My approach is a Service & Support plan (paid quarterly) which covers up to X number of hours and/or X incidents per month. Additional is billable per hour. Ours start at about $250/month. If you streamline a feature set and automate things well enough you can justify free initial customization, though many clients want more than the kit that's easily offered to them so you charge a flat rate upfront too. It's a hybrid approach.<div>
<br></div><div>Of course, when you've got a really compelling set of features (see Drupal Gardens and Buzzr) and an automated machine to attract many hundreds and thousands of customers, you simply offer a great product with great documentation and community support and you can then justify lesser income per customer because each customer's costing you less.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I'd venture you start with the former, make your way to the latter.</div><div><br></div><div>--D<br clear="all">--<br>D202 - People-Centric Websites<br>646.536.7502 || Office<br><a href="http://twitter.com/davenotik">twitter.com/davenotik</a><br>
<a href="http://linkedin.com/in/davidnotik">linkedin.com/in/davidnotik</a><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 11:13 AM, Sam Cohen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:sam@samcohen.com">sam@samcohen.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
Thanks Cameron. From a technical perspective I think I've got things covered. Though technical tips are always appreciated.<br><br>I am looking more for advice and experience on the business end of doing this, such as what people are charging and how they are handling support. <br>
<br>The idea of taking on hundreds or new clients and providing including "free" support is a bit daunting. <br><font color="#888888"><br>Sam</font><div><div></div><div class="h5"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 11:04 AM, Cameron Eagans <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:cweagans@gmail.com" target="_blank">cweagans@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left:1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex">You mean something like Drupal Gardens? (not that Gardens is super limited, but you get the idea)<br>
<br>Should be pretty easy. Put together an install profile, bring up an Aegir installation, and just insert new jobs into the Aegir queue when you need to spawn new sites. For something like this, I'd say it'd be a pretty good idea to use Aegir because, aside from the fact that it can generate your sites for you, it will also help with updates and running cron on all those sites, too.<div>
<div></div><div><br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 8:59 AM, Sam Cohen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:sam@samcohen.com" target="_blank">sam@samcohen.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left:1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex">
To clarify, this would be a locked down site where site administrators are limited in what they can do. They won't have ftp access or be able to install modules or themes. They will be able to add a banner and customize their theme, blog, add pages, menu items,blocks, photos. If new features are added, they would be added across the system. <br>
<br>I actually currently do this for a client who has subsites across the country, but these are really independent sites, where the client can have modules added and any customization they want. In that case it's not very different than normal practice.<br>
<br>What I'm talking about is the possibility of hundreds of subsites where the client would charge a pretty low monthly fee. It's like using Drupal to build a "website tonight" like product and admins would be seriously limited in what they can or cannot do.<br>
<font color="#888888">
<br>Sam<br><br></font><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div></div><div>On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 10:48 AM, nan wich <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:nan_wich@bellsouth.net" target="_blank">nan_wich@bellsouth.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left:1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex"><div><div></div><div>
<div><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><div></div>
<div>I have a reseller account with my hosting company so that I can host some of my customers' sites. I charge for that.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>How do you see this as being significantly different from my common practice?<br> </div>
<p><font size="4" color="#ff007f" face="bookman old style, new york, times, serif"><i><b>Nancy E. Wichmann, PMP</b></i></font></p>
<p><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. -- Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.</font></p>
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<b><span style="font-weight:bold">From:</span></b> Sam Cohen <<a href="mailto:sam@samcohen.com" target="_blank">sam@samcohen.com</a>><br><b><span style="font-weight:bold">To:</span></b> A list for Drupal consultants and Drupal service/hosting providers <<a href="mailto:consulting@drupal.org" target="_blank">consulting@drupal.org</a>><br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">Sent:</span></b> Fri, March 5, 2010 10:38:41 AM<br><b><span style="font-weight:bold">Subject:</span></b> [consulting] question about selling subsites<br></font><div><div></div><div>
<br>This list has sure been quiet lately. <br><br>I'm in negotiations with someone who has a website with a large user base who wants to produce and sell Drupal subsites on scale to his users. In other words this person would be offering their users a Drupal site for a monthly fee. The site would be pre-configured and customized to serve the needs of this audience. <br>
<br>I'm curious is anyone else here has done something like this or knows of anyone doing it. I'm not talking about a project like
Open Atrium, as this would be hosted (a subsite) and would also include support.<br><br>Anyone know of anyone else doing this?<br><br>Thanks,<br>Sam<br></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div></div><div>
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