Thinking about finally freelancing myself instead of with my college (which has a program that gives us paying clients but the money goes mostly to the school). Well on the side anyways for this semester. Anyways I focus on the graphic design part. I only know HTML and CSS and can't make updatable content yet. However I've made small business sites that didn't want updating anyways and they seem to be in demand. I'm talking sites with 5-20 pages usually. Functionality wouldn't including updating and stuff like that. And these aren't usually web 2.0 sites as they aren't graphically simple often though I try to keep navigation and stuff simple. How much $$$? XP
well that depends on the quality of your work. In dp, you can find good webdesigns for $25, and xhtml/css services for $25 on average, thats $50 for a fully coded 1 page website
Do people work like 2 hours on a design or something? I usually spend hours upon hours upon hours just making a mockup. The student business here can charge $500-1500 for a basic site with 10-20 pages, sometimes with updatablity. Here's 2 examples, they're similar in design and I make stuff much different but these are the only two up right now that I nearly or completely made myself. http://www.mathesonsolar.com/ (made a while back, in the latest FF a pixel can bug out, pretend it's not there lol) http://www.majesticinterlock.com/ (did 99% of the coding) How much would I charge for something like these? The first one I did for free and the second one cost like $500. However I've been involved in sites that cost like $1500-3000 too but those usually have updatability, databases, bla. I need to learn PHP or something. And we're considered dirt cheap compared to the non-student companies around us.
I'm not competing with $100 foreign countries. I couldn't make a living. I'll be doing it mostly locally. Lets pretend I charge like THAT. Then what should I charge? I can't live on like $400 a month.
Honestly? It will vary due to a lot of factors. I don't take any job under $5000. It's not worth my time. But I solely develop database driven and eCommerce websites for small to medium sized companies. I only solicit local companies with either no web presence, a limited web presence, or a poor web presence. I don't use templates. I directly interact with my customers. If you do good work and have good referrals, you can charge much higher rates. You're providing a service that the customer cannot perform on their own.
If you are doing actuall face to face work with clients, I'd start out at $250, and consider this a "training rate". Your going to make mistakes for the first couple of clients that you have, until you polish your abilities, then you can charge more. Just remember not to compete with places like DP - you want to target local mom and pop shops, people that will call you when it's time to update that site.
rainbow, the sites you posted look good, As far as pricing,hard to say, we do live in a world where people outsoursce. There are also tons of graphic designers/ web designers. You can charge whatever the market will bear, but 1st you need a customer.............. If you are freelancing then you will need to be competitive.......... Good luck