Hi,
I was thinking about starting some offline 'business'. I want to start building websites for people and was planning to make an advert on a local newspaper.

Anyways, I have some questions and am hoping that someone can help me.

1. Do I need to give official invoices with my TAX number and stuff, or I don't need that?
2. How do you go about meeting with the client? Do you go to their house/office or they come to yours?
3. How much do you charge for let's say a basic HTML 5 page website? and what if the client needs something more advanced with PHP like registering people and stuff? [I know about the free website and hostgator method, but I don't want that]
4. Do you request a monthly maintenance fee and hosting? (I can host on my hosting and give them FTP access)
EDIT:
5. Should I ask for the monthly fee to be paid yearly upfront? or should I let them pay month by month?
6. Should I first develop the site and then they pay me or should I ask for a small % upfront?
7. Should I make something like a contract like for example what will I offer and what happens if he stops paying and stuff?

I think that is all, appreciate your help guys!

1. I don't think you need that.
2. I suggest you go to the client.
3. I guess for a basic HTML 5 page website it could go for around $200-$350 depending on what your client is asking for. A PHP website should go around 700-1000...shit php is hard. >_O

4. I think it would be wise to...especially since you'll have two extra revenue streams coming in and it would be a convenient to your clients. Just don't charge TOO much for this as they can go to other places to get this. I guess maybe a free month included with the website would do pretty well.

I was thinking about $30 - $40 per month.. is that much? And the free month seems like a good deal.. Should I ask for the monthly fee to be paid yearly upfront? or should I let them pay month by month?

And should I first develop the site and then they pay me or should I ask for a small % upfront?

Thanks for your quick reply BTW

Originally Posted by Tcm9669

I was thinking about $30 - $40 per month.. is that much? And the free month seems like a good deal.. Should I ask for the monthly fee to be paid yearly upfront? or should I let them pay month by month?

And should I first develop the site and then they pay me or should I ask for a small % upfront?

Thanks for your quick reply BTW

No problem

I think 30-40 a month is a tad on the steep side...especially for shared hosting. Try maybe 14.99-29.99.....

I would say go with the pay month to month route.

Get a small down payment...they could easily stiff you in the end with a design you can't use. I've seen it happen several times before. I don't want you to be one of those people!

Yeah, maybe $20 should be more than enough.
Thanks... what about doing an unofficial contract (something like what will the client receive and what he has to do and what if he stops paying and stuff)? should that protect me from this stuff happening? Something like a bullet form... very simple.

Originally Posted by Tcm9669

Yeah, maybe $20 should be more than enough.
Thanks... what about doing an unofficial contract (something like what will the client receive and what he has to do and what if he stops paying and stuff)? should that protect me from this stuff happening? Something like a bullet form... very simple.

You're going to really want to do an official contract with everything you do when it has to do with your business. If you have to take your client to court over however much money they swindle you out of...it needs to be legally binding. You can however have a less complicated version of the contract so your client sees all of his or her obligations.

Wow I was just about to post a thread like this.... Pm me we might be able to share some ideas, I been lookin for answers like this for a month now lol but the question I'm on now is how much would it be to hire some one to do cold calling?
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Just PM'd you

Hmm... adsinthekid1 can you pm me with that info too please?

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Most hosting companies can host a DNN instance for you (the community version) and you can find the XMOD module at:

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Originally Posted by Tcm9669

Hi,
I was thinking about starting some offline 'business'. I want to start building websites for people and was planning to make an advert on a local newspaper.

Anyways, I have some questions and am hoping that someone can help me.

1. Do I need to give official invoices with my TAX number and stuff, or I don't need that?

A: Depends upon where you're at. If you're in the U.S. you probably don't need "offical invoices" to start. But may need a DBA and city license to sell.

2. How do you go about meeting with the client? Do you go to their house/office or they come to yours?

A: Neither. You meet at a very quiet restaurant and tip the waitress not to disturb you after she serves coffee/tea. Turn off your cell phone. If you meet at their place then they'll be constantly interrupted with "important" calls and other interruptions.

3. How much do you charge for let's say a basic HTML 5 page website? and what if the client needs something more advanced with PHP like registering people and stuff? [I know about the free website and hostgator method, but I don't want that]

A: There's no such thing as a "BASIC HTML". Clients are not paying for a website despite what others have told you. They're paying for results. Find a type of website which will drive traffic to their business. That's what the business owner is paying for. It's not a matter of how many pages it's about the results. The sites I create for my clients are basically three pages as far as the visitor is concerned but there's a lot more going on. We charge $3500 for the development of the site and then $50/mo to maintain it.

4. Do you request a monthly maintenance fee and hosting? (I can host on my hosting and give them FTP access)

A: This depends upon how many businesses you have and the quality of your hosting provider. You may want to look in to a managed VPS. They go for about $49.99/mo. Never give them FTP access. The hosting should be under your name so you control the site. If you give them FTP access they'll have their son, grandchild or some other idiot come in and screw around with it then blame you and demand you fix it.


EDIT:
5. Should I ask for the monthly fee to be paid yearly upfront? or should I let them pay month by month?

A: For the website I'd require 50% to create the site and 50% upon completion of the site. Then charge a monthly $49.99/mo for maintenance. Finding a good hosting provider is essential and it's worth the $49.99/mo to them no to have to worry about it. btw: Maintenance is the not the same as hosting. In other words, as part of your maintenance of the site you'll host the site but they're not paying you for hosting. It's a legal technicality you'll appreciate later.

