Anyone charging more than this for a website?

by ronr
50 replies
Just found a web designer charging this:

#charging #website
  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    $8k is about average for web design, not seeing anything off here.
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    Ron Rule
    http://ronrule.com

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  • Profile picture of the author kevinenrique
    $3,500 for a BASIC site? Are companies paying this??
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    • Profile picture of the author ronrule
      Originally Posted by kevinenrique View Post

      $3,500 for a BASIC site? Are companies paying this??
      Yeah, our minimum is $4k for a basic Wordpress site. I'd rather only sell 2 sites a week at $4k and know I'm dealing with clients who have a high enough budget to be successful than scrape the bottom and have to sell 2 or 3 times that many and deal with the nightmares that come with low budget clients.
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      Ron Rule
      http://ronrule.com

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      • Profile picture of the author digichik
        Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

        Yeah, our minimum is $4k for a basic Wordpress site. I'd rather only sell 2 sites a week at $4k and know I'm dealing with clients who have a high enough budget to be successful than scrape the bottom and have to sell 2 or 3 times that many and deal with the nightmares that come with low budget clients.
        That's the Truth!!!
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      • Profile picture of the author wolfdem
        Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

        Yeah, our minimum is $4k for a basic Wordpress site. I'd rather only sell 2 sites a week at $4k and know I'm dealing with clients who have a high enough budget to be successful than scrape the bottom and have to sell 2 or 3 times that many and deal with the nightmares that come with low budget clients.
        Hi Ron can you tell me please how do you get $4k clients ? pm me if you can?
        thanks in advance
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        • Profile picture of the author Biz Max
          Originally Posted by wolfdem View Post

          Hi Ron can you tell me please how do you get $4k clients ? pm me if you can? thanks in advance
          I'm curious, have you figured out how to get $1000 clients yet?

          As to the OP, I say get what you can get. I think they chickened out a bit by
          giving 4 options rather than 3. More options is not always better.

          Most on Warrior are so used to selling their talent for a nickel that they can't
          fathom businesses making $4,000-$8,000 per sale.

          Get off of Warrior and look at the leaders in whatever industry you are in. Notice
          their pricing and realize they are making serious money.

          Quit chasing businesses with no budget and you can make some good coin....

          As long as you position yourself correctly.
          Signature
          Small Business Marketing & Branding Specialist
          http://BrandWhisperer.net
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          • Profile picture of the author RimaNaj2011
            It's all perceived value and how you sell it. I would never put a $10,000 tag on something online like that. You can't sell that much online without talking to a person in my opinion. No one goes and buys a $5000 tv without at least going in person to check it out. But back to my point, yeah you can sell those but you need to sell a solution, not a product. Especially offline it's a lot easier to sell at a higher prices. I just started my service here and I've sold sites here for $20 where offline I'd charge $1000+

            And to the discussion about wordpress and web design...yeah it's better to know more, but just because you don't know wordpress or anything doesn't mean you're not a designer. And you also can't say that Wordpress is the only thing you need to keep up with. There's a market for everything. I don't know ANY wordpress and I'm doing fine online and offline. I just have a smaller market which is for people who don't want or don't care about wordpress.
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    • Profile picture of the author DABK
      Yes, they are.

      If you perceive a web site as the solution to a $10,000 problem, you'd be willing to pay a few hundreds. If you perceive a website to be the solution to a $1,000,000 problem, you're willing to pay a few thousands to fix it.

      If you're a web designer and want to charge more (assuming you have the skills, of course), find people who think they have $1,000,000 problem and stay away from people with $10,000 problems.

      Originally Posted by kevinenrique View Post

      $3,500 for a BASIC site? Are companies paying this??
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    • Profile picture of the author AndrewCavanagh
      Originally Posted by kevinenrique View Post

      $3,500 for a BASIC site? Are companies paying this??
      Yes. In fact many will pay $10,000+ without blinking an eye.

      Keep in mind at the higher price levels your clients will be more
      image conscious so your sites have to look fantastic.


      The exception to that is smart clients willing to pay for a site
      that brings in results who have some understanding of direct
      response.

