Hosting and Turnkey Solutions

Suppose I have a client who doesn’t know anything about the internet, etc. but wants a web site. Ideally I would like to charge them $x and provide them with a domain name, one year of hosting and a finished web site using MODx. However in order to do this I would have to purchase the domain name and hosting, but I would prefer that the client owns those items, so I don’t get billed in a year’s time.

Do hosts allow transferring ownership of domains and hosting? But the client hasn’t signed their agreements etc. How do people solve this problem?

Andy

Yes, you can trasfer ownership of a domain, but it costs and involves jumping through hoops and faxing and other awkward stuff. Better to hand-hold the client through buying his own domain, using you as the technical contact.

The complexity of transfering a domain depends on the procedures of the registrar. I use a variety of registrars and have different experiences. Regardless, I’d stay out of it unless you are concerned about getting paid.

In your situation I would try using a host that is also a registrar that offers an affiliate program. 1and1.com comes to mind and I am sure there are many others. Walk your new client through the sign up process (from your affiliate link) and you get a comission with no additional expense to your client. Your client gets the hosting and registration bill so you are out of that loop. Also, you get a consistent set up environment for your MODx installations. Your client maintains ownership of their domain and you get an extra check every month, sounds like a win win to me.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. It seems dissapointing but I guess I will take the approach suggested. I like the affiliate idea - previously I was thinking about reselling but that seems to be much more hassle.

Andy

Don’t get into the habbit of purchasing domains for clients if at all possible. It’s a lot of hassle, particularly when they can’t figure out how to complete the domain transfer process... been there and swore to never do it again.

Quote from: sottwell at Sep 11, 2006, 11:08 PM

Yes, you can trasfer ownership of a domain, but it costs and involves jumping through hoops and faxing and other awkward stuff. Better to hand-hold the client through buying his own domain, using you as the technical contact.

Exactly what I do

I have never been there and never want to be

As the registered owner of the domain you would be liable for the content of the site which I doubt you would want to police. If you were looking for a recurring income year after year for the hosting/MODx maintenance, then consider owning the hosting account yourself and sending the client a bill each period. Your mark up will determine if it is worth your while. Perhaps there are hosts that offer this kind of service, but I don’t know any.

I didn’t want to get into the hassle of owning domain names or web spaces. What I was hoping for was to allow the client to avoid having to register for hosting and a domain name - i.e. they tell me what they want and I get it for them. Choosing those types of things is full of jargon and options which they likely won’t understand and probably don’t care about. After the web site is finished they get ownership and responsiblity of the domain and hosting and my work is done (unless they wanted major changes, etc.)

Andy

Quote from: scandiman at Sep 12, 2006, 04:07 PM

As the registered owner of the domain you would be liable for the content of the site which I doubt you would want to police. If you were looking for a recurring income year after year for the hosting/MODx maintenance, then consider owning the hosting account yourself and sending the client a bill each period.

Personnaly, while I host my clients on a dedicated server, I don’t want ownership of the domain name because it simply ties them to me and vice versa, not to mention it would be totally illogical...

What I do though is help them through the domain name registration / transfer process, so that everything goes smooth...

A sit down with your client and their credit card and you can walk them through the domain and hosting purchase pretty quick. Then you will have all the correct access codes to set up the website. This will be quicker than dealing with the transfer later.