[Ashley Byrom]

I understand this forum is probably plagued with posts like this but here goes.

I had a meeting today with a potential client and they'll be my first client as a freelancer (this is why I'm worried about my quote).

Their business is basically split into five sections and so they want five websites that look and feel similar but will have different logos (of a similar style) maybe some colour change but all in all they'll be consistant.

Being my first project I was thinking of charging £25/hour and I've come up with the following breakdown.

£250 Generic design that will be applied to five sites and altered slightly each time (10 hours for design & altering time)
£300 Development (For the development of the five sites (12 hours)
£100 Logo design. They also said they might just want their current logo 'modernised' for which I'll only charge £25 instead (4 or 1 hour(s))
£100 Content (4 hours)
----------
£750 Total

I've set content as £100 thinking that's a high price to charge for content. I've done this because I'm slightly hoping they'll say they'll do content instead as for one of the sites they asked for "60 pages that will all have the same just with slight one word changes"

Which brings me on to my next question. The 60 pages are all for SEO purposes as they want to target specific regions and areas so they will have 60 pages and just change the name of the place, 60 times. They said this'll improve SEO but I'm sceptic so I thought I'd check first.

Thanks in advance guys!

[Renaissance-Design]

Yeah, that's not going to help any more. They need to focus on what content would be useful to the user - that will always provide the best ROI for SEO.

[brightonmike]

Those prices are very low and I'm not convinced your time frames are realistic.

[chtyrone]

Like the above, if you think you can have the whole thing done and dusted in a week, it's excellent.
Just one obstacle to get round... the client..

[Ashley Byrom]

I admit my scheduling is probably a bit ambitious.

Would you recommend upping the total quote to say £1000?

This post has been edited by Ashley Byrom: 23 January 2012 - 05:41 PM

[hodephdesign]

I'm assuming the 4 hours for content doesn't include the days and days of waiting around for them to write and send it to you?

Timeframe does seem ambitious, and 5 websites for a grand is still a bloody bargain, in my opinion...

[Ashley Byrom]

I guess I'm just scared of over quoting and losing my first client...

What a pickle!

[hodephdesign]

Ashley Byrom, on 23 January 2012 - 06:23 PM, said:

I guess I'm just scared of over quoting and losing my first client...

What a pickle!

That's how I used to be when I first started! You just want to be careful you don't end up putting in loads of effort and not getting a fair paycheck.

[MMMedia]

brightonmike, on 23 January 2012 - 04:53 PM, said:

Those prices are very low and I'm not convinced your time frames are realistic.

This!

£100 for a logo?

We recently did a branding exercise and the logo alone took 47 hours, consultation, concept, consultation, tweaks, final draft, final consultation and then print ready. We only charged £700 for the logo, as we expected it to take 'just' 20 hours.

How anyone can do a solid piece of work like a logo that defines a business for £100 amazes me. The logo is the spearhead, it should be a key investment.

Do not undervalue yourself or the trade, you set the wrong precedent for future work.

[MMMedia]

Ashley Byrom, on 23 January 2012 - 06:23 PM, said:

I guess I'm just scared of over quoting and losing my first client...

What a pickle!

The moral of the story is to avoid working with clients who don't appreciate your skill and accept your prices as fair and reasonable value.

Starting out, sure, be a little aggressive with pricing - but don't load yourself up with a heap of work for pittance pay because they'll only expect the same of you in the future.

[MMMedia]

Ashley Byrom, on 23 January 2012 - 04:13 PM, said:

£250 Generic design that will be applied to five sites and altered slightly each time (10 hours for design & altering time)
£300 Development (For the development of the five sites (12 hours)
£100 Logo design. They also said they might just want their current logo 'modernised' for which I'll only charge £25 instead (4 or 1 hour(s))
£100 Content (4 hours)
----------
£750 Total

£250 for website art/design is acceptable. Having five adaptations of that artwork for £250? You're too cheap.

£300 for development of ONE site is acceptable, five variations? You're too cheap.

£100 for logo design, insane, unless you can close the piece of work off in under 4 hours (including consultation, tweaks and getting it sign-off... in just 4 hours)! See my previous post.

£100 for content really depends on what's required of you, copy writing takes time and research, charge appropriately. If they are providing ALL content then £100 is fine, show an internal page lay-up/design in your website concept art/design so they know what they're getting and AGREEING to.

Quote

Which brings me on to my next question. The 60 pages are all for SEO purposes as they want to target specific regions and areas so they will have 60 pages and just change the name of the place, 60 times. They said this'll improve SEO but I'm sceptic so I thought I'd check first.

Thanks in advance guys!

To a certain degree it will, it very much depends on the size of the content, key words, related words and structure of the earlier portions of content. Copy+paste with minor changes is to be avoided at all costs.

This post has been edited by MMMedia: 11 February 2012 - 02:59 PM