some customers don't even understand what a domain or a webhosting is, they just say I want a wesbite shut up and take my money. If you try to explain to them the monthly/yearly costs they may think you're trying to rip them off lol
Well, they don't have to understand what it is. If they can order a product from amazon, then they can order hosting. It's almost the same buying process. Select product > Fill in info > Pay. And again, if they still struggle, just help them and tell them what to do. There are many simple ways to make it work. Shouldn't be a big issue.
@@rinodeboer I agree, but not 100%. I've always walked my clients through setting up their domains themselves, but 2-3 years later they've come back to me cause they forgot to renew their domain =/ it would have been better for everyone to just charge them to manage the whole package.... But as you said, there are many more benifets to having them on their own system, like if they do go bankrupt or something. So maybe it's best to set a calendar when you set up a client, and make sure to send them some confirmation emails a month or two ahead of the expiration XD
exactly. i had this client who goes "so i pay you $xxx and you will set it up running for the first year right?" I said "yes, its including designing and hosting for a year. then you'll be paying around $150 to $200 yearly after". he said "why am i paying that?" "for hosting and domain" "oh.. thanks" i tried to explain how it works then he never replied. to another client i said "$xxx to build the site and get it live. then $50 a month, i will do editing up to an hour and do maintenance if needed. any work which takes more than an hour, i charge $25 an hour." deal done. easy peasy.
Great content. This is the type of content that new web developers like me need to hear. I know this video is 3 years old, but it's still very relevant. Thank you for sharing.
Nice video, for those who consider adding fees for the website service consider this: in legal terms in some countries (Italy for example) the customer is the owner of the website/product unless stated otherwise in a contract with a clear statement that the customer will be "renting" your services and paying a monthly or annual invoice. You need to point this out otherwise you risk legal consequence for any loss or damage (ex: customer does not want your services anymore, you block the hosting service and take their website down, the customer has no website for their clients, they lose money and contacts, it's legally your fault). Always think twice before making decisions, it's not just about easy money or getting greedy, sometimes losing a few bucks can save you a lot of issues. I always go with option 4, they buy the service themselves (I can help and guide them) and I only charge for the renewal, backups, upgrades etc. They are the owners of the product, I just sell the product and bundle up services.
Managing domains and hosting email is not a good idea. However, hosting the website can be a great way to make some additional monthly income. It should not be too difficult to give the customer the files and database if they wish to leave. You could even charge for migration if it is actually the customer who wishes to leave.
I do this, I'll be more number 4 on this list, all seperate, cost say £6 a month, I'll charge £10 on a direct debit over all of my websites, the Income Vs the work asked is 90% Income 10% work (is the juice worth the squeeze?) I believe so, if they want to leave you can give the NEW designer the Info, let them do the work migrating...
this is the most amount of information i got in 17 mins in my entire life. you sir are a genius at teaching. ive been going thrue videos for 2 hours to explain what hosting and domain is and i didnt get anything until i found your video which pretty much andwered all my quistions and on top of that gave me recommendations for where i should get them. what an angel
I was searching for this information for years! I couldn’t find a good source for this information! Man I could literally pay you money for this video! Thanks a lot.
By not offering hosting, you'll get technical questions like "how do I find a host?" "What host do you recommend?" "How do I get my site on the internet?" - all of which are opportunities to make some money by solving their problems for them and charging a little for the service. You're walking away from money if you don't, and leaving your customers will a half-done job.
So true. Imo clients feel like they have full ownership over their website when they pay for the hosting and domain. I made the mistake of paying the domain and hosting for a couple of people and on one instance the client just _assumed_ things were in my name (they weren't).
Hi Rino, fellow Dutchie here. Your tutorials are very valuable and useful. Thanks for taking the time and putting in the effort to educate and help all of us. It's appreciated. Please, keep them coming!
4:08 - my jaw is on the flaw. I can't believe I was doing it a legit way!!! I thought I was cutting corners because I didn't want to learn yet how to do the reseller or Grow Big!!! You have no idea how relieved I am that it's just fine to continue this way!!! Thank you! :D
This video exactly explains the things one need to get started in freelancing. It's easy to learn the skills from so many resources around. But the tits bits of the business is not discussed that much. Thank you.
This video has answered all my questions. Did not even know how to formulate the questions I had in words but you somehow found the right words and examples to answer everything. Thank you!
I am really surprised by what you say...because in my experience the cons you mentionned are not really meanful. I can make a lot of benefits almost effortlessly by offering hosting plan to my clients. It is very easy to handle. And if they wanna leave, I give them a backup of their websites. Most of my clients don't want to be cioncerned by technicals stuffs, and they would prefer to have someone in charge of everything. I charge them also for support service. They pay the bill for one year with domain name. You can make your own rules to make hosting an easy and lucrative experience for you and your clients.
Agreed. It all comes down to what you want to do with your time. It seems he wants to design websites and that's it. Then his points are very valid. He doesn't want to be encumbered with other tedious tasks. For those of us who don't have the success he has, we make our money by these other services.
This was spectacularly informative. I am approaching my first gig, and despite being comfortable getting my own sites up and running, not knowing what is normal/good etiquette when giving the client the the keys was making me sweat. Thank you so much!
