Hosting & Clients

[guest2013-1]

Hi guys (long back story),

I've always had my own server, not my own, but I've always administrate servers... which I used to host client's websites (and my own) on.

I have an understanding with the company I worked for previously that if I help out with the server management, that I can host on their machines for free. Which is great because the barter deal then allows me to give hosting to my clients for free without charge (I'm not into charging them for hosting, only want to do the web development/design bit)

So recently the company I have a barter deal with decided to take their hosting from US to South Africa, seeing as though Hetzner dropped over usage pricing by quite a bit and it was time for them to upgrade their dedicated server, they decided to have it hosted locally.

Now even though I still have the barter deal with them, and I'm most probably going to help set it up and configure it, I was thinking maybe I should just switch to my own hosting.

Another client of mine (which I administrate their servers for as well, but at a fee) has a dedicated box sitting at Rackspace in the UK. This might be an option to move my hosting over to their servers, however, 2 other people also have access to the server and I don't feel comfortable having my stuff being compromised (by rebooting or otherwise installing software) by other people. At least with the barter-deal-company I know that they know WTF they're doing and I'm mostly responsible for everything anyway so yea...

ANYWAY

How would I convince my current clients to start paying for hosting so I can get my own server up and running? I was thinking I should go for the Mosso Rackspace Cloud server. It doesn't give me much (I can't RDP and install custom dll's) but most of the website I do nowadays are free open source stuff that doesn't require specialized dll's.

I heard good things about it but I'm kind of skeptical.

What intrigues me though is the $3 charge per domain and your client has 24/7 access to a support agent for any hosting problems. This then takes the administration hassles out of my hands mostly, and if they require support with the website, they forward any queries to me. So that seems like a great additional "incentive" to get people on board.

In a couple of my contracts I do state hosting is free, so it's not just a question of telling them from now on I will be charging for hosting...

Any ideas?

If you guys have any clients who'd like to host but can't pay much I won't mind taking them on

 

[JasonH]

How many websites are there and how much bandwidth do they consume monthly?

 

[guest2013-1]

Currently about 6. Bandwidth usages range in the 10gig (haven't checked in a while, that would be max). Some of them are on my email server as well.

They have a contract from me stating free hosting for as long as they use my services exclusively. All the sites are windows based btw.

 

[ToxicBunny]

free hosting for as long as they use you exclusively?

Acid... You need to rethink that, I would do free hosting to a certain traffic volume then charge over and above that volume...

 

[guest2013-1]

free hosting for as long as they use you exclusively?

Acid... You need to rethink that, I would do free hosting to a certain traffic volume then charge over and above that volume...

Does state that if there's excessive usage I would contact them blablablabla

Free hosting to me. Free Hosting to my clients. So I don't mind that much, it's just I have to move hosting whenever these guys feel like it so this made me sit up and think maybe I should just get my own hosting which would cost-a-da-mula

Think about it for a second, free hosting means they don't have to pay for **** if they use me to design/develop their website. Nobody I have on my client roll has had any objections as it's saving them about R3800 a year

 

[Drake2007]

Are your clients all charities?

Contracts can and often do get re-negotiated. Inform them of a date from when you'll start charging. explain the situation to them if needs be, remind them again at the date you specified and invoice to follow if they had no objections. Not difficult. Are you paying for their domain name also?

 

[guest2013-1]

Are your clients all charities?

Contracts can and often do get re-negotiated. Inform them of a date from when you'll start charging. explain the situation to them if needs be, remind them again at the date you specified and invoice to follow if they had no objections. Not difficult. Are you paying for their domain name also?

Nope, everything once off (like their domain name per year) gets paid by them. I do offer a service where I pay that for them and invoice them for it though.

Most of my contracts are for 12 months, I guess I can re-negotiate then and add email as a service (seeing as though only 1 client of the 6 has email with me)

 

[James]

My work hosts with Rackspace and I have my own server hosted with Wired Tree and Rackspace is exensive and I think they are no better than Wired Tree. They are really good, I would recommend them.

 

[JasonH]

I would look at getting a windows based VPS, you should be able to find one for under R500 per month, not sure what your budget is, but getting a VPS is probably your best bet.

The thing about getting your clients to start paying is a bit tricky, best thing in my opinion is to be honest and explain the situation to them.. the contract you have with some of your clients does restrict you in some ways. How about giving them a few months notice about the hosting fees?