One of the most popular blog posts I’ve written discusses how much to pay for a website, which focuses on the client side of web design and development. Lately, though, I’ve noticed a lot of search traffic for things like how much to charge for a website and what should i charge for web design, so I figured it was time to address that end of the spectrum as well.
One of the first things you should know about rates for design and development is that they vary wildly. There is no magic formula, and no one will mail you a suggested rate list if you decide to go into business building websites for other people. That said, there are a few ways to determine what kind of rates are fair based on the client’s needs, your skills, and a number of other factors.
What to Charge for a Website - Questions to Ask Yourself
1. What can I actually do?
There is a huge difference between installing a premade WordPress theme and designing and/or developing a completely custom website. DO NOT exaggerate your skill set when pricing a project for a client - it’s crappy, dishonest, and it won’t earn you any loyal fans down the road when something inevitably goes wrong.
Don’t mistake me; there are plenty of people who will gladly pay someone to set up a hosting account, install WordPress, and slap a $25 theme on it. But if that’s what you do, don’t call yourself a designer or developer because you’re not. (Sorry, but it’s true.) Instead, offer WordPress setup services and realize that you can’t charge thousands of dollars for a service that requires 15 minutes and the ability to read and use Google.
2. What would I expect to pay someone else for the same quality I provide?
Personally, it’s hard for me to imagine paying someone else to build a website since I can do it myself. But when I really think about my own level of knowledge and skill, what value I can and cannot provide to clients, and what problems I can help them solve, that gives me an idea of the range I should be in when I determine my rates.
3. What are other people charging?
The best way to gain a reference point for pricing is to look at the work of other designers, devs, WordPress setup people, or however you define yourself. If possible, try to look at their work in terms of the skill required, rather than thinking, I don’t like the way this site looks and assuming the person does poor work.
I absolutely cringe when I think about what I was charging even a couple of years ago, and I’m sure one day I’ll cringe at the rates I charge right now. But the only way I know what’s fair is by comparing my work to that of other people in my niche. Joining a mastermind group gave me a place to bounce pricing ideas off other people and it has been incredibly valuable.
4. What are my clients willing to pay?
This is a biggie. Once you’ve been building websites for awhile, you’ll begin to see patterns in the type of clients who hire you. In my case, when I did client work, I got a lot of people from the same niche because of word of mouth.
The problem? The niche was personal finance, where people are (obviously) concerned about saving money and getting the best deal on everything. I had many great clients who valued my work, but I had just as many who were obsessed with getting a discount or asking for features outside the scope of their projects.
I realized pretty quickly that I would never be able to raise rates while I was working with clients in the personal finance niche. Eventually I made the tough decision to price myself out of that group completely. And you know what happened? Some other people in that niche began offering cheap theme customizations, filling the gap and taking the clients I no longer wanted. I found new clients who were willing to pay what I was charging. The world didn’t end.
Should you charge by the hour or by the project?
Plenty of people have written articles about whether you should do hourly work or price on a per-project basis. I won’t go into a lot of detail repeating what others have already said, but here’s my philosophy on that.
In most cases, hourly work is unfair. Why should I make less money for having the experience to do things quickly? I can knock out a development project in two days, but does that mean my work is worth less than that of someone who takes a month to do the same work? In most cases, I prefer pricing by the project, taking into account not only the time it takes but the knowledge and skills I bring to the job.
I do have an hourly rate for certain things, like training. In those cases I am literally trading one hour of my time for dollars, and I’m okay with that. But that doesn’t mean all my work needs to be hourly.
For more thoughts on pricing, check out these resources from some awesome people:
Don’t Be an Idiot: Learn to Run a Viable Business (Curtis McHale)
Double Your Freelancing Rate (Brennan Dunn)
The Great Freelance Debate: Hourly vs. Fixed Rates (BidSketch)
Why You Should Never Charge Hourly (Freelance Folder)
Are you charging too much for your services?
Rates are such an interesting thing. After adjusting my own pricing many times over the years, here are some signs that you might be charging too much:
- Your proposals are consistently rejected. Rejection isn’t always a bad thing - you can’t and shouldn’t say yes to everyone. But if you are sending out tons of proposals and people keep saying no, your pricing may be too high for the type of work you’re doing.
