detailed below.

Offer a Quality Product

Thoroughly research the hosting companies that you're considering using for your reseller business. Make sure their products are excellent and their downtime is virtually non-existent. While you may offer excellent prices, it's hard to maintain a profitable reseller hosting business if no one buys your product because it doesn't work.

Provide Excellent Customer Service

When it comes to customer service, a good rule of thumb is to treat your customers the way you like to be treated when you're the customer. Respond to questions and concerns as quickly as possible and be polite and courteous even when you feel a customer may not deserve it. Don't be afraid to issue refunds as it could be a small cost to pay in lieu of the bad reviews (and lost business) a disgruntled customer could create otherwise.

It's important to stand out in the market and one of the best ways you can do that is to exceed expectations. Give yourself a built in cushion for meeting deadlines or prices. For instance, if you expect it will take an hour to get a customer's order processed, tell them it may be two hours and then try to process their order in under an hour. Average service is rarely remembered. However, exceptional service is good for business and may result in referrals-- which means a more profitable business for you!

Know Your Product Before You Sell

WHMC, MySQL, FTP, SMTP: these are terms you should know and thoroughly understand before you start your reseller business. Make sure to fully study both the features of your product as well as the purpose those features serve. You need to be prepared to answer any questions your customers may have about the hosting product you offer and responding with "I don't know" could definitely cost you a sale.

Be Aware of Your Competitors

Another thing to help improve your business is knowing your competitor's product. The day may come where a customer asks you about a feature or service that your web hosting company doesn't offer. You need to be able to explain to them what purpose the feature serves and help them determine if it's really something they need or not. If you aren't able to discuss features you don't offer, your customers may go elsewhere thinking your product is inferior.

Be Cautious When Overselling

Since many website owners don't use even half of the allotted space they are given for their website, some web hosts allow their resellers to sell more space than they pay for. Of course, this makes for a much more profitable reseller hosting business. Just don't get carried away. Your web hosting company may charge a fee if you oversell beyond a certain amount.

If you plan to oversell the space you pay the web host for, be consistent in keeping track of how much space you sell (a spreadsheet with customer names and amount of space purchased is a good idea). Then, calculate the oversell charge into your profit figures. If you consistently oversell space for more than a couple of months in a row, it's probably time to look at increasing your reseller package.

It's true that reseller hosting can be a great way to make money. It can be an excellent business venture as long as you take it seriously and don't think of it as a quick, effortless way to make money. Be prepared to put in several hours of research before you begin your reseller hosting business so you really understand all the ins and outs of web hosting. The more knowledge you have is more information for your customers and that makes for a better business.