How Much Should a Web Design Cost? - GoFuckYourself.com

TheSenator · 03-16-2009, 08:10 PM

My base price is 1499.00 plus extra if the customer ask for too much shit or if they get to annoying.

Is this article pretty much on web it comes to basic blog design and hosting?

Is there anything else you can add to convince a business that my prices are right on?

http://www.pearsonified.com/2006/06/...esign_cost.php

Also, how much to you charge for ala carte stuff? example...Photoshop cut-outs, watermarking, SEO properly, etc.

PSSuperstars · 03-16-2009, 08:28 PM

What's your portfolio look like for 1499?
Do you do basic SEO stuff too, for that?

TheSenator · 03-16-2009, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSSuperstars

What's your portfolio look like for 1499?
Do you do basic SEO stuff too, for that?

Did you even read the article?

John. · 03-16-2009, 08:52 PM

that article is wayyyy too long, u giving a summary?

is that your own blog?

TheSenator · 03-16-2009, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John.

that article is wayyyy too long, u giving a summary?

is that your own blog?

No..its not my blog.

Seriously...just skim the article. It is easy reading...

TheSenator · 03-16-2009, 09:15 PM

Articel:
Every week, I get emails from potential clients who all want to know one thing: How much for a design?

Nine times out of ten, my answer causes them to run for the hills. Scary thing is, based on industry buzz, my prices could actually be considered totally reasonable by comparison. Don?t believe me? Well, today you get the whole scoop - my prices, their prices, and my always-priceless editorial commentary on the subject

For the sake of argument, I?m going to constrain today?s post to blog design only.

When people email me and ask for a quote, I always follow the same process. I visit their current site and determine the following:

* The current CMS platform (WordPress, MovableType, Drupal, etc.)
* The scope of the site - how many unique styling elements will be required for specialty pages?
* The perceived complexity of the re-design. Does this person want a graphical masterpiece with all kinds of bells and whistles?

Generally speaking, there?s not a whole lot of variance in these areas from blog to blog, so after checking out the site in question, I usually have a good idea of how much to charge. Now, to answer the question you all want to hear?How much is all this gonna run ya?

At this time, blog designs start at $1500. This price is for a blog that has minimal graphical complexity, no customized icons, and no logo production. What you do get at this price is rock-solid, hand-crafted, browser-tested CSS, XHTML, and simple (but striking) graphic design.

In most cases, bells and whistles like plugin support, unique page designs, and extra graphics push the price up into the $1800-$2000 range. From there, the price is largely dictated by page-specific CSS/XHTML production and custom graphic design. It?s totally conceivable that a pimped out blog could run as much as $3000. Rest assured, though, that it would be totally badass, and the recipient of the design would receive mad props for having such a killer online abode.

Their Prices

Based on my experience, I have reason to believe that about 90% of you who just saw my prices thought, ?Gosh, that?s awfully expensive!?

Well, you?re right, but actually, you?re wrong too.

You?re right because $1800 is a decent chunk of change - for an individual. You?re wrong because companies throw this kind of bread around all the time. They do so because they understand that crafting a brand holds a value that is oftentimes hard to measure in dollars and cents alone. On top of that, companies typically have a monetary objective behind the launch of a new design, so to them, there?s a foreseeable payoff. Individuals, on the other hand, are oftentimes unable to see things in such a positive light. Let?s face it - most people don?t make a sustainable (or even decent) income off of their blog.

Everybody wants a killer design, especially after seeing one that they lust over. Problem is, nobody wants to pay for it.

At this year?s SXSW, I attended a very informative roundtable discussion that focused on - what else? - blog design. Naturally, the hottest topic of discussion was pricing, and the panelists freely gave out information regarding not only their prices, but also some info regarding industry pricing trends.

