The Business: Knowing what to charge

To follow up on a mini-series I started here, I guess the first thing I should write about is what to charge. When I was first starting out, as a HS Sophomore with not to much experience past Microsoft Frontpage, I really did not know what to charge. I also had a small problem with asking for money. My first client site I got a cool $200 for which, at the time, I thought was pretty great. I set my prices pretty low though. $10/hr for for a site, and at the time I wasn’t developing anything ground breaking.

So how did I know to charge more? Well, honestly, I owe that to a mentor of mine, someone who knows business. He told me I needed to be confident in my work, and that I needed to charge more. This really, is for a couple of reason. Most people looking for a web site now-a-days want something good. I didn’t understand why people weren’t coming to me even though i was the ‘most affordable’. The cheapest. And that is exactly why. If people are going to pay good money for a site, they want to hire someone who knows they can do a good job. That is reflected in how much you charge. At $10/hr, I lacked confidence, and clients. Two- the time I put into it is usually more than what I charge. In web development, it’s tough to gage just how long you will work on a project, and if you tell a client one price, you better stay close to it. I have been phasing in a new way of charging, where it is more of a flat rate, based on what they want. This price comes from me charging $25-35/hr and estimating how much time it will take. I can estimate now, after doing it for a few years.

I feel at about $30/hr, it is worth my time to develop a nice site. This price will raise steadily over the next year most likely, as I grow closer and closer to graduation. Soon I will need to charge enough to support myself, especially if I want to be a freelancer/business owner. But of-course, I better be able to offer the products people want if I decide im going to charge over $35/hr for a web site. Later.