I know for a fact that i did massivly undercharge this client. I am getting paid under €200 for a project that i got a quote of €3000 for.... but the client did tell me that he was short on money and I am developing my portfolio atm. I only realised how I was being undercharged after we agreed a price so there was nothing that I could do.
What price do you charge?
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I can understand where your comming from, everyone needs to start somewhere.
But I would strongly suggest if you still have access to hosting, taking the site down until you get paid.
From what I can tell you did them a big favour and now he has just taking advantage of you, he has his site now.... But what do you have.
Best thing to start doing is.,. If they cant afford to pay full price or even a moderatly discounted price let them wait until they can afford it. If they decide to go elsewhere and get a crap service for being cheap then so be it, thats not the type of client you needed on the first place.
One option for people who cant afford a full site straight away is to do a front page and contact page for them for a small fee... Sure, how much work in involved in that, and the loss really is not much. Take somethin like €100 for it and do a good job, so when the client can afford to get the rest done they will be happy to come back to you.
But I would strongly suggest if you still have access to hosting, taking the site down until you get paid.
From what I can tell you did them a big favour and now he has just taking advantage of you, he has his site now.... But what do you have.
Best thing to start doing is.,. If they cant afford to pay full price or even a moderatly discounted price let them wait until they can afford it. If they decide to go elsewhere and get a crap service for being cheap then so be it, thats not the type of client you needed on the first place.
One option for people who cant afford a full site straight away is to do a front page and contact page for them for a small fee... Sure, how much work in involved in that, and the loss really is not much. Take somethin like €100 for it and do a good job, so when the client can afford to get the rest done they will be happy to come back to you.
I can understand where your comming from, everyone needs to start somewhere.
But I would strongly suggest if you still have access to hosting, taking the site down until you get paid.
From what I can tell you did them a big favour and now he has just taking advantage of you, he has his site now.... But what do you have.
Best thing to start doing is.,. If they cant afford to pay full price or even a moderatly discounted price let them wait until they can afford it. If they decide to go elsewhere and get a crap service for being cheap then so be it, thats not the type of client you needed on the first place.
One option for people who cant afford a full site straight away is to do a front page and contact page for them for a small fee... Sure, how much work in involved in that, and the loss really is not much. Take somethin like €100 for it and do a good job, so when the client can afford to get the rest done they will be happy to come back to you.
But I would strongly suggest if you still have access to hosting, taking the site down until you get paid.
From what I can tell you did them a big favour and now he has just taking advantage of you, he has his site now.... But what do you have.
Best thing to start doing is.,. If they cant afford to pay full price or even a moderatly discounted price let them wait until they can afford it. If they decide to go elsewhere and get a crap service for being cheap then so be it, thats not the type of client you needed on the first place.
One option for people who cant afford a full site straight away is to do a front page and contact page for them for a small fee... Sure, how much work in involved in that, and the loss really is not much. Take somethin like €100 for it and do a good job, so when the client can afford to get the rest done they will be happy to come back to you.
Even as a beginner I think you should be charging more. Hardly surprising that people are taking you for a ride if you're charging so little, they're not taking you seriously. Remember that out of that 100 euro you have to pay tax and you're supposed to be making enough to get by as well, but on top of that as a freelancer you have to pay your accountant (unless you can do you own books), Health Insurance, Rent (office and/or home), Buy software + hardware etc etc ... all things that employees take for granted but you have to fork out for yourself.
I don't really agree with Dropbop above, Designing a front page takes most of the design time, adding more pages is the quick bit.
If you get a client on a really tight budget then I'd show them a pre-made template and let them choose one of them, then you can really turn a project around quickly, but you still have to charge for the time it takes to deal with the client (calls-emails), look for a suitable template, sometimes those templates are a bit of a dogs dinner and you'll have to rebuild them etc etc ...
I don't really agree with Dropbop above, Designing a front page takes most of the design time, adding more pages is the quick bit.
If you get a client on a really tight budget then I'd show them a pre-made template and let them choose one of them, then you can really turn a project around quickly, but you still have to charge for the time it takes to deal with the client (calls-emails), look for a suitable template, sometimes those templates are a bit of a dogs dinner and you'll have to rebuild them etc etc ...
mckaysoftware
New Member
Pricing a website
Another variable to throw in is where the client is at. I have seen first-time clients come in with plans for very ambitious sites, asking for a catalogue and shopping cart, expecting a flow of orders. They haven't thought about how to draw visitors to the site, nor how they will respond to online queries, nor how they will process online orders when they recieve any.
