Dear Drupal Consultant,<br><br>This is my first mail into this e-mail group though I read most of it in archives. Back to the question:<br>To help my sister promotion (who is a known singer in Russia) I created a website <a href="http://malinamusic.ru/" title="http://MalinaMusic.ru" rel="nofollow">http://MalinaMusic.ru</a>. Here is a bit of information about the site:
<p>1. Created with Drupal 6.x + 90 modules<br>
2. Hosted on Bluehost shared hosting<br>
3. I tried to implement it as fast as possible, so I did no Drupal code customization.<br>
4. I did some CSS and JavaScript changes though very minor ones.<br>
5. It took me 160 hours to complete - I'm a newbie after all :)</p>
<p>Suddenly, I start getting requests (already 2 to the date) from sisters
friends in showbiz to create a similar site for them. But this is my hobby in free time and
nothing more. Though, I might get some money creating such sites. I'm wondering if I jump into consulting boat what how shall I start and how to protect my ass if something goes wrong :) I plan to work on Russian market. So, I do not think Customer can sue me if web site error impact they business like in America. Still :)</p>
<p>As a first step I plan to offer creating web sites based on free themes without code customization for Customer. This way I achieve faster implementation and lesser cost for Customer. <br></p><p></p><p>Basically I see 3 components in web site design:<br>
1. Site creation<br>
2. Site hosting and maintenance<br>
3. Site promotion (SEO, Twitter etc)</p>
<p>So, I have a bunch of questions:<br></p><p>
Q1: Site creation:</p><p> How much money would you ask to create similar site as <a href="http://malinamusic.ru/" title="http://MalinaMusic.ru" rel="nofollow">http://MalinaMusic.ru</a> ? (<a href="http://malinamusic.com/" title="http://MalinaMusic.com" rel="nofollow">http://MalinaMusic.com</a> - for Google translated version). I was thinking about 1000 Euro to create a similar site without content (articles etc). <br>
</p><p>Q2: Site creation:</p><p>Since I'm a newbie, I have only 1 site in portfolio I need to extend portfolio and be very nice with first Customers. Another problem is timeline. I'm not sure I can commit to specific schedule. For example I can offer them to pay me 50% only after first version of site is ready and they are happy with it. The rest is paid when site is ready 100%. Of cource I'm risking that they will not pay me at all. But this way I will test Consulting, how it works for me without risking Customer money. </p>
<p></p><p></p>
<p>Q3: Site maintenance<br></p><p>What are the components of site maintenance(hosting&support)? At least I see following<br>
- End user training how to use CMS<br></p><p>- Hosting cost<br>
- Regular drupal and modules upgrade<br>
- End user support if they have questions or messed up something<br>
- Doing regular site backup (automatically)<br>
- Recovering site from hacker attacks/spam etc</p>
<p>Is there a good common practise how to quote site support to customer? I was thinking to quote separately<br>
1. Hosting cost - let's say 100 Euro per year on Bliehost shared hosting<br>
2. Drupal/Modules maintenance - at least 2 times per year. 100 Euro per one maintenance (Drupal and modules upgrade) = 200 Euro year<br>
3. For all other extra service charge hourly rate like 40 Euro/Hour</p><p></p><p>Q3: Site maintenance</p><p>What problems do you see if I host several sites/Customers on the same account on Bluehost using Multisite feature. At least I see problem of upgrade. Whenever you need to upgrade drupal or modules other sites must be upgraded as well. I guess this is a bad idea to host different Customers on the same account?<br>
</p><p></p>
<p>Q4: Site promotion <br>I have no glue how to quote for it. for example I can promote site
on Twitter using applications like Twitadder. How much would you ask for
that?</p>
<p>I would really appreciate for any opinion since I've never been in this business. and I'm not sure shall I even jump into it.</p>