Charging clients for hosting

[silverbranchdesign]

I am just getting started in web development so apologies for the simple question.
When I host a client's site on my own (at the moment shared) server space do I charge them for the service? Is it normal practice to host their site on your server space?

Really I am just a little confused as to the duties of the web developer/designer in this regard? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[link8r]

You can charge them if you so wish but you should be aware that people can get hosing very cheaply anywhere, so unless you have a value-added service, it might be easier for them to host themselves. Many clients will expect you to setup their e-mails for them and anti-virus, provide FTP etc etc. Its quite common for website design companies to provide hosting for sites they've done.

 

[silverbranchdesign]

it might be easier for them to host themselves

Thanks very much for the reply.

I was looking at finding some hosting space for them to own themselves but (having looked at a good few hosting services) it seems that for low trafficked sites it is difficult to find a suitable hosting plan.

I mean the minimum packages are usually about 5 euro a month. When I can get quite a lot of bandwidth and space for 20 euros a month it would seem to make sense that I host it on my plan and charge maybe 20 euro a year to host it for them. That seems fair to me but like I said I really don't have a clue how exactly it works and what the best/standard practice seems to be.

 

[mneylon]

If they can't afford to pay 5 euro / month for hosting their website and email they won't give it any value

 

[link8r]

I mean the minimum packages are usually about 5 euro a month. When I can get quite a lot of bandwidth and space for 20 euros a month it would seem to make sense that I host it on my plan and charge maybe 20 euro a year to host it for them. That seems fair to me but like I said I really don't have a clue how exactly it works and what the best/standard practice seems to be.

When I started, cheap hosting was €200 p.a.! €5 is nothing.

You're better off registering as a reseller or renting a big piece of Cyberspace. We spend over €500 per month on hosting, including our own servers. Own servers we use for web applications - it's a massive administrative nightmare. Reseller hosting, not as popular with hosting companies, is great because it sets up different accounts for each client.

Veteran Advice: Don't do this on the cheap - it will come back to bite you. You get what you pay for in terms of services. Services are very different from selling products, and web designers/clients fall into this trap all too often:

It's not like a product from China that is being sold at 400% markup. You're selling time with overheads. People try to get fixed prices with fixed costs on a service is like selling a piece of string without being given a length or size. You sell webhosting for a €5 a go per month - you'll be driven crazy. You'll eventually get someone calling you every two minutes with e-mail issues, spam, viruses, upgrades, changes etc.

€5 per month hosting comes with next to near no human interaction. But they should have sterling customer support, account management. If you are hosting business websites and * don't have a clue * just imagine how angry you'd be if your website is down (for whatever reason) and your * hosting company * is on a beach in Spain ..... !