I have heard $100 a page is the average charge for building or upgrading a website.
What should that include for $100?
How much more should I charge to add a Flash or Javascript button?
How much more for graphics?
E-Commerce Buy It Now buttons?

Pricing is the one thing that is very vague in the industry.
People ask me to add 5 custom images and Paypal buttons and flash and then they want it all for under $125.00

Is there an industry standard?

two ways of deciding how much to charge;

work out how much you NEED to earn each week / month, decide how many hours you want to work to earn the minimum, divide how much by how long, add 40% to the result and you have your minimum hourly rate.
for page price at this;
Estimate how long the page(s) will take, multiply by the rate.


the other way is to decide how much your time is worth and charge that much.

There is no industry standard, because there is no standard "per-page" charge since there is no standard "page" as such anymore.

I personally work by the hour, and the hourly rate depends on the nature of the client, whether or not I like them, how much they can afford to pay me, how much work they give me, how hard it is, and other factors.

The only thing you'll need to remember is a rule I was taught about 10 years ago: the value in something isn't what it's worth, but what someone's willing to pay for it.

Lately I have run into companies / potential clients who want multiple bids from others before considering working with me. So they want exact quotes in advance of doing any work.
I quoted $500-1000 for a small shopping cart and they expected to pay half of that.

Then you can do one of two things (I do the former):

1) Find customers that will pay you what you're worth and treat you with respect and tell the lowball idiots to go take a long walk off a short cliff.

2) Suck it up because you don't have the right kind of customers yet, use the site as a learning experience/portfolio piece, and take the crappy amount.

Sounds like you're in the #2 stage.

Hi Mick -

Yes, there are "industry standards," and they are reported by respected organizations that study these matters, including the Graphic Arts Guild which regularly publishes a guide on "Pricing and Ethical Guidelines."

The problem lies in the fact that published guidelines are one thing, and marketplace realities are quite another -- as you are learning. One key to your puzzle is to study and master the art of negotiation. Part of that is projecting just how and why you are worth a professional rate. I suggest you take advantage of podcasts, CDs, and MP3s available on the subject of Negotiation.

One thing you can do to make sure you are paid for your time, but still remain competitive is to offer different levels of service. If you sense that you are in a "low ball" negotiation, then offer a web page design based on a template which will save you time, and therefore may be offered at a lower rate.

Best of success -
Scott

It seems it is the customer that determines whether it is worth the work that they want. I have had some who are happy with anything and pay. And others who suddenly have a cousin who will take over the site. And some when you use a template----they get unhappy with the finished site and want every page customized.

Thanx for the advice