"What's
your experience?"
In 1995 I began as a
graphic designer and started making money part time making graphics
for personal websites for a pittance. I made animations and .gif/,jpg's
in the form of banners and other website images.
Due to building up my own site I
decided to take on entire websites with an artistic and personal
flair. Starting first with small companies and entrepreneurs I
eventually commanded larger contracts from larger corporations. My
main method of advertisement was word of mouth and still is.
-
"Do you do
all the websites only yourself?"
I am the only one who designs the site.
I am not a firm and you are not a weird number ending with a dash and a
letter.
"Why do some
companies or contractors charge site design per page?"
Define page.
My version and your version may clash. On a website, a page can be never-ending.
But you could break it down and say two images and 500 words per page and
that leaves you with little flexibility, but whose to know you mean that?
When I say page I mean "section." Within this Design section, the
links are navigationally correct to show 6 pages.
If someone
says per page, I don't know what they mean but I assume "section" since
that means that from another page a link to that page will be available.
I charge by the hour {or the project depending} and it keeps it all easy.
I don't think anyone's budget should get blown because they decide to rearrange
some "sections" and add more subsections instead of one long, boring, dull,
wordy, and it-takes-too-long-to-load page.
"How long did
it take for you to make your website?"
I started
in 1996. It's 2007 today. I'll be finished shortly. :)
"What I said
in 1999:"
I couldn't
even afford my website. My website I'd consider somewhat graphic intensive,
which of course means more time on graphics. But I wouldn't recommend
just anyone choosing a design like mine (graphic intensive) unless they
have endless money and time. This site was totally revamped in July (1999)...it
took about a week (maybe 60 hours) to get the graphics together and to
form the template...then spread out from then until now (Sept 14, 1999)
with data entry and adding on and buttons and maintenance, probably an
additional 50. So, from July until September that'd be about 110 hours.
"What's the lowest
you charge for a website? What's the lowest you've ever charged?"
Today, in 2007, the lowest I have charged
over the past few years has been about $1200 for an entire site. But that
was when I was charging $35 an hour flat I think too. The lowest I have
ever charged has been nothing.
Today, my minimum for any site
starting from scratch is around $450 and that's your basic several sections,
images, feedback forms and this is assuming I'll have to alter some of the
images and shrink them down to size but also assuming the client has a particular
idea of how she wants it to look. I charge for thinking and planning too,
not just for the time I spend adding pixels and kilobytes to the project.
The more I think the more time goes by and if I weren't thinking of the
task at hand I'd be watering my roses or pondering the Buddha's wisdom.
"How
much to build
a site?"
I charge $45 an hour for website
design and it's billed in 15 minute increments. The contract will state
that upon approaching that time I'll let you know how close we are to finishing
and where we are on our time.
People always
then seem to follow up with wanting to know an "average price" for an "average
site" and I get frustrated. I have never had "an average site" experience.
I have had the gamut of clients and tiers of businesses not even closely
resembling one another. I had a personal site one time and charged a little
over $100 because it took a few minutes and it was one page and a
couple of graphics. Another website took over three months and the project
was ongoing for years and the payments were so healthy that I had the choice
to turn other clients down... Still yet, another time, a site that should
have been 20 hours in the breeze turned out to be 15 hours in a tornado.
So. No. No average site have I had and I have no median prices to offer.
"How did you
get into website design or internet development or computers?"
(This is a lie. No one ever asks me this
but I feel like throwing an answer out there for all the times people have
assumed that's what I'm degreed in.)
I fell into it after college. I got involved
in web graphics and animations but grew out of it and wanted to do bigger
internet related things. I've always been into computers - since age 12
when I had a fundamental knowledge and was making my first BASIC programs
- and I guess it was always an inherent undiscovered passion until graduation
when I finally had time to breathe.
The time, when I was 17 and managed
to hack my way into something I am not going to embarrass
my family's good name by divulging, making
it my after-school project, was probably, seriously, the beginning of it
all. Computers in general.
But then I have that right brain thing
going on so it's Logic vs Creativity and here I am.
"Have you ever
designed something for somebody only to look at it later and become ashamed
(Like when you first started this business)?"
Not so much anymore. In order to not insult
the client, I offer a "free upgrade" first 5 hours or 10 hours or 15 hours
(depending on my desperation to get the horror OFF the internet). It really
bugs me that I have some clients who refuse to let me touch it. At that
point I have no choice but to go in and pull my name off the site. We all
have bad days.
"How do you know
where to start when you get a client?"
I ask a few questions, just like the one's
on the estimate pages.
"If someone wants
you to design their site do they have to be hosted with you?"
No, I host out and offer this option for
the ease and comfort of my clients who may be starting from scratch and
have no idea how to go about going where and getting what. It's for convenience
and all in one place for simple comfort. It is not mandatory for my designing
of your site at all. Not one bit. In fact, I can promise my feelings won't
even be hurt.
"I am using a
template by some xyz company I am with. Can you make it look better? Another
web designer said it was copyrighted."
Copyright doesn't mean one cannot
alter a template. A template is predefined code and so what. Copyright means
that template is theirs. Once I am finished it will no longer resemble theirs
but in a dream. Yes, I'll take that project.
"How long does
it take to build a website, restore a photo, make an animation, a logo...etc...?"
If I have everything I need it
can range from a couple of minutes to a couple of hours for an animated
.gif banner, button, or other internet marketing image type to several weeks
for a very large website or a website starting completely from scratch that
has no idea where to begin and I do all of the image work and organizational
structure.
