Low budget clients

Placebo

I work full time as a web designer/developer, I try do some freelance from time to time and take what i can get but i've been getting clients who really offer a really low price.
Other day i got asked to do a static website , 4/5 page and they were offering 400 euros.
Personally few years ago when i was in college this would have been a great deal but right now, it just sounds like a lot of hassle for just that amount .

Any opinions?

meditraitor

It really depends how much work/time you would have to put into the project....

1-3days - spot on
3-5 days - ish
any more only if your broke and have no job

Dirk Gently

There's lots of people offering web design these days. The market is saturated really with people offering static / brochure type sites. Everyone is under cutting each other and driving prices down. That's just the way it is at the moment. I clicked one boardsies sig there last week and he was offering €99 websites

I suppose people have to do what they have to do.

kippy

To be honest, 2-5 static pages for 400 euro is a very good earner.....surely you have a few templates?
Its something you can throw together in a couple of hours if you know what you are at and the client has given you detailed specs......
Static pages shouldnt cost that much to do. Unless you have to sort out domain name, hosting etc its a fair price I think.

Chardee MacDennis

static sites are a pain in the rocks from the perspective of who will update them. you will get hassled to do it for nothing, unless you have NOTHING to do with the site once its complete don't bother with it imho...

Pixelcraft

It's all down to the quality of your own work and how you'll deliver a website for €400. To me I think it boils down to this:

You think 400 is better than nothing, devote a certain amount of time to it and deliver a €400 website, with much less attention to detail than a higher budget job - ultimately your workmanship & reputation may suffer, but that's down to you.

You think 400 is better than nothing, resell a template and populate it with content (this is what most €400ish sites seem to be) edit: and it's really up to the service provider to tell their clients that's what they are getting. The amount of people I see ripped off with a free, or cheap template and they don't even know it is disgraceful, and pure cowboy-ism.

Or you actually treat it like a higher budget job, which you will soon realise you would be better off on the dole than taking that job.

If you've nothing to differ yourself from another template reseller then yes, the more of you at it the more the price will fall.

RoadKillTs

There's lots of people offering web design these days. The market is saturated really with people offering static / brochure type sites. Everyone is under cutting each other and driving prices down. That's just the way it is at the moment. I clicked one boardsies sig there last week and he was offering €99 websites

I think that is for a Joomla install.

The market is saturated but there are a lot of cowboys out there. You get what you pay for.

Placebo

Anyone interested in setting up a company that inspects sites for clients to see if they're legit and worth the price

Dave!

Placebo wrote: »

Anyone interested in setting up a company that inspects sites for clients to see if they're legit and worth the price

If you get it goin, I'll make a website for your company for €99 !

If that's the budget, a template is the way forward. We might use a freebie psd template and customise it a bit in that situation, or we have some generic in house templates that we can customise with different colour scheme, header and footer. If it's a straightforward site with no dynamic parts, mad design or heavy jQuery, it CAN be rolled off the production line and generate a profit at those prices, as long as the customer knows exactly what they are paying for. This is where a detailed quote and contract come in.

The thing is, taking a generic template and putting your logo in is not what I would call branding, and it is usually very obvious that a site is based on a template and using generic stock photography. We might advise such a customer to go for a custom design 1 pager and up the page count when the budget allows.

CamperMan

clown bag wrote: »

There's lots of people offering web design these days. The market is saturated really with people offering static / brochure type sites. Everyone is under cutting each other and driving prices down. That's just the way it is at the moment. I clicked one boardsies sig there last week and he was offering €99 websites

I suppose people have to do what they have to do.

And that is for a CMS website!! with hosting and .com domain name

matt-dublin

no wonder you're so cheap, your hosting is in texas!!

Ronan_

CamperMan wrote: »

And that is for a CMS website!! with hosting and .com domain name

You should really look at some of the sites you have in your portfolio. Lots of silly mistakes!

e.g. footer in one of your sites:
Copyright © Add Your Footer Text Here 2006-2008 All rights reserved
Joomla Templates By JoomlaDesigns

CamperMan

Ronan_ wrote: »

You should really look at some of the sites you have in your portfolio. Lots of silly mistakes!

e.g. footer in one of your sites:
Copyright © Add Your Footer Text Here 2006-2008 All rights reserved
Joomla Templates By JoomlaDesigns

it's 99 euros!!!

