James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
I fancy doing some web design/development in my spare time. Mainly for extra money, but I also quite enjoy it.
I'm good at the coding but don't have a great eye for design. My plan was to target small companies and try to use templates as much as possible. Obviously this would reflect in the price I would charge, as there's a chance that their site wouldn't be unique. It also means I could turn projects around very quickly.
Does anyone think this is a good way of doing it? If so, how much should I charge for basic static sites with about 6 pages with a contact page?
One last question - if I do use templates, do I actually need to tell the client that I've used a template? Assuming I paid for a template so that I could legally remove any references to the designer....
|
James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
Alternatively......I could sub contract the design to someone to produce a PSD. Then I could build the site....
|
Whittie
Member
Registered: 11th Aug 06
Location: North Wales Drives: BMW, Corsa & Fiat
User status: Offline
|
I use templates unless there's something I can't find, or the clients need someting bespoke. Can turn around sites much quicker then.
Regarding pricing, keep it simple, just do brochure sites rather than shops. A lot less time consuming. Can have one done in under 3/4 hours whilst watching some TV in the background and can get you over £500.
£150 for first page, design and setup
£100 per page there after.
Or similar to reflect London Prices.
|
James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
I'll be targeting my local area (Surrey) rather than London. There are a few local places I already have in mind that either don't have a website, or have a rubbish one.
The other thing is that I know all about XHTML validation and cross-browser compatibility, so if I find a template that I like but it isn't up to scratch, I can use the design and re-write the HTML/CSS.
[Edited on 26-10-2012 by James]
|
Whittie
Member
Registered: 11th Aug 06
Location: North Wales Drives: BMW, Corsa & Fiat
User status: Offline
|
Most templates have to be validated and cross browser compatible anyway so shouldn't have to go through that.
In the past when I was doing it as my sole income and nothing was coming in sales wise, i've physically found a place with a shit website, made them one gone round and walked out with the price i'd charge. End of the day its nothing to change a few images or content, so you're only wasting an hour if they say no.
Just do yourself a decent site, seo it for locals and then see how it goes, end of the day there's no start up costs as such so nothing to lose.
|
Nismo
Member
Registered: 12th Sep 02
User status: Offline
|
The thing with this is you need to make it cheap enough that you actually attract business and what I've learnt is if you make it cheap enough you get more work and more experience which is essentially what your doing it for.
You could do 4 upto 6 page static websites for 1K easily, yet trying to make a small company fork out 1K for a slightly larger CMS style website is alot harder to get.
I also see the plus side of small static websites is you can charge ongoing fee's for content updates, website re-fresh every year, hosting and any other bolt ons.
One avenue worth looking at is local pubs, i did a google search with a radius of about 15 miles and found about 60 pubs, 45 of them did food and out of those 45 only 11 had a website that was either any good or listed in search engines, so 34 pubs were potentially loosing business by not being found.
I can fire websites out all day long but like you hate the design side of things, so i find websites I like the layout and theme of then re-style based on that, change colour scheme, some of the layout, logos and content to fit with the business.
Get yourself a business hosting package with one of the main providers and 1 website a year pays for the hosting.
Once you start firing a few websites out word of mouth is possibly the best form of advertising and you start getting more work.
|
James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
Another question - do I admit to just doing it in my spare time, or do I present myself as a professional outfit?
The main problem is that I'm obviously not available 9 -5 Monday - Friday, which for small shops etc is the best time to speak with them
|
Nismo
Member
Registered: 12th Sep 02
User status: Offline
|
Start by saying its a spare time / evening thing, that way you are not committing to deadlines and people will understand that they cant get hold of you all the time, Also this means that you can actually make the customer do some of the work, I.E providing content and images etc..
You can let them know you are on email all the time, if possible in your normal job, I meet with most people in the evenings as this fits me best.
And if you make it clear that its a spare time thing most work is paid in cash.
|
willay
Moderator
Organiser: South East, National Events
Premium Member
Registered: 10th Nov 02
Location: Roydon, Essex
User status: Offline
|
and if you charge a cash price, make it reasonable.. Web design is so fucking overpriced its amazing.
|
Nismo
Member
Registered: 12th Sep 02
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by willay
and if you charge a cash price, make it reasonable.. Web design is so fucking overpriced its amazing.
Exactly this.
I have a freiend who also does it, but wouldn't even boot there pc for the price i charge.
