I've had a few people ask me to do their websites and I'm thinking about starting a part-time web business setting up e-commerce sites for local businesses. I'll most likely use osCommerce as a platform.

I'd appreciate hearing from others who are doing this. I'm trying to get an idea for what to charge for these websites. I'll start out doing sites for free or at reduced rates to build a portfolio, but once things are up to speed, I have no idea what a fair price is. I know that, with the abundance of inexpensive e-commerce solutions out there (Yahoo shops, Amazon, Miva, etc.), things are pretty competitive for private web developers and prices are lower than a few years ago. I've heard of guys charging anywhere from $300 to $1k for a simple e-commerce site.

I'd also appeciate any marketing suggestions - for example, do you use brochures, or perhaps bring a laptop with a local install of OSC for client demo purposes?

Finally, if someone could give me an idea of typical resale hosting wholesale prices and end user prices, that would be great.

Thanks in advance!

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Yeah, that's really an answer to his question!

Anyways, I'm afraid I can't help you with this either. I was planning to do the same however, so I guess we've got both the same question.

I've been struglgling with my pricing for awhile now as well. Web design/development pricing can vary widely depending on your experience and skills, the area you live in, the relative wealth of the clients you have.

A good way to start is to visit sites and see what their rates are. If you can find them. Most sites won't don't post their rates, but some do.

Recently I called about a dozen design/development firms in my area with similar experience and skills as me and simply asked for their rates. I pretended I had a site similiar to the ones I usually develop and asked what they would charge me. Most didn't answer their phones, but I did get some information from the ones that did.

Once you've set up some starting rates get a few sites to work on and keep track of the time you spend. Once you know how long it takes you to develop a site you'll have a better idea what to charge. Then when you give someone a quote for the work you can simply multiply your rate by the time you estimate it will take.

If clients agree to your prices very fast you can probably increase your rates. If clients aren't accepting your rates you don't necessarily want to drop them. Sometime raising your rates will actually bring you more clients.

I charge £75 an hour for a project to be created. I work out how many hours are needed, then charge the amount worked out. Its important to have experience and old code which you can reuse to create similar background systems to offer good quality sites for the price they are paying. Getting similar projects in the beginning help you pump out a large number of sites in less time therefore always making profit.
Start low and move high.

Hello,
First, before you start you need to determine what people are paying for. If it is just a website, then you are selling a commodity like sugar or salt, that the customer can get salt anywhere. Thus what you can charge is very low -
If you are selling a unique solutions, you can charge a much higher price. I would come up with a solution that is different than your local competitors, and sell those differences.
If you look at most eCommerce site you will see that they get very little traffic and make very little money. Solve this problem and and charge accordingly.

If you want to work for free to build a portfolio, I have a project for you. Just IM me.

Make it a great day!

Bill Hogsett

I have just done what you are about to - and made many mistakes along the way (hopefully not many more to go) but if you want my advise:
-->Marketing:
Best form of marketing is referrals, each time you do a website remind your client to recommend you, leave them a small stack of your business cards. I have found that when someone wants a website they ask around to see if anyone knows a reputable company/individual to do it for them.
-->Pricing:
First work out how long each site will take you to build then decide (realistically) how much you need to earn each week and do the math.
-->Quoting to businesses:
Find out what they are looking for (ie a site to fit a solution or a site to fit their budget) offer them the choice of a low cost website that will suit their needs or a high quality site that will represent their business.

As for actual pricing, I usually ask if there is a current budget set aside for their project, if not I quote a price that is relative to their business size, small independant retailers usually pay just a few hundred pounds.

Hope this helps a bit. Very important dont under quote, or you'll work for next to nothing and soon get bored with the whole idea.

Good advice jojot. I need to remember to leave my business cards with clients more often. I completely agree that people ask around when looking for a web developer and networking is a big key to this business.

I too am in the same situation, but I am at the point of actually creating a business...its only going to be me for now and doing freelance work mostly. So do I actually need to register for a name and get a license or what are the steps to doing this?

Also for those of you doing sites do you have an actual registered business and if so what type LLC?

Any advice or resources would be greatly appreciated.

Jeremy I registered my company with the State and I'm a sole proprietor. At some point I may become an LLC, but for the moment I'm still a sole proprietor.

I'm assuming you're living in the U.S. If not then most of the following is probably wrong.

Look into either the dept of revenue for your state or the office of the secretary of state for your state. I think both have info on what you need to do to register a business.

What you need to do will depend on how you decide to form your company, but for me as a sole proprietor it was pretty simple. If I remember right I applied for a trade name which was about $10 and a simple form. I also applied for a federal tax #, though it wasn't necessary. I wanted it in order to use it instead of a social security # where I could.

Start with sites for your state. Chances are you won't need to do anything on the federal level, but the state sites should point you in that direction if it's necessary.

<---I actually just wrote about this subject in response to another thread and turned it into a blog post.