Which hosting plan for a web designer or agency with several client sites

Choosing the Right Plan·· 11 views· 3 min read

The short answer: someone who builds sites for clients has to choose between one hosting per client (each with their own account and contract) and a hosting of your own where you keep the clients’ sites (and charge for hosting). The second route is reselling. The right decision depends on who answers for the site once it is delivered.

What the site needs

What What to do
One hosting per client The client is the holder: pays, gets the notices and takes the site with them if they change agency. Less work for you, less control.
Reselling (sites stay in your account) You charge the client, manage the accounts and answer for support. More control, more responsibility: Becoming a reseller.
Commission instead of reselling You refer the client and receive a share, managing nothing: Affiliate or reseller.
The domain Register it in the client’s name, always. If the relationship ends, the domain is theirs.
Backups and maintenance Who makes the backups, the updates and answers when the site goes down? Write it in the contract: Your own backup.

Getting started

1 Choose the model with a pilot client before applying it to all.
2 Write what is included: hosting, backups, updates, support and response time.
3 Register the domains in the clients’ names and keep the access details in a password manager.
4 If you resell, see the first start-up: First steps as a reseller.
5 Compare with a VPS if the sites are many or heavy: Shared, VPS, Cloud or dedicated.
Whoever hosts answers for the site. If a client’s site is hacked or goes down, it is you they call. Do not host what you cannot maintain, and make clear in writing what you do and do not do. For your own test site, subdomain or folder.
If your client already has hosting and only needs your work, nothing has to change: you can hand the site over to them. Adding a domain or subdomain.

Going to host client sites and want help choosing the model? Tell us how many sites you have today.

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SEE ALSO

Becoming a reseller: the plans, what is included and how to start

Affiliate or reseller: which suits someone who builds sites for clients

First steps as a reseller (WHM)

Making and keeping your own backup, and testing that it works

Shared hosting, VPS, Cloud or dedicated: the full comparison

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