      For them they just want the site to work as a lead generation
      and conversion tool and if their business is big enough with a
      client like that you can be talking tens of thousands of dollars
      in fees to create a site and generate traffic to the site.

      The price is not so important as the return on investment for
      savvy business owners.

      They're happy to pay $20,000 to get back $40,000+ in profits.

      Kindest regards,
      Andrew Cavanagh
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      • Profile picture of the author TI123
        Originally Posted by AndrewCavanagh View Post

        Yes. In fact many will pay $10,000+ without blinking an eye.

        Keep in mind at the higher price levels your clients will be more
        image conscious so your sites have to look fantastic.


        The exception to that is smart clients willing to pay for a site
        that brings in results who have some understanding of direct
        response.

        For them they just want the site to work as a lead generation
        and conversion tool and if their business is big enough with a
        client like that you can be talking tens of thousands of dollars
        in fees to create a site and generate traffic to the site.

        The price is not so important as the return on investment for
        savvy business owners.

        They're happy to pay $20,000 to get back $40,000+ in profits.

        Kindest regards,
        Andrew Cavanagh

        This 100% true. I just closed a deal for an $11k web project to a small restaurant/bar. The owner didn't flinch at the price.

        Looking back on things, I'm mad at myself for not going in at a higher price point. The owner saw the value on what I had to offer for their business.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
    I'm waiting for all the comments to roll in about gouging people for to much money. LOL
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    • Profile picture of the author ronr
      Gouging? I commend people have the posture to do good work, charge high fees and get it.

      Originally Posted by Rus Sells View Post

      I'm waiting for all the comments to roll in about gouging people for to much money. LOL
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    • Profile picture of the author ronrule
      Originally Posted by Rus Sells View Post

      I'm waiting for all the comments to roll in about gouging people for to much money. LOL
      Too many webmasters make the mistake of charging what they perceive as "fair market value" for their time and material costs to produce a look and feel, but not for their knowledge of the web. That's why most of them are either just scraping by, or working full time for someone else and just doing design on the side instead of doing it full time for themselves.

      There's more to web design than look and feel - a company's web presence should be the core of their consumer engagement strategy. Choosing the right look and design elements are secondary to developing the right purpose for the site - identifying why someone would go there, what a new or repeat customer reasonably expects to get out of their visit, proper navigation constructs, etc.

      If all you're doing is saying "Ok, for $X you get a home page and 5 sub pages, so what do you want on them?" then all you'll ever get are the bottom of the barrel customers who know they "want a website" but don't know what they should be doing with it. But if you're taking the role of the "digital strategist" as part of the package, and work with them to plan a comprehensive web strategy for their business, you're bringing real value to your clients.

      Even if a $45 template from Themeforest meets their every need design-wise, it can still be a $4,000 - $8,000 price tag depending on what other expertise you bring to the table. Design itself is "cheap grunt work" - any kid in high school can do that. But knowing what design elements to use to best-present their business to their clientele is valuable knowledge that most webmasters simply aren't charging for. And they should be.
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      Ron Rule
      http://ronrule.com

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      • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
        Hence my comment.

        Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

        Too many webmasters make the mistake of charging what they perceive as "fair market value" for their time and material costs to produce a look and feel, but not for their knowledge of the web. That's why most of them are either just scraping by, or working full time for someone else and just doing design on the side instead of doing it full time for themselves.

        There's more to web design than look and feel - a company's web presence should be the core of their consumer engagement strategy. Choosing the right look and design elements are secondary to developing the right purpose for the site - identifying why someone would go there, what a new or repeat customer reasonably expects to get out of their visit, proper navigation constructs, etc.

        If all you're doing is saying "Ok, for you get a home page and 5 sub pages, so what do you want on them?" then all you'll ever get are the bottom of the barrel customers who know they "want a website" but don't know what they should be doing with it. But if you're taking the role of the "digital strategist" as part of the package, and work with them to plan a comprehensive web strategy for their business, you're bringing real value to your clients.

