Hello, Me and my friend are novice web designers and we want to know what we should charge. Should we start out doing free stuff to build our portfolio? Or start out at $10? Please help!
i suggest you start doing some freework to build up a portfolio and itrader. having zero itrader wont sell you to much.
You don't have to do it for free to build up your clientel. If you decide to go that route, you should certainly limit it to only a few. I would gladly take one if you are going that route btw. I would think that once you get enough posts and spend enough time here at DP, you can go to the Buy, Sell, Trade section and offer your services there. Look around at what other new guys who are getting work are charging, match their prices. If you are good, countless people would buy your services for $20.00 or more, i'm sure. PM me, I could be your first client!
Yeah, the nail's firmly been hit on the head. If you're just starting out, don't expect to be able to deman huge bucks for reasonably simple jobs. But, if this is your livlihood, don't pander to people demanding you do things for free. Admittedly, you (like myself ) are in the position of having few posts and 0 iTrader, so people are going to be more suspicious of being scammed, so showing a lot of good faith can go a long way!! Good luck.
It all depends on what YOUR site looks like. If it is nice, then you don't need to give your servcies away. The site speaks on your behalf. However, if it looks like a pile of horse shit out in the pasture... I would check out some nice-looking sites, and build something similair, and use them as examples on what you can do.
Yep, copper12 has it right too. Thats somethign I didn't mention. If you can show your own website and list it as one of the sites you have done yourself, then we'll know what you're capable of (or not capable of).
Do some free work for not for profit organizations. If a local animal shelter, boy scouts, girl scouts, food bank, churches or anything else like that needs a website, build them one for free. To find a list of Not For Profit organizations in your area, contact the local chamber of commerce. The chamber might even need a website. Other organizations include your local fire department, sheriffs department, local police, and justice of the peace. Before you know it you will have a good resume and plenty of experience. It also looks good if you go into a job interview and have charity work on your resume. Employers like to see that kind of stuff. It shows that you can about the community and other people. But I would try to stay away from doing free work for companies that make a profit. Do the charity, not for profit organizations first and work up from there. I do not know the legal details, but if you donate your time to the charity organizations you "might" be able to write your expenses off at the end of the end of the year on your income taxes. But check with a CPA on those details.