For instance, The Blog Studio charges $3000-$5000 for a blog design. Some people thought this was quite high, but Peter (who runs TBS) was cool enough to break things down into their individual elements to explain pricing more thoroughly. It?s been nearly three months since SXSW, so I?ll try and rehash things as best I can here?The major elements of blog design include:

* Graphical comps produced in Photoshop
* Graphical splicing for optimal CSS/XHTML structure
* CSS/XHTML production in standards-compliant fashion
* Unique CSS/XHTML adaptation to CMS platform of choice
* Bell-and-whistle functionality to meet client requirements

All of the steps highlighted above require a certain degree of expertise to be completed in professional fashion. Unfortunately, people who want designs are oftentimes unfamiliar with the amount of knowledge required to pull all this off in seamless fashion. Sometimes I think people see a design and think it?s all just a matter of applying a ?look? to stuff that?s already there. In reality, that?s basically what?s going on. In practice, however, things are intensely more complicated.

And this is why you hire a professional.

Another person on the panel at the SXSW design discussion was the female member of a husband and wife design team. While I don?t remember her name, I certainly remember what she said about blog pricing. $2500 and up, and this ?just really begins to cover the actual time investment? required to deliver a complete, robust design.

Want another example? Javier Cabrera, a talented designer who?s responsible for some really great stuff, charges $2500 as a base price.

How?s my $1800 price tag sound now? Looks to me like I need to raise my prices :-)
Watch out for that curveball!

People like surprises. Unfortunately, when those surprises include a hefty price tag, people hate them.

Here?s why professional web designs are the curveballs of the site construction process. Well, hey, let?s look at the process first:

1. Buy a domain name: $10
2. Buy a hosting package: $60/yr. with two years prepaid - $120
3. You set everything up, and then you realize you need a design because your site currently looks like 50,000 others out there. Whoops.

The problem here is that when setting up a new site, newbies often think, ?$10 for a domain? Awesome, let?s get started!?

Next, they get hit with the reality of hosting fees, and while they?re a little bummed about having to pre-pay for two years in order to lock in that great price of $5.50/mo., they go ahead and kick down $100-$200 to set up their hosting.

Their tab is already up around $200, and now they?re beginning to wonder if this web stuff is all it?s cracked up to be.

Unfortunately, they get hit with a wicked case of design lust while browsing and getting acquainted with the blogosphere, and now they really want a hot design. ?Shouldn?t cost too much, right? After all, look at all those cool designs out there!?

And then BAM! They get slapped with the reality that a wicked design is going to cost them $1500+, and they totally reject the idea, especially since the hosting fees were already a tough pill to swallow.

cess · 03-16-2009, 09:19 PM

Really depends. If we are talking ff0000.com than it's too cheap. But if we are are talking Jon Clark designs then...

I've seen plenty of designers charging $1000 or more for a really basic, nothing special design. They usually get away with it by marketing to the right group. But there's some designers that dish out designs worth $1000 and much more.

TheSenator · 03-16-2009, 09:27 PM

ff0000.com Have site design for min 20,000.00

cess · 03-16-2009, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSenator

ff0000.com Have site design for min 20,000.00

Never knew the cost but figured it had to be much more than $1500.

aniloscash · 03-17-2009, 01:00 AM

tough to sell a 499 package with a google add on your blog for 199 website design.

cardinalvices · 03-17-2009, 01:51 AM

some good and nice thoughts in that article.

Voodoo · 03-17-2009, 02:17 AM

He is about right. Lots of adult industry folk are used to paying way lower than mainstream due to the sheer volume of work that needs to be done. If all designers in adult were priced as they are in mainstream... There wouldn't be half the amount of sites out there, and those sites that were out there would have much larger pieces of the pie. However, this happened because of the demand for more and more sites, and cheaper and cheaper rates, outsourcing driving rates down even further etc... But, that's not to say that the work isn't WORTH what these mainstream guys are charging.

