Thread

Hello,

I am setting up a side business providing web design services for my local area, small scale, I want to be able to offer a CMS as an option for clients if they need to update the site on their own, I have been reading up on EE for a while now and this weekend am about to transfer my first site in to EE to test it out. So my question is, if I went for the commercial license with the multiple site manager add-on, would this be viable, i.e. suit my needs, to be able to offer CMS to any future clients. If their sites are hosted on my servers, with my one installation of EE, I could set them up an account to log in and they can use EE to update their site? I have read and re-read the literature but am not sure if that is what the multiple site manager add-on is aimed at. I got a bit confused as under ‘Requirements’ it states

“License holder must be the owner of all Sites”

This then gave me the impression that maybe the site manager add on is aimed at one person running, say, 5 of their own sites. If this is the case would I then have to purchase an EE license for each separate client that wants a CMS with their website?

I hope that makes sense!

Cheers

That is correct. You would need a licence for each site, unless you are the owner of all those businesses.

Hi Deeper,

The Multiple Site Manager is designed to host related sites, which is the primary reason for the license restriction. All the sites under the MSM share the same database as well as the same Members list which makes it a great solution for sites that belong together but not so great to host unique clients with.

We do have a Volume Discount Program. Each software purchase you make on the same expressionengine.com account is logged so that as you meet milestones as indicated below you will automatically receive the discount. The discount plan is cumulative, allowing you to purchase what you need today and still receive a discount when you meet any of the milestones at a later date. Please note that the volume discount plan only applies to ExpressionEngine and ExpressionEngine module purchases.

Volume Discount Milestones:
3+ purchases, 10% off
6+ purchases, 15% off 
10+ purchases, 20% off
15+ purchases, 25% off
20+ purchases, 30% off
30+ purchases, 40% off
40+ purchases, 50% off

Thanks for the replies, I understand how MSM works now.

...I want to be able to offer a CMS as an option for clients if they need to update the site on their own

From a developer/administrator/manager point of view, EE is a great way to manage clients and their respective sites. For every site project, I have the client purchase an EE commercial license (if the client squawks at the price for EE, look for another client), and I recommend specific web site hosts (I’ve managed my own co-lo servers but too much time was spent being Mr. Sys Admin). So, I charge for site development, charge for site maintenance and management (upgrades, add-ons, etc.), charge for content development.

...I want to be able to offer a CMS as an option for clients if they need to update the site on their own

From a developer/administrator/manager point of view, EE is a great way to manage clients and their respective sites. For every site project, I have the client purchase an EE commercial license (if the client squawks at the price for EE, look for another client), and I recommend specific web site hosts (I’ve managed my own co-lo servers but too much time was spent being Mr. Sys Admin). So, I charge for site development, charge for site maintenance and management (upgrades, add-ons, etc.), charge for content development.

Good advice, something I have been thinking about in the last week or so. How did you work out the fee’s to charge, do you do it based on just a per hour fee?

Good advice, something I have been thinking about in the last week or so. How did you work out the fee’s to charge, do you do it based on just a per hour fee?

For some very strange reason, the folks at EE don’t like us EE users discussing rates and terms and such in the forums. However, I suspect that my method is about the same as others.

It depends.

I have an hourly fee that ranges from “Almost A Bargain” to “Whew! You Must Be Good!” to “Wow! You Think Highly Of Yourself!” and I apply it based upon a variety of factors—ability to pay, willingness to pay me, complexity of project, how many cooks are in the kitchen, how much outside development effort is required (not me), vs. how much copy and paste I can employ. For most projects, though, I have to figure out the specific details of the deliverables and about how many hours it will take me to do the work at whatever rate.  I suppose that’s pretty standard.

For some very strange reason, the folks at EE don’t like us EE users discussing rates and terms and such in the forums. However, I suspect that my method is about the same as others.

We’ve posted the reason before. Posting specific rates and comparing those rates among devs openly on the forums can lead to price fixing and other potentially negative effects. Everyone is welcome to talk about how they charge, terms, etc… but don’t list specifics. Thanks.

Good advice, something I have been thinking about in the last week or so. How did you work out the fee’s to charge, do you do it based on just a per hour fee?

For some very strange reason, the folks at EE don’t like us EE users discussing rates and terms and such in the forums. However, I suspect that my method is about the same as others.

It depends.

I have an hourly fee that ranges from “Almost A Bargain” to “Whew! You Must Be Good!” to “Wow! You Think Highly Of Yourself!” and I apply it based upon a variety of factors—ability to pay, willingness to pay me, complexity of project, how many cooks are in the kitchen, how much outside development effort is required (not me), vs. how much copy and paste I can employ. For most projects, though, I have to figure out the specific details of the deliverables and about how many hours it will take me to do the work at whatever rate.  I suppose that’s pretty standard.

Thanks. Wasn’t looking for specific figures, just if you charged per hour for all EE work or had differing rates based on complexity of the work involved, but then I guess the more complex it is the longer it will take and will cost more 😝

I think also what I was thinking about was if I would charge on a similar level to my website developments and class it all as ‘coding’ in the price breakdown or charge more as it’s a specific skill I guess.

Posting specific rates and comparing those rates among devs openly on the forums can lead to price fixing and other potentially negative effects. Everyone is welcome to talk about how they charge, terms, etc… but don’t list specifics.

See? A strange reason.

😊

I lost the link about where to enter the pool to guess EE 2.0’s shipping date.

😊