[oakleaves]

I just have a quick question really that I have been pondering a while.

When you do a search for 'web design companies', on page one you get a mix of different ones. There seem to be two approaches that web design companies have:-

1) Ones that keep things general and show their portfolio etc

2) Others that have full breakdowns of the cost of everything, small package at £X, medium package £ SEO packages etc etc etc

In your experience, which would you say is this best approach to take?

If you do a quick search you will soon see what I mean.

[Jason Dexter]

Depends on the clients you want to attract, and to be honest I've been looking at going down the package route as it seems to work well in my area.

The portfolio approach are often made by freelancers, that really do design bespoke websites and offer something different.

Companies, from what I gather, aim at the package prices as a way of churning through the business. These are often quick turn around and they cut out a lot of the to'ing and fro'ing between company and client.

I was thinking of setting up another website offering prices and packages with a break down of what people get. They will be based roughly on what I charge now, but work as an incentive

[smoothonline]

+1 really good observation no wonder the agencies are doing so well if they have found a way to cut out all the to'ing and fro'ing.

This post has been edited by smoothonline: 30 September 2011 - 07:47 AM

[Glowbridge]

I have a fairly strong position on this. I vastly prefer option 1. I firmly believe option 2 does nothing but cheapen the profession. It's a bespoke service, for it to be worth while it has to be a bespoke service and trying to cram it into a one size fits all package is doing the profession and the clients a great disservice. It's preying on ignorance and I think if you are happy running your business like that because it is profitable I deeply disrespect you as a person.

I deeply disrespect anyone who starts and runs a business merely to get a slice of the pie. If you aren't doing it because you are passionate about the subject, because you can do it better or because the current options just aren't providing a good enough service then what's the point? Business without idealism is just greed and I have no time or respect for it.

I wonder just how many people buy off-the-shelf web design packages only to go ahead and get a real designer down the line. Or how many never get the chance because their off-the-shelf site was so generic their business never fulfilled its full potential?

This post has been edited by Glowbridge: 30 September 2011 - 02:09 PM

[Renaissance-Design]

Packages are something I've always avoided, because they seem to belong firmly at the cheap end of the spectrum and that's somewhere I don't want to be.

I also tailor my quotes according to an assessment of the client, which I'd be unable to do if I were offering packages.

[neil0wen]

Glowbridge, on 30 September 2011 - 02:07 PM, said:

I wonder just how many people buy off-the-shelf web design packages only to go ahead and get a real designer down the line. Or how many never get the chance because their off-the-shelf site was so generic their business never fulfilled its full potential?

I understand and respect what you are saying, however I'm not quite sure some web design agencies offer packages for the purpose of creating generic websites. Often these price structures are merely a guide and are variable depending on the requirements of the customer.

Looking at this subject from the customers perspective, they have no idea how much a website should cost. Therefore a general idea can make them feel comfortable that they can approach a web design company within their budget.

I think that price structures only lower the value of web designers if the packages are set too low!

Personally I don't think there is anything wrong with either method.

[rallport]

I'm not totally against having costs on your website, but it needs to be done carefully in my opinion.

Packages tend to look naff and imply that each project can be shoved into one of your pre made packages - which isn't a good impression to give.

On the other side, customers do want a rough idea of what they will charged. So something phrased like "prices start from xxx for a basic 5 page website" are fine imo.

[Glowbridge]

neil0wen, on 30 September 2011 - 03:36 PM, said:

I understand and respect what you are saying, however I'm not quite sure some web design agencies offer packages for the purpose of creating generic websites. Often these price structures are merely a guide and are variable depending on the requirements of the customer.

Looking at this subject from the customers perspective, they have no idea how much a website should cost. Therefore a general idea can make them feel comfortable that they can approach a web design company within their budget.

I think that price structures only lower the value of web designers if the packages are set too low!

Personally I don't think there is anything wrong with either method.

So you put a number down but inevitably change it on a per-client basis. So it's pretty meaningless information? Because like 50% of the time you are going to change it to something out of their range and just disappoint them. I feel like that's a little deceptive. It's like when car manufacturers only advertise the absolute bare minimum version of the car so they can show off a really cheap price. Nobody wants that version of that car and many people will go into the dealership only to find the one with door handles is out of their price range.

Why not just say up front prices vary based on specification? Then they go in knowing anything could happen.

I think it's misguided to try and jam a pricing structure onto something that inherently doesn't support it. Bespoke websites cost what they cost at the unique point in time. Saying otherwise is just lying to people to try and con them into giving you business. It's first issue only £3.99 regular price £9.99 territory.

[porkchops]

I feel very strongly that you should never advertise prices on your website.

Design and development are custom services... there are very few cases where a customer's needs are best served by delivering a cookie-cutter solution, and when you post prices on your website you start turning web work into a commodity.

You should always quote the client based on estimated hours times your hourly rate. You should try to estimate on the higher side of things because projects typically run long, not shorter. Then you present the quote to the client as a single figure, not a breakdown of individual hour usage because then you are setting an itinerary for yourself.

I understand that this doesn't appear to be the most fair/practical way to do things (and it certainly adds to the appearance that the design industry is unregulated) but it seems to be the only way that makes sense, or perhaps maybe the least of the evils.

The other option is to bill by the hour, but that really is a terrifying thing for a client to digest, so it's not recommended.

[oakleaves]

Just popped online quickly to say thanks for all the comments guys.

Some really good food for thought here..