Low Cost Web Designer

ruaille buaille

Hi Everyone,

I have made a few websites for friends the past few years. Generally using websites like Wix, squarespace and wordpress, customising the templates. Mostly I have just been thrown a few bob and maybe a present etc. Some people have commented on how good the websites are and are encouraging me to set up a little business making websites. I dont have any qualifications etc for this and so am wondering am I foolish to think that this is possible? Would people pay for this? I would be looking to charge around €250 (not including the hosting fees, domain name charge etc.)

Seth Brundle

€250 for a website?
What's in the site?
How many hours/days/weeks/months will it take you to develop?
How many client meetings will you have to attend?
What testing have you planned for the €250 sites?
What form of ongoing support or maintenance is included?

Without having some form of specification, it's impossible to accurately cost a website.

When working out an estimate, think of how much your time is worth. Assuming you're worth that amount, base the costs upon that.
Nonetheless, €250 is very cheap so I would not expect too much if I was a client.

ruaille buaille

So far the websites i've made have been fairly simple. Usually about four pages eg. home page, about company page, page showing prices etc, and a contact me page. I generally use the template on a wix or squarespace website and change around the pictures and add in the writing based on info the client gave me. It usually takes up to 10hours total so charging €250 means I get €25 an hour which I'd be happy with. This is the fee that I would charge for making the website. They would have to pay the hosting etc. themselves. Usually through the wix etc. which would work out at around €100 a year for the subscription.

Basically, I feel a bit cheeky charging for this because really its something that they could do themselves. Although I think I am good at figuring out the right designs and writing the info. I'm afraid of getting caught out because I dont really have any real knowledge about webdesign or IT etc. So far the ones I have made for friends and family have turned out well so maybe just need a bit of confidence...

ruaille buaille

Forgot to answer these qts:

How many hours/days/weeks/months will it take you to develop? about 2-3weeks
How many client meetings will you have to attend? None. Hoping it could all be done by email
What testing have you planned for the €250 sites? None. not sure what you mean...
What form of ongoing support or maintenance is included? None. I suppose they could contact me if there was some problem but in general once the website is done its done?

Seth Brundle

Throwing together a few four page sites is fine as a nixed. Don't expect to earn a living from it though as very few successful companies want that. They are getting the web site made to bring in business.
Aa for the €25per hour rate, don't forget you have to pay tax on this. Any of your clients can be audited and they won't all be dealing in cash.

smash

For friends and family, why not. But for a business, they wont want a generic wix template and you'll soon find yourself well in over your head.

ruaille buaille

I was thinking more like very small businesses or self employed people etc. who just want something cheap?

Seth Brundle

Your clients will want three things from any website that you create:
* It is developed quickly
* It will be cheap
* It will be of high quality

They can only ever have two of those!

EdenStudios

If you enjoy it and it's an area that interests you then why not?

Is it an area that you enjoy though and whats your motivation? You only mentioned the encouragement and not having any real interest in doing it. If people told you the work was pretty poor, would you still persevere?

If you're really interested, I wouldn't be in a rush to leave the day job immediately.Rather, I'd try phasing it in as a second job until/if things get busy enough?

Trojan

ruaille buaille wrote: »

Basically, I feel a bit cheeky charging for this because really its something that they could do themselves.

I could buy an oil filter and a drum of oil from MicksGarage, and do a service myself, but I'll still bring my car to a garage.

Don't worry about the fact that people can do what you're providing themselves, the fact is a lot of people can't (i.e. you're downplaying your knowledge) and a lot of people don't want the hassle (i.e. they value their time and don't want to spend it on learning this particular skill).

ruaille buaille wrote: »

Although I think I am good at figuring out the right designs and writing the info. I'm afraid of getting caught out because I dont really have any real knowledge about webdesign or IT etc. So far the ones I have made for friends and family have turned out well so maybe just need a bit of confidence...

I think what you need is a bit of structure and education around what you're doing. Start to educate yourself - watch online videos, take courses, buy a few books (or get them in the library - nothing more than 5 years old mind you, things move quickly).

You will charge low amounts starting out, but I strongly advise charging enough to make a living. Don't do "mates rates", you're better off doing stuff for free (and thus are able to walk away) than for cheap.

ruaille buaille

Thank you so much for all your posts. It has been very encouraging. I hope my new project will work well