I think I've done everything wrong with my first paying client
It's a long story (original thread here: http://www.warriorforum.com/website-...at-charge.html), but I finally ended up creating a simple WordPress site for his business.
The problem is, I did everything wrong, unknowingly, in handling this project. I didn't realize that I should have had a consultation with him to see what he wanted on his site, should have worked on his site without showing it to him until it was done, and should have gotten a clear agreement on what type of maintenance there would be after the site was done, and the price.
I still haven't even given him a firm price for the website. He insisted on paying me if I'd make one for him, and I told him I'd accept something, but wanted to wait until after the site was done (because I was nervous about whether or not I'd be able to make something that he'd like). This was another mistake on my part. I should have given him a firm price.
He wanted to have a site done asap, but didn't ever seem to "have time" to even do the basics, such as signing up to get his domain name and hosting, even though I sent him a very detailed, step-by-step e-mail on how to do it. He didn't do it, so I ended up going over to his house, and walked him through the whole signup process. Another big mistake on my part.
As for the site itself, I didn't realize that I wasn't supposed to offer so many choices, or let the client micromanage the project. I let him choose everything from the template used, right down to the placement of commas in the text. BIG, BIG mistake on my part, but I didn't know any better. I don't do this for a living; I usually just make websites for my own use.
Another thing I did wrong was e-mail back and forth with him a thousand times, making sure he liked every tiny thing I did, and I allowed him to keep making changes--everything from removing commas he didn't like to putting more space between a couple of logos.
I didn't realize any of this stuff until I happened to be talking to a friend of mine who builds websites. She clued me in.
Another thing I did was start writing content to at least get something up on his pages because he keeps claiming "no time" to do his own, even though I had told him that he'd need to do that. This was a mistake.
He should have had some content ready to go.
Fortunately for me, I thought to ask my friend before I did it if it was my responsibility to set up autoresponder stuff for him, or to do the work to make sure his website was found. She told me absolutely not.
He had sent me some articles that he wanted me to link to on his site, which I did, but afterwards he decided that he didn't like the order that they were in, so he wanted me to change it.
I put my foot down on this, and said it was unnecessary to change the order because people read in the order they want to, not in the order HE wants them to. I'm not going to change them.
For anybody reading this that hasn't built a site for a paying client yet, be careful, especially if it's for somebody you know. Even though you think it's going to be a fairly simple project, it can turn into a lot more work, especially if the client knows nothing about how websites work, but wants to micromanage everything anyway.
Don't just dive in like I did. Make sure to let the client know before you start working just exactly what you will or won't do, and how much it will cost.
For those of you who do this for a living, am I now supposed to offer him a certain amount of months of free website maintenance so he can do additions, changes, etc.? He knows nothing about creating a website, and wants nothing to do with maintaining his own. Am I obligated to take care of everything for a certain amount of time? Should I charge him an hourly or monthly fee for doing this type of thing right away, or after so many months?
I'm pretty much done with getting his site up and functioning. I think it's now up to him to promote it, create more content, etc. Am I correct, or is there more that I'm overlooking?
I'll solve your PHP, MySQL, WordPress or any website or server related problems.
Hire me on Freelancer.com at an affordable rate with fast turnaround time.
I'll solve your PHP, MySQL, WordPress or any website or server related problems.
Hire me on Freelancer.com at an affordable rate with fast turnaround time.
.