Hosting and Registration question

[hobscrk777]

I have a question about hosting websites and registering domain names. I've never actually done much of this, so forgive me if this is a really dumb question.

When a website development company designs a website for someone, how do they manage the hosting and registration for the client who (presumably) has no knowledge with this sort of thing, which is why they went with the design company instead. Do they get the client's credit card info, and use that to register and purchase hosting? How does this work?

I ask because I've made a few websites just for fun in the past using free services like geocities or yahoo that provide a domain name and an FTP client. Also, I designed the website for the company my mom owns, but she had already pruchased hosting and registered a domain name with a company called Marathon; all I did was use an FTP client (Smart FTP), called up Marathon for my mom's login and password information, and then proceeded to make a website just like I've done with Geocities or Yahoo.

I'm thinking about branching out and making some websites for some friends of my friends who are interested in getting their small business online, and I can provide a fairly decent, pleasant web sites for much less than a professional company that has whole teams of people to pay for. Since I'm only looking to do this on the side, I don't need to support myself with it, but a little profit is always nice. I'm just confused about how to set this all up from scratch!

 

[StephanieCordray]

You would include the prices of hosting and getting the domain name in your charges, if you are going to handle everything for the client and they would pay you a lump sum or lump sums according to whatever contract you use. I'd advise searching for and looking at a few web design contracts before starting any kind of business.

 

[hobscrk777]

Thanks for the reply.
I'm still a little unsure, so I just want to clarify a little.
How do you ensure that the client is the one paying for the hosting and registration (which require yearly payments)? I'm assuming you'd need to explain that their would be a yearly upkeep fee they'd need to pay to the service that is hosting their site?

Thanks for thea contract idea. That's a good one; I'm going to see what I can find right now.

Edit: It seems like a lot of contracts stipulate that it is the client's responsibility to obtain a domain name and registration and provide the designer with ftp access, and that the designer will not be held accountable for the service of whomever is supplying the hosting and registration.

 

[StephanieCordray]

That depends on how far you want to extend your services. If you want to do design for a client and once the job's done, your job is done, then, yes, it would be up to the client to obtain their own domain name, hosting, and insuring that those are renewed yearly or perhaps monthly for the hosting, then provide you with ftp access to design their site.

If you want to include ongoing site maintenance, it's not uncommon for you to take on the responsibility for getting everything arranged as part of payments received for website management. However, if you choose this option, you should still put all such transactions of domains and hosting in the client's name as they are paying you to do this. You should also include the costs in your contract, so each of you knows what exactly is being paid for.