Hosting and Charging a Client

I'm not sure if this is the right place, but it didn't seem to fit anywhere else.

Soon i'll be launching my Freelance Web Design site and two things have been bothering me. How do I charge my client? and Where do I host there site?

I've only thought of PayPal, and hosting it with a package similar to mine, (£5 a month, +£7 a year for Domain.) Now, do I charge them say £150, and just keep paying monthly for their hosting, or is there other options I haven't yet seen.

Anyone who has worked as a Freelance web designed, i'd really appreciate your response.

Thanks.
Kirryn.

Well ... do you want to do hosting and web design?

I just do web design. My clients usually come to me with hosting or I send them to my host and he can deal with them. I have enough things to do then deal with hosting on top of designing sites.

I'd rather just do the designing but I thought including hosting was standard. Hmm, guess I was wrong on that one. Thanks.

I sell hosting to my clients. It's nice in the way that you don't have to worry about managing different accounts on a lot of sites and the directory structure is the same. Plus, you can make a bit of cash even at extremely low prices.

Check out Site5 for an awesome reseller deal.

Hey well if you wanted to do hosting and sell it you could think about buying a Reseller Hosting Account? like i did and see how you get on, and some hostings give you a week trial to get used to it.

Also then you can advertise your* webdesign skills on your hosting site and what deals and hosting packages you do, and offer.

Thanks
Aaron

Hi

I would do some research of your competitors, find out how much there charging. I would also look to see how much it takes you to build the site.

I have built some packages for my clients and anything out side the packages i charge an hourly rate or agree a cost with the client.

With web hosting make sure you use a 3rd party your used to using as there is nothing worse then using someone new and then your client fires loads of techincal questions. I host sites from £60 per annun which includes loads of value adds.

Hope this helps,

And how do you go about charging your client for the website? Do you use Paypal, etc, or something else?

Thanks again for all the replies.

Personally, I just keep tabs on when a customer is due to pay, and I let them know how much they owe and why. Checks are the usual method of payment (if only I had a few thousand customers!).

In my opinion, you should stick to web design if you are into web designing - now don't take this the wrong way but there are good reasons why I say this.

Running a web hosting business is a full time business - if you think you can do that related business 'on the side' and still do web design work full time, you are wrong. Again, I say this with the understanding that your heart is in web design. There are just too many questions that come up, situations change and hosting plans must be changed, switched or cancelled, etc. You'll find you will be spending more time on your 'side business' than with your passion of web design. I work 12-16 hours a day on my web hosting business, 6-7 days a week. I handle all of the pre-sales questions and phone calls, but I enjoy it!

I can't design my way out of a paper bag but I'm good at understanding and applying technology so web hosting is my bag.

I'd recommend you find a good web hosting company and have your clients get setup with them when they are ready. Then down the road, when their business grows and they need to make changes to their hosting service, they can handle that with the provider and you're not involved.

RalphF
GoldRushWebHosting.com

Kirryn, Word to the wise...heres how to figure charges...
1. How long does it normally take for me to design a site?
2. Do I charge hourly or per Project?
3. How hard am I willing to work to go out to get my customers? (When you start out they are not beating down the door.)
4. What is in my portfolio? School projects, paid work?
If you have never been paid for your work a couple of free designs for non profits or schools, charities doesn't hurt and will fill a portfolio nicely and be appriciated.

I have said it before, going freelance is a scary fun thing to do, but you better be well prepared or you will get burned. Good luck

I use an accounting software program to create invoices. I then email the invoices to clients or mail to the few that never check their emails.

This is what reseller accounts are for Forwarding questions is easier than trying to figure out a server you don't run.

As far as keeping up with client payment details, I keep all of their stuff on file at my house. I give my client a customized log-in to a site where they can check what they have paid, and what remains to be paid. It is done on a monthly system so that they can make sure they have paid. I do not put any customer details on the site however, because no matter how secure it can be I don't want it getting into the wrong hands. Also, if they do paypal payments I charge a $5.00 transaction fee for that because Paypal takes some of your cash and this makes it balance out on average.

Yep, but the most important thing is contracts!