Re: FN-FORUM design rates

date posted 25th August 2000 13:13

On 24/8/00 at 3:05 pm, [EMAIL REMOVED] (Damian Thomas) wrote:

> Thanks for the help everyone, but I didn't expect a full scale war
> when I got back :-)

That was just a little bonus...

> I think Hot said that prestigeauto was worth around £500, I don't know
> if everyone else agrees but I'm quite chuffed now!!
>
> today its £5, tomorrrow its £10 lol
>
> What rates do you all think I'm good enough to ask for?

Aah, the easy ones first, eh? I wish...

I would say that £500 is the least anyone should reasonably expect to
pay for a site. I'm not counting the "website for £90" merchants; that
needs stamping out ASAP. And for £500, you don't get much either. No
rollovers, nothing fancy, just a simple static site of around 2-3 pages.

But even that can look great, and it always should. Most of the sites
I've done have cost around £2000, but I would still take on a site for
someone who only had £500 to spend; I would make sure I didn't spend
long on it, but I would also make sure it looked like the business.

I think you need to brush up your design skills, because that will set
you apart straight away, and give you something to offer clients that
other, cheaper folks can't offer. A nice looking site stands out from
the cheap crap, is impressive in it's own right. It's obviously better,
even if the viewer doesn't know the reason why. When you place something
on the page, whether it's a photo or a block of text, ask yourself if it
looks good where it is. To get to know whether it looks good or not,
visit some other sites and analyse the ones you like, define what it is
that makes them look good. Then, as an exercise, copy them. Why not base
the next job on a site that you've seen? I don't mean copy every element
slavishly, just take some ideas. Everyone starts that way; I still
'pinch' ideas all the time...when you have some design sense, the end
result never looks like the original 'idea' site, but nonetheless, other
people's ideas play a part. Any good designer will admit to influences;
don't believe them if they deny it :-)

Up your prices, and raise your sights a bit. Learn to design, and when
you're quoting, warn your clients that they WILL get cheaper quotes, and
make sure they see your confidence. Show them why they should avoid
paying less; show them the advantage they get when they get YOU to do
their site.

I hope that doesn't sound patronizing; it's not meant to. I just think
that this is the area in which you can show you're different to the
cheapo merchants. Anyone can put up a site nowadays, and many do, and a
lot of business people think that's as good as it gets; they're
impressed that it's up there in the first place, never mind what it
looks like. But they wouldn't stand for that sort of design for their
company stationery, for instance. That has to be good, and tells a
prospective customer something about the firm. So they should take as
much care over their Web site as they do with any of their other
advertsising.

best wishes,

Paul

http://www.paulbradforth.com
http://pbi.freelancers.net
XXII Group http://www.xxii.com