How much should I charge?

17 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
  • |
My wife's friend is asking me to design some websites and host them for the company she works for... a local skip bin company. They also run 2 other niche businesses from the 1 warehouse so in total will need 3 websites + hosting. They also mentioned some SEO as they don't want to keep paying for advertising.

Their current sites are nothing more than 5 pages big "about", "Contact", "legal" etc. However I'm thinking I should probably boost up to at least 30 keyword relevant pages for SEO.

I have no idea what people charge for this kind of thing, should I give them 2 proposals, perhaps just 1 quote for the current sites, with an upgrade design for about $450. ($150 each site).
A second quote for 3 authority sites, with 5 video's and a few hundred backlinks.... TBH I don't know how much effort that would be on my part and how hard I would find it. Honestly I think it's pretty doable, but there's probably some things I'm not considering.

So I'm not sure about the second quote, and what else I should include in the offer. Also how much should I charge them to host on my VPS?

Any thoughts?
#charge
  • Profile picture of the author estz
    To be honest, the fact you are having to ask all of these questions about prices and options etc I would just advise them to go to a professional web design company and get it done that way. Although you won't make a quick buck out of it you also wont have the hassle of designing the websites etc.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7336887].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author gcampton
      Originally Posted by estz View Post

      To be honest, the fact you are having to ask all of these questions about prices and options etc I would just advise them to go to a professional web design company and get it done that way. Although you won't make a quick buck out of it you also wont have the hassle of designing the websites etc.
      I should do this why? Because I have only designed sites for myself in the past and can't possible offer them something better then the 5 page crappy websites they were overcharged for in the first place by some "professional web design company"?
      Seriously these forums are about marketing and helping each other. offering that advice, isn't really helping.

      PS. They were quoted $10,000 from one company.
      Signature

      ()_()
      (o.O) <<<----- This bunny is more ethical and mostly made of pixels.
      (")("")

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7337267].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author talking
    You may have a low cost VPS hosting deals from 4goodhosting.com.
    Their prices are affordable and uptime is 100%.
    Many resources are included in their plans.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7336919].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author betterwtveter
    Sorry your not getting the response you need, but I use to make websites myself for construction companies, and this is how I charge.
    - If it is a complex job that does not have a set plan, which may have large changes as you go, I charge by the hours. I charged about $30 an hour, but I am not sure how much you are worth. Some web designers charge even $50 an hour.
    - Second, you said that they already have a site. Can you still work with that site or is it a totally new website. I would charge about $800-$1200 to run the three sites off of the old site.
    - If everything is from scratch, I would charge $2,000 per site. I know it is way cheaper than the others, but I am one man business.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7337312].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author gcampton
    Estz there's no need to use such vulgarity. I attacked your post not you personally. Keep in mind what you post on the internet stays on the internet.... forever. (or until a moderator deletes your comment)

    Thanks, bettertveter. That seems a bit expensive, but I guess it all depends on the amount of work involved.
    It's hard for me to gauge because typically I'm doing 101 different things at once when working on my own sites.
    So $10k probably wasn't that far off what most would charge.


    The site that is there is the ugliest thing you have ever seen. Think MySpace + 1985 website design.
    I'd prefer to just take the same URLS and create a brand new site methinks.
    Signature

    ()_()
    (o.O) <<<----- This bunny is more ethical and mostly made of pixels.
    (")("")

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7337365].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author gcampton
      Originally Posted by gcampton View Post

      Keep in mind what you post on the internet stays on the internet.... forever. (or until a moderator deletes your comment)
      Bingo Bango
      Signature

      ()_()
      (o.O) <<<----- This bunny is more ethical and mostly made of pixels.
      (")("")

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7337438].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author gcampton
    OK for any else who feels like chiming in with the next elitist comment "Leave it to the professionals", here's the scenario....
    Originally Posted by gcampton View Post

    My wife's friend is asking me to design some websites and host them for the company she works for...
    I'm doing work at home. Get a Facebook msg from my wife's friend... "Hey can you host websites on your server?" I say... of course "yes". She says "Do you also want to design my works new websites? we currently have 3, 2 are the same business but different URL's made by 2 different companies 1 is a different business. Our hosting company quoted us $10k to do the work via support live chat, but haven't responded to my emails in weeks"

    I say "Yeah, no problem I can help with that".