        Even if a $45 template from Themeforest meets their every need design-wise, it can still be a $4,000 - $8,000 price tag depending on what other expertise you bring to the table. Design itself is "cheap grunt work" - any kid in high school can do that. But knowing what design elements to use to best-present their business to their clientele is valuable knowledge that most webmasters simply aren't charging for. And they should be.
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      • Profile picture of the author momof4
        This is really valuable info here...
        Out of curiosity, which WP themes do you favor?
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      • Profile picture of the author marcos08
        Excellent post I will certainly take your comments on board for our pricing in the future, I think sometimes we do not value our experience and skills as best as we should just as you point out. Maybe a bit "scared" to do so? Time for a reshuffle on our pricing strategy. Thanks again.

        Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

        Too many webmasters make the mistake of charging what they perceive as "fair market value" for their time and material costs to produce a look and feel, but not for their knowledge of the web. That's why most of them are either just scraping by, or working full time for someone else and just doing design on the side instead of doing it full time for themselves.

        There's more to web design than look and feel - a company's web presence should be the core of their consumer engagement strategy. Choosing the right look and design elements are secondary to developing the right purpose for the site - identifying why someone would go there, what a new or repeat customer reasonably expects to get out of their visit, proper navigation constructs, etc.

        If all you're doing is saying "Ok, for you get a home page and 5 sub pages, so what do you want on them?" then all you'll ever get are the bottom of the barrel customers who know they "want a website" but don't know what they should be doing with it. But if you're taking the role of the "digital strategist" as part of the package, and work with them to plan a comprehensive web strategy for their business, you're bringing real value to your clients.

        Even if a $45 template from Themeforest meets their every need design-wise, it can still be a $4,000 - $8,000 price tag depending on what other expertise you bring to the table. Design itself is "cheap grunt work" - any kid in high school can do that. But knowing what design elements to use to best-present their business to their clientele is valuable knowledge that most webmasters simply aren't charging for. And they should be.
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        • Profile picture of the author mak25
          It's f'n magic....first nameless was here, then *poof* he's gone again.

          He probably ran off for a drink and a smoke.

          I think he needed it...
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    If it is a quality design I see no problem with these prices.

    There should be a difference between a $299 website and a $3,500 website.

    If there is not you are either charging too little (seems likely on this board) or you bought into the idea of charging a lot of money for an hour of work.

    You should price fair so you get not only their business but referral business. You won't stay in business long charging too much or too little.
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    • Profile picture of the author ronrule
      Originally Posted by Aaron Doud View Post

      If it is a quality design I see no problem with these prices.

      There should be a difference between a $299 website and a $3,500 website
      Not necessarily... it depends how much research goes into it as well.

      Here's a real life example. We met with a client a couple of weeks ago that's a major automotive wheel manufacturer. They have about 30 different wheel styles and were looking to refine their image and start positioning themselves as a more high-end brand, going after higher net worth customers.

      When you visit a "big brand" website, there's a certain feel you get from it - look at pg.com for example. Every image, every word, every option on that site was carefully selected/crafted, vetted, because a properly done brand site needs to convey a feeling - not just "look good". Every type of audience will have different psychological triggers, and if you're reaching a high net worth audience there's an expectation there as well - for some products you aren't actually selling the product, you're selling the lifestyle. Building a luxury brand isn't about the product, it's about selling the image of who the consumer wants to be.

      Look at prescription drug commercials... the ruggedly good-looking man in his 50's with a girl half his age, the young couple running along the beach with their dog, a bunch of teenage girls pillow fighting in their pajamas... what do these have to do with the drug? Nothing. The pharmaceutical companies are selling a lifestyle. It's a psychological trigger that makes people remember the brand, because they see an image they identify with and subconsciously think they either are, or can be, that person. Now apply the same thing to the web.

      The site I'm referring to for the wheel manufacturer is an $85,000 project for the client - to be fair, about $50k of that will be spent directly on video production, but that still leaves $35,000 strictly for the web development costs because there is a ton of strategy and R&D behind it.

      When it's all said and done, a good web designer will look at it and say "I could have built this site in Wordpress in an afternoon" - and they're right, they could have - if the client gave them an exact scope of work, wireframe, navigation, furnished the images and video to be used, and basically told them exactly what to do. The design process itself is the easy part.