6. Should I first develop the site and then they pay me or should I ask for a small % upfront?

A: Always ask for 50% up front and that 50% should be enough to cover ALL the hard costs of the site creation as well as a small profit for you. This way if they renege you still made a small profit for yourself. Collect the other 50% upon completion. Outsource your websites instead of doing it yourself. Focus on sales that bring in money then producing websites.

7. Should I make something like a contract like for example what will I offer and what happens if he stops paying and stuff?

A: Yes, you should have a contract. No more than one page. Keep it simple and don't promise anything. Don't go into too much detail at first until you have more experience or you may discover you promised something you didn't intend to or can not produce.

I think that is all, appreciate your help guys!

Hope some of this helps.

My consulting firm produces web sites, videos, tv/radio commercials, and other services for local small businesses nationwide.

grafxextreme: very helpful information. Thanks for laying out all of the specifics, I think this will help a lot of aspiring web designers/developers.

Wow this is what I want to be doing.

I did 6 company websites for my boss . They were html and about 5 pages each, all were the same design , but different branch locations. I charged 250.00 each.

I made the mistake of setting him up with his own hosting via hostgator. I made 50.00 bucks but could have been making 14.00/mth on all 6 sites if I were trying to screw him. turns out I should have, took forever to pay for the sites and then wanted me to do some updates in the future. I told him updates and maintenance are extra at 45.00/hr. He was too cheap for that.

So always 1/2 upfront, get some sort of reseller hosting and charge by the month.

Anyone have an idea on a price to charge someone for WP based sites?

Sorry for the run on. Just want to throw that out there, some customers can be little bastards!

Originally Posted by grafxextreme

Hope some of this helps.

My consulting firm produces web sites, videos, tv/radio commercials, and other services for local small businesses nationwide.

grafxextreme, Those are pretty good prices (for you), but it sounds like the op doesn't have high end skills, certainly if he had a few years experience and maybe tertiary education he could charge that sort of pricing. But when he is starting out, with lots of mistakes yet to be made, maybe not.

grafxextreme thanks for your answers.

@DeadEyesOpened: Who told you I don't have tertiary education? I have a diploma in computing and will be going for my bachelors in a couple months, I do have all the skills required to build websites (and more), I just don't know how things go in the real world (as you said, I do have lack of experience, but not lack of education and skills) .. and I'm not much of a sales man... so I came here to ask for help.

Originally Posted by Tcm9669

grafxextreme thanks for your answers.

@DeadEyesOpened: Who told you I don't have tertiary education? I have a diploma in computing and will be going for my bachelors in a couple months, I do have all the skills required to build websites (and more), I just don't know how things go in the real world (as you said, I do have lack of experience, but not lack of education and skills) .. and I'm not much of a sales man... so I came here to ask for help.

Tcm9669, I didn't mean to imply that you didn't have a tertiary education. I was attempting in my own clumsy way to infer that Web Design is a very specialized field, and anyone without web design skills would find it a difficult field to break into.

IMO you would need training and experience in a wide variety of web design programs, including most of the Adobe CS4 suite, you would need to at least understand asp, php and in some cases SQL for the backend DB stuff. If you have these skills by all means go for it, and charge like a wounded bull! Good design and web skills are worth paying for, and any client who doesn't value the service you offer them isn't worth the hassle of dealing with.

As for real world skills, I recommend going out and cold calling yourself, I still do so on a weekly basis (I am in the print and design business myself). The cold calling will give you a feel for what conditions are like in the real world, and will give you an idea of the price point for each individual prospect. Cold calling can seem insurmountable at times, but rewards come to those who persevere and listen to their clients.

Lots of good advice here! I'm working on something like this myself and really appreciate the tips grafxextreme.

Originally Posted by DeadEyesOpened

grafxextreme, Those are pretty good prices (for you), but it sounds like the op doesn't have high end skills, certainly if he had a few years experience and maybe tertiary education he could charge that sort of pricing. But when he is starting out, with lots of mistakes yet to be made, maybe not.

Understood and you are 100% correct, which is why I recommended outsourcing.

You're also correct in that many skills are needed. However, all of these can be outsourced to others. You just have to first gather your design team.

You also have to decide on what you want to specialize in. I specialize in a very specific type of website which produces a very specific type of result for my clients. Which means I can charge more.

Translation: The more specialized you are the more you can charge. As long as you're producing results that's all the business wants and expects. They're more than happy to pay for results.

When it comes to fees, you'll discover that the more you charge the more likely you are to get a paying client and it takes just as much effort to get a paying client at $3500 as it does for getting a paying client at $250. So, why not charge more?

If you don't know how to do something there's always someone who does. That goes for selling websites, too. Joint venture with a local business or expert. I do joint ventures all the time with local businesses as well as those on BHW and other similar sites. Sometimes it's just something simple like interviewing someone so they have a way of establishing their expertise. Or, it could be that my firm creates a sample site for them. Or, we create a niche site for them to re-license.

Expertise is something you can find if you don't have it. I like to say about my firm, "We are our own best competition." In other words, many of those who seem to compete against us are actually people selling sites or work we produced to begin with.

Anyway, good luck and if you find anything I say along the way helpful, remember nothing says THANKS like the clicking on the THANKS button.