[thelist] What to charge for web design

Green, Janet JGreen at DesMoinesMetro.com
Mon Apr 16 09:22:56 CDT 2001


Sherrie,
You don't say what part of the country you are in (and your website doesn't
have any postal contact info - you might want to add that ;) ) but generally
speaking, if you are wanting to make money to pay your bills but still be
considered a "bargain," you need to find out what your competition is
charging and then charge just a smidge below that. I am in Des Moines, Iowa,
and as of last year when I closed my freelance business I was charging $75
per hour. I did not ask clients to give me open-ended authority to build
their site, however; I would develop a quotation for the project using my
$75/hour fee as a base, then I considered it my responsibility to bring the
project in at budget unless the scope of it changed dramatically (which of
course I would tell my client up front, so they would not be surprised by
the final invoice). One advertising agency here that I know of charges $100
per hour for web services, and I'm sure there are others that charge more
and some that charge less. 

Also, consider what you actually *need to make* to pay your bills! There's
no sense in setting a rate of $40 an hour and working your arse off at 80
hours a week, when the market will probably bear a much higher rate and you
could be working fewer hours to bring in the same amount of money. 

I really discourage you from setting "bargain basement" rates. If you have
been in the web industry for any amount of time, there is no need to
consider yourself "sub-par" just because you are suddenly freelancing. You
may not be an experienced freelancer, but if you ARE an experienced web
designer then you deserve to charge what the market will bear for your
services. 


Just my .02 - good luck!
Janet




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