[NicoJuicy]

I think selling hosting to a customer is wrong, but selling services based on hosting could do well (email app,invoicing app, website, dropbox alternative, booking services (restaurant, hotel) ...). There's no money in the hosting without a webapplication part (my 2 cents)

Currently, a lot of my clients don't need the monthly support option. That doesn't seem to sell very well, because they mostly have no problems.

What can be sold is the support for 3 months (during the start)... But that is where the most problems are, so i'm wondering if it's financially interesting to do that :) . I also mention that i'm a busy guy, but with a monthly support fee. They can call dibs on me anytime.

[luckyisgood]

The way I see this "clients do or do not need support" is this (and this metaphor faired well with clients, to help them understand why support and maintenance is absolutely crucial): I personally don't need medical insurance either because I'm healthy most of the time. But what happens when I get sick? I need fast remedy and I want to live my life assured that there's a team of experts on standby, ready to take me in.

In my experience, it made no sense to argue with the client about maintenance when the website was "sick". All the client wanted was for us to fix it. I knew that, so I made sure I sold them a maintenance package in advance, when they "didn't need" it. A website is just like a bridge: if you build it, you're responsible for it, but it's not for free. Everything I put in the world, I am responsible for, but the client needs to pay for it.

Here's how we sold support: - 30 days guarantee period (after launch) - we were selling only annual contracts. A lot happens every month. Frameworks and libraries need updating, 404 links happen, browsers update, CMS systems get new security updates... There's a ton of things to keep an eye on as a developer, and you could create an annual plan which your client pays for monthly (give her a discount when she signs a contract).

[luckyisgood]

"There's no money in the hosting without a webapplication part (my 2 cents)" - totally agree, that was my experience too.

So you actually asked about selling services and apps hosted in the cloud? That is a good business, if you make it your core business. For example, we resold Google Apps to clients. Since clients were local and preferred to call our phones for support, we sold them our support services too. So, the client bought Google Apps for Business licenses through us and bought added-value services like support, installation, migration, consulting etc.

That's a good business. Specialization and focus helps here, so that you don't spread yourself too thin.