Ive said to them that they charge far to much and they said my work isnt worth anything less, thats fine thats there choice, they get next to no work.
id rather under charge and get the work and a bit of extra wonga. Ive had a company for about 5 years now think i charged them £150 for a 6 page website, every year i charge them for hosting, domain renewal, the odd update, and DDI 0845 number and get around the £150-£250 a year off them, And also through them has come another 3/4 websites so cant really complain.
|
ed
Member
Registered: 10th Sep 03
User status: Offline
|
I do a lot of PSD to WordPress/Facebook App/Mobile Web App/Website conversions. I'm better at writing PHP and JavaScript than I am designing a site from scratch in Photoshop/Illustrator so the work suits me well. Have a few clients who kept a steady flow of work coming my way when I needed it. I charged fixed prices for most standard stuff i.e. a WordPress theme or a WordPress plugin, then figured out a fixed price on a calculated hourly rate for more custom stuff. Then if people want things changed during the project I charge per hour.
|
ed
Member
Registered: 10th Sep 03
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by Nismo
Get yourself a business hosting package with one of the main providers and 1 website a year pays for the hosting.
Or get an LEB VPS and manage it yourself - <10 mins work pays for a months hosting. You can then charge each customer more than the monthly cost of the box for hosting. You obviously have to factor in your time to keep it maintained but if your careful this is negligible.
|
Dom
Member
Registered: 13th Sep 03
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by ed
quote:
Originally posted by Nismo
Get yourself a business hosting package with one of the main providers and 1 website a year pays for the hosting.
Or get an LEB VPS and manage it yourself - <10 mins work pays for a months hosting. You can then charge each customer more than the monthly cost of the box for hosting. You obviously have to factor in your time to keep it maintained but if your careful this is negligible.
Personally i wouldn't want to venture into (unmanaged) LEB hosting with clients unless i really knew WTF i was doing with maintaining linux systems and keeping the box afloat when the proverbial hits the fan.
More so when decent 'cloud' hosting can be had for £20 p/m (ie: Tsohost's).
|
AdZ9
Member
Registered: 14th Apr 06
User status: Offline
|
I do all my private work based on an hourly rate - £30 an hour, obviously times it by how long I think it will take, then add 20% on top. That is with a set amount of revisions on the design too, anything over those are charged extra. I also add 20% to any extra costs such as hosting, domains etc
|
James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
I do all my stuff in .Net - Windows hosting is so expensive 
I might have to re-learn PHP.
|
Dom
Member
Registered: 13th Sep 03
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by James
I do all my stuff in .Net - Windows hosting is so expensive
As mentioned, look at Tsohost's clouding hosting as it supports both platforms.
Opensource is usually the go-to for keeping costs down though and tbf, a decent book and a weekend and you'll get majority of PHP.
|
James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
I used to know PHP, but haven't used it for about 6 years. Hopefully I should be OK.
|
Tom J
Organiser: South Wales
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Sep 03
Location: Bridgend
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by Dom
quote:
Originally posted by James
I do all my stuff in .Net - Windows hosting is so expensive
As mentioned, look at Tsohost's clouding hosting as it supports both platforms.
Opensource is usually the go-to for keeping costs down though and tbf, a decent book and a weekend and you'll get majority of PHP.
can you recommend a decent book for PHP? bit rusty on it
|
James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by Tom J
quote:
Originally posted by Dom
quote:
Originally posted by James
I do all my stuff in .Net - Windows hosting is so expensive
As mentioned, look at Tsohost's clouding hosting as it supports both platforms.
Opensource is usually the go-to for keeping costs down though and tbf, a decent book and a weekend and you'll get majority of PHP.
can you recommend a decent book for PHP? bit rusty on it
There's an iPad app that has a book and the PHP reference manual built into it. I can't remember what it's called but it's only 69p, just search for PHP on the app store.
This assumes you have an iPad/iPhone though...
|
Tom J
Organiser: South Wales
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Sep 03
Location: Bridgend
User status: Offline
|
yeah i've got an iphone cheers
|
Whittie
Member
Registered: 11th Aug 06
Location: North Wales Drives: BMW, Corsa & Fiat
User status: Offline
|
Tom - I used PHP for absolute beginners by Lengstoft / Apress. Was decent.
|
Tom J
Organiser: South Wales
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Sep 03
Location: Bridgend
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by Whittie
Tom - I used PHP for absolute beginners by Lengstoft / Apress. Was decent.
|
Dom
Member
Registered: 13th Sep 03
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by Tom J
can you recommend a decent book for PHP? bit rusty on it
Looks at O'reilly, Apree or Wrox do some decent books. Lynda.com is also worth looking at (can be had in the usual places).
I've got a handful of PHP books in digital format if anyone wants them; drop me a U2U etc.
[Edited on 26-10-2012 by Dom]
|
ed
Member
Registered: 10th Sep 03
User status: Offline
|
The entire documentation for PHP is on http://php.net
|
Rob_Quads
Member
Registered: 29th Mar 01
Location: southampton
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by ed
The entire documentation for PHP is on http://php.net
Its quite good too. I've used it loads in doing a small site at work. Most functions have some good user submitted examples and hints and tips
|
