Website management cost?

Great, I'll charge by the hour then!

Also, is it necessary to have a written agreement for my services? If so, what should I include in the agreement?

Originally Posted by Yang Also, is it necessary to have a written agreement for my services? If so, what should I include in the agreement?

It's always best to have a written agreement. You should consult a lawyer for exactly what you should include in the agreement. Every state has their own legalities when it comes to a business agreement.

I'm seeing a lot of the same thing here, "hourly rates are best" which is actually a huge misconception of not only most designers, but freelancers in general. You should take a look at "Hourly Rates: Confusing Efforts With Results" by Michael McLaughlin. He speaks much more eloquently on the subject than I can. McLaughlin writes from the perspective of a management consultant with one of the "big 5" firms, so he certainly knows what he's talking about. I really wish that more freelancers in general would catch up with the changing trends in fee schedules, because they really will benefit you. To summarize:

1. Nearly no freelancer accurately calculates an hourly rate that they would need to make their work profitable. (most make the mistake of thinking you can base it on a 40 hour work week FT, when it fact it averages around 22-23.) So they never charge enough to make a success of it. They forget that they need to be paid for the time involved in marketing themselves, handling admin tasks, etc.

2. Freelancers tend to feel pressured to lower their hourly rates (or start off with ridiculously low rates - like when someone mentioned $10 - if your time isn't worth more than that pre-tax, then you shouldn't be freelancing) when a client asks them to, for fear of losing the project.

3. You can't always accurately estimate the time you'll need to spend on a project, and most clients want an up-front quote, not to pay you whatever you say you worked afterwards.

4. With hourly rates, you're automatically pitted against your client, because you want the best pay you can get, while the client is trying to find ways to minimize your time on the project and therefore what they'll have to pay you.

5. Too many freelancers simply charge too little, thinking it will make them appear more competitive. In fact, the lower rates make you LESS attractive to the major clients. If you don't value your work enough to charge appropriately for it, in their mind you're simply not valuable enough for them to hire.

Michael recently submitted another article to me, discussing the flip-side of this issue, or value-based pricing. This is where the trends are leading, and despite only being published for a few days, I'm finding the responses from independent consultants and other types of freelancers has been overwhelmingly positive. You can read more about value-based pricing at "4 Realities of Value-Based Pricing."

I know that my opinions on this topic vary pretty greatly than most designers you'll find here. But from experience as a business owner, freelancer, and client to graphic designers, it really is in your (and you client's) best interest to work out a proper fee schedule per project, type of work, or based on the value the company will receive because of your work, rather than an hourly rate.