      But figuring out what to do, doing the proper research and due diligence, and getting inside their customers heads to meet expectations... that's what my clients are paying for. Way too often designers only bill themselves for their "work output" and not their strategy - maybe that's because they aren't doing it and just build sites to the clients spec, and if so that's fine. But your time is worth something too, and if I have a group of consumer engagement experts developing strategies I'm billing for their time too, not just the time it takes the web designer to code it out once the decisions have been made.
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      Ron Rule
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    Ron,

    How is that disagreeing with me?

    You literally just pointed out how that $35k project was highly involved. It wasn't someone tossing a $299 site together and charging $35k.

    Your point just expands upon mine.
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    • Profile picture of the author ronrule
      Originally Posted by Aaron Doud View Post

      Ron,

      How is that disagreeing with me?

      You literally just pointed out how that $35k project was highly involved. It wasn't someone tossing a $299 site together and charging $35k.

      Your point just expands upon mine.
      I got the impression when you said "there should be a difference between a $299 site and a $3,500 one" that you were speaking in terms of how the site looks - if I read that wrong I apologize, my point was that sometimes a $3,500 (or $35,000) site can look no different than a $299 site. It all depends on what's going on behind the scenes.

      This is the main reason why we don't do graphical mockups until after we have a deposit and commitment (it's one of the last phases actually - content curation happens first). Early on, too many times we would go through the normal process (which does take a lot of time), kick around a couple of mockups, and then the customer shows them to some kid and says "They're charging you how much?? I will make you a site that looks exactly like that for $500, send me that graphic".
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      Ron Rule
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      • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
        Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

        I got the impression when you said "there should be a difference between a $299 site and a $3,500 one" that you were speaking in terms of how the site looks - if I read that wrong I apologize, my point was that sometimes a $3,500 (or $35,000) site can look no different than a $299 site. It all depends on what's going on behind the scenes.

        This is the main reason why we don't do graphical mockups until after we have a deposit and commitment (it's one of the last phases actually - content curation happens first). Early on, too many times we would go through the normal process (which does take a lot of time), kick around a couple of mockups, and then the customer shows them to some kid and says "They're charging you how much?? I will make you a site that looks exactly like that for $500, send me that graphic".
        Customers like that I wouldn't want anyways.

        And yeah I would never give or in my position want a mock up until we agreed to it. And trust me even at the few thousand mark you get a lot of crap.

        Though I still believe a quality site ($3.5k, $35k, etc) will look and feel different than a $299 site because the value will be baked in. You can copy an expensive website but in the end it will still feel cheap. The basic designs may be the same or similar. But you can tell the difference. Everyone can though for most it is on an unconscious level.
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        • Profile picture of the author dragoneye
          Is it just me? It looks to me the prices are $35.00 to $95.00 instead of $3500.00 to $9500.00.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dexx
    I'm curious what market (niche) this company goes after, or if they just generalize their marketing.

    Where did you come across them? Did you happen to see them via a sponsored ad on FB, Google Adwords, etc.?

    ~Dexx
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  • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
    The important thing to point out is the difference between a 299 customer and a 5k client.
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    • Profile picture of the author DABK
      There are mortgage brokers that rent sites at $65 a month. These are sites template sites that have everything a mortgage broker can possibly need and some content on every page + some articles.

      The mortgage broker picks the pages he wants, removes the other. Some change the content on the home page and maybe a couple other pages. Some just add in their name and contact info.

      They're new, are afraid to make large purchases.

      Then there are mortgage brokers who buy $1,000... because they think they need a few pages and a basic contact form.

      Or because they are in parts of the country where the average loan is $80,000. (Mortgage brokers get paid a percentage of the loan amount, usually between 1%-3%.

      Then there are the ones who spend several thousand dollars on a site that's specific to them, has several application forms that get automatically converted to their Point software and can handle security (i.e., prospects can safely leave their social security number).

      Though the do occasionally $100k loans, their main loans are $250k and up. I know one whose average a couple of months ago was $325k. 2% of $325k makes him think he needs to have a better office than he did when he was dealing with $150k-200; (more expensive furniture, a more polished receptionist, and a more sophisticated, better-looking website, logo, letterhead, cards.

      If you go for mortgage brokers who're located in areas where the average home is $100k and who're local, odds are good that they will be willing to pay less for a site than their counterpart (who has the exact same number of loans a month) who's doing his business in a $350k average home price area.

