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What if the client wants to host their own website, do they need to buy all the plugins used to make the site?
If they do choose to host on their own account, what is your process to get access to fix, update and make changes to the website?
Are there any other scenerios that I should be aware of?
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This is one of the core issues with WP as it has so many options. It makes thigns a bit difficult to navigate but in my years of development, these are the main things I adhere to.
#1. Offer them hosting through you, or a very specific platform that you are comfortable with (I go with WP-Engine and Pressable).
#2. You should try and use as little plugins as possible, especially if they are paid. Clients should never depend on you and your licenses for something they buy. If you do provide plugins, setup a subscription that they can pay for.
#3. Hosting is fairly straightforward, although the best way to get access is to just have them add you as a collaborator. You’ll usually want FTP/SFTP access to manage the child theme and more but you can also do most of the work just through /wp-admin/
Always be aware that different hosting has different setups and will greatly impact speeds depending on how you build your site. Make sure to keep things simple and clean. Use code before plugins, they offer much cleaner integrations and you don’t have to depend on things going out of date.
For premium plugins and theme licenses there’s two ways we do it:
1) if it’s one of our common ones we use all the time, we have developer licenses. The client only need worry if we decide to stop supporting it. In which case we halt usage, renew for 1 more year and notify whoever we are still working with. This rarely happens because the ones we go this route we tend to keep damn near forever (ACF, gravity forms, Elementor, Beaver builder, and a handful of others). We don’t use all on all sites, but if it saves us the cost of the license in time over the course of a year, it’s worth it.
2) one off plugins. We don’t buy themes so that’s not relevant, but sometimes we need to but a plugin during the build. In our contract we roll the initial purchase (first year) into the build cost and they are responsible for renewal. The vast majority of these are woocommerce related, and woocommerce makes it incredibly easy to purchase it on their behalf, snd transfer the license to them for renewal. We budget a set amount for woocommerce plugins, just to give breathing room. Then we have the freedom to buy plugins as needed, and either transfer the license or get a refund if it doesn’t work out. Without requiring the client to get involved.
As for hosting it’s exactly as you’d imagine…if they host it themselves and need help, you just work through getting access as you would any client.