Think of it this way... Designer charges $5000 for a paysite design (Standard panel tour etc... decent graphics etc...), If you do your marketing properly and get the site making 10 joins per day +, you make that investment back in a month. At $1200, you make it back in just over a week once the site is cranking.

I think one of the biggest downfalls of the adult community was these noob program owners, shooters etc... not marketing your products properly (in general). The web does not hold true to the old saying "If you build it... they will come.", you actually have to grind, day in and day out until you force your site to make money. Tweaking, testing, tweaking more... submit, submit, submit... etc... People got lazy, and just cranked sites out, one after another, because they started relying on their affiliates to make the money for them. Affiliates got lazy and started wanting more from the sponsors, free hosting, free galleries, etc.... instead of putting in the time to make it work.

If half the sites were out there, and you had a couple of them pulling 50 to 100 joins per day (let's say), a $5000 paysite design is a drop in the bucket. You'd make that back in just over a week.

Fast cash, money now... It's the fucking Fast Food Generation hard at work right now.

RadicalSights · 03-17-2009, 02:45 AM

We have an order for 40 (Adult) websites on the horizon... We are charging $20,000 for all of it which is pretty cheap.. but they are only basically one page sites and in this economy you rarely see an order like that...

There's really not much money Adult compared to Mainstream.. Mainstream is where all the real money is and will always be. In everything from design to sofware etc.. I will surely start moving out into mainstream. Adult is drying up more by the year.

RadicalSights · 03-17-2009, 02:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Voodoo

Think of it this way... Designer charges $5000 for a paysite design (Standard panel tour etc... decent graphics etc...), If you do your marketing properly and get the site making 10 joins per day +, you make that investment back in a month. At $1200, you make it back in just over a week once the site is cranking.

$5,000 was the standard rate for a paysite design back in 1998-1999-2000...

Good luck getting anyone to pay you that today.

Emil · 03-17-2009, 03:52 AM

At this time, blog designs start at $1500. This price is for a blog that has minimal graphical complexity, no customized icons, and no logo production. What you do get at this price is rock-solid, hand-crafted, browser-tested CSS, XHTML, and simple (but striking) graphic design.

Not even a fucking logo for $1500...

TheSenator · 03-17-2009, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Voodoo

He is about right. Lots of adult industry folk are used to paying way lower than mainstream due to the sheer volume of work that needs to be done. If all designers in adult were priced as they are in mainstream... There wouldn't be half the amount of sites out there, and those sites that were out there would have much larger pieces of the pie. However, this happened because of the demand for more and more sites, and cheaper and cheaper rates, outsourcing driving rates down even further etc... But, that's not to say that the work isn't WORTH what these mainstream guys are charging.

Think of it this way... Designer charges $5000 for a paysite design (Standard panel tour etc... decent graphics etc...), If you do your marketing properly and get the site making 10 joins per day +, you make that investment back in a month. At $1200, you make it back in just over a week once the site is cranking.

I think one of the biggest downfalls of the adult community was these noob program owners, shooters etc... not marketing your products properly (in general). The web does not hold true to the old saying "If you build it... they will come.", you actually have to grind, day in and day out until you force your site to make money. Tweaking, testing, tweaking more... submit, submit, submit... etc... People got lazy, and just cranked sites out, one after another, because they started relying on their affiliates to make the money for them. Affiliates got lazy and started wanting more from the sponsors, free hosting, free galleries, etc.... instead of putting in the time to make it work.

If half the sites were out there, and you had a couple of them pulling 50 to 100 joins per day (let's say), a $5000 paysite design is a drop in the bucket. You'd make that back in just over a week.

Fast cash, money now... It's the fucking Fast Food Generation hard at work right now.

Very insightful....thanks

candyflip · 03-17-2009, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aniloscash

tough to sell a 499 package with a google add on your blog for 199 website design.

Anyone who does their research will see that Heritage is the worst company to work with.

