If you are planning to start as a website designer, one of the most important factors you should know is how to estimate the design cost. You should have a clear idea about how much you are going to charge and what will be the pricing structure. The cost of a good website may vary from fifty dollars to thousands of dollars, depending on several factors. Therefore, before you fix a price, you should take a few things into consideration.

Basic Factors of Pricing

If you don't have other income besides web page design, you should try to fix a price which will cover your expenses with a little extra left over. Calculate what you need to live for a month and how much you want to save monthly. Then, divide the amount with how much hours you can work a month. But, you should also be careful to demand a price that is convenient to the clients generally. If you are new to the field of web developing, you can work up to 20 hours a week and spend the rest of the week for marketing to new clients, handling paperwork and other essential tasks.

Pricing Per Project or Per Hour

One of the most important decisions a web page designer should take is whether he will charge per hour or per project. Generally, web designers calculate how many hours they need to complete a project and then translate it easily to charge by the hour.

 Commonly, website designers charge per hour if:

• The clients require change in the project after the webpage designing has already been started
• It is difficult to calculate how much time is required to complete the project
• The web designers are handling lots of small tasks or projects along with a project
• The client requires something extra than what you ordinarily offer

Charge per project is convenient if:

• The project is relatively specific and short
• The designers have earlier experience with this type of project and they know how long it should take
• The budget is low that does not allow for an open-ended number of hours

Time to increase the cost

Web page designers can cleverly increase their price rate in special seasons like New Year, Christmas and some other festival seasons, especially if they have existing clients or they have already offered an estimate for a new project. The New Year is the best period that you can simply send out a notice that your rate is going up. You can do the same in the starting of a new month, if you are not willing to wait until the end of the year. If you get a new project from an existing client, it will be an ideal time for a switchover.

A web designer should also be honest with his clients in meting a deadline and satisfying their requirements while increasing the design pricing.