Web Design Forum: DaveyL - Viewing Profile - Web Design Forum

RJG Designing, on 19 April 2012 - 12:55 PM, said:

Well... that's one way to look at it I suppose.

£300 a site would mean you'd probably need to do 3 or 4 a month to give you a resemblence of a living in this environment.

If you work out how long it takes you to design, build and test a £300 site and what is involved in terms of features, amount of pages etc, that will give you an hourly rate - then you may have your answer if it's a starter for a new F/T business.

I work FT but do the webstuff 'outside' of work so can afford to charge similar if I see fit, mind a client may expect you to knock the site within a week at that rate.

RJG Designing, on 18 April 2012 - 09:02 PM, said:

Well before I add some info, sorry bout negative intro here but first thing that pops up is you wondering why your own website doesn't get you any work, I would suggest you understand SEO and marketing then. Work doesn't come to you unless you are already extablished with a good reputation.

In terms of start up, although it's paperwork / admin to do so, getting set up as a limited company will allow you to put yourself forward with Businesslink as an approved supplier, which means you can bid for any new company looking for a website that is funded by BL.

You need to go out and look for work, get your jobs noticed and ask fo referrals. Maybe speak to a local charity for example and offer to set up or redesign a website for them for free as a way of boosting your portfolio, just get expenses covered if needs be.

Find out what your USP is - what can you offer different or better than others, find out who your competitors are, check their websites out, see who they have worked for etc etc.

Work out a pricing plan, look at contracts people use so you don't get burned later with non payers.

It's a long hard slog and won't be easy, do the donkey work first then you can start concentrating on what you do best - design.

But - I would say it can be very rewarding and hope it works out for you!

Domain names are registered to an individual or a business.

If your business is being set up as a sole-trader then you do not have to register it (less paperwork but you will need to keep a good record of your accounts).

Companies House are where you simply register a business name if it is a limited company, this type of business has more admin to do at the start and you must have at least one 'director' I would also advise if going limited you get an accountant as you need to have shareholders!

Business law differes from company law also, for example registering with Companies House does not protect your business name as a trademark.

I think it's £40 to register at companies house but it is cheaper going via businesslink for example (about £18)

More info

I agree but I would rather be chasing the last 20% or so then 100% !

It also stands you in good stead if they have committed by paying 75-80% up to the point it goes live, they are less likley to mess you about if the other stages have gone smoothly.

I understand we take a risk by launching it without final payment but there has to be some give and take, I have found once they know I mean business and don't start the next stage until the agreed payments are made, by the time I get to launch it's not usally a problem.

The only thing I would hold back with are maybe the login / ftp details etc if it's a site I have built from scratch with hosting etc for them. I learnt very early on that building a site over two/three months etc and all that involves is madness without any up front payment - otherwise I am working for nothing!

Believe it after a while the good old 'Word of Mouth' is your best friend and when they trust you, some referral clients have actually just paid the full wack up front.

One tip - don't invoice them over the Xmas period or during August !!!

Hi

I always use a staged payment process - depending upon company size / costs etc I usually get between 25-50% up front with balance due on sign off. If they are not prepared to commit to a deposit then I don't do the work.

You can set out in your project brief key milestones which can for example include a staged sign off point and where you can potentially say a percentage of the payment is due at that point.

Example stages

1. Initial brief
2. Draft design layout with placeholder/default copy (if approved arrange deposit)
3. Design sign off
4. Content and copy sign off (% of balance to be paid here)
5. User testing and final amends
6. Sign off and handover (balance to be paid)

This way they don't have one large amount to pay - which is always their excuse for witholding payment, you can even build in penalty clauses, ie stage 4 is dependent upon them coming up with copy / graphics or whatever. What I do though, instead of offering discounts for prompt payment etc, which as mentioned earlier may look cheap or give wrong impression, I build in a 'refund percentage' if I don't hit the stage target (my fault not theirs).

May not suit everyne but it seems to work for me - so far