What is the Best Kind of Hosting, for Freelance Web Developers?

Should you get a VPS (virtual private server) to host your freelance web design and development clients? Given all the different web hosting options out there, what is the solution for freelancing web nerds?
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Stef
#freelancing #webhosting #vpssolutions

[@davidbasil2727]

Stef is the best programming advisor out there, no doubt!

[@carlosmera4793]

Yup!

[@GroudFrank]

The video clip at the end is a nice touch.

[@andredoumad]

Absolutely agree. Great post

[@joemurray1664]

Thank you for this fantastic information! I chose Cloudways because of the TST20 coupon code. Thank goodness for that! It is, without a doubt, the most reliable web hosting provider.

[@Like-a-trolling-stone]

Nice video, even though you look like you're just about to rob a bank lol

[@StefanMischook]

LOL

[@tsol438]

hahaha

[@carlosmera4793]

Keep the car running!

[@tmhugin8312]

that's the life of freelancers

[@webhosting5960]

Huge Video! Thank you

[@TylerLemke]

I've used Knownhost in the past and it works great because it is managed. If you want to go unmanaged, I would do Dreamhost but you are going to have to do a lot. If you are wanting to eventually work for other companies, just learn AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure.

[@r3n736]

My preference are Digital Ocean I can pause the server when I am not using it. There are many free hosting plans out there with free tier plan. Including github pages, netlify and Heroku

[@webhosting5960]

Unlimited Video! Thank you

[@DevSAGurus]

i guess i just got myself a mentor. perfect!!

[@RakeshSingh-hg1fz]

I personally prefer a VPS as I assess open source applications quite frequently. I also do a lot of backend development with Python as well as the usual DevOps testing with Ansible. I recently switched to Vultr who have small 'sandbox' instances for $2.50, although I use the $3.50 option in the UK as I get better connection speeds in Europe from Africa. A VPS gives me a bit more flexibility.

[@schmoab]

I’m learning on the free services of AWS for at least a year. It’s definitely more complicated than some of these managed hosting companies like HostGator, but I want to get into the cloud business anyway.

[@brantbuckleymusic3383]

Excellent video!

[@StefanMischook]

Glad you liked it!

[@RowlandOConnor]

What about PaaS in the cloud? Fully managed, configured and updated for you. For example, MS Azure Web Apps on Linux or Windows base. Will auto or manual scale on demand if needed. VPS seems a somewhat out of date solution with the modern cloud options available. Don't like MS? Take a look at Digital Ocean droplet containers as another option or even AWS EC2 or kubernetes clusters for bigger stuff. My personal experience with VPS (shared) years ago was that it was slow because if all of the other customers hammering the shared resources. If going VPS, go private at least - I would not put my customers on shared!

[@noahwilliams8918]

I love DigitalOcean. They've just been getting better and better over the last couple years, recently launching the managed K8s service, along with lots of one-click apps (I run my website off one: noahsbwilliams.com).

[@hastaquedanielologre]

I love your car!

[@ingwerliebe9620]

Hi, great video. I plan to do it like that. One thing is giving me a headache though: How do you create the hosting account of the client? Do you tell them to set it up themselves or do you set it up for them with their credentials? The latter would mean that the client would have to share email, password and payment information. I don´t think that new clients do that very often? Thanks, Jens

[@EdEscuetaGraphics]

How about setting up a reseller hosting account instead?

[@vahidsediqi5638]

that is a good and silent place to make videos

[@EntreMaster]

I'm in the process of launching a web hosting business via a partner program. Im going right to the source, the second largest Web Host Admin solution in the world. So I'm not a reseller. My niche is to support WordPress and WooCommerce freelancers on a Managed Service Hosting. I'll keep you posted!

[@StefanMischook]

Sounds good.

[@gustavorivarola7333]

Jaja I love where you recorded the video..

[@mii1563]

Your awesome!

[@aeapyps]

NICE VIDEO! I use Laravel Forge for my laravel projects. Do you recommend another for Wordpress?

[@ruffneck718]

You must have read my mind, I was just about to email you the same questions. My goal is to host and manage 5 client website by Feb 2019. I may use WP (I want to get proficient in PHP) on some of them as well.

[@noahwilliams8918]

You can use the DigitalOcean API to autocreate pre-provisioned Wordpress droplets, and cloud-init them with the unattended upgrades package for automatic updates, all in one fell swoop.

