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Christopher Mlalazi
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 17,305 PointsPaying for Domain Names and Hosting
I am a bit confused on this. Let's say I am building websites for many clients, 10 or so, does the money for the domain names and hosting have to come from my credit card all along. Is there no way that after building the website, I make the client pay these charges from their credit cards and then I load their website for them? I am building websites for friends for free as a way of learning how to code and I am now thinking does this mean that I will also have to use my credit card for all of them?
4 Answers
Matt Brock
28,330 PointsIf you're building their sites for free, I would make them pay for their domain name(s) and hosting fees. Don't feel bad about being firm on that. Things can get awkward doing business with friends, especially free stuff! Make sure you set clear expectations for all parties. I've been burned several times.
As for managing multiple sites for multiple clients, you would typically ask for at least a portion of the estimated cost up front, partly as a gesture of good faith so they don't feel inclined to back out after you've poured dozens of hours into the project, and partly because you need that money to get things up and running. You should have a general idea of what development will cost in terms of hours (or however you charge), and you would definitely know the setup costs for domain and hosting (if they don't have them already) depending on their needs (multiple TLDs, hosting packages, etc.). I charge 50% up front.
Hope that helps!
Jeremy Canela
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Graduate 30,766 PointsWhy would you have to purchase their domain and hosting? I'm guessing the clients want your service to create their website. Purchasing the host and the domain isn't your job although you can help them out with that :)!
Matt Brock
28,330 PointsYea definitely. You aren't obligated to, but some clients may want you to take care of everything at the outset and then hand off management of DNS, domain registration, hosting, etc. upon completion of the project. Bundling it into your services and fee may prevent some tedious correspondence if they don't know what buttons to push to purchase a domain name. Hah! But again, totally depends on the client.
Hoping someone else answers as well. I'd love to hear how others do it!
Christopher Mlalazi
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 17,305 PointsI am building the websites for the friends, a few of them, for free, but I haven’t yet go to the stage of buying domain names and hosting, and now I was wondering if there is a way they could buy these for themselves (domain and hosting) instead of my having to do that from my credit card. I have never bought a domain name nor hosted a website before and I am trying to find the best way around this challenge as I don’t want all the charges piled on my credit card.
Kevin Korte
28,148 PointsSure, tell them to go buy their own domain and hosting - simple as that. You can be nice about it, like "hey, were are getting to the point where you need to buy your domain and hosting". You can even help them by providing advice, like "go to namecheap.com and buy your domain, and go to hostxyz.com and buy your hosting, and than I'll need to the credentials for both to set them up."
If you're building a site for the, you should be trusted to simply set up their DNS servers. Assure them they can change their password later if they insist.
Chandra Prakash Choudhary
Courses Plus Student 1,759 Pointssir, I am not watch option of discount for teamtreehouse student on www.webhostingforstudent.com . And in the video these option is show.
Neil Anuskiewicz
11,007 PointsNeil Anuskiewicz
11,007 PointsHow about have them register the domains ahead of time and setup the hosting so that's all done ahead of time if that's an option? Second option, host the websites in a staging area either on your local machine or in your own hosting account and copy the site over when they have setup the hosting. I think option 1 to have them setup their hosting ahead of time is far better and hosting is pretty cheap.
I hope that helps.