trying to get into freelancing around my community... schools, churches, small business, etc. and need some advice. If you do this how much do you charge, hourly or contract? Do you still manage their stuff after you finish design. Most importantly legal contracts, which do you use? Thanks in advance for the help.
Start talking to people you know who own businesses or know others who do...that will blossom into clientele. The rate depends on your experience. Definitely try to setup maintenance packages after sites launch (regular edits, etc.) If you're smart about how you conduct business, you don't need to use contracts when you're starting out. As soon as you can afford a consultation visit with a lawyer, set one up to get legal advice on what contracts he'll recommend...it's different for each business/locale but usually not too complicated for web. Good luck, and most importantly, enjoy it - you'll do your best work if you are doing something you like.
It depends on what area you live in and what the economy of the area will pay. It also depends on who your competition is and how much of it there is. When we ordered a new site built from scratch at one place I worked, it was by contract with 3 months managing the site. They charged $1200 to set up the site and there would be a monthly fee after three months of $35 a month. I have seen other places charge by the hour in the $75 range. For those prices, people want to see college degrees. So charging depends on how good you are, what your formal education is , and how qualified you are to handle the various jobs. My advice is to start low and increase as you become well known in the area. Also check out what your possible competitors are charging.
I started my own business two years ago and got clients that I knew. Firstly, you want to get a site up and make sure you can program and design up to the standards of todays market. Once you have that up it wouldn't hurt to get some business cards printed up. I can't tell you how many times someone might mention how they are thinking of a new website and sure enough, at the time, I didn't have business cards. Once you get the cards go into businesses and talk to the owners and leave them with your cards. As for pricing. I have a free quote option which allows for them to tell me the scope of the project and enter their budget into the website. Hope this helps.
As a freelancer you typically would be looking further a field than your local town as most (sensible) businesses etc are now aware that you get what you pay for and paying the additional costs associated with a company is a worthwhile return for knowing you have people there 24/7/365 for problems and if in 6 months time you want to change something they will be able to do it quickly/ efficiently etc rather than finding your freelancer has decided it wasnt working for them and so having to pay another to get up to speed with the code and then make the requested changes (obviously there are exceptions to all of these) There are plenty of sites where you can bid for freelance work and typically it is new businesses (on a tight budget) or other development companies looking to outsource that are listing (again there will be exceptions). Rates vary massively based on skills, experience, over heads, geographical locations etc