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Which hosting service do you normally use to start a website's design (using WordPress) and show the client online?

Once the site is done and approved, the client gets their own hosting service and domain name. I then transfer the website to their hosting. Which hosting service should I use, and is there a tool to improve this process?

Finally, almost all of my clients know of GoDaddy or bought their domain names there. If I recommend their hosting services, they will likely go for it. Is this a good option? Should I just get a GoDaddy hosting account for myself and host the sample sites there?

How do freelancers start on this hosting issue?

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  • Is it possible to download the theme source from the example site? If that's the case, wouldn't screenshots/pics be safer? Then hosting an example isn't an issue at all.
    – user152
    Mar 8, 2015 at 18:48
  • @Stacey Not for Wordpress I think as there is PHP coding involved. However, they can download images and styles.
    – Peter MV
    Mar 8, 2015 at 20:03
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    This is not a topic for freelancing. This is for Web hosting issues. Try to post on their group. The only thing we can advise is to try to sell hosting along web programming. Clients usually like full package service. Everything else is off topic IMHO.
    – Peter MV
    Mar 8, 2015 at 20:05
  • Although only slightly related, I did just write a blog post about using Dev servers; while not choosing a hosting company, I feel there is some useful information in general: talk-about-it.ca/dev-servers
    – Canadian Luke
    Mar 9, 2015 at 18:07

4 Answers 4

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Option 1 is to build the site on your own web host, perhaps as a subdomain (e.g. client.mysite.com). You can provide links for your client to view the work, and then transfer everything to their hosting service when you're done. I did that when I was first starting out, and you can make it work, but I think there are better ways.

Option 2 is to handle the hosting for your clients. I would recommend this for a couple reasons:

  1. You can deploy their site with way less hassle. Trying to transfer code, database, and files between servers is always going to be more work than deploying a site on the same server/host it was built on.
  2. You can make extra money using a reseller account. For example, GreenGeeks has a number of options, and lets you invoice your clients free of charge for hosting services. Even if you only have 1 client on the reseller account, you're basically getting your personal web hosting for free!
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When I am building a new site. I use my local web server that I build the site on. This is not live that people can see. Once I am ready for the client to see what's there, I upload it to my freelance company's website as a folder or a sub-domain. client.business.com This way they can see it live.

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The safest bet for you is to not give the client a publicly available URL. Show demos by way of GotoMeeting or similar. There are lots of VERY shady clients out there.

The second best option is to use your own hosting and share that with the client, and transfer to the client's hosting after you've completed the work.

Never, never, never put anything on a client's hosting until the end of the project and you've been paid most of your money, or there's a chance you won't get paid.

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You can use Reseller web hosting option that many hosting providers offer.

Some of reseller programs:

Last year we used hostgator reseller program. You will get access to WebHost manager console via, for example, www.yourdomain.com:2087.

  1. WHM loginWHM login
  2. After that you will see you WebHost manager console with sidebar where you can see "List accounts" and "Account Functions". This two menus i used to create and manage clients websites. List accounts
  3. Via "Account Functions »Create a New Account" you will add new client. If your client does not have any domain name yet then yours client development copy of the website will be available via url: your website's IP + /~ +client's username in WHM "Home »Account Information »List Accounts". For example, our website ip is 192.168.500.500 and you created new client with username "foo". Your development copy will be available at 192.168.500.500/~foo website ipdevelopment copy of the website

After that u can press Cpanel icon near you newly created client account acces to Cpanel and using QuickInstall QuickInstall install Wordpress in a second installing wordpress Hope i helped you.

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