Hi,

 

I usually charge an amount for a Website without CMS, and an amount higher if it's with a CMS.

 

Besides that, I charge a bit more for some extra features, which can be hired separately, which are:

 

- Integration with social networks

- Integration with Google Analytics, and the teaching of it's use

- A formulary for registering of emails for Newsletter use

- SEO

 

What do you think of this way of working? Do you have other extra features that you use to offer for your clients?

(a bunch of sense)

 

I know it's shooting myself in the foot with regard to updates, but there is no excuse for delivering a completely static website any more. For the price of half an hour of my time I can get a licence for Unify, which allows in-place editing of pre-defined blocks of content. From there upward there's a sliding scale of CMS complexity that covers all possible requirements.

 

Speaking of requirements, I'm firmly of the belief that "packages" of any sort are detrimental to both your business and the client's. Sit down with them, either in person or over the phone and work out what it is they're trying to achieve (whether it's more sales, better brand recognition or whatever) and work out how you can best help them fulfil that goal. It may mean that sometimes you're talking yourself out of work you could otherwise have got, but if everything you do is to the client's benefit you'll never deliver an unsuccessful project.

Got to agree with Rob and Chris, GA is a must on every site, the data helps you, as a designer, better understand what the latest trends are, what's working, and what's not.

 

All sites I do now are CMS, once you have the basic framework in place it can easily be adapted for each individual site, so not a great deal of extra work.

 

SEO is something you should be doing as standard. Even if it is a very basic on-page effort, after all nobody wants to hire a designer who's sites don't rank!

 

Social media is awkward, I still get clients that really fail to understand the power behind them and just look at me like I'm stupid when I mention Facebook or twitter. If the client wants it, yeah set up a basic profile on the big players like twitter and Facebook, possibly even google +, LinkedIn might be an option too if the client is looking to network.

 

It may sound alot, but gone are the days when you could up sell anything and everything. Clients aren't afraid to take the p*** and they know if you won't do it, matey boy in his bedroom round the corner will - and probably cheaper!

Avoid packages and bolt ons.

Cost the job as a stand alone job and charge what the job costs in time rather than splitting it in to different chunks of work.

 

Everything we do is always split in to nicely defined chunks called minuets, hours etc...

Essentially I charge for for the time I work, or at least what I think will cover the time I work, but I don't throw in all the extras and up my price without discussing with the client first, else I could price myself out of a project because of things the client never wanted. Very few of my clients want social media accounts setting up if I set them up without asking there is a very good chance they wouldn't be very happy. Knowing the clients budget up from shows you how far you can go.

 

But freelancing is a business and we need to innovate and find ways of maximising our income from what sources are available. The best way to do this is to listen to what your clients want. Opportunities for repeat monthly work can guarantee income and security so getting a client singed up is certainly a goal of mine but only if it makes sense for them.

 

A lot of freelancers wont do this but I do host clients websites, the main reason being I will always get asked by them what they should do and if I can sort it. Hosting is a mind field and if i'm going to be helpful to the client and be willing to take responsibility then I might as well take this as an opportunity and secure a monthly income. Because hosting isn't my main focus I generally only offer this to smaller sites I know I can easily look after and I only offer this to clients. I am a network engineer which helps. At university I had a module with design students, they all wanted portfolios and most were happy making their own sites, very few were confident in getting hosting, and so many of them approached me asking if I would host for them. I save them many hours of research and heartache if it goes wrong while keeping the bank manager happy.

 

When there is something technical and time consuming then the likelihood is someone would rather pay you to do it then learn, just like all the other services out there.

Edited May 24, 201214 yr by WBC

Hi,

 

I understand that it's more professional and better for us and for the client to make a specific budget for each project.

 

But my problem is about the marketing. I usuallly approach my clients with some kind of advertising. When I put the price, of, let's say, 100, some get interested. If I put a too high price, I believe they wouldn't. At the same time, there are some big companies that could easily pay 300, and putting 100 for them I'm losing money.

 

So, the "package" is a way of offering a price of 100, and at the same time offering a price of 200, trying to reach both client's budget.

By your experience, do you find this a too bad method of working? My problem is that, even when clients come to me asking for a estimate budget, they usually do this for several web design companies at the same time. And if I put a too high price, they seem to don't even answer anymore, so I don't have the change to put it down.

 

How you deal with this, don't losing clients with small budget, but at the same time don't losing money for big companies that could of course pay more?

 

My way of dealing, now, is doing this that I mentioned: separating Google Analytics, SEO, Social Networks integration, Newsletter.