I average at least 1 new customer per week who just gave up on working with Heritage. They all lost time and money.

http://ripoffreport.com/reports/0/416/RipOff0416844.htm

Kiwigirl · 03-17-2009, 11:42 AM

Interesting thread....good read!

TheSenator · 03-17-2009, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emil

At this time, blog designs start at $1500. This price is for a blog that has minimal graphical complexity, no customized icons, and no logo production. What you do get at this price is rock-solid, hand-crafted, browser-tested CSS, XHTML, and simple (but striking) graphic design.

Not even a fucking logo for $1500...

Logo design is in the realm of graphic designers not web designers/webmasters.

Reak AGV · 03-17-2009, 01:36 PM

I usually pay between $50 and $1k for my site designs

03-16-2009, 08:10 PM	#1
TheSenator Too lazy to set a custom title Industry Role: Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: NJ Posts: 13,336	How Much Should a Web Design Cost? My base price is 1499.00 plus extra if the customer ask for too much shit or if they get to annoying. Is this article pretty much on web it comes to basic blog design and hosting? Is there anything else you can add to convince a business that my prices are right on? http://www.pearsonified.com/2006/06/...esign_cost.php Also, how much to you charge for ala carte stuff? example...Photoshop cut-outs, watermarking, SEO properly, etc. __________________ ISeekGirls.com since 2005

03-16-2009, 08:28 PM	#2
PSSuperstars Confirmed User Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 1,477	What's your portfolio look like for 1499? Do you do basic SEO stuff too, for that? __________________ Porn's Best Kept Secret : PSOCash.com : Make Money Promoting Phone Sex in Members Areas, TGPs, and MORE! : Lifetime 30% Payout *Best Webcam Referral Payouts*

03-16-2009, 08:52 PM	#4
John. Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Europe Posts: 2,264	that article is wayyyy too long, u giving a summary? is that your own blog? __________________ Sig too old.

