One thing that I noticed at my old job was that providing “service contracts” for clients can become a problem over time. We used to charge some fee per year to each of our clients ($5-$10k if I remember correctly), and they would get 60 or so hours of support each year. Well, thats fine and dandy during your first few years, but after 5 or 6 years, you have 70-80 clients. While I was there, the constant specter of supporting our pre-existing clients was killing our ability to service new ones.

I decided that I wouldn’t make that mistake, so I tell clients up-front that I will help them by answering questions or giving my informed opinion on their ideas once the site is finished, but that ultimately the site is owned by them, and is their responsibility. I go out of my way to make every website that I create usable and update-able for clients. I do this by basing them on WordPress or Drupal, and then providing training screencasts on how to get things done.

So far, after exactly one year, about 80% of my clients are “angels,” and I often help them more than I said they would. Usually though, if a site is built well from the start, seemingly large fixes can take me a few minutes. I chalk it up to the cost of doing business that I will help out my clients for 20 minutes here and there a few times a week without asking for payment. I think its working in terms of customer satisfaction.

The problem is, after another year, when my client list has gone from about a dozen to two dozen… what will happen then? We’ll find out!

Thank you spending the time to write this extremely helpful article.

I like to send out a brief thank you letter, with a business card attached, to first time clients after we’ve completed a project for them. I try to avoid mailing lists and newsletters.