I actually do Option 1. But I charge my clients for Monthly for Maintenance too. So if they want to change anything on the site or add an email, I do it for them. And i only use a regular hosting account for unlimited websites. Yes it can be tricky when clients leave but honestly its not a big deal. Once you grow to around 50 customers, it can be a hassle... that's when you hire staff to handle all the client request. It works but can be tricky. You need staff if you don't want hassle.
You should make them sign-up to webhosting themself. I send them a link to hosting that I know is Great. And yes, I send them an affiliate Link so every month that they stay with that hosting I get a percentage. Good stuff!
Same I send them a referral link so I can at make something from the hosting. I'm transparent about it and customers don't really care especially since they tend to get discounts if they sign up as a referral.
Just the video I needed, I was worried that asking for Their login details would sound unprofessional but this helped me confirm that it is something that developers do.
Thank you for this awesome explanation, Rino! I have been watching your videos on Elementor functionality for about a year. I am now starting to build websites for clients all thanks to you!
Good points Rino, I would definetly go for option 4, less hassle down the road. In addition, you can send your client an affiliate link, so the web host will also pay you a comission of about $25-$50. It's up to you if you keep that or give a discount to the client :)
I can't emphasize how helpful this video has been to me and other. top-notch content there buddy. You got to keep up the good work. Regards from Cameroon
I tend to send them a link to pay for the hosting themselves. if they have trouble they can give me a call and I'll walk them through it but having them do it themselves is better so everything is in their name and the account has their payment details. Plus, they get to understand that the hosting and domain fee are separate from my cost.
Great!!!!! video. I have been watching your videos and we think alike. I 100% agree with you about not hosting sites for clients. The only thing that I do differently is I DON'T build on existing hosting packages. I had a horrible experience where I took over from another designer and built on the existing hosting. He then went in and messed up my work which means that I had to start over. PLUS, I realized that each providers dashboard is a little different so I now work exclusively with one company and require my clients to use them (they get a huge discount from the provider) which enables me to be a subject matter expert and know the dashboard inside out. I lose a few clients because of that but that ok. You are doing a great job. Your videos are excellent. Easy to understand and informative.
Excellent points Rino. I totally agree that a client should own their hosting and domain. If they don’t understand at first, then take the time to explain. It builds trust and puts them in control.
Brilliant advice. I ended up with a ton of domain names to renew every year and a load of businesses that wouldn't answer the phone. Why didn't I think of this haha
I used to do it like you suggest here: Having the client order the hosting with their own payment. The problem came when it was time to renew and the credit card on file expired. Then their site would go down because they never check the hosting account themselves, even though they have all the information to log in and manage it. Then I would always get a call or email asking why their site wasn't loading and when I would check I would discover that it expired the week or so before. Now I've decided to just have the client pay me ahead of time and then I take care of setting up the domain and hosting for them, and if they ever need to leave for whatever reason I have no problem with removing my payment information from the account and letting them handle it.
Hi there, I liked your reply. I think most clients just want a working website without handling all the technical details. What do you do/tell your clients when the hosting price goes up after the first year ends?
I watched other videos, and felt that that was the best option. After seeing this video, it seems so much more doable and realistic. Thank you for all your work! You are appreciated.
Hi! I really appreciate the detailed info you provide in every single video. Please keep this style, because there's no one on youtube doing it like you do. If I would be teaching this subject to the community I would do it just like you and another amazing youtuber called Ferdy from the Netherlands also. You guys are my best friends. All the best from Portugal.
I run a dedicated server to host clients. Having the option to tweak the server, build any project you want and have hosting clients pay for it has worked beautifully for 20 years.
@@smartyards6474 I run dedicated server with WHM installed to setup clients. One factor to bear in mind are the ip addresses you get assigned. I'd leave a note requesting the ip addresses are clean. If you get previously used ip addresses make sure they aren't on any blocklists otherwise you could get email delivery problems.
I second running your own server. I use a dedicated server with just NGINX and FPM. I then have a second server for email and route all those emails through AmazonSES.
Hi when I have to make a wordpress account on my clients hosting account, shall i make an account for them using a new email or should i tell them to make their own wordpress account and give me access?
@@liban2 you shouldn’t be using wordpress.com. I would look into managed Wordpress hosting. They use the Wordpress.org which allow more plugins/themes without charging more. I also do managed Wordpress hosting myself and for people. Wpengine I believe is one of the big names. Since I do it myself I don’t really have a recommendation other than contact me haha.
Bruh! You deserve more subscribers than other TH-camrs out there. You explained everything very well and all of your thoughts makes a lot of sense.
4 ปีที่แล้ว +25
Thank you so much for making this video! This is just the type of knowledge, that is usually learnt the hard way. Thanks for saving us a lot of trial and error 👑
Hi when I have to make a wordpress account on my clients hosting account, shall i make an account for them using a new email or should i tell them to make their own wordpress account and give me access?
A lot of love from Pakistan. I have never seen this cool tutorial before ever anyone tutorial.thank you and your method of teaching are superb cool. Appreciated
I actually opt for the reseller option... I do this because everything that you've listed including the website migration in the future comes with a cost... So, these technical things mean additional profits even at the end of the relationship.
I am an experienced web developer, and with me happened exactly same what you talk about... Informative for those who new in business.. efferts appropriated....
Reny Ostojić thanks for reply. I have no idea how to choose the plan between Cloud Startup hosting or WordPress Premium Hostinger ? In your exp, which one better ? Since both are same price.
