What is a fair price to charge local business for a small site

Hey Michael

Good to see you! I'm still using your tool for seaching WSOs! Cool.

Opps, yeah, I've left it a bit open like you say, I guess most of them would want you to host it as they won't have a clue how to do that, and upload etc.

@ Mike...woaahh!! 2-3 grand!! crieky! Well, thanks for the offer, I'll PM you for more info. Many thanks.

Phil

WOW!!!

I guess it depends on where you are. I saw a sign on the side of the road here yesterday that advertised a "basic" website for $300.

Allen

May I also PM you?

This is quite a simple thing to work out.

What is your hourly rate? find that out and charge it. Once you have a customer who trusts you they will pay you on demand if you can show them that spending money on online marketing will give then a stream of leads for their business.

If a business pays $20,000 on yellow pages advertising per annum and gets 100 orders from this - can you get them the same number of customers for $10,000? If you can then you will have a customer for life because you have just halved their advertising budget.

Kenj

BEST WAY TO JUDGE IS:

How much income your clients are getting from the web site you are going build for them?

If they want an online presence for the sake of it, they are not be interested in paying thousands of dollars. You can charge $100.00 to $300.00 which includes hosting and a domain name. These people DON'T need their web sites updated often.

On the other end companies who are expected something from their web sites, you can charge them $1000.00 and above and include hosting, domain name, updates, SEO etc. Clients like these needs frequent web site updates.

So it depends on how your client look at this online presence ...

.

I generally see $300-$1200 for a basic "fill in the blanks" static HTML website template with hosting, customization and so forth being extra, often a lot extra.

Hi Phil - the majority of my sites come in at around £350 - £500.

Most of my clients don't ask me how much it will cost. They either know me, or know of me, or contact me because they have seen a site I did for someone they know.

People know I don't overcharge.

If someone starts by asking you how much you will charge, the chances are you'll never hear from them again - whether you quote £50 or £5k.

As I've said before - "people buy people". In other words, people will come to you because they know you or know of you or have seen your work.

People don't buy random sales pitches. Think laterally. Find a way of getting to know local business owners so they come to you.

Edit: Do I feel a wso coming on here???? Now there's a thought!

Phil,

As Riz already mentioned you need to separate yourself from the 1,000's of other web designers out there, think outside of the box.

One way of doing this is guarantee the client that you will get them a No.1 position (or on the 1st page) on Google for FREE.

How would you do this? Simply by using Google local business center and Google maps to create a profile for your client. This will take you around 5 minutes of your time and your client should be indexed and on the first page, right at the top in a few weeks

As an example if your clients business is a Hair Salon and they are based in Earlsfield, London. After having created a Google local business listing for them, they will appear on the 1st page for search terms such as:

hair salon earlsfield
hair salons in earlsfield
etc

Now this is TARGETED traffic for them, being No1 for the term "hair salon" is not going to be targeted traffic for a bricks and mortar business.

Something else to think about, if local businesses already have a website and are not listed on Google's local business center and their website is not optimised for their search phrase, then contact them and tell them you can get them on the 1st page of Google for a small fee

I agree completely! DO NOT just build a site the business's owner's nephew can build. Build an optimized site using all the best practices you see here. Include submission and acceptance to the big 3's business directories (Not promised, this is something you just do as part of the 'over-delivery')

Outsource a small report and explain email marketing and sign them up to your AR using their credit card and your affiliate link.

Explain on going SEO and the fresh content theory. Sell not just a one time fee, but a never ending monthly payment of services to keep his content fresh , his name in front of his customer base and as time goes by, ranking for more and more commercial keywords. Depending on who produces the content for the AR and a twice monthly email blast and a monthly or every other month newsletter (Sent both by email and physically) would make the monthly amount vary.

You have the knowledge on this forum to be able to deliver $2500-$5000 or more in value working just 2-3 hours a month and can charge half of that to both over deliver AND make a nice recurring income that does not rely on someone else's landing page selling the traffic you drive to it. (That is making over $100 an hour and up to $1000 an hour! You can't make that with doctor's degree!)

That is the way to go

Yup! One of my customers forwarded me an email just a few days ago from a company in the US offering to get them on the first page of Google for "stated keyword" for $99.

I emailed them back saying "Your'e on the first page of Google for "stated keyword" - that'll be $99 please - just kidding!" (I got to know them quite well)

Another phoned me a few days ago as they are revamping their business and want to make the website their main sales tool. They said that someone from London had phoned to tell them that the "premium" domain name "businesstypeLedbury.com" had "just become available" and they could have it for £50 a year.

They made one elementary mistake. They didn't register that "premium"domain name. We nipped in and registered it - I cloned their website to it for the time being with a change of just a few keywords. So for the £50 they got a copy site, registered and hosted for a year and waiting for us to do some proper work on. Result for me - happy client.

If you want more clues about how I get my clients - shoot me a PM

Just keep in mind when your pricing the project for them that if they did even the slightest amount of research, they would find someone to do a basic website for a couple hundred dollars. When you pitch them a price, make sure it is fair. I can build a simple website in a single day, in 4-6 hours, and there is no way I am going to charge someone $2,000-$3,000 for something that takes me 4-6 hours. Treat people fairly, and price it fairly, and it will come back to you.

