Building Websites for people

Lately I have been approached to build websites for people (family sites, churches, etc) and I guess my only hang up is how to go about it.

Is it wise to register their domain and host it under my hosting plan? Or should I encourage then to buy it al themselves. Just not sure the common way to go about it.

Any input would be appreiated!

 

Definately get them to purchase there own hosting plan. Then any further problems they can pursue and you don't have to worry about there hosting going down due to an overload.

But you should probably keep the domain in your account and then just get them to pay there hosting bills and a little extra for yourself, don't sell yourself short

 

personally...

i would SHOW THEM their various options for registering and hosting a domain.

let THEM make the final decision and have THEM pay for and be responsible for "all that stuff."

i've seen way too many examples of local churches, small businesses etc. being "held hostage" by "some designer" (many who come and go) who controls the domain name - and therefore controls EVERYTHING.

do the right thing - make them a nice website on THEIR domain and hosting account.

just my 2 cents.

good luck.

 

I 100% agree with this. You are going to make your money from the design and work you do. Just make sure to get a retainer fee up front to protect yourself as well. You will be happy in the end since they will most likely refer you to their friends at other churces and such if you do a good job for them. Then you will have a great business with repeat customers and making more than you could if you buying the domain and hosting them on your account. This would take away from what is really making you your money short and long term. Plus do you really want to have to be getting emails or calls from them about issues with their account whenever something goes wrong?

 

It depends on how you want to do it. If you intend on having 5 clients it might not be worth it to handle hosting yourself. However if you are going to be doing a client a week or something, the recurring payments for hosting could be the difference between the business being a slight money maker or a cash cow.

In reguard to holding their domain hostage, put a clause in your contract about how you will handle termination of accounts. Then when you go over it tell them its for their protection, they should appreciate you for that.

I think a reasonable policy would be to transfer the domain to their account, and give them a cd of the content.

 

If these websites are for individuals who you will see on a consistent basis I would definately suggest getting a different host.

I would hate to be at a family event and having family friends asking about their hosting service. Imagine how many calls to your home/cell you may receive at home if the host goes down.

 

Does anyone do this kind of work and have a sample contract I might be able to get some ideas from?

 

Do a Google search on

and you will find alot of samples from other designers. You can then take ideas from theirs and create yours.

 

From the other side... The first three customers I had register their domains themselves at a register I suggested. Three of three fell for the domain name registry of america scam letter and transferred their domains. I also found life was to short to keep track of all the different ways of doing things at different web hosts. Is the normal folder /var/www/html or /public_html etc.

Now I use my reseller account to register names and then bill them. I provide hosting at the host I use and include that cost in their fee.

 

From my experience having them register and host the site themselves is the best way to go. Find a good host you can recommend them to and register through the host or godaddy. This way they have complete control over their domain name and hosting and you can work strictly on the design.

In my experience if you do host yourself, you end up with a bunch of unnecessary customer service resulting from the hosting.

 

For friends and family.
Learned real quick, get the money up front.
Let them get the domain names and hosting.
I have a few that I host, and they are a pain!
Something goes wrong, I get emails and calls wanting me to fix at once.
Then the hassle of uploading new designs and scripts.

 

Definetly have them purchase the domain and/or hosting account. If they have no clue on how about doing it, teach them. They are going to have to pay it monthly anyhow. As for cost, as for so much up front and so much after it is completed Hope that helped a little