I'm so glad I found this channel. Your videos are very well edited and explained. This will definitely help me a lot with my web design agency. Thank you!
I'm really glad I found you channel. Your videos are amazing and I could have saved much time researching, if I found your video and channel earlier. I spent like 10-20 hours to get the advantages of having a client handle his own hosting instead of me doing it. I also wrote with multiple webdesigners with their own business and so on.
This a great video for anyone starting out with Wordpress. I'm definitely sold on the 'let the clients own their own hosting' bit. OK, so you could resell it to them at a profit, but that's never going to make you rich and compared to the downsides like unpaid bills, it begins to sound like a bit of a no brainer!
Dear Rino! Thank you so much for this great summary. Helped solve the problem of managing customers' storage space! I appreciate your work! József Medved from Hungary
thank you SO much for this video!! This is incredibly helpful. All of the research you put into this... Is SO appreciated!! I've been in a whirlwind of looking at all the different hosting options, and which is best. I finally have a clear answer and I am so appreciative of that. Yesss!! little step in front of another little step!
I am using hostinger and my experience with them is really good. And their control panel, addition of new sub domain and installation of new wordpress site.. all of it is intuitive and easy to use..!!
Hey great content. Need more people tackling the practical problems. Nice work! In my experience some clients don't enjoy doing anything technical at all so they'll just prefer to leave you to handle it all. In that case I just turn off auto renew and send an invoice to the client when it's time to renew.
I do agree with you. I found the same thing BUT I then realized as stated in the video, they then feel comfortable asking for small items like email set-up etc. I created a how to video which walks them through purchasing their hosting OR I do a share screen with them. I signed up for an affiliate program with my preferred hosting company which means that I get a commission for each new customer AND the client gets a huge discount (Win/Win). It's worked well for the last few years.
Thank you but I disagree. Hosting can be a good money stream. Clients will always ask you for help with hosting at the start and throughout the lifetime of their site so you should charge a "management" fee. It can be small but it will pay for their hosting and if you have enough clients, all paying a monthly fee, the re-sellers charge will be more than covered making you a tidy profit. Web design is usually a one-hit payment but having the trickle payment for hosting in the background is a good way to keep cash-flow higher. It works for me. What do you think?
I’ve been hosting client websites using docker swarm on a DigitalOcean cloud and it has honestly been really convenient for me. If you know Linux then this is the way to go. Docker Swarm (with docker-compose) + Traefik + Portainer is a really clean hosting solution.
Rino, I have been watching a few of your videos recently. Yes this video is a few years old, but the information given is still very relevant. It is good, and better than many other yt'brs giving advice. Dank u. 💯😎 All your other videos are fantastisch.
Giving thumbs up 👍🏽 is not my thing but this video definitely deserves it. No time wasting, straight to the point, clear, nice honest advice. 😊 great stuff, thanks
Thank you, Rino! One hears so many viewpoints on this. Some say that it's important to retain 'custody' of the website until you are paid because so many clients flake out on you when it's time for them to provide content. I haven't thought of doing the work on a site they have access to!
He Linda, thanks for your comment. That's a great point. However, to be clear, I also always make sure that I get paid by 1: Making them pay 50% upfront (before I even start) and 2: Not making a Wordpress user for them until I'm done with the website and 3: Send the last invoice after the website is "content-ready", not when they are done with the content. In this way you also secure yourself enough in my experience.
@@rinodeboer Thank you, Rino. I realize I was thinking of their access to the hosting space as access to the website in a tired, unfocused and mistaken way! Some bill three times so that only 1/4 is remaining. The second billing can be as soon as the last allowed revisions are decided, as agreed in writing before up-front payment. Or so I hear. This is all ahead of me.
You do the content for them and charge them separately i think that should be the second question to ask to see if they have their own content after asking about their budget.
I used to do it this way but you had to present the client with lots of different prices for everything and you were overrun with different accounts you don't own. Having all your clients on one decent server you can make a profit from it, and it's all in the one account you can manage from your phone. I make more money, I've resold hosting for £200 a year, and rather then just being the guy who designs, I'm the guy that manages their website.
@@CarlaHansson Yeah one minor disagreement and they change the password then you've lost everything. I'd rather have the ball in my court and be more able to retain the business.
@@CarlaHansson Also, I have free one click install SSL. If they each go with a shared hosting plan they will also have to pay £50 a year for SSL in some cases. Why not manage that yourself for free and perhaps charge for it?
Thanks for this. I'm thinking how will I handle a hosting for a client, if I have one. Now, I know now what process should I use when dealing for their hosting.
Exactly what I was looking for. Yes, please provide more info. I’m building websites for family and friends right now on the cheap. I would like to expand my client base to help offset my time and effort, so I’m looking for a business model.
dude you just bombed the hard bitter experience before I got it. I was thinking about those possibilities when working with clients and the 4th option is the way to go ... otherwise there will be so much trouble along the way. Thanks a lot .. been looking for this content for a day and TH-cam suggested this today .. !
I completely agree with you! I explain to my clients how they should always have complete control over their domain names and web hosts by buying them themselves. This protects them and me. If they want to move on to someone else or if I want to move on we can both easily do that. I have had potential clients who I can't work with because their current webmaster is holding their website hostage and refuses to give them or me access to their domain name and web host. They think I can work magic and gain access without knowing the user names and passwords to both those accounts.
