Hey all,

 

I have a new client that would like me to re create his website and maintain / update it regularly. How would I go about pricing the maintaince / updaing?

 

The site is probally going to be on a cms. like joomla.

 

I dont many more details yet but Will add more when I find out.

 

How would you say I work out pricing for this?

Well, I don't think price should be your focus.... more the effort. You must have a rough idea of what your hourly rate is, so the price will follow easily from the effort.

 

The tough bit is predicting the effort of maintenance.

 

Have you defined the frequency at which updates will be applied? Maybe a software update once a month? How often would you update the content? You would have to agree that. How long would that take?

 

Are you also offering support? If so, you'll need to define a service level agreement.

 

You'll have to predict the effort to some extent. The more optimistic you are, the more risk you take on. The more pessimistic you are, the more expensive your price will get. So there is a judgement call here. Analyse the best case scenario and derive a price for that, then look at the worst case, and come up with a price for that. The quote will be somewhere between that depending on the risk you want to take on, and what the client would be willing to pay.

If you are building in Joomla, why would you have to maintain it, if the customer is trained then he can maintain it for himself.

Should he screw it up then give him your hourly rate for the fixing of the website.

If you are building in Joomla, why would you have to maintain it, if the customer is trained then he can maintain it for himself.

Should he screw it up then give him your hourly rate for the fixing of the website.

"should he screw it up" - lol

 

Just because a site is built on a CMS it doesn't always follow that the client will want to update themselves.

I tend to ask the client what sort of updates they will want initially and what they forsee. I then try to estimate what I think my work effort will be.

 

I then give an estimate for a year (to give a rough idea of what we are talking based on their expected requirements) and we review every month for the first 3 months & every 3 months thereafter and adjust the agreement based on how close the clients real requirements have been in relation to what their estimated requirements were.

 

That way, if they were accurate in the first instance things stay pretty much the way they are, if they over estimated we reduce the cost of the plan, if they under estimated we increase it.

 

It also allows for fluctuation & change in requirements so they aren't locked in to something more expensive than they really need and so you are not locked in to something that turns out to be more expensive than you estimated (I dont think I've ever had an agreement that was truely a constant) or where they don't really know.

 

 

Many clients dont really know, for these this is best because it allows you to be casual about it without risking you or them taking big hit.

 

 

 

Lets take a typical small business example:

 

"Mostly I want you to back it up as much as you think is best, keep an eye on my bandwidth, translate my analytics into something meaningful.

 

I will have a number of new products to add over time, when I do I want help with images and product displays for any promotions I do. I expect there will be about 500 products over the year that I want some help with, I could have thousands but I'm taking it one step at a time, we will say about 500 for now.

 

I'll probably add them in about 2 or 3 batches later on when I know its worthwhile getting them all in stock.

 

I'm happy to add the products myself, just I will need help with the photos so they look nice.

 

I think I want SEO, some people told me about it and warned me about outlandish blaims, but I dont really understand it so can you advise me on that?

 

Oh and I might want a few new features adding to the site later, I was thinking about product comparisons and maybe reviews. I'm sure there will be other things, but I don't think there will be very much."

 

 

 

You can use something like that to form a plan, so try to get at least that kind of detail out of the client.

 

If you have a few solid, constants like the SEO, backups and a rough idea of product assistance it makes it easier, then you have a few fluffy bits.

 

Like that the products could be a lot more than 500 and the new features could come thick and fast at some point but its not likely.

 

 

You work out how much time everything will take as it has been told, like assume 500 products and then indicate what difference 1000 would make to a month or two.

 

Fundamentally by being flexible on a month by month or quater by quater basis you'll be able to flex and adapt it to meet that clients needs as you get to know them and their business better.

 

Eventually you'll be able to second guess that client in the following years as you'll know them, their aims and how they are progressing.

Thanks all