Hi everyone. I’m new to WordPress development so I had a question regarding different hosting options. When purchasing a package through a host site, if I plan to design websites for other companies is it more efficient to purchase the upgraded subscription that gives me unlimited domains? Or is it better to just do one domain and create a new account for each site? Thank you in advance.
WordPress hosting with unlimited domains
Answers:
Typically I would be inclined to recommend that you split them up – easier to hand the account over when you’re done building the site and the client want control, also good to separate for security and performance reasons – if one site gets hacked and the sites all share one account, good chance all sites get infected.
However, for a few smaller and low traffic sites we do host them on our SiteGround GoGeek account as all sites are now separated/isolated in their new SiteTools Panel, so they are secured then before.
So, yeah, friends don’t let friends host their client’s websites on their own servers unless they make a *serious* commitment to provide access, provide easily-achievable migration processes, have enforceable contracts and terms of service, and preferably have fallback and fall-through service such that if anything happens to you your clients aren’t totally screwed.
That said! I have a hosting account where I develop all my clients’ sites. I think this is more hygienic for a couple of reasons:
– Neither Google nor the client’s clients are going to see a half-built, half-baked site while it’s still under development
– Since it’s on *my* server I get to control the environment and do extra fun debugging and optimizing things that you can’t always do through the WordPress dashboard
– Since it’s on my server I don’t migrate it till I’m darn sure the client is happy and, especially, that I’m even more sure I’ll get paid!
And to answer your specific question, here’s how I tend to do what you’re asking:
1) I have a server setup for developing client websites
2) For each new client, instead of using their domain name I create a subdomain for each client, add a database, etc.
3) I can develop on the subdomain, I can give the client login access so they can become familiar with the front and back end, and so they can see and sign off on the final version before I archive it and migrate it to their live server.
That subdomain strategy has worked very well for me for the last six or eight years.
Finally, it’s very likely that a hosting account that allows only one domain name won’t allow you to add fully-functioning subdomains. So you’ll almost certainly need to upgrade your service to support multiple working websites.
Final bonus: it’s not the end of the world if your dev site is a little underpowered when you’re running multiple sites in development. If you were to host your client’s live sites you’d need to buy a much beefier hosting plan.