- You aren’t sending out proposals because no one is asking for quotes. If you list any kind of pricing on your website and get no inquiries, either you’re charging too much or you aren’t getting any traffic to your site. Or a combination of both.
- Your clients aren’t happy with your work. Some clients will be unhappy no matter what you do, but if you get a lot of complaints about what people got for the price they paid, you may need to lower your pricing and/or improve your skills.
Are you charging too little for your services?
Here are a few signs it might be time to raise your rates:
- You’re booked more than two months into the future. When your services are so in demand that people are lining up to give you money, that’s a sure sign you aren’t charging enough. Try a 25% rate increase and I bet no one even notices.
- You charge way less than others who do the same type of work. Charging less can be a good thing in that you always have work to do. But why should you be the one taking on the discount projects when you’re capable of making more?
- You have more work than you can reasonably complete. I’m the world’s worst about scheduling a million projects on top of each other or overbooking myself. But I’ve also realized that, if I’m doing that, it’s because I’m not bringing in enough money. Time to raise rates and make sure I’m covering my time.
Okay, all that info is great. But what should I be charging?
I can’t tell you a dollar amount to charge because I don’t know who you are, what you do, and how well you do it. As I said before, the best way to figure out pricing is to see what people with a similar skill set are charging. If you really want to know, send me an email and tell me about your business - I’ll be happy to give you an estimate of what kind of rates you can expect!
Web Savvy Marketing had a great article last month about selecting the right Genesis developer and what you can expect to charge at each level. Even if you aren’t a developer or don’t work with Genesis, that article gives a good range of hourly rates according to the type of skills a person may possess.
While there is no one-size-fits-all rate for web work, knowing what you’re worth and being able to explain that to your clients is absolutely essential if you want your freelance business to succeed. Don’t be afraid to adjust your pricing if you need to - the good thing about working for yourself is being able to flip switches until you find a system that works.
How do you determine your own rates for the services you provide? Ever run into a situation that made you realize you were charging too much or too little?
Hi, Andrea! This is a bit off-topic, but you mention being in a mastermind group. I see so many people mentioning these lately, that I’m curious about how you go about becoming a member of one. Would you have any advice about that? Thanks!
Hi Stefanie,
Calling it a “mastermind group” makes it seem a lot more formal than it really is. In my case, I randomly contacted a designer on Twitter and asked if I could pick her brain about a client issue. We became friends, and each of us added a couple of other people to a group conversation on Skype until we had a decent-sized group going.
Since you’re using Genesis (yay!), you could likely find a group by tweeting with the #genesiswp hashtag or posting in the Genesis groups on Facebook and G+. There are always people looking to connect with others, and hopefully you could get a variety of skill levels in the group so everyone can learn from each other. Hope that helps!
Thanks, Andrea. I may have to wait to get a little braver for that.
At least join the FB and G+ groups (if you use those platforms) - you don’t have to post anything, but you can read until you get more comfortable.
I’ve joined them. Thanks, Andrea.
Is there a member for a non-genesis group? Btw, are there bigger / wider Clients on Genesis framework? I would really like to jump on Genesis bandwagon, but wondering if there are Clients in that area?
Hi Sanjay,
Most of the designers/developers I know who use Genesis are overbooked - there is definitely no shortage of clients. I have to turn down work quite often because I have more inquiries than time available. While using Genesis is no guarantee that you’ll get more clients, I think you would definitely see an increase in the number of referrals you get once you’re involved with the Genesis community. Hope that helps!
According to the Web Savvy article, I am close to being a Customizing Fixer Unicorn, but my hybridy unicornness falls into the coder/admin/troubleshooter variety, since I am very good at site & server troubleshooting, know or can figure out code, but am still learning design.
Does that make me that cool unicorn with wings that was in Fantasia? lol
Either way, I am pretty sure I don’t charge enough for my services, and I’m working on that, too.
I think the term “unicorn” has to be the coolest idea ever - I mean, who would want to be a plain designer or dev when you can be a fairy tale creature?
Rates are tough… I adjust mine all the time, and every time I raise them, I’m sickened by the number of projects I did at the lower rate. I’ve learned that it’s a good idea to jump when you’re already booked out for at least 2-3 months. That way you have time to lower prices if you don’t get any inquiries at the new rate (which, for the record, has never happened to me, even when I doubled prices last year).
