Hello everyone,
I recently designed my first website with Coffeecup, and found that I quite enjoyed it and it might be something I wanted to do. I got an offer from someone else already to design theirs....I need some insight from people that do this.
I have a bunch of questions:
What do people charge for website design?
What are your rates based on: hourly, flat rates...etc?
How does the "upkeep" work, for lack of a better word? When people want to regularly update their site? Do you do it? Do they do it themselves after you have created the basic design? Do they e-mail you what they want changed on the website and you change it?
What are some issues that you ran into that you did not think about?
What are some things NOT to do?
What are some things TO do?

Anything and every response is welcome! I'm afraid I have no idea about the industry and would like the experience and opinions of people who do this for a living.
Any advice is good advice!

I think webdesign is one of those professions that kinda just sneaks up on you. You need a website so you design your own and learn a little. Your proud of your work and show it off to friends that say I would like a website. Then the word gets out that you build websites and before to long your making a little money.

As an amateur i think i am currently working on websites no. 8, 9 & 10

If you can come up with a basic template of your own which is unique to you, but that people like, editing it to fit other peoples uses is rather simple, less time consuming than working from scratch, therefore cheaper.

each new site has its own challenges, therefore its own cost's

I work on a simple price structure for what i develop they are all free of charge until they earn some money from them, so some i will never earn a penny for (bit like no win no fee) on the other hand, the wedding site in my signature has become his main source of income, priceless !

I did a wedding site for my friends daughter, two years ago, she has had 9 wedding bookings from it in the past 12 months, and in return she does all the photography for my new sites free of charge, even more priceless !

Biggest issue for this principle is SEO, if google does not rank them i dont earn a penny, so my big issue is do you know how to get top ranking, page 1 preferably top 5 ?

if NOT my charges are very reasonable

Good job on your first site, it looks great!

You could try a site like salary.com to see some average yearly salaries. Check Craig's List to see what others are charging. Google for web designers in your area (check to see what services they offer as well as pricing). Keep in mind, you're just starting out, so price accordingly.

I like to set a price for the website rather than an hourly rate. 1/3 to start, 1/3 when it's about ready to go, final payment due at launch. Two months free maintenance (in case anything unexpected crops up). Hourly charges for changes/additions not included in the original quote. Quarterly maintenance fee for updating content. Clients email new photos, content, etc.

What to look out for? Lack of communication. A written contract spelling out what is included in the agreed upon price is good to have. Clients often assume the website design also includes copywriting, custom graphics and photo shoots. So, be very clear up front about what you offer –and what you don't.

Be prepared to explain your design decisions, clients will often get excited about their sites and want to contribute stuff that really should never see the light of day. If you don't take charge of the design, some clients will try to run the show (usually with opinions from all their friends and family). Put your design foot down and stay firm, unless you want to take on a never-ending project.

The most common issue I've had to deal with is clients not getting their content/info/photos to me in a timely manner. Now I have that in the contract; If I don't have all the necessary content by the agreed upon date, the launch date for the site will have to change.

What to do? Take frequent CC Forum breaks!

Addendum to Paintbrush's thoughts Dont take to flippleing long getting the clients domain off the previous website designer

May be seriously if the client already has a site they want re doing think very very hard, that has it's own issues as paintbrush found out

Dealing with another one right now. Client's nephew created the original site.Took a month to find out where the site is hosted (his own pc in his basement ). Spent 3 weeks trying to get the domain name transferred (he registered it under his own name instead of the client's name), that's still ongoing. In the meantime, I got the client set up under a different name on an SDrive account so we can get something going – just not under her organzation's own name.

So be prepared... sometimes that final payment gets derailed and additional hours of aggravation get piled on! .....(yet another flippin Joomla developer – 3rd one in less than 2 years)

@paintbrush hey paintbrush is joomla css3? I'm just wondering because i've heard a lot about that and wordpress, but i'm a CoffeeCup guy , I don't understand these easy install websites now, people want something that's original not pre-built by wordpress , a website generator. I'm seeing more and more of these pop up everywhere, less work for us web designers.

I tried Joomla, bloomin nightmare, not worth giving it a thought

My best advice is when you start don't be a "company". Be a web design freelancer. The term company puts out unreasonable expectations of friends, family, and sometimes clients.

Next, I do contracts on all work and NOTHING fancy. I just simply do something like - I am going to build a website on [date], how many pages, date of completion, and what you need from them and in what time frame. But some folks want fancy contracts, and if you do that's ok. I just find it another reason for clients to put me off and wait because they need to "read" it.

I generally don't price per hour because that can leave questions with clients. I price per website. I price sometimes at $500 and sometimes at $800-$1100 depending on what I think *my work* is worth on the project meaning time, deadline, and effort.

Last, I use a wireframe development method meaning pitch>sketch>close contract>demo>complete - but remember your ABC's --> *Always Be Closing* and that means I will have a blank contract ready when I meet the client for the first time.

Daina, web design is one of the best businesses for creative people, but like anything else, it's a sales driven business. If you look at it through that lens, it gives drive to not only to make money, but to raise your design skills to the next level.

PS: Find a designer that inspires you, follow, and try to copy their work(not to resell) so you can learn their techniques and be motivated. A great place for this is http://dribbble.com/designers

Good luck to your future success!

Great words of wisdom from paintbrush and Kirk. A great source of information if you really want to get moving forward with this is smashingmagazine.com.