Results 1 to 11 of 11
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Posts
    640

    How do you charge customers for web site updates?

    Currently, I charge as follows:

    $175 / year covers all text-based updates. This would just include minor text changes, or adding a small image here or there. It would not include changing the actual layout or design of the site or adding many new pages or features.

    The issue I'm having is where to draw the line here. Sometimes someone will send me some text to change, as well as a few graphics, and I often do it for free because the change is so small. Although, the $175 really is to include text changes only. Other than text changes, I charge $75 / hour for all other changes.

    How do you do it? I think I need a better method that will cover more bases. My current method is too flexible and customers expect too many changes since there doesn't seem to be a set limit or an easy way to limit such a system.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Chicago
    Posts
    1,000
    We don't do any of this - I'd call it web development rather than hosting.
    Corey Northcutt | Electric Goat Media
    Currently building this nifty small business ROI calculator.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2001
    Location
    West Michigan, USA
    Posts
    9,687
    Make it a per incident charge, with a base fee (regardless of if its a small job or not) and then add $xx per paragraph of text.

    --Tina
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  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Internet / Colorado
    Posts
    1,660

    or

    Or a retaining fee that is $175 a year and then charge for updates after the first 5 hours.
    Like passive recurring revenue you can retire on?
    You focus on building your brand, we handle all support, billing, and more.
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Southwest UK
    Posts
    1,175
    Think about your time. Charging a flat $175 fee per year is a good idea for business customers. You just need to set a 'fair use' limit, eg, 1 hour per month. If it goes over that, then you charge overage fee.

    Make it clear to your customers (or put it in the small print so you can show any customer who abuses the service) that 99% of all changes will not incur the overage, and you should be fine.
    Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Minnesota
    Posts
    973
    Put an time limit per month on the service. so for instance if you bill out at $75/Hr and only charge $175/year for this service which I assume is a special you may want to do a maximum of 20-30 minutes monthly when they include anything other than text.

    Being that it's really only 11.6 minutes($14.58) monthly or 140 minutes a year.
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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Support Ticket Near You!
    Posts
    1,106
    Depends on what kind of service you're providing as well.

    Personally, I'd create a content management system and let them work around that. Then if they can't use it, have trouble with plugins etc, that's when they pay for support.

    CMS is about 200,000 lines of code though and isn't for the faint hearted.

    So you sell them a product + they pay for support, and 99% of cases support isn't needed.

    But yea, for your specific question, set a specific limit. However, depending on your initiative, you might go a bit over here and there.

    Your system at this stage should work fine, just need to be more strict and clear cut. You're probably doing MORE than what you should. If you have the clientele etc and can't afford not to do so, then you'll need to wait a bit longer. If you have people that will pay more for the service, then you can push more out of them.

    Just my 2cents, just to get you thinking.
    HostGuard.net - VPS Control Panel
    Automating and monitoring your hosting business.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Athens, Greece
    Posts
    1,763
    I (normally) charge by hour, but there are some cases I charge for a flat free per year (1 hour per month max).
    Managed.gr cloud hosting, paas, vps, dedicated, domain registration on global datacenters.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Venezuela
    Posts
    253
    We normally charge per hour, rates from $25 to $75 depending of the task.
    Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, don't touch this!
    WebHostingTalk.com

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2000
    Location
    Alberta, Canada
    Posts
    3,146
    We usually find a per hour or per page fee works well but some Clients like paying an Annual fee ($300) for small changes/updates to any 3 pages per month.
    PotentProducts.com - for all your Hosting needs
    Helping people Host, Create and Maintain their Web Site
    ServerAdmin Services also available

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Karachi, Pakistan
    Posts
    748
    By the hour billable in 30 minutes increments. Provide an estimate and client has the option to pay up to get work done.
    "I drink too much. The last time I gave a urine sample it had an olive in it. ".
    Rodney Dangerfield (from "I Get No Respect!").

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