Hi when I have to make a wordpress account on my clients hosting account, shall i make an account for them using a new email or should i tell them to make their own wordpress account and give me access?
@@liban2 Always have the clients create the account and then they give you the username and password. They can change the password if they move on from you and maintain full control and security.
@@RobertLattery I was going to get access to their hosting then make a wordpress account for them then add them to wordpress once the wordpress website has been completed. Would you recommend this?
Thank you so much for all this information! Im just getting eterted as a freelence web designer/developer and seek to get all the critical knowledge I need to make it a success.
I agree, but it's also easy to host clients on your own resold server space, that way you have control over packages they may purchase on a server and gives you a nice passive income stream. And in the video you say that the fears are clients leaving you, but it's easy to just have them purchase their own hosting service in the future and redirect their domain's DNS.
I work alone (have 4 WP domains) etc. -- but I can see some advantages in this -- with a pandemic around, you have someone to back you up if something happens to you for a while (quarantine, things break down, etc).
Thank you so much for this brilliant information. I have been searching for a long time for this information and you have answered all my questions. You are a superstar. ⭐️
hi Sir i am from india. I have watched most of your videos. best thing about you is how u portray things. One of the best channels for wordpress web development
Thank you for the tip at the end of the video. I will be signing up using your link soon. I am restarting my website design services too. Your videos are helpful in times like these. Thank you and looking forward to more of your innovative tutorials! From Singapore.
This is great, Rino! I was wondering why I couldn't find any Wordpress tutorials that focus on, or even mention, this very important aspect of making Wordpress sites for clients :D So thanks a lot
Awesome video!!! Thankfully I got a an awesome client that prefers I pay for the hosting and domain and she pays me yearly because she doesn’t have a credit card. And this incident has had me thinking if I should offer it to other business owners. Where I’m from, owners want to get their domain and hosting but don’t have a credit card so they prefer if someone buys it on their behalf
i dont know why i watched the whole video, BUT This was Informative and Helpful Information shared, with my short attention span I would have closed but hey thank you for sharing this info
Hi, i have a question. Should i start building the client website on my own hosting, and then migrate the completed website to the client's hosting? i'm asking this because lets say i am directly building the website to the client's hosting, and client suddenly changes the login password without paying me.
I loved this video, thank you very much for sharing this info, you know, #4 procedure that you're recommending, is exactly what I was doing intuitively (I'm also a SiteGround client), but lately I was thinking, "what nonsense am I doing?" I should be making more money by using my own hosting and charging my clients, thanks to you, now I know I've been doing things the right way since the beginning :)
How about premium plugins? Should I charge clients extra for installing paid plugins on their website that I have bought with a lifetime plan? (say, Divi theme)
Hi Rino, I'm loving your content, I am making Websites at the moment, but have been using templates for too long now. I think your model to design in XD and build with Elementor is my next step. I have been looking for a workflow that will suit me! I will purchase your course in the near future, just have a few Udemy ones to get through first. Thanks for the great content!
Good Job, but you never mentioned 'Affiliate Programs' with the best one (repeat payouts) and bonuses for performance and you can automate the whole thing PLUS, let your customers set up a landing page with your links (and split the commission with them)
This is the only video on the TH-cam that had the exact answers to my doubts.... Thanks a lot brother....
Exactly!!😁
SAMEEEE
Samee. Hahaha I'm a startup and I don't know if I should purchase a hosting domain for unli websites or let my clients do those.
He just save me from clients shared hosting
most of the wordpress gurus dont have contents like this. This channel is the best to watch after you are ready to find clients.
Please make video about how you quote for your clients..
like, I would be interested to!
some customers don't even understand what a domain or a webhosting is, they just say I want a wesbite shut up and take my money.
If you try to explain to them the monthly/yearly costs they may think you're trying to rip them off lol
shut up and build my website! lol xD
Well, they don't have to understand what it is. If they can order a product from amazon, then they can order hosting. It's almost the same buying process. Select product > Fill in info > Pay. And again, if they still struggle, just help them and tell them what to do. There are many simple ways to make it work. Shouldn't be a big issue.
@@rinodeboer I agree, but not 100%. I've always walked my clients through setting up their domains themselves, but 2-3 years later they've come back to me cause they forgot to renew their domain =/ it would have been better for everyone to just charge them to manage the whole package....
But as you said, there are many more benifets to having them on their own system, like if they do go bankrupt or something. So maybe it's best to set a calendar when you set up a client, and make sure to send them some confirmation emails a month or two ahead of the expiration XD
exactly. i had this client who goes "so i pay you $xxx and you will set it up running for the first year right?" I said "yes, its including designing and hosting for a year. then you'll be paying around $150 to $200 yearly after". he said "why am i paying that?" "for hosting and domain" "oh.. thanks" i tried to explain how it works then he never replied.
to another client i said "$xxx to build the site and get it live. then $50 a month, i will do editing up to an hour and do maintenance if needed. any work which takes more than an hour, i charge $25 an hour." deal done. easy peasy.
Almost all of my clients don't care about managing their hosting. They just pay me once a year to keep their site (and emails) online.
Great content. This is the type of content that new web developers like me need to hear. I know this video is 3 years old, but it's still very relevant. Thank you for sharing.
