The 14 Point Web Design Checklist

A lot of people have been asking me lately how I price my website design services. A lot of people think there’s a formula to use (time + experience – overhead = rate) but that’s too restrictive. Others raise their rates little by little until they start to see a drop in client interest and then slowly level it out to find the optimal price for their particular service(s). I’ve got something much easier. It’s an all-inclusive checklist, and it’s the only reference you’ll ever need to price your web design services.

1) Start with a base value of $30 – Here’s an example of a $30 design.
2) Add $10 if it’s for a clan – Making clan templates is the first step to going pro.
3) Add $20 if it’s for a blog – Blogs are in.
4) Add $30 if it’s for a forum – Forums are inner.
5) Add $50 if it’s for an eCommerce site – eCommerce sites are innest.
6) Add $10 for every random vector you include – You can steal them from deviantArt if you can’t make your own.
7) Add $5 for every gradient in the design – Gradients are cool now.
8) Add $5 for everytime you use outer glow – Check out Windows Vista for outer glows in action!
9) Add $5 for everytime you use drop shadow – Check out Windows Vista for drop shadows in action!
10) Add $15 if they need a custom logo – You can use this totally not made for Adsense site to learn more about making custom logos.
11) Add $5 if they need a mascot – Just Google image search pandas or something and charge them for it.
12) Add $25 if they need it coded – Then hire a teenager to do it for you.
13) Add $1,000 to make it “Web 2.0″ – Just add a lot of white space and use pink as the main color.
14) Add $5,000 if the client asks you what “Photoshop” is – The ignorant pay more.

There you go. Just roll down this checklist everytime you have a new client contact you about a job.