Howdy, I've been doing web design for about 5 years now. I'm self taught, no classes or whatnot. I've been doing both commercial and personal websites for awhile and have a portfolio of over 20+ clients whom I regularly work with. I guess you could say I'm good with websites. An expert? Anyways... I've charged somewhere between 1000-1500 for commercial websites. Which includes an original template, custom CMS, hosting...blah...blah....blah. Now, I've heard that these companies are getting quotes from other web design firms (I'm freelance) for more than 10k! (some running as high as 100k!) Are my prices WAY to low? Or...what? Let me know your opinions! Maybe I'm just retarded. Thanks, Dale
You should ask this question yourself, do you provide genuine quality equal to those web design firms? Do you believe in quality over quantity? Do you keep personal communication with your clients and genuinely help them when required? If yes, why not increase your price. The more high your price, the more quality people you meet as clients. Definately increase your price if you planning to go furthur and give yourself the permission to earn more. Wish you luck, Regards, Richie.
You need to look in to what these other companies are offering. Are they doing SEO as well? What options do they give customers? Pricing is always a hard thing to figure out. I'm always second guessing my pricing model too. The most important thing is that you're delivering value and both you and the customer come out of it feeling satisfied and like you got a good deal. If raising your customers still feel like they're getting a good value at higher prices, then you should feel ok about charging them. It's easy to undervalue your skills once you get to the point where your work is easy and I see a lot of online marketers making that mistake.
yeah,your price is not expensive.But different website has different price.It wholly depends on its function,style, security and other factors.Therefore,if a website calls for XXk,it doesn't mean it's much too expensive.Maybe it is worth that price.What's more,for company,maybe the cost of designing a website is much more than personal design.In a word,different people have different demand.They have their budget and their willing to choose who to cooperate with.
The question you should ask is : Can I survive and feed my family with the income from building websites, if the answer is no othen reconsider your prices. By the sounds of it you have good client relationships so keep it going
Charging $1 to $2k is reasonable enough especially during this recession time. For your problem,you can adapt dynamic price which mean that you can quote a higher price if the job is offer by big company. And cheaper price for smaller company.
Richie, thanks for the through reply! I do provide genuine quality work to my clients. Quality is always over quantity! I'll probably increase my price based upon what you said. Thanks again, Dale The companies do pretty much the exact same as I do. I find that people gravitate towards me because I'm very good with person to person talk. No contacting some huge marketing company to have a website made! I agree with you, pricing is a hard thing to determine. Thanks! Dale Great? Thanks for the advice. Thanks again, Dale Thanks for the advice. I do agree, price is determined by what is provided (function, style, security...other). Thanks for the advice man! Thanks again, Dale I'm a young college student. Websites are simply for side money. I don't have a family to support (yet!). But, I do understand what your saying. I need to increase my prices based upon my expenses. (That what I've been doing). Thanks for the advice and encouragement. Thanks, Dale Sounds like good advice. For larger companies I'll charge more, for smaller companies I'll charge less. Thanks again for the advice! Thanks everyone for the advice, I plan on raising my prices by 500-1000. Also having dynamic pricing based upon the features of the website/hosting and the size of the client. Cheers, Dale
I have been self-employed for 20 years and pricing used to be a difficult area for me. The best advice I have on pricing is that if nobody complains about your pricing you are not charging enough. I expect that on about 10% of the jobs i quote people will complain that my price is too high. Some of those will complain and pay it anyway. Some I will lower the price because I want the job. Some will go somewhere else. Also, charge enough so you can smile while you do the work! Good Luck!
Welcome anytime, buddy! The best advice I would say It important that you love the work you're doing and enjoying it. You don't live to make yourself feel underpaid. There are always clients on every level of quote. Regards, Richie.
I'm sure you probably do this already, but base your pricing on the time it'll take you to complete each project. See what others charge as an hourly rate. Consider what rate would suit you and give you an income you're happy with. Then estimate the number of hours you'll take on each project. Once you've got a price add maybe 10-20% in case you have underestimated the number of hours. If the pricing comes out at a similar rate to your current prices, you're probably pricing at a fair rate. If it comes out over your prices, then raise them. If it comes out under your prices, then keep your prices the same and be happy that you're effectively earning a higher hourly rate!
If you put out a quote for a commercial site (depending on complexity) you will get quotes all over the board. I have found non-us companies will bid lower than you 1000-1500 range, but you will often lose ability to easily communicate and quality. Your prices could be higher (if you build a reputation and get references), but you are offering an affordable service I would not worry about what others price and build out a model that allows you to make what you need. If you are not making the amount you really want to make, then you might want to think about offering other services in the mix. SEO services on top of building the site can easily double the amount you make in any given year if you provide a quality service.
Really good advice! Like WOW! I really like how you come to a price with your clients. I will try this technique on a client sometime! I like your quote that says "Also, charge enough so you can smile while you do the work!". Thats great stuff man. I find that web design is a great business, its fun work. Thanks again mate! Dale Yup, pricing is mainly determined by the time it will take to complete the website and the size of the website. Good deal man. I like how that was written, I will definitely be taking this into effect! Cheers! Dale All my clients need constant customer service, so going overseas for web design work doesn't work for them. Thus leaving me work! I like the idea of adding SEO to the mix, perhaps I could partner with another company to add this as a service. Thanks for the advice, it's greatly appriciated. Thanks again, Dale!