Great article Andrea. Nice find on the WebSavvy categories. How smart of them.
I think you also adjust your prices with your confidence. We are all constantly getting better at what we do. This is partially a product of the wonderful WordPress community.
I am fortunate to have in-house (as in married to) a wonderful designer (also architect, photographer, videographer, urban designer) who created the first design course using computers at Pratt Institute and taught at their graduate school for 17 years before I married him and whisked him out of New York. Did you see my G+ yesterday? I loved his flag with stars and hibiscus July 4th graphic. As in the customization specialist description, I also offer optimization and social media set up and training. We’re at the high end of that category for project rates because we should be at this point (with a constant flow of referral work) but I get chided from time to time for my hourly rate being too low. While we’ve raised the project rate over the years, I’ve never touched the hourly rate. You have given me food for thought.
Were you at the StudioPress GenesisConnect party at WordCamp San Francisco August 12, 2024 at the Parc55 Hotel? Will you be at WordCamp SF in October? I’ll be there with husband, Ray Gordon.
As I commented on your G+, brava for your brilliant niche and new website.
My hourly rate (which I rarely use) is about 3x what it was a year ago, mostly because of clients telling me I needed to raise it. If people are telling you you’re not charging enough, I say LISTEN to them!
Unfortunately I have never been to SF but I’m hoping to get there someday. I hear that the SF WordCamps are the best out there; so far I haven’t been able to justify the enormous cost. I’ll probably have to stick to the east coast for at least a few more years - my business is still a baby even though I’ve been doing this for a long time.
How to reduce costs of attending WordCamp SF.
The conference itself is cheap, it is just travel costs.
- Look for cheap flights.
- Consider getting a roommate. Make sure they don’t snore. Get both of your names on the room validated for check-in in case one of you is delayed.
- They feed you lunch. For breakfast get the oatmeal at the facility. Dinners - there are reasonable options.
Think of all the designers who need your services that you’ll meet!
Of course, WCNYC is good. So is their meetup. I travel to NYC and and Southern California twice a year to speak at conferences (branding/social media/women). I make sure to plan dates around WordPress meetups in those two areas.
I do have an advantage over you probably. I came into this game after 20 years of corporate executive and expat earnings. I have investments. If I had to live off of my income building websites, things would be different.
That said, I think your niche and your expertise is going to serve you well. Don’t forget to update your social profile bios to your new mission. I know our own stuff always comes last. Cobblers children have no shoes syndrome.
I want my 5 minutes back.
I read all of that and you didn’t even offer up one single dollar amount or range of dollar amounts?
Oof.
I plan to do some other articles down the road on this topic, but it’s hard to give dollar amounts when people are doing different types of work. For example, someone who installs Genesis and a premade child theme and puts a logo on it would charge a vastly different rate from someone who builds a custom child. Both of those people would charge a different amount than someone who installs a ThemeForest (shudder) template.
The good news is that I offer a money-back guarantee on all my content, so you can get a refund
As someone who has used website templates in the past to assist family and friends get a web presence, I was a little put-off when reading your article. Although I respect the experience and talent of great designers and developers (I am a creative director in a marketing agency and work with designers daily) I do think there is room in the world for respecting sites like Square Space and Weebly for small business owners. Also, there is a certain amount of design talent required for making a template look good, it is not as easy as drag and drop and you are done. The interfaces and template designs in the do-it-yourself market are getting easier to use and better looking by the day and I think it’s a great option for people seeking a virtual business card, branding opportunity or small shop. There are many people in business today that would like some web presence but just aren’t going to play top dollar for high end development or design work. I personally find some of the templates (even themeforest ones) to be attractive and a very practical solution for many small businesses.
Hi LL,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I don’t think using a template is a horrible thing by any means, but I do think there’s a difference between using one and creating something custom, and I don’t feel people can justify charging thousands of dollars to install one. That was the point I was trying to make.
There are so many DIY options out there, and I think it’s great for businesses who can’t afford to hire someone or just don’t want to. But when they do hire someone and pay a lot of money, I feel they expect and deserve more than they would do on their own.