Let's discuss how you should calculate the cost of your work. Payment options on freelancing. Approximate cost of services of specialists of different levels. And a couple of tips from practitioners.
For successful work, it's important for you to accurately estimate how much you need to ask for this or that project. And at the same time earn a decent income. And do not inflate the price so that customers get scared. It is important to ensure an optimal flow of projects - exactly as many as you need for a good life without burnout. And the right price for your services is the key to success.
Employment gives us a choice - either you accept the salary offered or you don't. And even in matters of perennial haggling with recruiters, you can find a way to ferret out the company's budget for a particular position. In this situation there is nothing much to discuss - you can roughly see what the market rates are, what the offers are for specialists of your level, you can read statistics and find out the salary level of your colleagues.
Everything is different in freelancing. Here you can take certain orders with a specified price tag. But you can also name your own price. In any case, you need to understand the complexity and scope of the project to correctly estimate it.
The advantage of freelancing is that you can grow in income much faster. Set the price you want. Discard knowingly losing orders. Nevertheless, there are average rates that you should be guided by.
Tip: If you absolutely do not understand what price to voice the customer, you can place on different exchanges the same task (such as yours or exactly his) to see how much for it will ask other designers. This will help to understand what are the rates in general. And it may also turn out that someone is ready to do the task for pennies. Why not assign the order to him, and you only fix the details and get the difference?
But remember that low rates make not only dumping beginners, but also scammers. And to be guided by such a cost is also impossible, it is far from reality. Always mark the lowest and highest rates, if you want to understand the average price.
In addition, it is worth focusing on the amounts that have voiced designers about your same level. On most exchanges for this you can look at their profiles and portfolios.
Hourly payment
This form of payment is not uncommon, as each project requires a different amount of time. There can be two 10-screen landings. Both from scratch, both without complex forms. But one of them on a simple topic like a flower store, and the other - about the selection of heating systems in a private home. And with the same TOR, you'll spend much more time on the second landing page, because the question requires more research and preparation. Here it would be wrong to set the same price. And hourly rates are the optimal way out.
Many freelance exchanges have time trackers that help you mark the hours spent on the project. You can also use various free applications, built-in timers in online work schedulers. And sometimes a contractor simply counts a day's work as 8 hours - by eye.
What is the nuance of hourly payment - the more experienced the specialist, the faster he does the work and the more qualitative it is. Accordingly, his hourly rate is higher than that of an amateur. And for simple tasks it is always more profitable to hire a jun and pay him pennies, and entrust important aspects of work to a signor and keep him busy for just a couple of hours.
To put it crudely, junior web designer can ask on exchanges for an hour of work $8-14, and a specialist level senior - from $25 and much higher. Again, it all depends on the exchange, the region, the project, the reputation of the designer and his portfolio. There are those who earn many times more. And if there is a narrow specialization and successful cases, you can be more brazen.
Tip: you can try to artificially inflate the price of your hour. The fact is that some categories of people believe that more expensive means better. And they choose the most expensive of all offers in pursuit of quality. And this is a good chance to get a cool order. But do it with those projects that you just don't want to do for pennies. It's 50/50 here - either you're going to break the price and fail, or you're going to get a big score, even though you'll have to try harder.
What are the disadvantages of hourly payment? First of all, it is difficult for customers to orientate themselves in the total amount for the project. The client needs to plan the budget. And it also happens that the customer does not trust the performer and is afraid that he will deliberately delay the deadlines to get more money.
Try to roughly estimate the total amount, stipulating that this is a rough estimate and more accurate adjustments will be in the process. But there should be a base that the customer can count on. And you can even exaggerate it a little bit just in case, so as not to upset the client later by going too far beyond the originally agreed limits.
Piece rate
It is common practice to set a fixed rate for piece work. For different pages of the site, for complex multi-level forms, for banners for advertising in social networks and banners for email newsletters, for the screen of the lending, for the development of the logo, etc.
It is necessary to work out the price for each type of page in detail. The first page and the first screen - always the most expensive. After all, they are also the most important. And the rest you already create one way or another, starting from the design of the first pages. The same applies to the concept of a "unique page" - when you need to design it from scratch. And "not unique" is when you essentially copy the design, substituting only other content.
