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New Website creation business

by wilhouse
8 replies
Good Morning Warriors,

My friend and I recently started a business of creating websites for local businesses. One of our mutual acquaintance got us a gig to do the redesign for a Local Hair salon that he does graphics for. Here are my questions/problems and wanted to see what the industry standard is for this kind of work.

The current site isn't to bad it just needs some polish (buttons missing, odd color choices, bad navigation) and updating. So they want us to make 3 mock site designs and the acquaintance wants us to put them all up on the web so that when he meets with them he can show them the sites. Our acquaintance doesn't want us to contact the client at all and instead passes all messages back and fourth between him. We never get any kind of time to sit down with the client and talk about what they want.
  1. Is it standard to make 3 mock ups for a prospective client?\
  2. Do you post this mock ups online or offline and show the client them via laptop/tablet?
  3. Should we charge to make the 3 mock ups?
  4. How much would you charge for a simple HTML site with like about 6 pages of content?
  5. How do you handle if the client wants future updates? (they run promotions and events at the salon)
Thank you for the help.
#business #creation #website
  • Profile picture of the author IMVIKING
    this is what I can tell you from my last client yesterday

    I talked with them for an hour and showed them some example sites and asked what they wan't

    I made a 1 page site for 300 euro, so that's a good deal
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  • Profile picture of the author EthicalDesigner
    Originally Posted by wilhouse View Post

    Good Morning Warriors,

    My friend and I recently started a business of creating websites for local businesses. One of our mutual acquaintance got us a gig to do the redesign for a Local Hair salon that he does graphics for. Here are my questions/problems and wanted to see what the industry standard is for this kind of work.

    The current site isn't to bad it just needs some polish (buttons missing, odd color choices, bad navigation) and updating. So they want us to make 3 mock site designs and the acquaintance wants us to put them all up on the web so that when he meets with them he can show them the sites. Our acquaintance doesn't want us to contact the client at all and instead passes all messages back and fourth between him. We never get any kind of time to sit down with the client and talk about what they want.
    1. Is it standard to make 3 mock ups for a prospective client?
    2. Do you post this mock ups online or offline and show the client them via laptop/tablet?
    3. Should we charge to make the 3 mock ups?
    4. How much would you charge for a simple HTML site with like about 6 pages of content?
    5. How do you handle if the client wants future updates? (they run promotions and events at the salon)
    Thank you for the help.

    Speaking from experience.

    1. 3 mock ups are way too much. 2 is just nice. Remember, more mock ups = more fickle minded decisions.

    2. Whichever way works.

    3. You don't charge for mock ups, but I do hope you received at least some sort of deposit. No deposit = no work. Or you'll be killing yourself in the long run.

    4. Charge by the hour. If you feel you are worth $50 an hour, then charge $50. If you feel your skill set is worth $300 an hour, then charge $300 an hour. Please don't charge by the project. Why? You'll end up making numerous amendments, facing numerous delays just to get your money. You are at the mercy of the client.

    5. Charge for future updates. Set up a maintenance package. It's like buying a car and paying for a servicing package. No one services your car for free.
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    • Profile picture of the author wilhouse
      Originally Posted by EthicalDesigner View Post

      Speaking from experience.

      1. 3 mock ups are way too much. 2 is just nice. Remember, more mock ups = more fickle minded decisions.

      2. Whichever way works.

      3. You don't charge for mock ups, but I do hope you received at least some sort of deposit. No deposit = no work. Or you'll be killing yourself in the long run.

      4. Charge by the hour. If you feel you are worth $50 an hour, then charge $50. If you feel your skill set is worth $300 an hour, then charge $300 an hour. Please don't charge by the project. Why? You'll end up making numerous amendments, facing numerous delays just to get your money. You are at the mercy of the client.

      5. Charge for future updates. Set up a maintenance package. It's like buying a car and paying for a servicing package. No one services your car for free.
      Yes, we have decided to do a hybrid of per project and per hour. We have setup guidelines that we will build the orginal design for a flat fee and then after that we charge by the hour if the client is unhappy with the design they picked or want additional things added.
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  • Profile picture of the author mgreener
    Hi,

    3 mockups is rather standard, but handling everything through an "acquaintance" could get ugly, not to mention, the end client is not getting the service that they deserve when everything has to go through a middleman. That's not to say that it can't work, I'm just telling you not to depend too much on this relationship.

    Create the mockups, but leave them as rough Jpeg's so that they can't be as easily stolen and used. This way you can post them online.

    No, you shouldn't charge to make the mockups, even though you would like to.

    Charge what you're worth and what you need to make it work. If doing this project will give you experience and recommendations for future projects, then take that into consideration as well.
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    • Profile picture of the author wilhouse
      I have no problem making mock ups for clients and like the idea of presenting them as JPEGs. But once a client accepts a project or design how would I go about charging them a per hour rate. Like personally this isn't that hard for us to create/ upload/ and maybe host so I feel like charging someone $100+ per hour is overcharging them.

      Thats why I like the hybird system this way the client knows that I will work hard and fast to achieve their design and wont drag my feet about it.

      Lets say its a 5 page design that I believe I can put together in 2.5 hours with all custom graphics, uploading it, and trouble shooting it. I think getting $500 for that would be fair. So thats $200 an hour.

      Do you think asking for a deposit of $125 (25% of the total cost) would be acceptable to start work with?
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  • Profile picture of the author problog
    1. 3 mock ups is a lot; I usually ask clients to give me examples of sites they like, and any particular color scheme they want me to use. I make a mock up and they tell me what they want me to change.

    2. Could be either way

    3. If you charge per project, just include that in the total; if you charge per hour, see how long it takes you to design the 3 mock ups

    4. For a simple HTML site with 6 pages I've seen people charge anywhere from $200 to over $500.

    5. Sell them a maintenance plan for future updates; also you may want to consider using a CMS like Wordpress if the site would require many updates because it's easier to update content on the go.
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    • Profile picture of the author wilhouse
      Originally Posted by problog View Post

      1. 3 mock ups is a lot; I usually ask clients to give me examples of sites they like, and any particular color scheme they want me to use. I make a mock up and they tell me what they want me to change.

      2. Could be either way

      3. If you charge per project, just include that in the total; if you charge per hour, see how long it takes you to design the 3 mock ups

      4. For a simple HTML site with 6 pages I've seen people charge anywhere from $200 to over $500.

      5. Sell them a maintenance plan for future updates; also you may want to consider using a CMS like Wordpress if the site would require many updates because it's easier to update content on the go.
      For CMS like wordpress. yes we do wordpress sites as well. we have experience with creating custom themes for clients that would have a lot of updates that they can manage themselves (or for a recent online store for window repair parts, used woocommerce so that it manages his stocks and client lists)

      Yeah im not a fan of creating these 3 mock ups or any mock ups before we start talking project costs.

      Also i was taught that you only do mock up to present to clients that didn't approach you. Like, I know there is a business out there that doesn't have a website for their business... I would create a mock up, for their business and present it to them saying something like "hey this is what we can do for you!"
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  • Profile picture of the author Bruce NewMedia
    Just personally, I have never heard of 3 mock-up sites as being 'standard'? Seems a lot of unnecessary work, especially when this is PRIOR to having a contract with the client.
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