Welcome!

[Ruge]

Hi folks, I previously dealt with a client whom I undercharged [$500 for about 40 hours work , including update training via documents] but that was my first experience (he wanted me to charge $300 :X) and I am looking for learn from my mistakes.

He is now working on a joint venture with someone and has asked me to design a website for his future TV business (networking asian TV to Australian homes via satellite). Here is some insight to the project:

Who is hosting your site? Do you want that included in the cost?
I am looking to host via Cove, a local host of mine, but this is at the client's cost (outside of my invoice)

What do you want to achieve with your hosted website?
Simple business hosting, therefore gone for SOHO plan, just installing Wordpress and using external payment options (eg. eWAY, PayPal).

What is your website for?
Site is for a client starting a TV networking company to link Asian networks to Australian television customers. Site will feature TV guides, advertising of shows (image/flash), contact pages, FAQ pages etc.

Do you want coding, or coding and graphic design?
I am designing the website using Wordpress and designing graphics. All I have been provided is a logo.

Are you going to be selling something (eg eCommerce)?
Selling products, but using eWAY services (at client expense) or PayPal.

What is your target market and demographic?
Target is Asian TV viewers in Australia.

How much traffic do you envisage your site getting?
Cannot comment on this stage unfortunately. I dont have that close a relationship with my client to gauge success, or potential success.

Who will maintain your website after it is complete?
The client will maintain the website's text. I have written in my contract that any additional pages/graphics may be performed by me for an additional cost.

Do you need the provider to train people to update your site?]
I am presuming I will ahve to prepare a guide on how to update the website.

My biggest fear is dealing with clients who clearly undervalue the cost of a website, so I am trying to find a way to explain to my client the amount of work to be done. I have been given a deadline of 3.5 weeks.

Any insight on how much I should charge would be greatly appreciated!

[jock]

Estimate how many many hours it will take then multiply it by your hourly rate, all I can gather from the above is you need to design them a wordpress theme.

[falkencreative]

As jock said, your starting point would be to estimate the number of hours of work involved (probably adding on a little to give you some space if issues occur) and multiply that by your hourly rate. Exactly what you will charge depends on a whole range of things... where you live, what others similar to you are chargine, your client's budget, your experience, the amount of free time you have... I tend to think that you can fairly charge somewhere between $20 and $30 an hour (assuming you are in the US), assuming you don't have a huge amount of experience (as in, you don't have an extensive portfolio to bring in new clients -- you obviously need to know what you are doing) and you can increase your hourly rate from there as you build a portfolio. As I said though, exactly what you charge depends on a range of things, and will probably be slightly different for everyone.

It does look like a reasonable amount of work. You'll have a Wordpress theme to develop, content to enter, and products/ecommerce functionality to set up. Three and a half weeks is a pretty tight timeline (though, if you have the chance to work on this full time and it's your only/one of a very few current projects, maybe not).

[jock]

The rates calculator on freelanceswitch is often brought up on these kinds of posts, its worth checking that if you don't know how much to charge per hour. I've tried it but I don't find it all that useful, I don't really keep track of my annual spending so I don't know how much to put in each field.