market price for a web page

@xpressAug 10.2003

What is the standard market price to hire a web developer to build a web page for a small business? How do developers get paid? (hourly, fixed rate for each project….. or some other way of negotiation?)

I’ve built websites for work and leasure, but this time I’m thinking about building a website for a small business, and I’d like to know how to negotiate the price, what’s reasonable to ask and how to get started on the project planning and meeting. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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@PeOfEoAug 10.2003 — #http://forums.webdeveloper.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14014

it really depends on what you offer. Do you maintain the site? Do you host it? Do you use any server side languages? Is the finished site any good? You need to take all of those and more into consideration.

@xpressauthorAug 10.2003 — #Thank you, I'm reading this other thread that you gave the link to, considering if I should continue this conversation there or here....

Anyways, I will design the site, code it, and maintain it for at least one year. I don't think there'll be any serverside languages involved. It'll be mostly HTML, CSS, and Javascript (maybe flash maybe not). The finished site will be the website for a business. (how much does that sound to you?)

As I'm reading the previous thread, the more ideas I'm getting, but at the same time, can't decide the pros and cons in the various ways of charging. Perhaps you can help me out in that area. Also, what is the price for design? (because that's something that could take up A LOT of time sometimes...)

By the way, what exactly do you mean by hosting?

What about meeting? How often should I meet with the client and is it usual to charge by each meeting also or no (like how consultants do)?

@PeOfEoAug 10.2003 — #I dont know exactly I dont do webdesign for anyone yet. I have been spreading the word, in our condo I posted a flyer and all, so I can make a little cash when I am not working or in class. But by hosting I mean do you host their site, do you have a server or an account on someone elses server and can you provide you customers with webspace for their site. That way you can charge them for that and it would prbably save them in the end because they would not have to search around for someone to host them on the net and it would most likely be cheaper for them too.

@pyroAug 10.2003 — #You might want to take a look at what others in your area are charging to do web design work. I personally charge by the page for run of the mill web design work. Then, things like Flash, custom programming, etc. run up the bill from there.

@xpressauthorAug 10.2003 — #If people charge hourly and work at home, how does the client know how much time they really put in? Or maybe it's not such a good way of charging?

If not, does $70 a page (plain html) sound reasonable or way off? What about time for meeting the client? Is it usual to charge for that too? (because the drive plus the meeting time might be 3-4 hours that's not being paid). How does that work?

@xpressauthorAug 10.2003 — #Thank you, pyro,

so how much do you charge per page (assuming plain html)? Do you have a one-time initial design charge for the look and feel of the entire site? And how do you charge for stuff beyond html?

@pyroAug 10.2003 — #How do any clients know that the business is not over charging them? For instance, if you take your computer into the repair shop, how do you know they really spent two hours working on your box? You don't... you have to take their word for it. The same applies with programming.

$70 per page is probably a bit cheap, but if you are just starting off, it might not be too bad. Also, like I said, you need to check what other companies are charging.

As far as meeting with the clients go, it depends. I do it both ways. I generally do not charge for the time I spend meeting with my clients, within reason. If they need me to constantly be meeting with them, I change them for consultation by the hour (which does not include driving... That I soak up. If it is too far, tell them that you don't travel that far and they will need to meet at your office. If you don't have an office, a coffee shop works well... ? )

To answer your other questions...

I charge a flat rate per page. I also usually charge for a "navigation system" which is basically to make it worth my time if they client only needs a few pages. Otherwise, I spend all the time designing a layout and am only able to charge for one page.

Stuff beyond HTML is charged at an hourly rate. Sometimes I throw Flash in with the reg HTML if it is used in the layout/navigation. But, custom programming (sometimes including javascript) is billed by the hour.

@xpressauthorAug 10.2003 — #That was very helpful.

I'm assuming that you show your client the design before you start coding. How do you actually SHOW the design without implementing it so that your client knows what it'll look like when it's done?

As far as meeting goes, what's constant and need to be charged, what's not? (is bi-weekly too frequent and is reasonable to charge?)

@pyroAug 10.2003 — #Generally speaking, I design all my layouts in a paint program (for me, either PSP7 or Fireworks -- I need to get Photoshop...). This saves a lot of work, as you can make changes easily, and don't have to do any programming work until the client has agreed to the layout.

Yes, I'd think that bi-weekly would constitute "fairly often" and I'd possibly charge. I say possibly because I rarely charge for that, but that's just me.

@PeOfEoAug 10.2003 — #I would just say a flat rate for the html stuff and then charge for extras though because an html / css layout should not be too hard especially if you make a bunch of temps ahead of time and as you go and just modify them for each client. Its just when you do a bunch of server side stuff not only will a hosting fee probably cost more because of needing a different plan probably, but it will be more work too so for that I would not have a plan I would just charge what I see fit for each job... same with flash. But thats just how I would do it.

@lmikschAug 10.2003 — #Is ther a way to address large groups of web designers. I have not been even beeb able to find a magazine that is devoted to web designers?

@PeOfEoAug 10.2003 — #quit spamming this crap in our threads.

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