Placebo

CamperMan wrote: »

it's 99 euros!!!

Mc donald's euro saver, burger is 2 euros. That doesnt mean they serve it with a bite taken out of it.

EKRIUQ

CamperMan wrote: »

And that is for a CMS website!! with hosting and .com domain name

Hey Placebo, get Camperman to do the site for you for €99. Client's happy, you make €300 for a few tweeks and Camperman is happy. It's not really a new innovation, people have been outsourcing for years.

CuLT

Probably about time an association of high quality developers/designers was set up, to be honest.

CamperMan

Ronan_ wrote: »

You should really look at some of the sites you have in your portfolio. Lots of silly mistakes!

e.g. footer in one of your sites:
Copyright © Add Your Footer Text Here 2006-2008 All rights reserved
Joomla Templates By JoomlaDesigns

Ronan..

all my clients have full access to update their own websites using Joomla, some have made a complete mess of their websites since they got access. I have no control over what a client does with their website once I give them full control.

DrivingTestTips: Brian

Placebo wrote: »

Anyone interested in setting up a company that inspects sites for clients to see if they're legit and worth the price

I'm self taught in webdesign, php/MySQL etc and SEO.
I do the above for people because so many people went to so called website companies and got ripped off.

I myself paid €9,000 for a website, the guy who built it turned out, to be out sourcing the work and did not know anything about Design and SEO.

You can have a Joomla, Drupal OSCommerce, Magento or what ever Open Source CMS you want, But all that says is you know how to setup a website using an open source CMS and if your customer ask me that is what I would tell them.

"IF you learn Joomla then you can build websites" Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The value is in the work you do, Pay more BUT get a support package. €400 - if you SEO and give a little support. Price very good, even go up to €500 - €600.
That is what I would recommended.

Sorry about the little rant..

matt-dublin

matt-dublin wrote: »

no wonder you're so cheap, your hosting is in texas!!

Thats why i was giving out, SEO issues with servers hosted in USA, and by the looks of things the sites are designed from free template sites!

CamperMan

matt-dublin wrote: »

Thats why i was giving out, SEO issues with servers hosted in USA, and by the looks of things the sites are designed from free template sites!

the clients are happy. and if they are happy, then so am I.. I don't think people can really complain about a 99 euro website, it would be different if it was 799 euros... and to be honest with you, I have seen clients come to me that have paid out over 4000 euros for a site (by another web design firm) and they look crap.. they come to me for a new site and think that they have clearly been ripped off by the last web guy charging 4000 euros and I provide something better for 99 euros. This has not been the only case, clients have paid, 800 euros, 900 euros, 1200 euros for sh!t websites with other firms, they come to me and are 110% happy with what I offer them.

DrivingInfo

CamperMan wrote: »

the clients are happy. and if they are happy, then so am I.. I don't think people can really complain about a 99 euro website, it would be different if it was 799 euros... and to be honest with you, I have seen clients come to me that have paid out over 4000 euros for a site (by another web design firm) and they look crap.. they come to me for a new site and think that they have clearly been ripped off by the last web guy charging 4000 euros and I provide something better for 99 euros. This has not been the only case, clients have paid, 800 euros, 900 euros, 1200 euros for sh!t websites with other firms, they come to me and are 110% happy with what I offer them.

Their is a old sane!
The man that works for noting will never be idol.

MrsJohnMurphy

CamperMan wrote: »

all my clients have full access to update their own websites using Joomla, some have made a complete mess of their websites since they got access. I have no control over what a client does with their website once I give them full control.

I have alot of web and IT experience and found Joomla tricky enough to use to begin with. I certainly wouldnt expect someone with no or little IT or web development experience to be able to maintain a site with joomla.

I wonder would camperman would be happy if a garage sold him a car and gave him a free wrench and expected him to be able to do all future repairs himself :rolleyes:

In reality, while people are getting what they pay for from you, I think your approach is in effect setting them up for a fall and is reckless.

mjm