[@odainasser]

nice town in the end

[@cipriantepes]

Maybe VPS with ServerPilot or Cloudways or alternatives :)

[@TechXSoftware]

I think CrazyDomains is a good one. What do you think?

Hello Stef. Thanks a lot for that answer in this vlog. Now could you tell us the name of the provider you use for your managed vps? Thanks.

[@StefanMischook]

Digital Ocean

[@dotnetdevni]

What company do u use yourself Im sick and tired of some companies claiming they offer support when its couple of people in a garage, I use .net and c# would like a vps managed server that doesn't cost heaps.

[@zeuglcockatrice4633]

how long does it take to make an average of 400-500 dollars a month doing freelance work? I am not interested in getting rich but I want to have more free time.Also I have programming experience so I don't have to start from the basics.

[@sfsfsdfsdification]

iweb or funio?

[@cophacocha4481]

What about cloud hosting?

[@StefanMischook]

Cloud hosting is the future.

[@HSMAdvisor]

Steph, I work as a fullstack web developer. If I want to start freelancing, how do I go about finding work? Go to online platforms, where I have to compete with thousands of people from places like India? Knock on doors?

[@StefanMischook]

The answer to that question, and many more can be found in my popular freelance course: www.killervideostore.com/video-courses/complete-freelancer.php. So yes, you can easily compete with overseas markets because many, many small business want to work with local people.

[@hleet]

so what is the name of your vps fully managed company ? hostgator ?

[@StefanMischook]

Funio

[@sobeidalagrange7129]

Ahahah "command-line ninja"!!! :) Min 5:30

[@pixelmartyr8532]

I've had some bad experiences with some of the bigger hosting companies. Especially with buying domains. I went looking for a TLD at GoDaddy. Found what I wanted. Decided to sleep on it. The next morning it got bought up. I contacted the owner. They wanted $5000.00 for the domain. Then I discovered they lived in the exact same zip code as GoDaddy headquarters. Another incident involved Hostgator. I use to buy my domains there through registry rocket. People couldn't believe the domains I was picking up. I couldn't either. Then I double checked the registration. The spelling was wrong. I went there to buy more and I noticed there were still some great domains available. However the spelling would change as soon as you went to check out. I told them. They said they would look into the problem. Yeah right.

[@r3n736]

You need to learn how to check domains through the terminal instead of website. You can do a Whois and a ping test on the domain. I buy from namecheap after that.

[@pixelmartyr8532]

WOW!!! @@r3n736 I didn't know that. Thank you. Is there a way to find the true owner of a privatized TLD through such a method? I had no idea you could do that.

[@Threedogdubbers]

Well that's the squatting game, nothing you can do about it.

[@r3n736]

@@pixelmartyr8532 Check these links. There are more methods like ping I mentioned before. Here is the image that tell you basically why you should not use browser or a website for domain. i.stack.imgur.com/Kh6GM.jpg www.2daygeek.com/check-find-dns-records-of-domain-in-linux-terminal/# webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/24454/what-is-the-safest-way-to-search-for-domain-names-availability

[@pixelmartyr8532]

Thanks a lot man. @@r3n736

[@toddboothbee1361]

I think that those stone houses were calling your name...weighing up stone houses against stone crabs?

[@StefanMischook]

Crabs win every time.

[@xSayllusx]

Steff why do u still use codeigniter? Isnt Ur app pretty big now?

[@StefanMischook]

Answer in next vlog. Short answer is: we kinda use CI in the old version ... but not entirely. The new StudioWeb 4 uses the latest Laravel, because SW3 cannot handle the requirements anymore.

[@xSayllusx]

@@StefanMischook great! It would be great if u could tell us some technical details about ur experience with studioweb. U could make lots of videos regarding different aspects of running ur own business built in php. Just a suggestion

[@JamesCairney]

Paying someone else to look after your servers for you is a good idea, my server dude is called Bryon, he knows his stuff, means I just have to write the code, he sorts the systems for us, which is nice 'cause if I had to run the server's too I think my brain might melt.

[@StefanMischook]

Yep. You have to concentrate on your best skills.

[@indrithaxhidauti3082]

Do you drive an audi s5 ??

