Chris Pearson started an interesting conversation on pricing over on his blog. A few folks have complained about the cost of blog design in the comments and around the web as a result of this.

Pricing is a hot topic in web design, especially at the small to medium end of the spectrum that most designers and clients occupy. At issue is the fact that there are no standards: no standard industry rate, no standard industry process. No standard industry anything.

Shopping for a designer must be incredibly frustrating. Asking “how much to design my blog” will return quotes ranging from the insanely low to the absurdly high. Why? There are a number of reasons, a few of which I’ll review here.

First, we’ve got to separate providers of web sites into three groups: professional design/develop agencies, professional design/develop freelancers, and amateurs. Generally speaking, agencies will charge more per hour than freelancers, and freelancers more than amateurs.

Agencies have greater overhead, but are able to offer more full featured services, including marketing, copywriting, and strategy. Often a blog or web design agency will have deeper technological skills, more well rounded and specific experience, and may be able to offer more complete advice. Most professional web design/development agencies charge between $90 and $250 per hour.

Professional freelancers are able to offer specialized service for less than the average firm. Most charge between $50 to $100 per hour. Working with a freelancer offers significant benefits, and significant risks. For example, a client who knew specifically which details and features would best suit her business may save some money by hiring talented freelancer vs a full service agency. Also, a project dependent on a single individual can fall victim to the designer’s other simultaneous projects, to illness, etc. While agencies’ deeper talent pools reduce that risk.

Amateurs are often students fresh out of school, or self taught individuals. They will often charge anywhere from $10 to $50 per hour. Note that I’m not using the word amateur disparagingly, but as it’s defined by Dictionary.com

“A person who engages in an art, science, study, or athletic activity as a pastime rather than as a profession”

While the amateur may know how to code a page, beware (or at least know what you’re getting into). Building a website for a client involves a heck of a lot more than negotiating html. One must be skilled at client relations, project management, marketing, communications, and more. Note that most professional freelancers were amateurs. Hiring an amateur does not mean you’ll receive sub-par work (I was an amateur fairly recently myself – I have the battle scars to prove it). But it’s playing the odds.

The range of hourly rates is only half of the equation. The other is the number of hours included in a quote. In my experience, many designers tend to significantly under estimate the amount of time jobs actually take. This is especially true of amateurs and the occasional freelancer. This is a very dangerous practice, and often leads to feelings of animosity between the client and the designer.

Secondly, based on my own research, designers include wildly different levels of service in their quotes. For example, most projects include some multiple variations of design comps. The multiple may vary, affecting pricing dramatically.

To explain further, the finished work that the public sees is one of only two, three, or even four site designs presented. Some clients are willing to pay a premium in order to have greater choice. They offset their risk by “buying” more of our time. In the end, a website that cost $2000 may not look hugely different than a website that costs $4000. But odds are, that more expensive site is doing a better job of fulfilling the client’s needs.

We also frequently include training and ongoing management services (including hosting) as part of a project.

Thirdly, supply and demand affects the rate dramatically (and quickly). There are only so many good design firms out there. We design bloggers tend to think there are many, because all we look at is design blogs. But as a percentage, it’s a pretty tiny number. Maybe a couple of thousand firms around the world that are suited to your particular needs. In many locations and niches, like blog design, that number is much, much smaller.

For example, we’re very busy at the moment. We’re in the luxurious position of being choosy about the projects we take. We’d be incompetent business people not to be sensitive to that situation. We’re not being foolish about it – we’re building long term relationships, not wham bam thank you ma-ams. But the opportunity cost of our time has become more valuable: if you’re not willing to pay us $X per hour, that fellow over there will. So taking your project has to bring some value other than the immediate revenue.

As designers and developers, we occupy a nebulous no-man’s land of quasi service and quasi product. What we build doesn’t actually exist. It can’t be felt in your hands. Yet it’s not a pure service either; we don’t usually consult and not execute. Our potential clients often don’t know what to make of us. They may not be aware that we often have experience that is broad and deep. We’re craftsmen and skilled marketers. Our time has value. And our deliverables (hopefully) reflect that.

One must finally be aware that usually a designer or agency gives an estimate. The final bill may be quite different. The estimate that was low due to inexperience or error may not be billed out at the same amount. The estimate that was higher because it more clearly reflected actual experience may be billed at less than the initial estimate (it happens – rarely).