      And, if you're dealing with a mortgage broker who is the whole company and only does 2 loans a month that get him $2,500 (even though the cost of living where he is will be lower), odds are good he'll pay less than both.

      Originally Posted by Rus Sells View Post

      The important thing to point out is the difference between a 299 customer and a 5k client.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ross Petal
    I know some companies are charging high amounts but they often find it difficult to get any clients. So you have to find the right price to drum up consistent business. Once you get that right, you can upsell other related services
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    • Profile picture of the author DABK
      Yeah, it happens. There are limits on prices you can charge, limits the market places on things.

      At some point, if you want more money per item, you need to improve the product you're selling or sell another product.

      Originally Posted by Ross Petal View Post

      I know some companies are charging high amounts but they often find it difficult to get any clients. So you have to find the right price to drum up consistent business. Once you get that right, you can upsell other related services
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  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    The reality of web design today is that Wordpress takes a lot of the grunt work out of it. Some of the paid themes ($45 - $200) already have embedded functionality that, if you were to duplicate it in a traditional website, would cost thousands of dollars to have developed from scratch. So even though your cost to buy it is only $45-$200, you're still delivering a $4,000 site.

    I know this is hard for a lot of webmasters to wrap their heads around, because we've all been doing this so long we wouldn't pay our prices for our own work. But that's only because we're coming from a place where we know how to do it... if your client knew how to best present their business (strategy-wise), how to find the right ready-to-run WP template, and how to configure/customize it to suit their needs, they wouldn't need to hire you. They're coming to you because they want your expertise, not just your "labor". So don't sell yourself short by thinking the only value you bring is what the finished product looks like, your value is in your ability to DELIVER that product and all the years of knowledge it took to get you to the point where you could.

    Look at this another way. If I needed to do a complete brake job on one of my cars, I would go to the auto parts store, buy a set of rotors and pads, and do it in my driveway. I have a jack, I have air tools, and I have the knowledge to do it. It would cost me what, $125 plus an hour or so of my time? No big deal.

    But the same brake job at any shop would be over $400. Are they "gouging you" because they're buying $125 worth of over-the-counter parts instead of machining new rotors from scratch custom for you, then paying some guy $20 for an hour of labor to install them? NO - because you're paying them for their KNOWLEDGE, not just their time and materials. They know how to do something you don't. That's where the value is.
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    • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
      Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

      The reality of web design today is that Wordpress takes a lot of the grunt work out of it. Some of the paid themes ($45 - $200) already have embedded functionality that, if you were to duplicate it in a traditional website, would cost thousands of dollars to have developed from scratch. So even though your cost to buy it is only $45-$200, you're still delivering a $4,000 site.
      The real reality of web design is that if you're only using wordpress, you aren't really a web designer lol.
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  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    Originally Posted by iAmNameLess View Post

    The real reality of web design is that if you're only using wordpress, you aren't really a web designer lol.
    The Prodigal Troll returns... :rolleyes: I suppose we should all be pouring our own rubber instead of buying tires too, right? You might be proud of yourself for being one of those guys that still codes in Notepad, but while yo're patting yourself on the back the rest of the web left you behind. I say these days if you aren't developing in Wordpress, you aren't really a designer.
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    • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
      Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

      The Prodigal Troll returns... :rolleyes: I suppose we should all be pouring our own rubber instead of buying tires too, right? You might be proud of yourself for being one of those guys that still codes in Notepad, but while yo're patting yourself on the back the rest of the web left you behind. I say these days if you aren't developing in Wordpress, you aren't really a designer.
      Umm... Who said anything about coding in notepad? The truth is that web design is a trade and every real web designer has a toolbox. Not every tool is an all in one solution, and most certainly wordpress is not right for every website. You have multiple CMS's, and for someone who is the self proclaimed ecommerce expert, you should already understand that wordpress is inferior for ecommerce projects.

      If you don't understand that there are major CMS's out there, other than wordpress, then you're a joke. Do you think wordpress is better for ecommerce than magento? Do you think it is better for enterprise websites than Drupal? Do you think it is better for membership sites than Joomla?

      If you only use wordpress, you are not a web designer....

