Hi All,

 

I am looking to start web designing using wordpress as a side businesses. i have been doing websites for friends etc over the past few years but what I am struggling with is how much to charge, how to price myself etc..

 

can someone help?

 

Thanks

Edited August 20, 20205 yr by Aaron ak
mistake

Depends on the project and the client.

Anything from £500 to £500,000

Hi,

 

could you explain in a bit more detail please? like a good starting hourly rate, is it better 5o charge per project or hourly etc

You need to look at the types of thing you're going to be doing then make some judgments based on that.

For example:

If you wrote a custom theme and it took you 10 hours how much would you like to be compensated for that work? If you wanted £500 then that equates to £50/hour.

If you wrote a quick plugin taking 1/2 hour how much would you want to be compensated for that?

If you're doing some consultancy for a new client and need to attend some meetings do you charge your hourly rate or a fixed fee?

If you're doing a full build with consultancy, planning, mockups, custom theme, commercial addons etc that may be a long project that spans over weeks and months. Do you charge per hour, or estimate the time you need and come up with a fixed price based on your hourly or daily rate? Charging hourly may blow your clients budget, so for bigger jobs you might want to use a slightly lower hourly rate.

A potential client may have £3000 budget but you cost it in at £4000, what do you do?

There's no one method to all of this, really it boils down to you finding your ideal hourly/daily rate and applying that to estimates. Be flexible if you want the work!

I agree. Some projects will be an hourly rate and some a fixed price.

I also charge different rates for different clients. The Norwegian banks pay more per hour than a charity in Africa. A FTSE 100 company pays more than a plumber down the road.

Estimate your monthly costs (rent, insurance, food, utilities etc). This will give to an idea of how much you need to earn each day. But also remember, you will spend a lot of time marketing, bringing new clients on board, answering the phone, writing emails and so on. In an 8 hour day you might only spend a couple of hours being productive.

And don’t forget you will be paying Tax and NI.

I increased my prices and got better clients.

52 minutes ago, fisicx said:

I increased my prices and got better clients.

Exactly this.

Pricing also comes with experience.  When I was contracting my hourly rate was about £60/h but that was for fixed 6 month long contracts, It would have been closer to £100/h for something that is a short duration - say a few days or a week.  It really depends on experience and what you're building.  Applications and systems will fetch a lot more money than building brochure websites due to the added complexity.

For somebody with a little experience and building WordPress websites I'd expect them to charge around£25/h given they're not usually very complex.  If they are complex then WordPress isn't the right tool.

Edited September 4, 20205 yr by rbrtsmith

Usability and accessibility is big business. Making products mobile friendly equally so.

2 hours ago, robbydesigns said:

From where? The problem seems to be finding decent clients.

Start with the right website. Then do a bit of advertising. Then the referrals happen.

Go niche, choose a business or technical area you can add value too, the more specialist you go the more you can (in most respects) charge, or the higher you can charge up to your chosen market / skill's price ceiling.

For example, a developer friend of mine concentrates on working for and with dental practices, and has built the skills and understanding needed to meet the needs of his clients.

Once you find your niche you can also go beyond time based pricing and look at value based pricing, it can be hard to get a grasp of, but if you specialise in one particular area and have a portfolio and the conversation to back it up, you will appeal to those looking for that type of skill and that client will usually value your input more as they are paying for the benefits your knowledge and experience can bring.

For the most part clients want a service provider who understands their pain and can take it away. Generalists have their place, but it's a very crowded marketplace and prices have for the most part have been going down as the market has become more disrupted.

If you can find a niche you can build your own audience, there will be less tyre kickers, and you'll earn based on your specialised knowledge of that niche.