Where the margin actually is.
THE PRINCIPLE
Hosting alone is thin. Hosting as part of something larger is profitable.
WHAT TO BUNDLE
Website design and build
Ongoing maintenance: updates, backups, monitoring
Domain registration Email setup and support Content updates SEO or marketing work
THE MAINTENANCE RETAINER
The single most valuable thing to sell alongside hosting.
A monthly fee covering updates, backups, monitoring and a set amount of change work.
It is recurring, it is what the client actually needs, and it prevents the sites you host becoming compromised.
WHY IT ALSO PROTECTS YOU
Unmaintained client sites get hacked, and that becomes your problem regardless of whose responsibility it was.
Being paid to maintain them aligns the incentives.
PRICING IT
Enough to cover the time. An hour a month per site, plus a margin.
WHAT TO INCLUDE
Core and plugin updates Backup verification Uptime monitoring A stated amount of small changes
WHAT TO EXCLUDE EXPLICITLY
New features, redesigns, and anything substantial. Those are quoted separately.
