Okay, I've owned a small freelance web development for about six months now and am doing fine with getting a good amount of work though recently with me moving and everything thngs have been getting kind of hard to manage but now I'm getting back into it and I decided to make this a serious company, not just a thing to earn a little extra cash. Well, I have a couple questions about increasing how much money I'm getting. 1. How much do you suggest I charge per hour, when I develop a quote I layout everything I need to do and how long it would take than multiply it by the hourly charge, how much should this charge be for a good service which I do have? 2. Who should I target if I want to go for decently sized projects, say worth say $500 to $1,000 or more? I get business from these forums and some others a some little websites but I wanna take this also somewhat offline when it comes to finding customers. Is there something special I should do to attract the attention of larger local businesses, if not larger than ones that will pay good for websites? (I live in a small city of about 40,000 people so there aren't a lot of web development company's around so my competition is pretty small)
per hour you can charge $20 may be more depending on kind of job you have taken, include your charge such a way that its very clear to the customer, every minute u spend for the client work time has to be charged, if u make him 10 demos that would include in the work time, designs take time as clients want multiple layout choices, and u never know which layout he is gona approve.
I don't know how big your firm is but do you think you are "known" enough ? if not than there is nothing wrong in advertising yourself. If youare good than you will surely get bigger project as your reputation will spread. Remember, you want to reach to that point where you can decide which work you want to do and which you dont.
I've had thesame issues that you have right now, same questions. What I did was aim for local companies in my neighborhood. And I did such a good job alot of people were talking about it, and now I have made a website for around 7 companies in my neighborhood, cause they all talk to each other about it and WHOOOOOP! another customer! good luck with it, if you need more answers, or just would like ot talk about setting up a good company, you can always pm me or add me to msn or something alike!
Thanks everyone And Klass Koopman, I'll be in contact if I have any questions for you. I have some stuff going on today so it'll be a bit before I ask you though.
Sure no problem, just be sure that the next time you reference me, spell it like Klaas instead of Klass
I would also promote on webmaster forums such as www.webmastertrades.com www.webmaster-talk.com www.webmaster-forums.net www.webmasterworld.com This will give you some customers, with customers come the money. But I agree with Klaas. Start local. Another thing, include link to your website on every company website you build and make it part of a deal. If they don't want it, they have to pay a small fee not to have it.
You can find work at freelance job websites. There are several projects posted on these websites with various budgets.
I'm an eBusiness Adviser in the UK. When I deal with new Web Developers I suggest the following: 1. Get in contact with your local chamber of commerce or similar organisation. 2. Get yourself along to all the networking events you can 3. Promote past projects on your web site - and keep it current! 4. Find out who is offering eBusiness Advice in your area and make yourself known to them. They may pass you business if they think you are qualified enough. From my experience there is a gap in the market (at least in the UK) for someone to produce well designed simple sites that allow the owner to update it themselves. You'll find most companies won't want to sell over the internet but need a way to attract business. Find a gap in your market and exploit that. Good luck.