Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Some website design companies have reseller accounts...commision and residual based sales.  Not a "startup" business per se in the traditional sense but I was approached by two different people through professional referrals to sell websites and other related "marketing services" in which I would take a commission for every account I open.  

In addition to the commission, I would take a residual for every month the account remains open.  

Has anyone ever done this independently? 

Would it be good to incorporate this into some sort of marketing type of business?  I`m trying to see how this industry plays out. I`m rather decently versed in the technology, just not extremely versed in the sales aspect and business side of this. 

Thanks

I do hosting that way, but only for clients.

It`s a standard wholesale setup ... say you are paying $10 a month for your account but hosting 2 sites at $10 per month each.

Large companies do this on a large scale. Register.com doesn`t run their own servers - they buy from someone else.

You`re not going to make any serious money on hosting though. Hosting is cheap. You`re better off providing an actual service and offering hosting as an added value.

Yeah, this would be a commision for opening website design, SEO, PPC campaigns, email marketing accounts and other assorted web-goodies for each account.....after the account is opened, the residuals may be nice......not sure if anyone here has done this before or any perils or pitfalls other than the actual sales. 

I have a hosting account for my web sites which allows me additional accounts that I can place my clients web sites on for free. Then I charge them a monthly fee, usually around $10 - $20 per month. This is not great money but it`s the other services you can offer that will benefit you most. A lot of these clients need continuing design services, updating of databases and calendars. This can net you an hourly fee (anywhere from $15 - $35 per hour) for your design, database, software or other related services. Having a low monthly hosting fee generally keeps these clients at arms reach. When you are needed they call.


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Old West Games
http://www.oldwestgames.com/