      Anyway, congrats on creating a new screen name so no one knows who you are. I'm sure it is only a matter of time until you get busted out for your lies once again.
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  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    We're talking about web design, as it pertains to general small business sites - not eCommerce or more complex development. Try to keep up...

    You're right in that I wouldn't use WP for any eCommerce site, but that's a personal preference. Drupal is overkill for the typical small business - the advantage of using WP is that most clients can self-manage it once you hand it off. There's more of a learning curve to other CMS's. Using WP for small business designs makes for a lot less headaches down the road.

    Not sure what you mean by "new screen name", I've had the same name my whole life. You must have me confused with someone else who calls you on your B.S.
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    Ron Rule
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    • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
      Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

      We're talking about web design, as it pertains to general small business sites - not eCommerce or more complex development. Try to keep up...

      You're right in that I wouldn't use WP for any eCommerce site, but that's a personal preference. Drupal is overkill for the typical small business - the advantage of using WP is that most clients can self-manage it once you hand it off. There's more of a learning curve to other CMS's. Using WP for small business designs makes for a lot less headaches down the road.

      Not sure what you mean by "new screen name", I've had the same name my whole life. You must have me confused with someone else who calls you on your B.S.
      Doesn't web design pertain to.... web design? Web design is web design whether it is a small dry cleaner business or a global ecommerce business.

      Anyway, thank you for verifying what I said... Calling me out on my "B.S" then agreeing with my statement... LOL.
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  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    Perhaps you're confusing web design with web development. Take another swig of the bottle you're holding, it's doing wonders for your personality
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    Ron Rule
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    • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
      Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

      Perhaps you're confusing web design with web development. Take another swig of the bottle you're holding, it's doing wonders for your personality
      Wow... you really can't respond with facts at all, can you? Web design is web design, whether it is a small business or large. Web development, is web development whether the company is small or large. What is your point? Web design is basically the front end, and web development is the back end. Perhaps you don't understand what either one is.

      Obviously you have a lot of anger towards me, because to lash out like this over me saying something so basic and true that I said, is just crazy. I'm sorry that I must have offended you so much, before you even registered here last month, that it has come to you taking shots at me simply for me stating the fact that web design is much more than wordpress installations lol.

      Anyway, whatever... have fun pushing the idea of your $4,000 basic websites while selling your WSO's for next to nothing.

      Good luck when you decide to step into reality.

      P.S. you're the one looking like the troll, arguing with people that have even agreed with you.
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      • Profile picture of the author DABK
        On a different note, your signature is making me want to move to the Sillcon Valley.

        Originally Posted by iAmNameLess View Post

        Wow... you really can't respond with facts at all, can you? Web design is web design, whether it is a small business or large. Web development, is web development whether the company is small or large. What is your point? Web design is basically the front end, and web development is the back end. Perhaps you don't understand what either one is.

        Obviously you have a lot of anger towards me, because to lash out like this over me saying something so basic and true that I said, is just crazy. I'm sorry that I must have offended you so much, before you even registered here last month, that it has come to you taking shots at me simply for me stating the fact that web design is much more than wordpress installations lol.

        Anyway, whatever... have fun pushing the idea of your $4,000 basic websites while selling your WSO's for next to nothing.

        Good luck when you decide to step into reality.

        P.S. you're the one looking like the troll, arguing with people that have even agreed with you.
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        • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
          Originally Posted by DABK View Post

          On a different note, your signature is making me want to move to the Sillcon Valley.
          His sig reminds me of why I don't invest much besides a 401k in stocks.

          For some reason businesses, especially those in the tech sector, have decided that profit should not be a "key metric". Groupon is the poster child for this. They literally had a business model that should be profitable from day one and scaled up to maximize profit. Instead they merely scaled up the losses.

          Growth
          Leads
          Visits
          Users
          Revenue

          All those are "fun" metrics and great to hype up your business but if your business model can't turn them into a profit none of that matters.

          It is why I always tell people to aim for profit from day one. Yes, in reality, most businesses won't be profitable on day one and some may not even be profitable in year one. But you hit what you aim for so aim for profit and build it into your business model.

