Recently I came up with an idea to sell websites so I wrote to like 200 different companys if they wanted their website done.
I got like 5 people wanting their websites fixed.
Some showed me a website they wanted their own to look like, some just said they wanted something nice.
I say to them, I do the frontpage and you tell me what you think and we can do some changes if you want.
If they like it I do the rest of the pages, and then they pay.
Would there be a better way, to maybe get half the price after i did the frontpage and the rest when the site is completed. Is this a good way? I don’t know. Tell me how you do and what would be the best.
For smaller projects, I always take 50% upfront, before starting any work. The remaining 50% are due upon project completion. For bigger projects, I take 25% upfront and split up the cost on a per phase basis.
If you’re serious about design, I’d not go the free route. If you want to get your feet wet, however, then I’d create a design, distribute it somewhere and release it under the Creative Commons or a similar license.
I did freelance work last summer, and basically did the same thing you did. I emailed a few local startups and asked if they wanted a website done. The only time I did work for free was the first time, because I literally had no portfolio, no web presence, no nothing. After I made that first site I used that as my portfolio, and started charging from then on.
I only have a few months worth of experience freelancing, so I don’t know nearly as much as some of the other guys here. But here are some tips I can give you:
DON’T charge less or do free work just because you’re new.
Don’t tell people you’re new unless they ask.
Pick an hourly price, say $25. Then figure out how long you feel a project will take to finish, say 10 hours for a small site. Charge them 10*25, $250 and ask half up front, half at the end.
Create a portfolio site, go balls out and really try to show off your skills. You can even use THIS as your portfolio!
Use a free time tracker, such as https://www.toggl.com/ to keep track of where your time is being spent. Working from home can get distracting, trust me…
Take every opportunity to learn. If a project seems a little bit out of your league, shoot for it anyways - but be honest with yourself. If it’s way out of your current skill, simply skip it
Sell yourself. Be confident, there are tons of people looking for websites to be done (some don’t even know that they need one ). If someone tries to low ball you, tell them “Thanks for your interest. Here’s my card (or email), let me know if you change your mind”.
If you’re a developer:
REUSE CODE. That’s important!!! Keep a library of frequently used code, and copy/paste it as needed. This will save you a lot of time.
Learn to use a code expander like http://smilesoftware.com/TextExpander/ which lets you type long words/phrases with only two or three characters. The one I use tells me how much time I’ve saved by doing it (43 hours since Decemeber 15th 2011)
Like OMGCarlos said I also started by setting a reasonable hourly rate for my work, and then estimate how long a project will take. Those hourly rates would then count for the majority of the product cost, though sometimes a few fees do apply.
When you’re starting using this approach, be prepared to fail utterly at “estimating the amount of hours”! THat’s just how it is, you need experience to be able to analyze the project and roughly estimate everything!
As for doing work upfront for free, I usually take atleast 25% upfront to work as a motivator both for myself and for the client.
). If someone tries to low ball you, tell them “Thanks for your interest. Here’s my card (or email), let me know if you change your mind”.