
How to charge for websites? - sdaityari
http://www.sitepoint.com/charge-websites-fixed-price-projects/
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at-fates-hands
I've seen and used just about every approach to this, yet the author
completely skips the most lucrative approach, the subscription based model.

I've used this on larger clients and have had great success with it. It gives
them a sense of comfort since they're paying me monthly to keep their content
fresh and SEO up-to-date and still have the opportunity for a redesign after a
year. Plus, it gives me a nice chunk or recurring monthly revenue and
establishes a long-term relationship.

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elmoren
How does this model usually work with web design? Is it simply that the client
subscribes to n hours per month for updates, hosting isssues, etc? Then if the
client wants substantial work done, they can temporarily contract for more
hours?

~~~
at-fates-hands
Usually what happens as part of the subscription, they pay for each individual
part of the work. So design is one part, development is another. Content is
another and SEO is another. Newsletter articles, responsiveness, and other
features are all individually priced.

In the end, they might have 6-10K worth of services they want, so you just put
them on "subscription" and let them pay monthly. At the one year mark, you can
let them redesign and update the content and seo, which usually involves more
development, more content writing, etc. You basically bill them again with say
a 10-15% discount and then you're good for another year. You can also offer
additional services at a discounted monthly rate as well like writing blog
posts or articles that are added to their site on a schedule so it helps with
SERPS and content weight of their site.

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CheckHook
I'm not sure how seriously I should take this advice when the authors website
looks like this:

[http://www.optimalworks.net/](http://www.optimalworks.net/)

~~~
nfoz
I typically hate on websites pretty hard, but actually I don't have much
problem with that site. Maybe it's a bit orange, but it's clear and usable.
What are your objections to it?

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ChristianBundy
* No visual heirarchy since everything is incredibly saturated

* Useless stock icons are _way_ bigger than the text describing them

* Horrible use of white space

* Weird margins and padding

* Constantly moving animation at the top right

* Tacky quotes like "We will not rest until you have a site to be proud of."

* Only 2 clients ever (and only one of them even has a screenshot)

* Their RSS feed names their blog "BLOGNAME".

I'm not attacking the site, just listing the things that jumped out at me.

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deckar01
I like to charge a flat rate for the first X number of hours, then charge
$Y/hour after that. This forces me to gather the requirement before making an
estimate. It discourages the customer from adding new requirement unless it is
worth $Y/hour to them.

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fiatjaf
Here's a question: why does the model website-as-a-service works for blogs,
but not for other kinds of websites?

You see, wordpress.com charges for blogs, ghost.io charges for blogs, other
people give blogs for free, but still benefit from it somehow, also there's
the example of portfolio WaaS like 4ormat.com, but this model only applies to
these cases, never to hospital sites, restaurant sites, hotel sites, book
sites, or any other kind of website.

Then people in need of these other kinds of website always fell into building
a blog, even paying for other people to build them a self-hosted pretty awful
solution Wordpress blog. has this been tried?

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deadghost
Off the top of my head, they already exist for music/dance studios and real
estate. You just don't come across them because you aren't looking.

~~~
fiatjaf
Can you point me to them?

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deadghost
[http://www.mainstreetsites.com/](http://www.mainstreetsites.com/)
[http://yourvirtuoso.com/](http://yourvirtuoso.com/)

I've also seen some for real estate and others.

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csomar
My small experience with charging is related specifically to the client size.

If you want to charge $350/hour, weekly and on a long basis, odds are you'll
be charging a corporation and not a household.

My experience also, you probably won't get $350/hour even if you charge the
client so. There will be middle man, taxes, vat, payment delays, accounting
and many other expenses...

That's why you should be charging at least $200/hour. And that's for the very
mundane, and noncompetitive tasks.

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Raphmedia
Note that this really depends where you are from. In my part of Canada, you
would be charging around $90 to $120 / hour.

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csomar
I'm doing remote work. Currently in an underdeveloped country.

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maxk42
I'm doing remote work in a major US city. I've been charging well above market
rates for a while now, but haven't been able to break the $100 / hour barrier
yet.

I feel like my income is stagnating -- my skills and expertise are at the top
of their game, but I just haven't been able to find projects where I'm able to
charge more.

Where should I be looking? Is there an effective way for me to change my
approach?

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davidw
This is sensible, but can't he find someone to compare us computer folks to
besides used car dealers? That's not painting a happy picture in many people's
minds.

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kohanz
Agreed. The analogy also breaks down quickly because there is no car dealer
that sells both a 10-year old Ford and F1 McLaren. Generally, dealerships
offer very narrow bands of value within that large range.

~~~
robmclarty
Don't be a used-car web dev then. Be the luxury sedan - sport car web dev. I
explain to my clients (not necessarily through this analogy) that I'm
definitely not the cheapest dev/designer they'll be able to find, but that
they'll gain more quality, etc. for more money with me (with case studies to
back that claim up). I don't sell my clients used cars, and so they don't
expect to pay used-car rates with me ;)

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ekspreso
Why does this site eat 50% of my CPU?

~~~
robmclarty
Close down those porn tabs you have open? idk. lol

