Lessons from a successful website.

[aimon]

Hello All,

Please help me test an idea that I think will give you an extra hour a day.

I am a web designer who has a lot of clients who email me small changes and trust that they are done. This results in some quite hefty hourly rates for basic work.

I am considering shifting to a flat fee for clients so they can get better value. This service would include site development, all future updates and even hosting of your site.

The benefit to the small business owner is

• no big upfront cost for site development
• ondemand changes just an email away to be completed within 48 hours and
• easily add other services (e.g. email marketing that you don't have time for)
• take your site with you when you are ready to move on

Would this be of interest to you?

If not how could the offer be changed to appeal more to your needs?

Any other ideas?

Thanks

Thinking Man

 

[jaydeee]

your service is interesting... but for me I would like to have full control of the project after development which mean the project should be easy to manage and stable.

 

[aimon]

Thanks jaydee.

May i ask if your currently update your website with latest information or engage in customer communication via email marketing etc?

Thanks

 

[DesignerNick]

Most of my clients like the fact they can update their site themselves and don't need to keep paying me to update it for them

 

[aimon]

Thanks Smarter Webdesign,

I have given all my past clients content management tools and training but many of them would rather just email me with changes.

It's a division of labour for people who understand what they are good at i suppose.

Thanks

 

[lynxus]

I wouldnt ever say all updates are included.

I've had clients who just wont leave you alone constantly wanting changes and "little" changes.

I quote for the site they want.
I then make up a few "mockups" they choose one they want.
they then have input on changes etc.
I then make the site as per the request ( and no more )
They are happy.
They pay.

ANY! changes after as quoted in the same way.
if its a small change,its either free or a small fee.

If its a large change then i charge them what its worth.

But yeah,
as others say, if you make it easy for them to update themselves ( a custom cms for example ) then you can charge a lot more up front and then never need to make changes.

 

[aimon]

Thanks lynxus,

Sorry i think I am talking about something different here.

Essentially what i am looking to do is transform the project based engagement to retainer based. I.E. you subscribe to this many hours a month of support.

The target of my question was not web designers but business owners who want to focus on their strengths and have good support.

Thanks for your input though.

Simon

 

[lynxus]

Ahhhh i see.

MODS! Please delete my posts on this thread

Sounds like a better idea now

 

[ebevington]

So you sign up for say 10 hours a month or 20 hours a month kind of thing?

It could be a good idea because you would know how many hours you have available and so on...

Also you say you get a lot of emails for small changes, if you ever need a hand or need to outsource some work then drop me a PM or an email: [email protected]

- Emma

 

[tommy]

The problem is that if you have clients who really take the pi$$ you should charge the extra hours otherwise you could be out of pocket by a lot of money.

You can still give the support, eg anything over an hour extra you would charge an hourly rate.

Some clients might not like it but hey, imho that is business and they cant always expect something for nothing. Thats how all the big agencies do it and the clients expect that and they pay - trust me I've worked in most of them and thats what they all do.

Just my opinion.
Tom

 

[limecellular]

Thanks Man.. Really an good post

 

[everything_webby]

Out of interest a few people have mentioned giving their customers a CMS or the ability to change things themselves after the initial website is in place (which I took to mean a CMS), is this offered with one of the major CMS players (Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal) or is this through the creation of a bespoke CMS?

If using one of the prepackaged CMS what which do people prefer? Or do you choose based on the clients needs?

Sorry, I know this is slightly off topic

 

[LicensedToTrade]

I am a web designer who has a lot of clients who email me small changes and trust that they are done. This results in some quite hefty hourly rates for basic work.

I am considering shifting to a flat fee for clients so they can get better value. This service would include site development, all future updates and even hosting of your site.

The benefit to the small business owner is

• no big upfront cost for site development
• ondemand changes just an email away to be completed within 48 hours and
• easily add other services (e.g. email marketing that you don't have time for)
• take your site with you when you are ready to move on

So just to summarise, you have lots of clients who are quite happy to pay you a hefty hourly rate for simple changes and yet you have now decided that you want to think of ways to reduce your revenue? Why would you want to do this exactly?

You have then gone on to give a list of reasons why changing to a flat fee would benefit the client, yet you haven't listed any reasons why it would benefit you, the business... why not?

The world is full of web designers/developers and it is a tough industry for them to work in. If you have managed to secure a client list that is happy to pay you a healthy amount then I would be very cautious about rocking the boat.

 

[prizeamonth]

from a small business point of view
the idea of having someone on a flat monthly fee for X amount of hours every month sounds very appealing providing the fee is not too high.
the small business is always searching for ways to cut costs and if their website is stable the thought is going to be my site works fine why do i need constant support???
if the site is constantly changing and being updated with new products etc.
Then hell yeah id rather pay an expert a flat rate and keep hassling him lol.
stick to what you know and all that
anyway thats my 2 pennies worth

 

[bdw]

I often find that clients who have content management systems make a total @rse of their websites. They think it's a good idea to use four different fonts, five different text colours and six different text sizes on the page just because they can. They also muck about with headings, hyperlinks and meta content damaging the on page SEO.

I try to convince my clients that I can do a better and quicker job of updating their websites for them. For "one of" changes I have a minimum charge of £25 but for regular clients this is £5 or zero if it is a real quick change. I base this on £35 per hour and I run an itemised invoice for them and add to it as they get the work done. When it reaches a significant sum I invoice them.

.

 

[jaydeee]

Thanks jaydee.

May i ask if your currently update your website with latest information or engage in customer communication via email marketing etc?

Thanks

Hi Aimon,
I have to go the site's control panel to update my site.
Your idea of updating the site thru email is cool. Just wondering where will it land/posted?
Thanks.

 

[Roger Furness]

education = more investment
when customers can get more from their website they want more, so educate them to what their competition have that they don't, what could they do to improve their website. Educate and profit.