Take into account pages with difficult designs and standard pages. Think through what difficulties you might encounter. The advantage of page-by-page payment is that you can immediately give a quote and the customer will choose what exactly he wants to get for the desired amount. And the budget itself will also be fixed at once.
Make a margin for complexity. You will have to slightly overestimate the upper limit of some prices, so as not to cheapen. And simple standard tasks you can do in packs at a more affordable price. And it's advisable to combine these two approaches - that way you'll hook a wider target audience.
Know that even a simple task can come from a meticulous customer. And then the already mentioned slight overpricing will be justified (this is payment for moral damage). And if the project turned out to be much simpler than you estimated it - this is your bonus for those tasks that did not turn out to be simple. And remember, you can always discount if you see fit.
What's the price? For a homepage, middle level web designers charge an average of $250 to $300 for freelancing. And for unique pages inside the site - $50-70.
For the 404 page, Success, possible forms, product cards are set different prices depending on the project. At the same time, you can set a different price on different sites - depending on the region, for example. Orient yourself by competitors' prices in each case.
Tip about demping. Don't do it. Yes, there are newbies who are willing to work for the sake of a portfolio. But that doesn't mean you can devalue your labor. If each of the beginners puts the price lower and lower, eventually clients will assume that this is the norm. Even in the beginning stages, we recommend setting a competitive price. That way, you don't end up with the customer who just wants cheaper. Honestly, there is a trend here - greedy customers are the hardest to work with. But generous and solvent customers are less likely to bother you and are less nagging.
Combined fee
You can quote a base price based on the number and complexity of pages. And then charge by the hour for revisions. This is convenient if it is initially difficult to fully assess the scope of work. It happens that the customer himself does not yet understand what is required in the end - for example, his business is just starting, he has not yet collected all the materials that can give you. And he says: "Let's do this, and then we'll add this and that. Or maybe not."
And then there are clients whose edits take longer than the project itself. It sounds unpleasant, but that's okay. You just need to discuss in advance the number of edits included in the price and the extra charge for everything else. Then you just keep working on the tasks and get paid for it.
This approach is flexible enough and allows all participants of the process to work comfortably. The client knows exactly what they are paying for. You don't miss anything. At the same time, the customer will think twice before giving you the fifth iteration of edits - because they will already have to be paid for.
Some recommendations
Practice flexible pricing. Customization are empty words that we don't recommend using in headline design. But stepping away from the cliché, it's pricing flexibility that customers are usually looking for in freelancing. Play along with the client. Offer him a few different options. Discuss fears, pains, budget, wishes, goals. Perhaps you'll work together and you'll get not even one order, but a whole series and still good recommendations. Make discounts on large orders - after all, to get into the task once is much easier than to switch between tasks and customers continuously.
Take an advance payment. On many exchanges there is a service of freezing the customer's money until you complete the task. This is a guarantee. But in other cases, take an advance payment of 25-50%. This is at least a protection from those who can at any time change their mind and cancel the order on which you have already started working.
Bid correctly. Communicating with a potential client should hook you right away. Read the article "How to minimize rejections in freelancing".
Justify the price. Describe specifically and in detail what goes into your work. Sometimes it's not obvious to customers that there's a lot of work behind a concise TOR. Web design is not just aesthetics, but also marketing, research, the need to understand the pains and desires of the target audience, competent UX/UI. Explain how complex and important your work is. Put details in your portfolio, price list, task response, or in emails when negotiations are already underway.
Make a "discount". A good move is to offer among others the service that the client can refuse. And in this case, with a price of $600, he can pay only $500. The main thing is that you and count on this.
Make the client feel special. Often clients choose a freelancer over an agency because they want to be prioritized. And also not to overpay. And for you to be all-consumed in only their task. Make it clear that this is the case. And don't forget to mention that on freelancing you take cheaper than you would take when working in a company with office expenses, cleaning lady and corporate events. You don't have to mention that you actually put some expenses like licensed software, continuing education courses, equipment, subscriptions, and co-working space into the price too.
Don't settle for low pay. That's not why you're learning a modern profession, is it? If it's hard in the beginning, work on your portfolio. Learn. Develop new skills. Upgrade your skills. The beauty of freelancing is that here worthy professionals can find a good job without blat and the status of the son of mom's friend.
Go through various trainings. And along with the skill will grow and your price tag. We can offer a powerful online course "UX/UI Legend", which will definitely have a lot of useful information. Sign up!