[@StefanMischook]

Yes

[@humanOSx]

3:54 that's right

[@SamTheSciencerAtheist]

I don't understand your "managed server" argument. How hard is it to set "unattended upgrades" on Debian to get automatic updates?! Do you hate dealing with the terminal?

[@phil.4688]

When you begin to add a bunch of software, e.g. Node etc., the whole configuration might be too complex to just update blindly. Tons of dependencies can break stuff here and there. You might wanna go with a containerized approach for instance. You also gotta manage backups and stuff. It's a whole other level of involvement, sysadmin is a job in itself. The less you have to do, the better as a freelancer, because the one limiting resource is time, not money.

[@SamTheSciencerAtheist]

@@phil.4688 Well, for one thing, Debian upgrades are always backward compatible, which is why there's `apt-get dist-upgrade` as opposed to `apt-get upgrade`, which you don't do all the time, and may contain problematic stuff. You do this like once every quarter or something and is never about security. Been managing my own servers and others' for over 6 years, and never had a break-down issue like that. Now about backups, I may agree with you, it's not that cute. I wrote a script that backs up everything for me, encrypts it with openssl, and puts it on an encrypted sftp path where my other servers can download them automatically. It costs me 1 minute to run that script. Preparing that cost me 1 day. I understand that the less I have to do, the better, but it's just about the trade-off between more freedom and more productivity. Maybe I've been dealing with servers so long that it became too easy for me and totally not time consuming? Maybe I'm not doing enough stuff with my server to complicate things? I don't know.

[@StefanMischook]

Terminal is fine. I've recompiled linux kernels in the past. But, at some point, when you get busy, you have to decide if you want to spend your time on client work that makes you money, or do you want to spend time managing a box. It doesn't come up often, but when it does, is sucks to have to stop doing what you do to apply patches, worry about backups and rollbacks. Now, I just create a support ticket it is gets done. I will be shutting down the un-managed VPS this August because the fully managed just makes me sleep better at night.

[@phil.4688]

Edit: didn't see Stefan's answer before posting. What he said, much more concise than me haha. _________ @@SamTheSciencerAtheist Well you definitely know your stuff, and I think you appreciate how this makes things easier for you. I tend to approach things from a general standpoint now. So I see two things: what's the best tool for the job (hosting websites) and beyond that, what's the best strategy in terms of production (freelancer = business owner + career manager for oneself, i.e. skills etc). If we need to host basic wordpress instances, we clearly don't have the same specs as a full-fledged node stack, and we need to consider cost. As a freelancer, you'd obviously design a system around what works for you, and managing a complex stack is not something you can affort lightly, unless it's a whole packaged product from some cloud vendor (which most apps developers would use for this very reason). Now there's the matter of resources, i.e. money and time. If managing some aspect of your business starts hurting your bottom line (because you could be getting more clients instead, or finish more projects), it's usually time to outsource (or hire). Can't spend months learning accounting, you outsource it. Can't spend months learning sysadmin, you outsource it. No longer good enough to handle marketing, you find a contractor who does it professionally. No good enough at sales... you get the idea. The matter of the fact is you can't spread too thin horizontally if you want to retain some edge in your core competency, to keep the business oriented. You need to add "more than you", more time (man hours) than you have. You trade money for time. You then use that time to do something that yields the highest returns (for most businesses, that's finding new clients and gearing up to scale accordingly). I guess the book "The E-Myth, revisited" explains this much better than me. Now from a tinkerer / home perspective, I'm with you 100% if only to learn those things. I know about tons of stuff that I would never dare to run in prod myself, but at least I can outsource (or eventually hire) the right person to do it, knowing what can be done. I guess it all comes down to a CTO/CIO versus CEO/manager perspective, and the manager in you must often prevail over the nerdy tech VP if the business is to thrive.

[@SamTheSciencerAtheist]

@@phil.4688 I see. That's fair.

[@mareksniknais5415]

if I were too paranoid then I would be concerned about hosting my uber secret and profitable code on not my own hardware.

[@_neuromanser_]

Digital Ocean

[@SumanRoy.official]

who is Bob?

[@BlackBeltCrafter]

He's your Uncle.... www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/bobs-your-uncle.html

[@tayyeba9337]

When look at you ...You remind me of Nicolas Cage ..and when I hear your words ...you sound like the Agony Uncle in a coder's life.. thanks for helping us sort our coding knowledge which is so messed up..