Hi Amy, I host all of my clients' projects, some of which are short-term marketing sites, though I do have several long-term client sites hosted as well. I set up a reseller account with my hosting company, Pair Networks (www.pair.com), which allows me to keep the billing--and servers--separate. Their sites aren't just sub-directories of my main hosting account--they're completely separate hosting accounts. I bill my clients annually and am able to give them a fair market price, 99.9% up-time and, as was mentioned before, I know the development environment like the back of my hand. I've used the same company for 9 years now and have had zero complaints.
If I have to register a domain for a client, I do so under their account so it gets rolled into their annual hosting bill. And since each of my clients' websites are set up under separate billing accounts, if we choose to part ways in the future, I just say "nice working with you" and give them the user/pass if they don't already have it. They can stay hosting with Pair or go anywhere they want since they control the domain, etc... Most established hosting companies have reseller programs that can earn you a little extra cash. But the larger benefit is that you get to control the hosting environment as well as the development. That way you know what you're dealing with if something should happen to go wrong. Cheers, Art Thompson LogicalThings.com On Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 6:09 PM, Paul <[email protected]> wrote: > Amy, > I run my own business and as part of the 'service' I offer client hosting > and monthly maintenance support packages. This basically mean I will setup > the domain, hosting, email, etc. under my under server. I have a higher end > VPS system I pay %50 a month for. On this server I have 18 client sites and > I charge them a reasonable $15 a month for hosting their site on my server. > As for domain registration I generally ask they use GoDaddy or someone and > point it t my server. But I'm also willing to register the domain and bill > them annually when it renews. I add on the standard 20% 'handling fee' for > my troubles. > > The very nice thing about hosting the client site is you know the > environment. My first couple of client project I left this up to the client > and many times they found some $3 a month hosting package that caused me > more issues than it was worth. Now for my hosted clients I control when to > upgrade MySQL, PHP, etc. > > P- > > > > On Apr 9, 2009, at 5:57 PM, Amy Gelfand wrote: > > Ryan, your comment just prompted me to ask a question that's been on my > mind for a while? For those of you who build Web sites for clients, do you > provide hosting for their sites, or do you set them up with their own > account at the hosting company of their choice? I've been asked by potential > clients if I host sites. I'm not sure if it's something I should look into. > Thoughts? > > Amy Gelfand, Design and Communications Professional > Gelfand Design > www.gelfanddesign.com > "Computers are like Old Testament gods--lots of rules and no mercy." > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Ryan Joy <[email protected]> > *To:* [email protected] > *Sent:* Thursday, April 9, 2009 5:48:53 PM > *Subject:* [Refresh Austin: 3789] Re: Advice for handling billing for new > client site > > > I would certainly recommend having the client get their own domain > name and hosting set up. I speak from experience. I currently have a > circa 2001 pro-bono website that I'm still administering their domain > and hosting. Trust me, educate and start 'em off right. > > - RYAN JOY > http://twitter.com/atxryan > > > > On Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 5:35 PM, Mark Phillip <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Hey folks, I volunteered to do some pro-bono work for a bird sanctuary > here > > in town. It'll be a simple WP install, heavy on pages and light on > posts. > > > > I'm struggling with what the best way to set up payment is. I don't feel > > comfortable asking for the client's credit card number, and I'd rather > not > > pay for it myself and deal with continually asking to be reimbursed. > > > > Is there a way to kick this off that I'm not thinking of? Or is my best > bet > > just sending the client to GoDaddy (bleh) to set everything up and just > > having her send me the login credentials? > > > > > > > > Thanks, > > Mark > > http://markphillip.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Our Web site: http://www.RefreshAustin.org/ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Refresh Austin" group. [ Posting ] To post to this group, send email to [email protected] Job-related postings should follow http://tr.im/refreshaustinjobspolicy We do not accept job posts from recruiters. [ Unsubscribe ] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] [ More Info ] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Refresh-Austin -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