Nice video, for those who consider adding fees for the website service consider this: in legal terms in some countries (Italy for example) the customer is the owner of the website/product unless stated otherwise in a contract with a clear statement that the customer will be "renting" your services and paying a monthly or annual invoice. You need to point this out otherwise you risk legal consequence for any loss or damage (ex: customer does not want your services anymore, you block the hosting service and take their website down, the customer has no website for their clients, they lose money and contacts, it's legally your fault). Always think twice before making decisions, it's not just about easy money or getting greedy, sometimes losing a few bucks can save you a lot of issues. I always go with option 4, they buy the service themselves (I can help and guide them) and I only charge for the renewal, backups, upgrades etc. They are the owners of the product, I just sell the product and bundle up services.
Managing domains and hosting email is not a good idea. However, hosting the website can be a great way to make some additional monthly income. It should not be too difficult to give the customer the files and database if they wish to leave. You could even charge for migration if it is actually the customer who wishes to leave.
do you need to know code to do this ?
No
Agreed
I do this, I'll be more number 4 on this list, all seperate, cost say £6 a month, I'll charge £10 on a direct debit over all of my websites, the Income Vs the work asked is 90% Income 10% work (is the juice worth the squeeze?) I believe so, if they want to leave you can give the NEW designer the Info, let them do the work migrating...
I’m with you in this.
I have my new clients buy domains from Cloudflare and share the account access with me.
this is the most amount of information i got in 17 mins in my entire life. you sir are a genius at teaching. ive been going thrue videos for 2 hours to explain what hosting and domain is and i didnt get anything until i found your video which pretty much andwered all my quistions and on top of that gave me recommendations for where i should get them. what an angel
I was searching for this information for years! I couldn’t find a good source for this information!
Man I could literally pay you money for this video! Thanks a lot.
still haven't found good info here...
By not offering hosting, you'll get technical questions like "how do I find a host?" "What host do you recommend?" "How do I get my site on the internet?" - all of which are opportunities to make some money by solving their problems for them and charging a little for the service. You're walking away from money if you don't, and leaving your customers will a half-done job.
💀
So true. Imo clients feel like they have full ownership over their website when they pay for the hosting and domain. I made the mistake of paying the domain and hosting for a couple of people and on one instance the client just _assumed_ things were in my name (they weren't).
Hi Rino, fellow Dutchie here. Your tutorials are very valuable and useful. Thanks for taking the time and putting in the effort to educate and help all of us. It's appreciated. Please, keep them coming!
4:08 - my jaw is on the flaw. I can't believe I was doing it a legit way!!! I thought I was cutting corners because I didn't want to learn yet how to do the reseller or Grow Big!!! You have no idea how relieved I am that it's just fine to continue this way!!! Thank you! :D
This video exactly explains the things one need to get started in freelancing. It's easy to learn the skills from so many resources around. But the tits bits of the business is not discussed that much.
Thank you.
Obviously one of the best tutor on TH-cam ! Keep up the good work Rino :)
Thanks a lot ! This solved my big dilemma with concrete examples on why reselling is not a good practice !
All of your content is incredible :)
This video has answered all my questions. Did not even know how to formulate the questions I had in words but you somehow found the right words and examples to answer everything. Thank you!
I am really surprised by what you say...because in my experience the cons you mentionned are not really meanful. I can make a lot of benefits almost effortlessly by offering hosting plan to my clients. It is very easy to handle. And if they wanna leave, I give them a backup of their websites. Most of my clients don't want to be cioncerned by technicals stuffs, and they would prefer to have someone in charge of everything. I charge them also for support service. They pay the bill for one year with domain name. You can make your own rules to make hosting an easy and lucrative experience for you and your clients.
@@4Sell Every service is overpriced in order to make profit, yet majority of people still buy gas for their vehicles.
Agreed. It all comes down to what you want to do with your time. It seems he wants to design websites and that's it. Then his points are very valid. He doesn't want to be encumbered with other tedious tasks. For those of us who don't have the success he has, we make our money by these other services.
This was spectacularly informative. I am approaching my first gig, and despite being comfortable getting my own sites up and running, not knowing what is normal/good etiquette when giving the client the the keys was making me sweat. Thank you so much!
I actually do Option 1. But I charge my clients for Monthly for Maintenance too. So if they want to change anything on the site or add an email, I do it for them. And i only use a regular hosting account for unlimited websites. Yes it can be tricky when clients leave but honestly its not a big deal. Once you grow to around 50 customers, it can be a hassle... that's when you hire staff to handle all the client request. It works but can be tricky. You need staff if you don't want hassle.
You should make them sign-up to webhosting themself. I send them a link to hosting that I know is Great. And yes, I send them an affiliate Link so every month that they stay with that hosting I get a percentage. Good stuff!
Do you mind letting me know where you send them?
great idea!
Same I send them a referral link so I can at make something from the hosting. I'm transparent about it and customers don't really care especially since they tend to get discounts if they sign up as a referral.
Just the video I needed, I was worried that asking for Their login details would sound unprofessional but this helped me confirm that it is something that developers do.
Thank you for this awesome explanation, Rino! I have been watching your videos on Elementor functionality for about a year. I am now starting to build websites for clients all thanks to you!
Good points Rino, I would definetly go for option 4, less hassle down the road. In addition, you can send your client an affiliate link, so the web host will also pay you a comission of about $25-$50. It's up to you if you keep that or give a discount to the client :)
what web hosts have good affiliate programs?
