Web dev here.
I'm going to start building basic websites for small businesses in my area and charging them a monthly fee to cover hosting, domain name, and my time spent making occasional code updates.
Looking for a payment processing service that I can use to automatically debit my customers the monthly fee.
Also looking for general input from people providing a similar service. Recommended pricing, warnings, hosting/domain services, tips, etc.
Thanks Veeky Forums.
square maybe?
The category you will be looking in is "merchant services".
You can Google it for your area or call your local small business chamber and ask them who they recommend.
Fellow small biz owner (tile guy). AMA.
Was under the impression that Square was more for physically taking a card from someone and swiping it on a system.
I won't be taking one time payments, more like signups for a subscription, just something that will take money from someone's account and put it in mine once a month.
You should just become a web hosting reseller, possibly via powweb. The business I work for does this, costs us $30 a year per business, we charge them $90 and $140 for a dreamweaver websites. Once setup most businesses NEVER attempt to update and Powweb automates all the payments so we get roughly 10,000 a year for very little work.
I made the last ten websites and it took me about a day a piece.
Not OP but bumping for interest.
Basically my plan desu. Just looking for the best hosting solution, already have 3 clients who said they'd pay me to do it.
Looking at bluehost, looks a bit more modern.
Speaking is the type of small business owner who would be looking for your services, I would want to use an online payment system. Something akin to Paypal. Naturally the benefit that will accrue to you is reduced overhead and simplified infrastructure. Lots of payment systems cost a small fortune between hardware costs and processing fees. Surely you can find a better deal online.
Where you located OP?
Good luck user, there are lots of reselling programs out there. Company I work for is basically made out of reselling products to small businesses at a +60% markup if you need some ideas. I will agree that Powweb is old as the Spanish inquisition but it's got FTP, Wordpress and domain support.
>costs us $30 a year per business
I don't see a price that low, it's closer to $45 per year
Yeah was definitely looking for something lightweight like PayPal.
Northeast US why?
Not trying to make it a legit big name business, just gonna build a couple simple Home/About/Contact type sites for some friends/family I know who own small businesses. I know a few people who need this service but are too technologically challenged to do it themselves and my dad has tons of contacts since he's also a self employed small business.
If you count in the domain cost, yes it's closer to $45. I literally get to look at the books once a week.
Weird I am also in New England OP. Are you NY, PN, MS?
I wonder if you could make more money by rolling your own hosting using Linode VPS. Use containerized web servers on the cheapest plan they have ( like ten bucks a month) and with some seldom used websites you could probs host around 15-20 sites no problem. But I see how the payment processing service can make your margin slip away. Have you considered Paypal invoicing, seen some freelancers using that?
CT
Will probably end up using PayPal, seems like the most modern / cost efficient solution. Haven't thought about Linode, will have to look that up. Most of my customers would be people I trust to pay me via check, cash etc though so if PayPal invoicing has fees I could always fall back on the old fashioned way.
waveapps lets you send recurring invoices and collects payment. Never used this service myself.
If you cater to people you know and who are not tech savy, i would go the traditional road. Just make a contract and ask for a monthly transfer. If you are not paid for 2months + just put the website to sleep.
Chances are no one will try to fuck you anyway if they are family friends.
how much do you plan on charging monthly?
will the first month cost more?
what if they don't need monthly updates?
20/month ish assuming hosting and domain services cost about 5 a month
Maybe a $100 dollar upfront cost to build the website, idk
Write your own invoicing software with stripe.
Also you better make sure you secure your hosting software. If you leak any data or you get defaced you're entire shithole is over senpai.
Any tips on starting out a small business? My education mostly offers gastronomy. Is taking a loan a big risk just to start and sustain it? How do you guys maximize profits?
I make on average 2000 a month making Squarespace webpages for small businesses. People are that retarded
What's your pricing structure?
Web dev here
First of all, good luck getting more than $200 from a local business now a days. Try targetting companies with decent capital for a well paying job. Oh wait; they already have websites.
Anyways, if you still decide to go that route then I would suggest setting up some member area on your website with Paypal/Stripe subscriptions.
Mfw i leaned html and then dreamweaver came out and shit down my hopes for making bank from home building shitty forum sitez
does not work anymore dude. where have you been in last 20 years??
>mfw learned web dev in grade 5 to make habbo emulators