$300 for the most basic, $500 with advertising, $1000 for legal reps, mostly all outsourced, and I try to put 50% into local fundraisers or my local food kitchen called Sharron's Church here in Muscatine.

The answer to the question is: 'Because it cannot be done effectively for less. If you want to pay xxxxx for something that will bring you little or no return, be my guest.' Period, no jargon, no BS.
(Most small business owners don't have time to read a book, even if they can read, let alone the time to do it themselves. Odds are, they will read the wrong book and end up doing it wrong anyway.)

I'm in the site flipping business as well as online investments, I used to do Web Design, not anymore, BUT, I have a team of outsourced employees who are Philippine. They make websites for $800 a month salary, and their websites are better than a lot that I have seen. I even offer to pay them more than they ask because of the quality of their work. I just paid a VERY reputable overseas designer here on the forums to make me 5 Small Websites for a whopping $175!!! And these websites are AMAZING. 3 are done, and I could not be happier.

Phil, here's a little tip I want to give you and it's something I just learned after many years of doing everything all wrong:

If you value your work, others will too.

So figure out the hourly rate you want...Not the hourly rate you think people will pay you...the hourly rate you want. Then figure out how long it will take to do the project. Add on at least 2-3 hours to that time, because there's always going to be back and forth changes, time on the phone with the client, time answering emails, etc...your time is valuable... so charge accordingly.

Also like DogScout mentioned, don't be afraid to fire a client or turn down a client if you know you're not going to be able to work comfortably with said client or you know that they are going to nickel and dime you to death.

One more thing: Don't act like you need the client to make you money, act like the client needs you to make them money.

I wish you every success with your business.

It is not either charge high or charge low and a monthy.

no businessman expecting to be in business long would hire someone that charges $300 for a 5 page web site to a long term contract. (unless they are an idiot or think you are.)

It is charge high, deliver higher and do it month after month.

With the knowledge in this forum, you are half way home knowledge wise. If you want to know everything, you better start thinking about spending 1+k a month to hang out with people that know what is going on from the inside out for a living. If you are just IMing a business, charge $300 and I hope you sleep at night because you are ripping them off.
If you are keeping up with what is going on day by day, with folks that make a living doing JUST that, charge high and over deliver, because few know what is going on and if you do, the knowledge is priceless and over delivering is easy. You cannot deliver all you can if you refuse to continue your education forever. Not continuing to learn is NOT 'right mind thinking'.

If you know what to do, it is not easy, but it is simple.

I definitely fall into the DogScout school of thought on this topic (very nice, well thought out posts-thanks). Not that I think a simple website should always be expensive, but it shouldn't always be cheap either. I agree with you DogScout, when you say the website is incidental. It's much better to see yourself as selling extremely high value solutions (helping businesses make a lot more profit), than as a seller of websites (or worse yet: your time).

BTW, thanks for the cool resources: the Kern video was great, and I can't wait to read the Kennedy and Glazer books. I'd seen that thread and made a note of AP's impressive successes-I agree it's a must read. I agree with his thought of shifting to being paid on contingency, a classic Jay Abraham model-win-win, and potentially much more lucrative than a flat fee. I'm already a massive Jay Abraham fan, and your posts are quite in line with his insights.

In marketing to the affluent, it's well known that a low price is a definite deterrent; I doubt any multi-millionaire would ever hire you if you offer to build them a $300 site.

@Cgmarketing, you say there's no way that you'd charge $2-3K for something that only takes you 4-6 hours to do. This tells me you're stuck in the mindset of selling your time. If all you did was build them a website, with no thought of how to use it to get buyers through the client's front door, then maybe $300 (or less) is fair.

However, if you are an entreprenuer, a marketing expert and a trusted adviser, rather than simply skilled labor, the hours don't really matter; results are what count. It goes back to the old marketing wisdom: sell benefits, not features. The main benefit you should be selling is a successful sales campaign that brings in actual sales; the features are the various methods that were used: possibly including a radio infomercial, a website, email marketing, and a referral system.

If you help the client double their business profits from, say $300K to $600K, then the guy charging $200 for a website is not even in the game, and you're the hero, even if they paid you $5K for a simple site, and it took an hour to build. On the other hand, if you spend a week building a $300 site with no thought of marketing strategies, and it looks good but does nothing, they just might ask for a refund.

The magic question you must always answer in the mind of a prospect or client is "what's in it for me-what is the benefit?" Compare these answers: "a good looking 5 page website for only $300, that a guy spent "X" hours on", and "A massive boost in sales-probably at least 25%". The first one isn't even a benefit, and your hours, no matter how many, or how hard you work, are simply irrelevant.

Hi Phil !
Regarding your first question. A marketer should be able to back every claim she makes with a guarantee. If you promise someone a massive boost In sales you have to deliver on your promise. Failing to do so is not your clients fault.
Placing a guarantee is not only a question of morality but (equally important) a means to increase sales.
It has to do with the concept of "risk reversal" . the lower the risk (for the customer) the easier the sale. I m VERY suspicious with anyone promise me results with no guarantee.
To paraphrase David Ogilvy : « we deliver or else...»

300.00 to 500.00 with a monthly recurring fee. On the monthly
fee outsource the work at lower price.

You said you just wanted to make some extra money, not
do this for a living.