Brooke — Wed, 07 Jul 1999 03:03:00 +0000

Suzanna,

What a great question. I have been in business for over a year now and have learned all of my lessons the hard way. I do give them a quote (as opposed to hourly) but I also make sure I am VERY specific about what that includes, and tell them that any additions to that will be charged at the hourly rate. You want so badly to help people and give them customer service, that you sometimes forget that you are trying to run a business and make money yourself!

It can be hard at times, but you have to stick to your guns and have confidence in your abilities. Once you lose that, then you start giving the farm away.

Good luck with this one!

Brooke

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Providing quality websites for
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JP Stones — Mon, 05 Jul 1999 02:24:00 +0000

I charge:
- $60 for website design advice.
- $70-80 for marketing work.

However I rarely do this type of work as I like working for myself.
JP

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SuzannaNet — Mon, 05 Jul 1999 01:02:00 +0000

I live in a small town and most people here have no clue as to how much work goes into building an efficient, functional, nice-looking web site. In fact, most of them are just learning that the "Internet" exists! No kidding! We have some very sheltered folks in these parts of the woods.

I've been fooling around with website and graphic design for over two years. Currently, I'm working on my first "paying" customer's site. And I think I'm learning a VERY valuable lesson, indeed. A lesson which could cause me some psycho-therapy bills later on ... lol ... just kidding.

I did a VERY foolish thing. I quoted a flat fee for up to 5 pages with scanned photos of their product and a custom made logo. Unfortunately, my client is making many, many changes ... constantly ... and I estimate my "hours" involved is somewhere close to 40+. My client is also taking advantage of my scanning capabilities and asking me to scan numerous photos of their products. This was not negotiated; it just happened.

One thing I have intentionally left out from telling you. As I am sure you will slap me around quite a bit for this one. Ehm ... the flat fee I quoted was $50. No that is not a typo.

So ... indeed I need some coaching on the dos and don'ts of quoting web and graphic design fees. Okay ... go ahead and start slapping me. I can take it; I'm a big girl :)

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Suzanna.Net
www.suzanna.net

JP Stones — Sun, 04 Jul 1999 23:14:00 +0000

I would also charge by the hour.

Another tip is to charge different rates for different types of work (graphics, programming, etc.).
JP

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Carolyn Jones — Sun, 04 Jul 1999 19:24:00 +0000

good question suzanna, and it's been addressed here in the forum a few times (sorry I don't remember exactly where).
First off I wouldn't charge by the page but by the hour.
Figure out who you want to cater too and see what the other web designers are charging based on how your site making skills measure up. People charge between $20 and $100 dollars an hour -- I plan on charging somewhere in between myself .

take care,

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Carolyn Jones
icq# 5351437