03-16-2009, 09:15 PM	#6
TheSenator Too lazy to set a custom title Industry Role: Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: NJ Posts: 13,336	Articel: Every week, I get emails from potential clients who all want to know one thing: How much for a design? Nine times out of ten, my answer causes them to run for the hills. Scary thing is, based on industry buzz, my prices could actually be considered totally reasonable by comparison. Don?t believe me? Well, today you get the whole scoop - my prices, their prices, and my always-priceless editorial commentary on the subject For the sake of argument, I?m going to constrain today?s post to blog design only. When people email me and ask for a quote, I always follow the same process. I visit their current site and determine the following: * The current CMS platform (WordPress, MovableType, Drupal, etc.) * The scope of the site - how many unique styling elements will be required for specialty pages? * The perceived complexity of the re-design. Does this person want a graphical masterpiece with all kinds of bells and whistles? Generally speaking, there?s not a whole lot of variance in these areas from blog to blog, so after checking out the site in question, I usually have a good idea of how much to charge. Now, to answer the question you all want to hear?How much is all this gonna run ya? At this time, blog designs start at $1500. This price is for a blog that has minimal graphical complexity, no customized icons, and no logo production. What you do get at this price is rock-solid, hand-crafted, browser-tested CSS, XHTML, and simple (but striking) graphic design. In most cases, bells and whistles like plugin support, unique page designs, and extra graphics push the price up into the $1800-$2000 range. From there, the price is largely dictated by page-specific CSS/XHTML production and custom graphic design. It?s totally conceivable that a pimped out blog could run as much as $3000. Rest assured, though, that it would be totally badass, and the recipient of the design would receive mad props for having such a killer online abode. Their Prices Based on my experience, I have reason to believe that about 90% of you who just saw my prices thought, ?Gosh, that?s awfully expensive!? Well, you?re right, but actually, you?re wrong too. You?re right because $1800 is a decent chunk of change - for an individual. You?re wrong because companies throw this kind of bread around all the time. They do so because they understand that crafting a brand holds a value that is oftentimes hard to measure in dollars and cents alone. On top of that, companies typically have a monetary objective behind the launch of a new design, so to them, there?s a foreseeable payoff. Individuals, on the other hand, are oftentimes unable to see things in such a positive light. Let?s face it - most people don?t make a sustainable (or even decent) income off of their blog. Everybody wants a killer design, especially after seeing one that they lust over. Problem is, nobody wants to pay for it. At this year?s SXSW, I attended a very informative roundtable discussion that focused on - what else? - blog design. Naturally, the hottest topic of discussion was pricing, and the panelists freely gave out information regarding not only their prices, but also some info regarding industry pricing trends. For instance, The Blog Studio charges $3000-$5000 for a blog design. Some people thought this was quite high, but Peter (who runs TBS) was cool enough to break things down into their individual elements to explain pricing more thoroughly. It?s been nearly three months since SXSW, so I?ll try and rehash things as best I can here?The major elements of blog design include: * Graphical comps produced in Photoshop * Graphical splicing for optimal CSS/XHTML structure * CSS/XHTML production in standards-compliant fashion * Unique CSS/XHTML adaptation to CMS platform of choice * Bell-and-whistle functionality to meet client requirements All of the steps highlighted above require a certain degree of expertise to be completed in professional fashion. Unfortunately, people who want designs are oftentimes unfamiliar with the amount of knowledge required to pull all this off in seamless fashion. Sometimes I think people see a design and think it?s all just a matter of applying a ?look? to stuff that?s already there. In reality, that?s basically what?s going on. In practice, however, things are intensely more complicated. And this is why you hire a professional. Another person on the panel at the SXSW design discussion was the female member of a husband and wife design team. While I don?t remember her name, I certainly remember what she said about blog pricing. $2500 and up, and this ?just really begins to cover the actual time investment? required to deliver a complete, robust design. Want another example? Javier Cabrera, a talented designer who?s responsible for some really great stuff, charges $2500 as a base price. How?s my $1800 price tag sound now? Looks to me like I need to raise my prices :-) Watch out for that curveball! People like surprises. Unfortunately, when those surprises include a hefty price tag, people hate them. Here?s why professional web designs are the curveballs of the site construction process. Well, hey, let?s look at the process first: 1. Buy a domain name: $10 2. Buy a hosting package: $60/yr. with two years prepaid - $120 3. You set everything up, and then you realize you need a design because your site currently looks like 50,000 others out there. Whoops. The problem here is that when setting up a new site, newbies often think, ?$10 for a domain? Awesome, let?s get started!? Next, they get hit with the reality of hosting fees, and while they?re a little bummed about having to pre-pay for two years in order to lock in that great price of $5.50/mo., they go ahead and kick down $100-$200 to set up their hosting. Their tab is already up around $200, and now they?re beginning to wonder if this web stuff is all it?s cracked up to be. Unfortunately, they get hit with a wicked case of design lust while browsing and getting acquainted with the blogosphere, and now they really want a hot design. ?Shouldn?t cost too much, right? After all, look at all those cool designs out there!? And then BAM! They get slapped with the reality that a wicked design is going to cost them $1500+, and they totally reject the idea, especially since the hosting fees were already a tough pill to swallow. __________________ ISeekGirls.com since 2005

03-16-2009, 09:19 PM	#7
cess Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 2,921	Really depends. If we are talking ff0000.com than it's too cheap. But if we are are talking Jon Clark designs then... I've seen plenty of designers charging $1000 or more for a really basic, nothing special design. They usually get away with it by marketing to the right group. But there's some designers that dish out designs worth $1000 and much more. __________________ Last edited by cess; 03-16-2009 at 09:24 PM..