          Profit is not a 4 letter word.
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          • Profile picture of the author DABK
            Came across a article about 3 case studies about twitter advertising. How great the ad campaigns were. 2 of them had increased engagement only.

            Someone's trying to sell blogging and media services to people in a networking group I'm part of. The selling point: engagement and exposure. They don't even talk about engagement and exposure that leads to more people contacting the business owner... Nope, exposure is the end-goal.

            And, everybody must be on all the media these people sell. Why, oh why do I have scruples? Oy and poor me too!

            Originally Posted by Aaron Doud View Post

            His sig reminds me of why I don't invest much besides a 401k in stocks.

            For some reason businesses, especially those in the tech sector, have decided that profit should not be a "key metric". Groupon is the poster child for this. They literally had a business model that should be profitable from day one and scaled up to maximize profit. Instead they merely scaled up the losses.

            Growth
            Leads
            Visits
            Users
            Revenue

            All those are "fun" metrics and great to hype up your business but if your business model can't turn them into a profit none of that matters.

            It is why I always tell people to aim for profit from day one. Yes, in reality, most businesses won't be profitable on day one and some may not even be profitable in year one. But you hit what you aim for so aim for profit and build it into your business model.

            Profit is not a 4 letter word.
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  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    Yep, you win. Cheers.
    Signature

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    Ron Rule
    http://ronrule.com

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  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    Mostly through referrals, we don't actively pursue web design... our target markets are other segments that sometimes need web work, so it's only one or two a week if that.
    Signature

    -
    Ron Rule
    http://ronrule.com

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  • Profile picture of the author yixar
    Clients will pay those prices. You just have to find the clients that are what some would refer to as 'high end'.
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    • Profile picture of the author CreekChub
      Originally Posted by yixar View Post

      Clients will pay those prices. You just have to find the clients that are what some would refer to as 'high end'.
      $5K-$7500 is by no means "high end". And I don't say that because I'm some "guru" selling $50K websites.

      I say it, because I started out selling $750 websites. Then I started selling $1500 websites. Now I'm selling $5K websites, give or take, when appropriate. The difference? Sure, I'm much better than I was in the beginning, but THAT'S NOT THE DIFFERENCE. The difference is that I ASK FOR IT, and am comfortable doing so.
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  • Profile picture of the author Pat Ordenes
    Sky is the limit on price.
    The company I work with is in negotiation to pay $200K for their new site!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author ltrain_riders
    They charge that much money, but use pricing tables created by somebody else. Makes me wonder what else they will use on your site that somebody else designed.
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  • Profile picture of the author InsightIM
    Here's one of my favorite ideas. Build a site once and then sell it to several hundred clients for a monthly fee. There are all kinds of sites out there, and all kinds of people who need the same solution, instead of finding a client and meeting their needs, find 1000 clients and spread the cost of meeting their needs out over all of them. That's the best way, in my opinion to get paid what a website is worth.
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    • Profile picture of the author MaxwellB
      Originally Posted by InsightIM View Post

      Here's one of my favorite ideas. Build a site once and then sell it to several hundred clients for a monthly fee. There are all kinds of sites out there, and all kinds of people who need the same solution, instead of finding a client and meeting their needs, find 1000 clients and spread the cost of meeting their needs out over all of them. That's the best way, in my opinion to get paid what a website is worth.
      Trust me I love brainstorming ideas. But until it's tested it doesn't mean anything really and this idea is one that I have heard before, the typical "monthly website" idea.

      There are two things people assume when they think this idea will work.

      1) It takes less time to sell a website that is just a monthly fee then to sell a real website/web services solution at say $3,500.

      This is not true. It doesn't take any more time. You still have to sell, you still have to sell when you give things away for free haha honestly you do.

      2) Going along with the previous...that it will take a short amount of time to make 1000 sales.

      This is also wrong, it will take a long time, a very long time. And finally after you have spent all that money and time making sales, years and years, and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in commission because no sales rep is going to work for 30% of 29.99 per month or 49.99 per month....only after all that will you have your $350,000+ annual revenue...and then you have to continue to replenish the 10% a year that leave you.

      Instead of taking years and years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to sell 1000 clients why not sell 103 clients in a year on a $3,500 web services solution, which is just 2 a week....1 sales rep could do that....his name is YOU by the way so you don't need anyone else.