Pricing is tricky. There’s no real science to it, and no standard estimating process to follow. When considering a range of estimates, be aware of the range of deliverables, the additional services included, the experience of the individual or team, and the supply and demand of the moment.

Credits: http://www.theblogstudio.com/single/blog_design_and_web_design_pricing/

We spend a lot of time on Freelance Folder talking about marketing. That is because good marketing is very important to a free-lancer's success. It is important to get those clients in the door and signed up for your products or services if you are going to earn enough to really support yourself as a freelancer.

For some freelancers, though, that "in" door is actually a revolving door. If this is you, it may seem that no sooner do you get a client signed up for your products or services than they leave. You have no idea why you are losing clients, but you know that it has to stop.

This post should take some of the mystery out of why freelancers lose clients. It will also provide some tips for how to hang on to the clients that you do have.

Eight Reasons Why Your Clients Leave

There are many reasons why clients stop doing business with a freelancer. While we may never know all of those reasons, we can identify (and correct) some of the most common problems that clients have with freelancers.

Here are eight common reasons that clients stop working with a freelancer:

1. Missed deadlines. In general, clients like freelancers who meet their deadlines. They want to know when they can expect a completed project. While most freelancers occasionally miss a deadline, frequent missed deadlines give your client the impression that you don't care about them. If you must turn a project in late, contact the client and let them know when they can expect the work.
2. Lack of communications. While no client has the right to expect a freelancer to be "on call" 24/7, they do have the right to expect timely answers to their questions. No client should have to wait days or weeks to get a response from a freelancer. If you will be going on vacation or otherwise unavailable, let your clients know ahead of time as a courtesy.
3. Quality. Do you take shortcuts with your work? If you do, guess what? Your client can tell. The quality of your work demonstrates how thorough you are. If your work is poor or has to be redone, don't expect your clients to stick around. You can solve this problem by having someone else check over large projects or by double-checking your work yourself.
4. Talking too much. Many freelancers enter a project with a set agenda in mind–their own. Good listening skills are vital to the successful freelancer. Not only do you need to find out what the client wants, to do the best job for them you also need to find out why they want it. The only way to do that is through listening.
5. Not fulfilling instructions. Nothing makes a client more upset than a freelancer who ignores their instructions. Read the project assignment over carefully until you are sure that you understand what the client wants. If you have a question about something be sure to ask it. It's better to ask a question early than have to do rework later.
6. Not keeping up with your field. What year is it? Do your business practices reflect the current trends and knowledge? If your work is out of date, then clients may want to go with a freelancer whose skills and knowledge are more current. This is why it is important for freelancers to make time to learn new things.
7. Dishonesty. This should go without saying, but unfortunately there are a few dishonest freelancers out there (just as there are a few dishonest clients). My best advice to you: don't be one of them. Any so-called benefits that you may gain through your dishonesty will be far outweighed by the hit to your reputation.
8. Personality clash. Freelancers are people. Clients are people. Once in a while, they just don't get along. While a good freelancer should be professional enough to work with many different personality types there are a few times when a freelancer should just acknowledge that they aren't person to work with this particular client.

There's good news, though. You don't have to keep losing clients. You can stop the revolving door. To learn more, read the next section.

How to Keep From Losing Clients

The most important step that you can take to keep from losing clients is to recognize that you have a problem. Once you acknowledge that clients are leaving your freelance business you can begin to determine why they are leaving and take steps to correct the problem.

You can start out by reviewing the list above. Do one, or more, of these categories describe you? If so, you know what you need to do to solve the problem. Stop the offending behavior and you should start to retain more clients.

If you don't fit into one of the categories above, don't panic. It's possible that you are losing clients through a misunderstanding. You may have to ask your clients why they are dissatisfied. Conduct a friendly survey of clients who have been inactive for more than a specified length of time.

How Do You Retain Clients?

Share your experience.

Have you solved a client retention problem? What did you do?

Let us know in the comments.

Conversely, are you the client of a freelancer? What would make you stop using a particular freelancer?

Share your answers in the comments.

Credits: http://freelancefolder.com/why-you-are-losing-clients-and-how-to-stop/