03-16-2009, 09:27 PM	#8
TheSenator Too lazy to set a custom title Industry Role: Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: NJ Posts: 13,336	ff0000.com Have site design for min 20,000.00 __________________ ISeekGirls.com since 2005

03-17-2009, 01:00 AM	#10
aniloscash Confirmed User Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 1,161	tough to sell a 499 package with a google add on your blog for 199 website design. __________________ Got Milf Traffic Contact Me ICQ 473236446 j (at)anilos (dot)com http://www.aniloscash.com

03-17-2009, 01:51 AM	#11
cardinalvices Confirmed User Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 2,084	some good and nice thoughts in that article. __________________ Cardinal Vices Studio - your one stop shop for webdesign! Paysites \| Consulting \| Tube sites \| TGPs \| Galleries/Banner ads \| Flash peel ads Start your own cam site - Get Live Cam Site Solution

03-17-2009, 02:17 AM	#12
Voodoo ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ Industry Role: Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Porn Valley, CA Posts: 10,590	He is about right. Lots of adult industry folk are used to paying way lower than mainstream due to the sheer volume of work that needs to be done. If all designers in adult were priced as they are in mainstream... There wouldn't be half the amount of sites out there, and those sites that were out there would have much larger pieces of the pie. However, this happened because of the demand for more and more sites, and cheaper and cheaper rates, outsourcing driving rates down even further etc... But, that's not to say that the work isn't WORTH what these mainstream guys are charging. Think of it this way... Designer charges $5000 for a paysite design (Standard panel tour etc... decent graphics etc...), If you do your marketing properly and get the site making 10 joins per day +, you make that investment back in a month. At $1200, you make it back in just over a week once the site is cranking. I think one of the biggest downfalls of the adult community was these noob program owners, shooters etc... not marketing your products properly (in general). The web does not hold true to the old saying "If you build it... they will come.", you actually have to grind, day in and day out until you force your site to make money. Tweaking, testing, tweaking more... submit, submit, submit... etc... People got lazy, and just cranked sites out, one after another, because they started relying on their affiliates to make the money for them. Affiliates got lazy and started wanting more from the sponsors, free hosting, free galleries, etc.... instead of putting in the time to make it work. If half the sites were out there, and you had a couple of them pulling 50 to 100 joins per day (let's say), a $5000 paysite design is a drop in the bucket. You'd make that back in just over a week. Fast cash, money now... It's the fucking Fast Food Generation hard at work right now. __________________ "I'm selflessly supporting the common good, but only coincidentally looking out for No.1."

03-17-2009, 02:45 AM	#13
RadicalSights So Fucking Banned Industry Role: Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Europe Posts: 1,595	We have an order for 40 (Adult) websites on the horizon... We are charging $20,000 for all of it which is pretty cheap.. but they are only basically one page sites and in this economy you rarely see an order like that... There's really not much money Adult compared to Mainstream.. Mainstream is where all the real money is and will always be. In everything from design to sofware etc.. I will surely start moving out into mainstream. Adult is drying up more by the year.

03-17-2009, 03:52 AM	#15
Emil Confirmed User Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Sweden Posts: 5,650	At this time, blog designs start at $1500. This price is for a blog that has minimal graphical complexity, no customized icons, and no logo production. What you do get at this price is rock-solid, hand-crafted, browser-tested CSS, XHTML, and simple (but striking) graphic design. Not even a fucking logo for $1500... __________________ Free 🅑🅘🅣🅒🅞🅘🅝🅢 Every Hour (Yes, really. Free ₿itCoins.) (Signup with ONLY your Email and Password. You can also refer people and get even more.)

03-17-2009, 11:42 AM	#18
Kiwigirl Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 2,556	Interesting thread....good read! __________________ KIWISOURCING OUTSOURCING WITH A TWIST!

03-17-2009, 01:36 PM	#20
Reak AGV Confirmed User Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Unknown Posts: 4,283	I usually pay between $50 and $1k for my site designs __________________ Need Mainstream Content and SEO? SEO * Website Copy * Blogs Blogging - PR Work - Forum Marketing - Social Marketing - Link building - Articles 100% Guaranteed Content!