Cost for Site Design

[dadgetboy]

Hey everyone!

How much would you pay for the design of this site?
I personally designed it, and would like to know how much I should charge the person I have created it for.

Thanks for your opinions!

(It is based on a template)

http://diamondsbaseballcamp.com/

[Doctor Mike]

Hey everyone!

How much would you pay for the design of this site?
I personally designed it, and would like to know how much I should charge the person I have created it for.

Thanks for your opinions!

(It is based on a template)

http://diamondsbaseballcamp.com/
Nothing, no content, just a place mark and what box did you use...?

[dadgetboy]

What do you mean?

[ibuclaw]

I would charge nothing, but that is just me.

[dadgetboy]

It's that bad? Or are there other reasons at play here?

[Barrucadu]

I wouldn't be able to morally justify to myself charging money for a design based on a template I got from somewhere else…

[Phrea]

I'd pay what I think this contribution of mine is worth.

Just my $0.02

[new_tolinux]

I would charge nothing, but that is just me.
I would charge, since I tried charging "nothing" and ended up being abused as free designer/system administrator "'cause it's free".

I would however look for myself what I think it's worth, and how much they can pay.
For example installing Windows and make the system do exactly they want:
Who can't pay much (unemployed/students/etc) pay about $10-$15, give or take the amount of wishes.
Who can pay more: $30-$70, give or take the amount of wishes.
And that's still "cheap" compared to what others would ask, given that if it isn't impossible I make it work.

So calculate for yourself how much work there's in it. Make a good guess how big their financial "space" is. And then decide what you're going to ask. But never ask "nothing", except for real friends.

[fatality_uk]

From a commercial perspective, I would say a commercial design house would look at about $300+ for that kind of site. Pretty static and low maintenance.

[dadgetboy]

Sounds good, I really like these opinions. The customer knows that it is a template, and is completely OK with it. Maybe I could charge the customer $100, and then morally justify myself by donating $50 to the template designer via PayPal? For reference, here is the link to the template:

http://www.oswd.org/design/information/id/3698/

[Doctor Mike]

I'd pay what I think this contribution of mine is worth.

Just my $0.02I'm sorry if this sounds mean, but there either has to be an effort in design or graphical innovation that makes it salable... about 2 cents. Sorry.

[-grubby]

$100 sounds great.

[user1397]

I would go as high as $200 but not more than that.

Yup, the world isn't fair.

[thedogisdead]

If you were looking to run a small scale web business, selling to small organisations, without being an expert in every web field, I would put some time into learning about open source content management systems.

Wordpress, for example, is a brilliant CMS for smaller organisations as it's free and easy to use and administer.

There are plenty of sites out there selling templates and plenty of freelance developers who can develop, or tailor, bespoke plug ins for you.

Without a lot of experience in graphic design or coding, the best advice you can actually sell to people is being able to translate their (often vague) ideas into a tightly focused, easy to understand website which does exactly what they need, at exactly the right price and which uses the most appropriate technology.

I work as a web editor for a local authority in the UK and it's not unusual for websites to cost £50,000 to £100,000 simply because web companies have taken advantages of their clients' lack of understanding.

Don't be scared to pick a few ready made templates (there are some brilliant, highly polished Wordpress templates) and present these to clients, making it clear that you can customise them for them. Simply pass the costs of purchasing a template on to them.

If there are any plug ins or features you cannot install or create yourself, you are well placed to take this to a freelance developer and work this into the costs aswell.

In many cases, customers will be relieved that there small project has not needlessly spiralled to ridiculous costs and that you're being pragmatic by offering them something of high quality for a good price.

Training people on how to use the CMS and also advising them, or even creating for them, good website architecture and web content and copy which is easy for users to understand, is another big part of a development you can potentially make money on, and a part which users appreciate and show that your conscientious about your work!

Just a few point to think about if you're thinking the web is all about graphic design :-) we can't all be great at everything!

[gjoellee]

Hey everyone!

How much would you pay for the design of this site?
I personally designed it, and would like to know how much I should charge the person I have created it for.

Thanks for your opinions!

(It is based on a template)

http://diamondsbaseballcamp.com/

You don't make a theme, upload it and then charge for it!
You tell the person you made it for, that it will cost in example $2, then you upload it.


If you charge that person it is like giving something to a friend, and come back the day after and demand to get $3 for it.

[dadgetboy]

You don't make a theme, upload it and then charge for it!
You tell the person you made it for, that it will cost in example $2, then you upload it.


If you charge that person it is like giving something to a friend, and come back the day after and demand to get $3 for it.

I didn't make a theme, upload it to anywhere except my temporary web server, and I am only charging for the work in customizing the site to the client's needs. The debate here is about whether or not I should charge; and/or how much money I should charge.

[thedogisdead]

Well if all you're doing is customising a template, I don't think you'd be able to get away with charging too much!

Work out a realistic hourly rate, work out how much you spent doing it, and charge accordingly.

This isn't the most attractive design, so bear that in mind when coming up with a figure!

I'd take a guess and say $100 would be about the most you could charge without feeling cheeky!

[thatguruguy]

Hey everyone!

How much would you pay for the design of this site?
I personally designed it, and would like to know how much I should charge the person I have created it for.

Thanks for your opinions!

(It is based on a template)

http://diamondsbaseballcamp.com/

If it is "based on a template" than you can't say that you "designed" it. Someone else designed it, you just plugged in some images and text. If you charge ANYTHING, you are charging too much.

SRSLY, as someone who used to have my own web design company, people who use templates and then call themselves "designers" give all legitimate web designers a bad name.