When a first-time client comes to us, we try to persuade them to build their site up over time, starting with a corporate or brochure site and building visitor return visits and incrementally creating a business relationship with the visitors. We aim to sell a planned rollout over time, rather than an individual website.
Regards,
John McKay mba
Another variable to throw in is where the client is at. I have seen first-time clients come in with plans for very ambitious sites, asking for a catalogue and shopping cart, expecting a flow of orders. They haven't thought about how to draw visitors to the site, nor how they will respond to online queries, nor how they will process online orders when they recieve any.
When a first-time client comes to us, we try to persuade them to build their site up over time, starting with a corporate or brochure site and building visitor return visits and incrementally creating a business relationship with the visitors. We aim to sell a planned rollout over time, rather than an individual website.
Regards,
John McKay mba
I find it funny & strange that people are telling conor to charge more. Did anyone take the time to look at his portfolio? Imo he is not at a level that should be charging anything yet. Sorry to be harsh, but Conor is giving business advice that I am not sure he is qualified to give.
Connor, is there any chance of getting a peek of the site you did.
I little harsh is an understatement!
I don't think comments like that are very helpful to anyone
Took a look, cheers.
Connor, Im not trying to be negitive or put you don here, but I feel you do need more practice.
To be very honest, all I am seeing is blogs.
Alot of my work is with ecommerce, and I like to use the likes of Zencart, Oscommerce, magento etc. Yes they are pretty much templates but its what you do with them that dictates what you can charge.
For any site I do, I ask the client to point out a few sites that he/she likes the look of to give me ideas. I really think you need to take a look at using something, even frontpage to build sites. You can do some really good stuff in frontpage if you put the effort in.
Sorry if I sould negitive, dont mean to. I just think you need to up your game a bit before you can start charging much more than the price of a pint.
I little harsh is an understatement!
I don't think comments like that are very helpful to anyone
Of course they are, another 'beginner' may think they should only charge that rate also, even if they are more talented, and at a professional level.
You say did anyone get a chance to look at my portfolio, well obviously you did not read it properly because if you had you would see that it says that link is to the old website, not the one that I made. It links to their 3 year old website which I am doing an update on.
I know that people might under-estimate me because I am a student, but I can assure you that the new site is miles better than anything in my portfolio and it includes a CMS. I hope i can prove you all wrong when you see the new site.
It will be uploaded in about two days so ill post a link here so you can see it. And I welcome all constructive criticism, but what is the point of dissing me. What do you plan to achieve?
I'm not 'dissing' you, I was actually making the point to the people saying you were undercharging. And btw, portfolio is a showcase of work, it doesn't matter how old it is - it is to show your skills, you can't go for a job and say... 'ah well i've done much better stuff but it's not in my portfolio'
Look forward to seeing the new site, and if you are under or over charging.
Look forward to seeing the new site, and if you are under or over charging.
ah no, it was a valid point, if a little rough! We do all have to learn the ropes and charge accordingly. Would suggest Conor that you get some work in a web company though and learn the ropes inside out, nothing like working with really good designers to learn how they go about things.
Another point, if you charge someone €200 or €400 for a website, you set an expectation and an effect on the market price. Right now there is 100's of guys trying to setup a web company but dont have the experience to deliver.
If you charge €200 for a website, and you develop 1 per working day, that is only €4,000 and developing 20 sites a month would be something short of a miracle (unless you're a machine).
If you weren't a qualified mechanic, doctor, solicitor, you wouldn't be allowed to charge at all, even if it was €1 per consultation.
It's a tough industry and it's probably about to get tougher
If you charge €200 for a website, and you develop 1 per working day, that is only €4,000 and developing 20 sites a month would be something short of a miracle (unless you're a machine).
If you weren't a qualified mechanic, doctor, solicitor, you wouldn't be allowed to charge at all, even if it was €1 per consultation.
It's a tough industry and it's probably about to get tougher
yeah! after finishing the project yesterday i thought to myself yes it is finally completly 100% finished....
then this morning i got an email from my hosting provider saying that all the databases on the server were down. He recomended that i change my hosting. I am shocked.
then this morning i got an email from my hosting provider saying that all the databases on the server were down. He recomended that i change my hosting. I am shocked.
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