How much?

[Javy1]

Hello Guys,

Just wondering if you can help me with something.

http://www.literal-latte.com

is my first site and I am having a problem deciding how much I should charge for it. I picked up web design on my own, no formal training ever and the site (please visit and critique) mentioned above is my first attend in doing professionally. I worked around 80 hrs on it, the rate around here is around $90/hr. Since this is my first attend I was thinking of charging him $2,500 for the site but I do not know if I am cheating myself or robbing my first client.

What do you guys think?

 

[deecee]

well the site looks good -- out of the 80 hours you spent how much was learning? you shouldnt charge your client while you learn IMHO.

How much do you feel you are worth -- the site looks like it could have easily come from a beginner who does it for a portfolio piece or a company that charges $90/hr.

$30/hr for a first site is a great beginning -- but a site like this would probably go for around $1500 - $2500 depending on what goes into it

If there is server side scripting or database work or much individual scripting (not counting CSS or HTML) then that generally inflates costs. But if you had to do lots of the copyrighting as well then that will balloon costs too. If this client provided all content then a site like this wouldn't take me more than maybe 10-20 hours.

Overall its a nice site and $2500 isnt an unreasonable cost -- I think its fair and maybe even a bit low.

zzzzzz

 

[Javy1]

Thanks for your info. You right about not charging the customer while you learn. The content was provided by the client and I did all of the input to the text database that feeds all the stories. Now I have a better understanding how much to charge.

 

[Wullie]

Hi mate,

First thing I notice is the size of the site, you really need to optimise your images. The front page alone is about 230k which is never acceptable for a front page of a site like this, especially when you only have 8 or so graphics. To put this into perspective, you are looking at a dialup user waiting about 35 seconds for this first page to load, meaning you lose a huge amount of visitors.

IMHO, the full page should be smaller than the filesize of the single header image.

As for charging, as mentioned this relates purely to you and your costs. Check out:

http://www.tutorial-world.com/showtutorial.cfm/tutid/003801044447/sec/Web Design

Hope this helps

Wullie

http://www.freshlookhosting.com

http://www.tutorial-world.com

http://www.freshlookdesign.co.uk

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell

 

[Dweezel]

Hi Javy.
Can you clear a few things up for me? You're thinking about pricing after you've finished this site. What is the story with the people you designed it for? Did you give them a rough idea of how much you'd charge, or have they given you the proverbial blank cheque?

 

[Javy1]

The deal was that I will built the site and if they like it a lot then we will discuss pricing ( I am sure this is not the best approach, but this is my first "pro" job) They were aware that I will charge them less that the current rate is per hour in this part of the country. I actually lower the price a bit more and he seems to be happy with it. He found the price very reasonable. I am learning to deal with this I have two more projects which I will approach differently when it comes to discussing pricing.

 

[grtfercho]

You could go to Elance.com Browse around looking for similar projects to the ones you are about to embark.
Find a couple of them already done (check portfolio sections of the elancers...) and see how much they went for.

It will give you a better idea of how much you have to charge your client.



grtfercho çB^]\..
"Imagination is more important than Knowledge" A. Einstein
-----------------------------------------------

http://www.llajta.com

 

[lucasm]

I agree that you should bring down the size of that front page. The George Plimpton picture is only 5 KB, which is a much better ratio of file size to dimensions than the other images on the page.

 

[Javy1]

Thanks for the advise, I will lower the size of the other pictures to make it easier for people with dial up.


J-