@@gabeadams2926 Hostinger
Nice which one
I can't emphasize how helpful this video has been to me and other. top-notch content there buddy. You got to keep up the good work. Regards from Cameroon
I tend to send them a link to pay for the hosting themselves. if they have trouble they can give me a call and I'll walk them through it but having them do it themselves is better so everything is in their name and the account has their payment details. Plus, they get to understand that the hosting and domain fee are separate from my cost.
Great!!!!! video. I have been watching your videos and we think alike. I 100% agree with you about not hosting sites for clients. The only thing that I do differently is I DON'T build on existing hosting packages. I had a horrible experience where I took over from another designer and built on the existing hosting. He then went in and messed up my work which means that I had to start over. PLUS, I realized that each providers dashboard is a little different so I now work exclusively with one company and require my clients to use them (they get a huge discount from the provider) which enables me to be a subject matter expert and know the dashboard inside out. I lose a few clients because of that but that ok. You are doing a great job. Your videos are excellent. Easy to understand and informative.
Excellent points Rino. I totally agree that a client should own their hosting and domain. If they don’t understand at first, then take the time to explain. It builds trust and puts them in control.
I actually love this guy. He literally wants us to win. What a guy man!
Brilliant advice. I ended up with a ton of domain names to renew every year and a load of businesses that wouldn't answer the phone.
Why didn't I think of this haha
Bro this is literally the best teacher I've had.
I used to do it like you suggest here: Having the client order the hosting with their own payment. The problem came when it was time to renew and the credit card on file expired. Then their site would go down because they never check the hosting account themselves, even though they have all the information to log in and manage it. Then I would always get a call or email asking why their site wasn't loading and when I would check I would discover that it expired the week or so before. Now I've decided to just have the client pay me ahead of time and then I take care of setting up the domain and hosting for them, and if they ever need to leave for whatever reason I have no problem with removing my payment information from the account and letting them handle it.
I see! Great points!
Hi there, I liked your reply. I think most clients just want a working website without handling all the technical details. What do you do/tell your clients when the hosting price goes up after the first year ends?
Yes, I had same issue with my client last year.
I watched other videos, and felt that that was the best option. After seeing this video, it seems so much more doable and realistic. Thank you for all your work! You are appreciated.
Hi! I really appreciate the detailed info you provide in every single video. Please keep this style, because there's no one on youtube doing it like you do. If I would be teaching this subject to the community I would do it just like you and another amazing youtuber called Ferdy from the Netherlands also. You guys are my best friends. All the best from Portugal.
I run a dedicated server to host clients. Having the option to tweak the server, build any project you want and have hosting clients pay for it has worked beautifully for 20 years.
What are you using to host your multiple clients? Thank you.
@@smartyards6474 I run dedicated server with WHM installed to setup clients. One factor to bear in mind are the ip addresses you get assigned. I'd leave a note requesting the ip addresses are clean. If you get previously used ip addresses make sure they aren't on any blocklists otherwise you could get email delivery problems.
I second running your own server. I use a dedicated server with just NGINX and FPM. I then have a second server for email and route all those emails through AmazonSES.
Hi when I have to make a wordpress account on my clients hosting account, shall i make an account for them using a new email or should i tell them to make their own wordpress account and give me access?
@@liban2 you shouldn’t be using wordpress.com. I would look into managed Wordpress hosting. They use the Wordpress.org which allow more plugins/themes without charging more. I also do managed Wordpress hosting myself and for people. Wpengine I believe is one of the big names. Since I do it myself I don’t really have a recommendation other than contact me haha.
Bruh! You deserve more subscribers than other TH-camrs out there. You explained everything very well and all of your thoughts makes a lot of sense.
Thank you so much for making this video! This is just the type of knowledge, that is usually learnt the hard way. Thanks for saving us a lot of trial and error 👑
Hi when I have to make a wordpress account on my clients hosting account, shall i make an account for them using a new email or should i tell them to make their own wordpress account and give me access?
A lot of love from Pakistan. I have never seen this cool tutorial before ever anyone tutorial.thank you and your method of teaching are superb cool. Appreciated
Just the video I needed. Loving this guy already🔥
I actually opt for the reseller option... I do this because everything that you've listed including the website migration in the future comes with a cost... So, these technical things mean additional profits even at the end of the relationship.
Hello, I’m interested in starting my own reseller hosting business. Do you have any tips?
I am an experienced web developer, and with me happened exactly same what you talk about... Informative for those who new in business.. efferts appropriated....
I'm using Hostinger Cloud hosting and it is blazing fast! I'm so satisfied!
I'm also using Hostinger cloud and yeah really that's soo fast
Which plan u using ?
@@yuloong3269 I'm currently using Cloud Startup Hostinger hosting and I'm really satisfied
Reny Ostojić thanks for reply. I have no idea how to choose the plan between Cloud Startup hosting or WordPress Premium Hostinger ? In your exp, which one better ? Since both are same price.
@@yuloong3269 I would chose Cloud Startup because You have dedicated resources.
Incredibly informative and helpful to me. As a new web designer, I could not be happier finding this video. Thank you!
The simplest and most affective advice for noobs like myself. Thank you Rino!
The ONLY video that answers it all... THANK YOU !!
