How Much Should I Charge?

[Dario D.]

I was just wondering; Someone asked me to make a website for their small business, and said to choose how much to charge for it.

It's a simple site of about 15 pages (mostly informational - no advanced forms or anything), and it's going to be fairly artsy (like my other site: www.deefrag.com).

So, what I'd like to know is, how much would a professional charge for a site like this? It'll basically be another deefrag.com, but for a business that sells 2-Way Radios. Fairly simple and to-the-point, but very artsy. What does that go for?

Thanks.

 

[cdleeman]

I think it's crazy to only charge $250 for a 15 page site. I don't care if some of the pages get repetitive - you've still got to get the content right, and they will undoubtedly want you to resize and crop pictures, etc. On top of that, your work look to be of pretty high quality. $250 is what these people should pay their nephew to do it, not a real designer.

I get a flat rate of $100/page for HTML and graphics design. If it's done all in Flash, it's $200/page. If it's mixed, it's $150/page. That plus an $50 extra per form, if needed. I charge this price because I show the client at least 2 designs up front, then tweak until we have a final version. This is a time-consuming process and that is what they're really paying for.

The risk you run in going cheaper is that you'll build a reputation for working cheap, and a lot of your work will come from referrals. So you'll always hear - you did that site for so-and-so for $250, I'd like the same thing!

Just my opinion, but if you do end up doing that much work for $250 just do it for your first few to build a portfolio. Then bump it up from there!

 

[leviathon]

I think it's crazy to only charge $250 for a 15 page site. I don't care if some of the pages get repetitive - you've still got to get the content right, and they will undoubtedly want you to resize and crop pictures, etc. On top of that, your work look to be of pretty high quality. $250 is what these people should pay their nephew to do it, not a real designer.

I get a flat rate of $100/page for HTML and graphics design. If it's done all in Flash, it's $200/page. If it's mixed, it's $150/page. That plus an $50 extra per form, if needed. I charge this price because I show the client at least 2 designs up front, then tweak until we have a final version. This is a time-consuming process and that is what they're really paying for.

The risk you run in going cheaper is that you'll build a reputation for working cheap, and a lot of your work will come from referrals. So you'll always hear - you did that site for so-and-so for $250, I'd like the same thing!

Just my opinion, but if you do end up doing that much work for $250 just do it for your first few to build a portfolio. Then bump it up from there!

If I were this client then I would never pay $1500 for a 100% informational flash-less and form-less website. I would think of paying around a max of around $300 for the whole thing done. I wouldn't pay that much for something that would achieve the same effect as if I were to hire someone that costs 3 times less the money, even if the art is not as good.

But then that's just me.

I would suggest around $250~400 for this 15page website.

 

[will7]

Just another point, draw up a design contract! Do it to stop the client saying "Oh, hang on, do this as well. And this. And that." Make a contract stating what work you are doing and for what price and then make sure the client agrees to that. Have a clause that states extra work will increase the project cost.

And also, it depends on quality and how many sites you've done before. At the higher-end, large design companies with hundreds of sites done before and high-quality work can easily charge in excess of $30,000 for simple informational sites (but then again, they are working for large companies with large budgets). At the other end, a designer entering the market with no portfolio at all and dealing with small businesses is pushing it at charging $500. Decide on where you put yourself on the scale and charge accordingly.

I would just recommend you get the client's maximum budget and then charge a little bit under it to show the client that you are "doing them a favour".

 

[mav]

Looking at that design and the amount of pages and work that needs to be done I wouldn't charge more than 300.

 

[tmax]

It all depends on your salesmanship.
If you can sell it for $1,000.00 more power to you.
DeeFrag looks like a $700.00 website to me (at least)
I work at a marketing firm.
We don't make website for less than $500.00. (5 pages)

 

[pcoptimized]

I'm sorry to keep following will7 in advice, but I share the same thoughts on the subject. cdleeman is not far off. Again, we're not talking about just throwing up a page with some words on it. You have Outstanding design qualities and your client is also paying for branding and imaging. I also agree with tmax. It's right around where we are with our fees for small businesses.

You will always find some who want to get the most by paying the least. I tend to follow one of my client's good advice when she said to me, "You get what you pay for". There is a balance you'll need to find between this and just make sure you're not giving away the farm by selling yourself short. If you're happy with $300, so be it. Nothing wrong with that. But, if I were your client, I'd happily pay you $500 for your work. For a 15 page site, I'd feel like I'd be getting a steal. And for your design, I'd pay more knowing that this is a digital mark that will last much longer than the prices I'd be paying for other marketing materials like brochures, etc. that usually fade away and get lost in other papers.

 

[will7]

:hehe: To be quite honest, looking at deefrag.com and your art skills, I would say that for a 15-page site incorporating those design skills that $2000 would be a steal

 

[itme]

it depends how long you are going to take on it but i would charge somewhere inm the region of $300-$500

 

[CrazyTech]

To be quite honest, looking at deefrag.com and your art skills, I would say that for a 15-page site incorporating those design skills that $2000 would be a steal

Agreed.

I was reading this thread partly for my own education, but I do have some input from my own research and experience in other industries.

Don't undersell yourself. Keep in mind that forums tend to deflate prices because there is an abundant and competetive atmosphere so sometimes opinions on this site might not necessarily equate to the "real world" of online business. I don't mean go charge out the wazoo and attempt to con someone by any means, but don't sell yourself short.

 

[Dario D.]

Thanks for your points of views. Very interesting; I agree with many points here (indeed it's very difficult to set prices in this business until you've found your niche)

I understand that this kind of work can (and should) probably cost thousands of dollars, because the artwork and constant revision is incredibly time-consuming, and because the final result can boost the the client's business by making it look super-serious and professional... but, since this is my first public job, and since this is a friend of the family (who has a massive, million-dollar home, but is going through a minor dip at the moment with business) I'm going to keep it under a thousand, and probably settle around $400-800.

As for boosting the price later, my programmer (I work on video games freelance - making a mod for Unreal Tournament 2007) could later help me make a sellable website template out of these skins, so, that's when the price will go up.

As for a final price, I'll see when the site is done, because it could get more difficult than I thought. This is what it looks like so far, still going through final prototyping http://www.deefrag.com/acs/ - just the template one on top; the bottom one is old.