Some would tell you to charge hourly, some per project. I tend to fall in between. The client is presented with an overall package cost. The total monetary figure is derived from an hourly breakdown in addition to all costs of production and promotion. In this article I will attempt to breakdown the actual costs involved in producing a site and from there, I will leave it to you to determine the actual value of the work you perform.

The main thing to remember is that you are trying to run a business and no business can succeed without profits. It is my opinion that most clients realize and understand your need to be profitable. While they would love nothing more than to get a good deal, they will respect you much more if you consider that one goal that is central to all businesses in your proposals.

Domain Name

Determine whether or not your client needs a domain name. Being a full service promotion presence company, I work with a client to determine an appropriate domain name, how many years the domain name is to be rented, and if additional domains will be required.

Hosting

The second variable I consider is whether or not the client requires hosting for their website, and if they do, what level of hosting will be required. What technologies will be implemented on the website? Will the website be database driven? What type of backend software meets their needs? Does the client require site backups and at what frequency? Do they need SSL security, CGI bin, e-mail, stats tracking, shopping cart, etc. Do they need a dedicated server, or a virtual or shared server. What level of traffic is to be handled through the website.

The importance of good hosting is paramount to a successful website. Hosting is an area and a decision that I strongly recommend you do not take lightly. Chose the wrong host, and you are sure to find yourself fielding late night, angry phone call from your clients wondering why their websites are down. Research many different hosting companies and find one that meets your clients needs and perhaps even slightly exceeds to allow for future site updates. I personally recommend larger name hosting companies such as Media Temple or Verio. These companies have a history of reliability, and performance. In addition, level of service and uptime guarantee is to be considered as well as server hardware configuration. These are factors that my clients, without even knowing it, appreciate my due diligence. Generally, clients prefer that you are not experimenting on their dime.

Technologies

This is a bit of a gross generalization, but I would say that on the average, a Database driven, actionscripted Flash site with a shopping cart will cost much more than a standard HTML, template based site. You will need to determine what technologies will be needed to accomplish your client’s objectives.

Content Development

Will you be needed to gather and write content for the website? This is research intensive and often times quite time consuming. Often times, even when the client has content available, it will need to be reworked for promotional purposes.

Promotion

Will you be in charge of site promotion? Will it include search engine optimization and a pay per click campaign? Perhaps you will need to promote through pay per inclusion search engines and directories. Banner ad campaigns are often employed on a per impression basis. Will you need to be in Google where link popularity will need to be achieved? Link popularity is a long and arduous process. Many hours are consumed researching relevant sites in your clients field and contacting each and every webmaster in order to gain quality links. The costs associated with promotion can be great and are often overlooked or promotion is never touched. This is a mistake. Is a great website really a great website if nobody sees it? These are just a few examples of promotional costs… the list goes on, but we’ll save that for another article.

Miscellaneous Expenses

When job costing a website production, one should not neglect factoring in the cost of running your business. This can include such easily forgettable variables as Software and hardware costs, long distance telephone calls to the client, office utilities paid while working for the client, mileage expenses, the cost of proposal materials, internet connection…and other general operating expenses. If the accepted premise and goal of running a business is to exceed your customer’s expectations, while making a profit, you cannot discount the amount of your miscellaneous expenses.

The Value of Your Time and Experience

Unfortunately, only you and your client can determine your value. For me, quantifying this is simple. I charge what I feel is a reasonable for me to make my business profitable. I do this by assigning an amount that I’m comfortable with as compared to the estimated hours to be spent on the project and add another half to that figure. There will always be unexpected snags in the process of building a website and I account for those ahead of time to the best of my ability. This way, my client is never surprised by the extra 8 hours spent on the project and all pricing is done upfront.

To Wrap Things Up...

While this list is a good jumping off point for determining cost, it is by no means all inclusive and I’m afraid much of the groundwork will need to be done by you before you can accurately determine a price, but I hope this article puts you on the path to developing a pricing system and gives you a bit to think about in the quest for building your profitable business.

So if a client asks you what you will be charging for their website, you can be armed with your research and some of the tips from this article and proudly announce your price. Or you can simply reply, how much does a car cost and say, I’ll get back to you when you can answer that simple question.