    Where's the part where I'm claiming to be a professional? I don't see it.
    Signature

    ()_()
    (o.O) <<<----- This bunny is more ethical and mostly made of pixels.
    (")("")

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7337479].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author WeavingThoughts
    If the other company quoted 10k, then quote 2-5k+ instead
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7337547].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author ClicProject
      I would work out more or less how long it was going to take me, multiply it by what I want to earn per hour, then whack a bit on top for the invariable unforseen problems.
      This should be a fair price to charge them.
      Don´t do it for an amount of money that is so low you end up regretting it and resenting the client - I am sure they are happy to pay a fair price. If not, pass it up as it is not worth the hassle. Good luck!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7337859].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Wags
    if your quite quick at web design Why not charge by the page say $90 dollars or if you take quite a bit of time charge hourly, either way you quids in then, that way your not frightening them off with a big price and also once you get started and they see your doing a good job you can start making suggestions for extras, as for seo say you will do a monthly run for each website at a fixed price per month, as if they are serious then they will need this anyway, not some 100 backlink blastout in one or two days

    wags
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7339921].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Alex6534
    I'm in a similar situation and have had similar replies, "let the pros do it". I'm sorry, but you're telling me every "Pro" didn't have this issue at the start as well?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7341418].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author gcampton
      Originally Posted by Alex6534 View Post

      I'm in a similar situation and have had similar replies, "let the pros do it". I'm sorry, but you're telling me every "Pro" didn't have this issue at the start as well?
      yeah they are just mad they went to college to learn this stuff yet nobody hires them and or don't know how to sell themselves.
      Shame they didn't go to "how to be a decent human being" school, they might have learned a thing or two.


      When it rains it pores, I had another offer today as well, doing SEO, redesign, integrating ecommerce, and upgrading their PC's for a local business, they also gave me a traditional job repinning locks and cutting keys.
      I took it, because it's dead simple work and same price per hour as webdev.
      Signature

      ()_()
      (o.O) <<<----- This bunny is more ethical and mostly made of pixels.
      (")("")

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7342116].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Google Local SEO
        Then it is really great for you... I think what you were trying to do is dead straight and simple. I feel it is upto you to make the quotation which will make your client comfortable. And if anybody have quoted $10,000 then in all ways you can make up till $7000 minimum
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7358819].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author topnichewebsites
    If you want to hit me up on Skype probably can talk you through your pricing structure for this type of work and ongoiing for this one company that you are talking about. ----> topnichewebsites
    Signature
    http://pixelcovers.com/ <- eBook add eCovers

    https://www.unicommercesolutions.com <- WordPress Websites and Maintenance
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7343815].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Ryan Rieth
    If 2 of the sites are the same company then why do they need 2 different websites. For SEO it would be better to redirect one of them to the other. Then they wouldn't be splitting their SEO efforts between 2 sites.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7345584].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Michi Kono
    Hey mate,

    I had a similar situation 5 years ago I was mainly doing website design/development (simple sites) as well as SEO for my own aff sites. I leaned all the skills to make money off the Internet (all self-taught). One day one of my mates who runs his own small local business came to me for some IM help. I built a simple WP site and did some SEO for him. He ended getting good traffic and started to get leads/sales consistently. I recall I charged about $500 for the site development and SEO for about 3 months with $300/month. He was very happy and told me I should start an online marketing consulting business by helping other offline businesses. I never thought about it until that point but I decided to give it a go

    Now I typically charge $2000 - $2900 per site that is mainly a WP or HTML site with up to 10 pages (though most of local businesses need just up to 5-7 pages).

    Some prospects ask for a complex e-commerce site development etc. But I usually stay away from those types because I don't want a hassle of dealing with too much techy stuff as it would take too much of my time (hence you work for less). Even if you outsource it all, you still spend quite a bit of time managing those outsourcers, which can be real pain in the butt unless you find a very good (switched on) outsourcer LOL.

    Yeah so if you are kinda starting out doing web design etc. for offline businesses then start out low like a few hundred dollars and see if your client will be very happy with what you can offer. From there, you can increase your fee whether it's an hourly or project basis.

    Remember though, do NOT undersell yourself. I mean I can charge way more per site and I'm still cheaper than most of the typical website design companies out there (especially in Australia) but since I'm a one-man operation and it does not cost me too much to build one so I can afford to keep it low. And that's one of the advantages as most of my clients do not question about my pricing, especially those who came through referrals

    Hope this helps a bit.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7349272].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author SeoDemon
    Hi there, there will be a lot of work involved in these websites, and i'm telling you that u will be surprised of how complicated it can get, so for your own good just charge no less than $700 for the 3 websites, and just in case be prepared to outsource any problem to someone else just as a back up plan, best of luck.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7349829].message }}

Trending Topics