I'm so glad I found this channel. Your videos are very well edited and explained. This will definitely help me a lot with my web design agency. Thank you!
Thank you - Welcome aboard!
Your words express the years of experience you have
I love this tutorial. Very easy to understand, i like how he took into consideration people who are in a tight budget- like me !
I'm really glad I found you channel. Your videos are amazing and I could have saved much time researching, if I found your video and channel earlier. I spent like 10-20 hours to get the advantages of having a client handle his own hosting instead of me doing it. I also wrote with multiple webdesigners with their own business and so on.
Yeah man I also think like you and I have searched this topic on google for hundred's of time, thank you brother
Man I like the way you are explaining the things. You make them look so easy and funny.
This a great video for anyone starting out with Wordpress. I'm definitely sold on the 'let the clients own their own hosting' bit. OK, so you could resell it to them at a profit, but that's never going to make you rich and compared to the downsides like unpaid bills, it begins to sound like a bit of a no brainer!
Dear Rino!
Thank you so much for this great summary. Helped solve the problem of managing customers' storage space! I appreciate your work! József Medved from Hungary
Ik gebruik nu al een tijdje hostinger en ik ben er heel erg tevreden mee omdat het super snel is en ook nog goedkoop
thank you SO much for this video!! This is incredibly helpful. All of the research you put into this... Is SO appreciated!! I've been in a whirlwind of looking at all the different hosting options, and which is best. I finally have a clear answer and I am so appreciative of that. Yesss!! little step in front of another little step!
I am using hostinger and my experience with them is really good. And their control panel, addition of new sub domain and installation of new wordpress site.. all of it is intuitive and easy to use..!!
Yeah. I also using hostinger and all i can say im happy with all the offer they gave with the happy price too.
Thank you so much. I could not find another video on TH-cam that covered this topic in this much detail
Hey great content. Need more people tackling the practical problems. Nice work!
In my experience some clients don't enjoy doing anything technical at all so they'll just prefer to leave you to handle it all. In that case I just turn off auto renew and send an invoice to the client when it's time to renew.
I do agree with you. I found the same thing BUT I then realized as stated in the video, they then feel comfortable asking for small items like email set-up etc. I created a how to video which walks them through purchasing their hosting OR I do a share screen with them. I signed up for an affiliate program with my preferred hosting company which means that I get a commission for each new customer AND the client gets a huge discount (Win/Win). It's worked well for the last few years.
Thank you but I disagree. Hosting can be a good money stream. Clients will always ask you for help with hosting at the start and throughout the lifetime of their site so you should charge a "management" fee. It can be small but it will pay for their hosting and if you have enough clients, all paying a monthly fee, the re-sellers charge will be more than covered making you a tidy profit.
Web design is usually a one-hit payment but having the trickle payment for hosting in the background is a good way to keep cash-flow higher. It works for me. What do you think?
I agree!
I’ve been hosting client websites using docker swarm on a DigitalOcean cloud and it has honestly been really convenient for me. If you know Linux then this is the way to go. Docker Swarm (with docker-compose) + Traefik + Portainer is a really clean hosting solution.
This is my favourite channel on TH-cam. Amazing content!
This is the best video ever. You have just cleared all my doubts in one video.
Rino, I have been watching a few of your videos recently. Yes this video is a few years old, but the information given is still very relevant. It is good, and better than many other yt'brs giving advice. Dank u. 💯😎 All your other videos are fantastisch.
You’re just amazing.
Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge. Please keep up the good work 🙌🏼
Giving thumbs up 👍🏽 is not my thing but this video definitely deserves it. No time wasting, straight to the point, clear, nice honest advice. 😊 great stuff, thanks
Thank you, Rino! One hears so many viewpoints on this. Some say that it's important to retain 'custody' of the website until you are paid because so many clients flake out on you when it's time for them to provide content. I haven't thought of doing the work on a site they have access to!
He Linda, thanks for your comment. That's a great point. However, to be clear, I also always make sure that I get paid by 1: Making them pay 50% upfront (before I even start) and 2: Not making a Wordpress user for them until I'm done with the website and 3: Send the last invoice after the website is "content-ready", not when they are done with the content. In this way you also secure yourself enough in my experience.
@@rinodeboer Thank you, Rino. I realize I was thinking of their access to the hosting space as access to the website in a tired, unfocused and mistaken way! Some bill three times so that only 1/4 is remaining. The second billing can be as soon as the last allowed revisions are decided, as agreed in writing before up-front payment. Or so I hear. This is all ahead of me.
You do the content for them and charge them separately i think that should be the second question to ask to see if they have their own content after asking about their budget.
I used to do it this way but you had to present the client with lots of different prices for everything and you were overrun with different accounts you don't own. Having all your clients on one decent server you can make a profit from it, and it's all in the one account you can manage from your phone. I make more money, I've resold hosting for £200 a year, and rather then just being the guy who designs, I'm the guy that manages their website.
Right there with you!
@@CarlaHansson Yeah one minor disagreement and they change the password then you've lost everything. I'd rather have the ball in my court and be more able to retain the business.
@@CarlaHansson Also, I have free one click install SSL. If they each go with a shared hosting plan they will also have to pay £50 a year for SSL in some cases. Why not manage that yourself for free and perhaps charge for it?
@@nocodewp7805 so what hosting provider are you using? If you don't mind me asking
what happens when they already have one and don't want to change it?
