I have been in the web design business for about a year now and I wanted to start advertising for my services. I was wondering if there was any good way to charge people for your services - I'm talking just the hosting and design of the site. Basically they pay me to design it and I pick a host and take care of all that stuff, you know......
What are some good pay methods? Does anyone have any advice or good pointers?

yea actually I would like to know too, Me and three friends are trying to start our own web design buisness

First off, welcome to the forums Ian.

I've been in 'the business' for about 4 years now but only in the last year have i setup a company. Onto pricing, if you look at most decent webdesign companys, they don't give a price list, this is because most prices are unique to the project the company is undertaking. Some people may give a rough price guide, but i don't like that prospect at all.

What i do, is when someone enquires to me about designing/hosting/scripts etc. for them, i have a meeting (it's sometimes just phone calls and emails) i find out what they want, give them a rough estimate on how long it will take, and then come up with some sort of price. It is then a matter of the client coming back to me with suggestions, quiries etc. Then we finally come to a set price and designing is starting.

Don't start charging people lots first, charge people not so much to get a few clients under 'your belt' then put the price up. You need to have a portfolio so people will come to you!


Sorry for rambling on, Good luck and let me know how it goes!

Regards,

Sean

Let me throw my 2 cents in here..if ya don't mind?
Although I'm a "novice talker" here...I have been in the Graphics biz for 20 years...Pricing is one of the toughest solutions you will deal with in business....Charge to much and they bolt...charge to little and you leave "money on the table".....a good rule of thumb is...a good salesman get's their price...anyone can make a sale buy lowering it. I agree with Sean that you don't show a price list...in the custom service biz projects are apples and oranges...what we did is create a spread sheet on excel or simular that encompasses every possible task performed by your company as well as overhead (electric, phone, gas, hard drive space..computer upgrades and maintiance..etc.)
then an hourly rate is assigned to each task or overhead including a profit margin.
We ask a client in a consultation to, in detail, layout their project...when they do we can estimate the time for each task that will be performed to generate of solid quote.
Only you will know your companys overhead...but shop around to find out what other companies are charging for say an hour of art work or coding. If you want to start a client base by charging less that's fine..you may actually find that your overhead per hour is less which leaves you room to tinker with profile margins...lower your hourly rate for your tasks on your spread sheet..but make sure that all tasks and expenditures are charged... you will have a competive price and ensure that all services and overhead are covered....if you just quote an over all low ball price to get a client for say $1,500 for a site that takes you 4 weeks to go live and in that time your running back and forth to them...making changes...and more changes and spending the better part of each day on the project because you promised a flat $1,500.00 (that's what they will expect)...till it's all said and done your profit could be less that 50% actual...$750.00 for a months worth of work and you didn't have the time to go find other clients? think about it.
and Sean ...my friend...sorry but I must seriously disagree with your business tatic of baiting in clients at a low price then raising your rates on them...
Mitch
NLS Electronic Media

I provide all my clients with a fixed price bid.

I have an initial meeting with a client then 'mock up' half a dozen different custom designs for them - each design shows different color themes that are appropriate for their business (for example a cool blue for a law site - not bright red), different types of navigation bars - horizontal, vertical, text only, etc. different types of pictures and at least one page with a flash movie.

I post the mock ups to my website and walk them through a presentation so they can pick the theme and the features they want. I am very careful to copyright the site before the client views it and to leave the mock up pages posted for only a couple of days (Just in case they want to take my work to another web designer and say 'What will you charge me to develop this'.)

Finally I prepare a formal 'fixed price bid' - - about 10 pages long - that documents every page they will receive, every feature they will receive, the total number of links, the total number of pictures and a 'screen shot' of the home page. I estimate the hours it will take me to build the site and charge $50 an hour for the hours I estimated plus any outside expenses (example - I might have to purchase some stock pictures for the site). The contract specifically states that any changes to the design after approval and signature will be implemented at a cost of $50 per hour. I DO require a signature on the contract before coding begins.

I do not charge for the mock ups since they are part of my marketing effort.

I stay busy but not rich....

PS - - If I lose a bid to another designer I always go back to see if they have a posted a unique site or if my copyrighted design has been stolen - - If the latter it is time to go to court.... I take the client to court - not the designer - - works better and much faster!!! In case of a copyright infringement the settlement can very quickly be established as payment of the original fixed price bid since we're really not talking about tons of money here but rather a matter of principal.

One other suggestion... I strongly suggest that you incorporate your company if you're serious about being in business. You can incorporate for a couple of hundred dollars in less than a day.

Incorporation provides a legal method of separating a business entity from you as a person. If you are not incorporated and you do something that can result in a law suit all your assets are in jeopardy (your house, your car, all your bank accounts, etc). However if you are incorporated only the corporation can be sued - - so come ahead - - you can have my computer and all my monthly debts....

I have an S Corp (read about the different types of corporation on the web).

Note: A good example of why you might want to be protected from a law suit is the little duck I use as my icon on this site - - If I had 'stolen' it from Warner Brothers they could sue me of using it.... Dear Warner Brothers (in case you're reading this) Daffy was obtained from the public domain.

Hey John
you have a system like what i was referring to...a solid pricing platform that you fill in the blanks where needed to arrive at a fair quote....i'm sure you know that setting up a pricing scale is very involved...but well worth the effort...i applaud your efforts at keeping your work safe prior to and after your contract work is done...we do that as well no matter what the medium we are working in, all of our clients get proofs with the word"SAMPLE" written diagonally across the proof and our company info at the bottom. "Art for hire"..and "one time use" are a terribly gray area with clients but the law does differentiate the 2. Your right you would file against a client for copyright infringments unless you can prove a vendor "willingly" knew and used copyrighted material...good to see someone protects their interests....and i do agree 100% on the benefits of becoming an S or C corp as far as protecting your personal assests...but there is always a trade off...depending on where you file your articials of incorporation you may find your being double taxed...etc... but still better than being personally wiped out....
Mitch
NLS Electronic Media

nlsstar

Good point about the taxation - I avoid double taxation by paying everything out to the stock holders through dividends - - No salary....