3 replies
So I don't really deal too much with hosting. But a company wants me to condense things for them...

They have a domain with one company, another domain with another, hosting with another, another hosting account with another, email account with another, etc. It's a mess.

Basically, they want me to put everything in one spot.

So I'm going to set them up with HostGator to use for hosting and transfer their domain names to them. Or should I host the domain names somewhere else? (seems to be an ongoing debate as to keep them separate or not)

Anyway, for pricing, let's say it will involve transferring 3 domains, setting them up with hosting (just going to upgrade my own account to reseller), setting up their email via cpanel, and backing up their old website and then transferring the files to the new host.

Any idea on what I should charge them? I've never transferred a domain before, so I don't know how involved they are. Seems there is a $15 fee per transfer to HostGator. So it's $45 just for that.

As for my time involved to do all of this, that's why I'm posting asking about this.

Also, what is a fair price to charge for monthly hosting? Any set up fee? Traffic wise, their site won't get much. During the winter they get VERY LITTLE traffic. During the summer months they may see 3,000 visitors a month MAX. So $20...$25? In a few weeks I'll be hosting a mobile website for them as well, just an fyi in case it matters.

Lastly, any order I should do all of this in? I obviously want to have the new hosting set up for a few days before cancelling the old hosting. But anything else I should know about? Should I do the domain transfers before or after the new hosting?

Any help is appreciated.
#hosting #price
  • Profile picture of the author JohnSpangler
    Is this for an offline business website or an online business website because I can charge anywhere from a low of $20/mo for a simple one page brochure website to over $100/mo for an ecommerce website.

    I also charge a flat $30 for any domain transfers and if they need a website transferred depending on the type of site ie joomla or wordpress I would charge $50 site I can use simple tools to transfer the complete sites and takes less than 15minutes.

    If something more complex then I work at $80/hr billed in 15min increments.

    I don't know if that helps but that's what I do for my clients and they seem to think I am more than fair plus I don't try to push extra stuff and will do the job by the time I state I would which is a big deal for these folks.

    You can also check out websitemovers.com as they are a large corporate company providing the service starting at $69 and up.

    Hope that helps, good luck,
    John
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5138230].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author kymobilemedia
    I would also suggest getting a host gator reseller account so you can brand it with your company. That way it looks like you have your own hosting company. It comes with billing software, so you are not responsible for sending a bill each month.

    You can also set your own pricing.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5138251].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Vagabond 007
      Originally Posted by JohnSpangler View Post

      Is this for an offline business website or an online business website because I can charge anywhere from a low of $20/mo for a simple one page brochure website to over $100/mo for an ecommerce website.
      Offline. It's for a summer day camp. Hence the difference in traffic throughout the year.

      Originally Posted by JohnSpangler View Post

      I also charge a flat $30 for any domain transfers
      HostGator is $15 per domain transfer. In this case, would you charge the client $30 and then just use your own credit card to pay the $15? Or make them pay the $15 on their own and then you'd get your $15 as part of the overall bill?

      Also, their domain doesn't expire until 2019. If I transfer it, would it stay that way?

      My understanding is that, that has to do with ICANN so it would be good until 2019. And maybe even an additional year which they would get when they pay to transfer it??

      Originally Posted by JohnSpangler View Post

      and if they need a website transferred depending on the type of site ie joomla or wordpress I would charge $50 site I can use simple tools to transfer the complete sites and takes less than 15minutes.
      It's an HTML site. No blog.

      Is it not just as easy as copying the old files into a folder, and then re-uploading them via FTP to the new server?

      I've only ever transferred a site once or twice and it was one of my own sites that was VERY basic. So all I did was copy the files and re-upload them.

      I don't think this site has any databases or anything complicated. Still looking into it though...can't get access to the files/server right now (see below).

      Originally Posted by JohnSpangler View Post

      and will do the job by the time I state I would which is a big deal for these folks.
      This is why they want to change things. The company they are using now for hosting has been avoiding them. There is a server error when trying to FTP any files and phone calls and emails are ignored.

      Originally Posted by JohnSpangler View Post

      You can also check out websitemovers.com as they are a large corporate company providing the service starting at $69 and up.
      Using them depends on the answers to my above questions about copying and then re-uploading the files

      Originally Posted by JohnSpangler View Post

      Hope that helps, good luck,
      John
      Thanks!

      Originally Posted by kymobilemedia View Post

      I would also suggest getting a host gator reseller account so you can brand it with your company. That way it looks like you have your own hosting company. It comes with billing software, so you are not responsible for sending a bill each month.

      You can also set your own pricing.
      Thanks. That's what I plan on doing.
      Signature
      The Ultimate Sales & Marketing Mind Map (Just updated - now twice as big!) - scott_krech - "Quite possibly one of the BEST WSO's ever."

      www.UltimateMindMap.com


      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5141042].message }}

Trending Topics