Best explain of all the required questions.keep it up and we want more videos like this related to client works.
Thanks for this. I'm thinking how will I handle a hosting for a client, if I have one. Now, I know now what process should I use when dealing for their hosting.
Exactly what I was looking for. Yes, please provide more info. I’m building websites for family and friends right now on the cheap. I would like to expand my client base to help offset my time and effort, so I’m looking for a business model.
dude you just bombed the hard bitter experience before I got it. I was thinking about those possibilities when working with clients and the 4th option is the way to go ... otherwise there will be so much trouble along the way. Thanks a lot .. been looking for this content for a day and TH-cam suggested this today .. !
I completely agree with you! I explain to my clients how they should always have complete control over their domain names and web hosts by buying them themselves. This protects them and me. If they want to move on to someone else or if I want to move on we can both easily do that. I have had potential clients who I can't work with because their current webmaster is holding their website hostage and refuses to give them or me access to their domain name and web host. They think I can work magic and gain access without knowing the user names and passwords to both those accounts.
Hi when I have to make a wordpress account on my clients hosting account, shall i make an account for them using a new email or should i tell them to make their own wordpress account and give me access?
@@liban2 Always have the clients create the account and then they give you the username and password. They can change the password if they move on from you and maintain full control and security.
@@RobertLattery I was going to get access to their hosting then make a wordpress account for them then add them to wordpress once the wordpress website has been completed. Would you recommend this?
@@liban2 Yes, that sounds good.
Thank you so much for all this information! Im just getting eterted as a freelence web designer/developer and seek to get all the critical knowledge I need to make it a success.
I agree, but it's also easy to host clients on your own resold server space, that way you have control over packages they may purchase on a server and gives you a nice passive income stream. And in the video you say that the fears are clients leaving you, but it's easy to just have them purchase their own hosting service in the future and redirect their domain's DNS.
I work alone (have 4 WP domains) etc. -- but I can see some advantages in this -- with a pandemic around, you have someone to back you up if something happens to you for a while (quarantine, things break down, etc).
Thank you so much for this brilliant information. I have been searching for a long time for this information and you have answered all my questions. You are a superstar. ⭐️
hi Sir i am from india. I have watched most of your videos. best thing about you is how u portray things. One of the best channels for wordpress web development
Thank you for the tip at the end of the video. I will be signing up using your link soon. I am restarting my website design services too. Your videos are helpful in times like these. Thank you and looking forward to more of your innovative tutorials! From Singapore.
Finally! Many thanks for this concise and informative session.
Great stuff, good info, thanks, will help me decide more.
thanks for the advice. My recent client at first accepted to solve hosting on his own, then later got offended that he had to sort it out on his own.
This is great, Rino! I was wondering why I couldn't find any Wordpress tutorials that focus on, or even mention, this very important aspect of making Wordpress sites for clients :D So thanks a lot
Just found your channel and the information your providing is invaluable and everything I’ve been searching for! Subbed immediately!
that's the best video i've seen about this topic great job Rino !
I am so glad I found this channel!!!!!!
Dude you are so awesome lol. best web design tutorials on youtube. Your a big inspiration for me, thank you for your vids man, keep it up!!
I was looking for this information and I couldn't find it even in paid courses. Thanks, you are the best. Suscribed
Rino, thank you so much for all these great tutorials. These help tremendously!
idk what else you make on here but it's an instant sub
Awesome video!!! Thankfully I got a an awesome client that prefers I pay for the hosting and domain and she pays me yearly because she doesn’t have a credit card. And this incident has had me thinking if I should offer it to other business owners. Where I’m from, owners want to get their domain and hosting but don’t have a credit card so they prefer if someone buys it on their behalf
i dont know why i watched the whole video, BUT This was Informative and Helpful Information shared,
with my short attention span I would have closed but hey thank you for sharing this info
good clear info. how do you go about charging for your services? (backups, updates, etc) Do you rely on the hosting commission?
1million likes for this, please. I really love this video. It helps a lot.
Hi, i have a question. Should i start building the client website on my own hosting, and then migrate the completed website to the client's hosting? i'm asking this because lets say i am directly building the website to the client's hosting, and client suddenly changes the login password without paying me.
take all many the first after that give a client him hosting
I loved this video, thank you very much for sharing this info, you know, #4 procedure that you're recommending, is exactly what I was doing intuitively (I'm also a SiteGround client), but lately I was thinking, "what nonsense am I doing?" I should be making more money by using my own hosting and charging my clients, thanks to you, now I know I've been doing things the right way since the beginning :)
How about premium plugins? Should I charge clients extra for installing paid plugins on their website that I have bought with a lifetime plan? (say, Divi theme)
Hi Rino,
I'm loving your content, I am making Websites at the moment, but have been using templates for too long now. I think your model to design in XD and build with Elementor is my next step. I have been looking for a workflow that will suit me!
I will purchase your course in the near future, just have a few Udemy ones to get through first.
Thanks for the great content!
Good Job, but you never mentioned 'Affiliate Programs' with the best one (repeat payouts) and bonuses for performance and you can automate the whole thing
PLUS, let your customers set up a landing page with your links (and split the commission with them)
Thank you so much ! This helped me so much. I love the way you present
This is the video I needed for months now. Loved the content and subscribed 🔔