Web design pricing structure research

[fisicx]

What sort of things are missing from Kevin Geary's would you say. I can ask him to cover it.

Stop watching videos and start building sites. Don't use a site/page builder (something Geary keeps pluging), instead learn how to use blocks, configuring themes, optimising the install, adding security and so on.

For the maintenance it'll include wp core, themes and plugins, security and performance.

All automated. Either via the wordpress autoupdate or the WP Toolkit that comes included with cPanel. There really isn't anything for you to do.

Forget the cheatsheet for now. Focus on developing your skills and begin developing your marketing plan.

I know someone who hasn't got a clue about about wordpress but he is very good at marketing. He gets leads and uses freelancers to build the sites. Very fast and very profitable. His customers like that he can have a demo site up and running within hours of them handing over the deposit.

 

[seaj1one]

It has taken many years to get to where I am now. It can be a slow process.

With regards getting the content and images upfront. Don't do this.

As soon as you get the deposit install WP and your preferred theme (I build my own). Add all the necessary pages and a bunch of dummy content and sit back. All of the above takes less than an hour. If you are clever you can write a script that does it all for you. You will have the money in the bank and nothing more to do until the customer delivers the content. Which may take months as you have discovered.

Getting the cash in advance means you retain control.

I can offer my reasoning for only accepting payment once I've got the content.

I'm looking to spent the least as possible interacting with the customer as possible. The idea is to avoid going back and forth but if the customer is slow in getting back to me, I can ditch the customer before any money exchanges hands and also avoid a bad review.

Ultimately avoiding a nightmare customer is my main aim. Avoiding my sole being drained.

Did any of those cost you much in terms of time going back and forth until they sent the content. Grant it, some customers are better than other.

 

[seaj1one]

Stop watching videos and start building sites. Don't use a site/page builder (something Geary keeps pluging), instead learn how to use blocks, configuring themes, optimising the install, adding security and so on.

All automated. Either via the wordpress autoupdate or the WP Toolkit that comes included with cPanel. There really isn't anything for you to do.

Forget the cheatsheet for now. Focus on developing your skills and begin developing your marketing plan.

I know someone who hasn't got a clue about about wordpress but he is very good at marketing. He gets leads and uses freelancers to build the sites. Very fast and very profitable. His customers like that he can have a demo site up and running within hours of them handing over the deposit.

Just seen this before I replied. 2 secs while I edit my reply.

I'll take what you said on board for sure and thanks for your thoughts. I appreciate it.

 

[fisicx]

I'm looking to spent the least as possible interacting with the customer as possible. The idea is to avoid going back and forth but if the customer is slow in getting back to me, I can ditch the customer before any money exchanges hands and also avoid a bad review.

You can't avoid going back and forth. It going to happen no matter how much content they provide. You can pretty much guarantee it will be unsuitable which means an extended dialogue over a protracted period of time.

And once you have everything and show them the site there will be months and months of back and forth getting the structure, design and everything else sorted. And then another round when they discover they don't rank, don't get leads and don't convert.

This is why I stopped building websites.

 

[Shopclicks]

I'm looking to spent the least as possible interacting with the customer as possible. The idea is to avoid going back and forth but if the customer is slow in getting back to me, I can ditch the customer before any money exchanges hands and also avoid a bad review.

So your potential client sends you poor quality images and copy that doesn't meet Google's content guidelines. You have no deposit.
Where do you go from there?

 

[SundmanE]

Hi All



Late to the party, I know, but I’ve been reading this thread and I’m not sure the OP got a reply to his original question: what is the charging structure for website design/build business, and what are SMBs prepared to pay for a brochure style website? I can answer that based on a business I started over 20 years ago, so this info is well tried and tested.



Around 2003 a web hosting company sort of landed in my lap. I didn’t actually want it, but that’s another story. Although the focus of the business was hosting, domains and email many of our customers also asked us to build websites, so we did. I no longer have any active involvement in this business, in the early years I did, but I know they still sell a lot of websites, mainly wordpress brochure sites and there is still a lot of demand for this. Can I post links here? Not sure if I would be breaking any rules if I did so for now I won’t.



We offer 3 levels of website: a) 1 page website, b) 5 pages website and c) bespoke design/build (to cover anything else). Options a and b are fixed price of £99 and £595, and are completely tied down in what we will deliver and what we expect from the customer. This is the only way we can stick to a fixed price. If any customer wants anything outside of the fixed price package it will add to the cost. This works for us as most customers have no idea what they need, what they want and how much they want to pay. Option a and b then gives a starting point. Also saves a lot of time analysing requirements for tyre kickers. And puts some constraints on the type of customer who wants the earth but has no budget. Works well.



Anything else I can share from my experience with any new and budding webdesign companies, AMA.

 

[fisicx]

Hi @SundmanE snd welcome to UKBF.

Why £500 to just add 2 more pages?

 

[SundmanE]

Well, 4 more pages ? It's just a structure, and you could probably consider the 1 page site a bit of a loss leader as we get recurring revenue from gaining a hosting customer. I can't justify that £599 is an exact multiple in effort/value from option a), no. But customers understand it and are happy to pay it