Small business website consultant

[Fourbyfour]

I literally mean small business, like 1 person owned. I created a website for a friend's business using Squarespace and she absolutely loved it. She's recommended me to a friend who also wants one and has asked how much it would cost.

I am fully aware I have not built a website in the real sense, I used a templated service. What I did do was act as consultant to define her requirements, pick the platform, define and create her site architecture, write her content, source and format her images, wrote a brief marketing strategy for her, advised on domain and hosting, etc. My friend has said even it being templated she never could have managed to this.

What I'm stuck on is how much to charge. I know I need to establish whether the new lady will provide her own content, images etc, has a domain yet etc, but as a baseline I've no idea what to charge for my time.

It's a one woman startup company so I know she hasn't got a huge budget, but without a website she will struggle to market anywhere. What do I do?

[olderthanyouthink]

Hi, I'm a web developer, I keep meaning to register as self employed and do some freelancing. I've actually been curious about people who do the other stuff like strategy.

Slight problem you might have is if someone wants a site that would be better suited to not being on a diy platform.

Why not think about how long it took you to do stuff and then base it on that? Say you want to earn £10/hour then come up with a quote from that

[akkakk]

I think that what you have done is more at the marketing end - be careful advertising yourself as website construction unless you have technical / coding knowledge - you will come unstuck... However there is a real need for companies doing what you do, and even acting as a advocate / consultant to support a company in writing he brief and hen finding a technical company to do the work etc.

Building a website can be a whole range of prices from £50 to £millions so there is no clear way to work it out. Small business prices will vary from maybe £4-500 up to £2k - £20k depending on how much it is a brochure or at the other end a more interactive or business process system...

The advice above to work out against a desired hourly rate is good advice, at the low end the hourly rate abroad is probably £6-10 p/h in the U.K. It probably starts at more like £20-30 p/h and at the high end you will easily pay £100-£1 p/h or more. Don't forget though that in working out your costs you need to consider everything from overheads to taxes, pension to your computer kit before you keep what is left... to charge under the uk low rate of £20-30 will make it hard to earn a decent income.

[Fourbyfour]

Thanks very much both for your detailed answer. I absolutely know I am not a developer nor the delivery arm of website construction. I just started out helping a few friends for free and realised it was the advice and guidance they needed, as well as the skill set. I work in the digital industry now but in marketing campaigns, not this side of things.

[GrumpyOldBag]

I used Squarespace to build my website a few years ago. I am very untechie, but a friend recommended it to me as being idiot proof, and so it was. But, it took me a long time and i would gladly have paid someone who knows what they are doing to do it all for me if I just sent the text & photos.

I would be happy to pay £20 to £30 an hour for that sort of service (depending on your experience)

[Fourbyfour]

Thank you very much for your input, much appreciated.