      At the end of that year you made $360,500 in revenue, and if you can get 20% to do SEO with you at $1,200 per month that's another $288,000 in yearly revenue.


      I just don't think the monthly website idea is a truly viable business compared to that.
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      • Profile picture of the author ronr
        I think it depends on the customer.

        In the past when I was offering offline services I would have some clients who wouldn't flinch at paying thousands for a website but hated the idea of paying anything monthly.

        However others didn't mind at all paying hundreds each month.

        It seems to come down the individual and who much they value what you are providing for them.

        Maybe a good compromise would be go for the sale but if they balk at price then give the option of "easy monthly payments" like many other industries do.

        Ron

        Ron


        Originally Posted by MaxwellB View Post

        Trust me I love brainstorming ideas. But until it's tested it doesn't mean anything really and this idea is one that I have heard before, the typical "monthly website" idea.

        There are two things people assume when they think this idea will work.

        1) It takes less time to sell a website that is just a monthly fee then to sell a real website/web services solution at say $3,500.

        This is not true. It doesn't take any more time. You still have to sell, you still have to sell when you give things away for free haha honestly you do.

        2) Going along with the previous...that it will take a short amount of time to make 1000 sales.

        This is also wrong, it will take a long time, a very long time. And finally after you have spent all that money and time making sales, years and years, and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in commission because no sales rep is going to work for 30% of 29.99 per month or 49.99 per month....only after all that will you have your $350,000+ annual revenue...and then you have to continue to replenish the 10% a year that leave you.

        Instead of taking years and years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to sell 1000 clients why not sell 103 clients in a year on a $3,500 web services solution, which is just 2 a week....1 sales rep could do that....his name is YOU by the way so you don't need anyone else.

        At the end of that year you made $360,500 in revenue, and if you can get 20% to do SEO with you at $1,200 per month that's another $288,000 in yearly revenue.


        I just don't think the monthly website idea is a truly viable business compared to that.
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      • Profile picture of the author InsightIM
        Originally Posted by MaxwellB View Post

        1) It takes less time to sell a website that is just a monthly fee then to sell a real website/web services solution at say $3,500.

        This is not true. It doesn't take any more time. You still have to sell, you still have to sell when you give things away for free haha honestly you do.

        2) Going along with the previous...that it will take a short amount of time to make 1000 sales.

        I just don't think the monthly website idea is a truly viable business compared to that.
        What I take away from this is the lack of marketing research. Like with any product or service there are markets. When you find a market and figure out what product or service they need, then you can create it, but before you create it, you should figure out how to reach that market and whether it is profitable to do so. That's just what marketers do. There are many many markets that are creating products for people for a monthly fee, and there are markets like that for websites. There are shopping carts for a monthly fee, accounting software for a monthly fee, really, the whole software as a service is where everything is going as well as computing power as a service with all the "cloud" stuff.

        The "monthly website idea" is already being done by Godaddy, yelp, 1and1 and many others. That's who web designers are competing with now. Why build a custom site with a custom template when all their site is is a product brochure?

        As far as a short amount of time to make 1000 sales goes, I have a Tree Service company as well. We don't do 1000 trees in a year, generally we quote about 500 jobs per year. That's because we're limited by how far we can profitable drive to get a job done.

        Web design doesn't have boundaries like that, you can video conference with people in China. So it is very possible if you can handle the volume to do 1000 sales pretty fast. (You could write software to crawl and find crappy websites, or get a businesses list and see who only has a google local page) A really good sales person might be able to talk to 100 people a week and close half of them if they are good leads. You just need good leads, a good sales funnel, and a good closer. There are lots of companies doing it already.

        I used to do client work with a web design company in Fort Wayne. We could pump out 3 custom sites a week. I can tell you from experience the lower the price is, the easier it is for the customer to say yes.

        So, viable or not? Companies are doing it all around the world. Easy? Can be with the right system. Better than drumming up new business indefinitely while the entire web design market turns into a commodity market? Probably in the long run.
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  • Profile picture of the author mert
    I guess the rates are fair enough. You can't pay a webmaster or web developer lower than that for a website that you want
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