What things should I ask a prospective client

By No means is this an exhaustive list but here are a few.

What are your goals for your site? What metrics are you going to Measure that success by? Sales? You customers? Referrals? Views? Brand awareness?

Some sites you really like the look of and why, and some sites That you do not like, and why.

What is your budget for this project? Put this at the end of the questionnaire.

What is the expected timeframe for this website to be developed?

Do you need new content developed the new site? Articles, photos, videos, text, logos, banners all fit into this category.

What is your target audience?

Do you have social media sites attached to this brand?

Do you need an email newsletter?

Who is in charge of producing new content for the site after the development is done? Will you need maintenance afterwards?

Who are your competitors? What are their sites?

How much of the old content is getting ported over to the new site? What pages are going to be in the new architecture?

What type of functionality will you need? Image sliders? Forms? Interactivity?

These are just to start.

Listen to your client. They know their profession as an expert. You are the expert in your field, they are the expert nurse. There is much that can teach you. Try to understand what they need. Try to understand their business.

Thanks John! Some great questions! Now, he is new to the Internet so we don't have any examples to work with or improvements to make. It's really hard to locate any example barber sites, you know of any?

Also, if I were to do maintenance for him that's one thing. Like updating hours, days closed etc. I mean it's a pretty simple shop. But now what if he wanted to make the updates? Would I have to teach him to use an editor or is there some other way to go about it? I'm just not very clear on this.

Also, how would you go about pricing for site building and maintenance etc. I know it's ultimately up to me but I have no examples to work with for pricing...I'm new to the game! Thanks!

Thanks John! Some great questions! Now, he is new to the Internet so we don't have any examples to work with or improvements to make. It's really hard to locate any example barber sites, you know of any?

Also, if I were to do maintenance for him that's one thing. Like updating hours, days closed etc. I mean it's a pretty simple shop. But now what if he wanted to make the updates? Would I have to teach him to use an editor or is there some other way to go about it? I'm just not very clear on this.

Also, how would you go about pricing for site building and maintenance etc. I know it's ultimately up to me but I have no examples to work with for pricing...I'm new to the game! Thanks!

Wow sorry for the duplicate comment!

No worries, David. Pricing your time and service correctly takes a while to figure out. Most of the time, your initial guess is too low. I like to do flat fees most of the time, simply because it is less headache for everyone involved. If you have a good idea of how long it will take you to complete the task, you guess how many hours * your ideal rate. I currently build quotes off of an hourly rate of $27 to $30. I know people who go even higher, but this feels right for me, right now.

You can talk about doing monthly maintenance (or whatever interval is appropriate) for an hourly rate. It's best to nail the initial build, and naturally, they are going to call you again, since you did such a lights out job the first time.

Building sites always takes longer than you think it will, except when it's for yourself. Give yourself a buffer in time and money when you think of your quote. When you have a client, they always would like a little tweak or two.

Sometimes the little teaks take as long as the big ones do.

Most of the time, I use WordPress as a CMS, and I try to keep it simple as far as Post types and templates. Simple is better for the developer, too. I like WP, because it is easy for people to just type stuff in. When I do my own sites, I use the markup, not the WYSIWYG, but if you're using any type of CMS for a client, build your CSS and site as though they are using the WYSIWYG.

One thing that I build time into the project for is a training session at the end, so that they can maintain it, post new info, and not feel as intimidated by it. You are selling the power to conquer that fear of technology, since you have control over it. I also like to budget time for a final meeting so that you both can review and talk about the project. This leads to them wanting to keep doing business with you.

My Personal Feelings : I hate it when designers and devs get down on the clients. They are afraid, intimidated, confused, or unable to deal with the Web. That's why they call us. I would never dream of trying to fix my own car, I call a mechanic because they know how to deal with that particular technology. We have that power with websites and web technology.

Designers have it all wrong when they think clients hire them to be their instrument of design-making, They hire us so that their worry over building and maintaining a site can dissipate. You're not just selling design and development to your client, you're selling their story to the world, and peace of mind to them.

@John,

Lot's of great advice. I think you are selling yourself short with a rate of $30/hr When I factor in things like the software (Photoshop is expensive) and hardware and office space, and then actually paying myself a wage I think around $80/hr is a fair place. For a smaller business I might offer them a discount, but I would reflect this discount on a full-cost invoice.

@David,

I market my training as service. I almost think the designing of the website as area of least available margins for profit. Services like training employees on the CMS, social media, etc. are good added services that can keep them coming back to you and allow you to make a living.

Also, don't forget about some monthly or yearly hosting fees.

@Brendan You have the right mindset: design is just one part of the package. We're developing relationships with our clients in which we want to see them do well far into the future, not just while we're doing a project for them. A lot of people get too tightly focused that they don't see the bigger picture. Our expertise isn't just in design in development.

Hosting is something I am so leery of that I decided long ago that I would leave that for clients to handle. I've heard far too many horror stories about people getting stiffed or having to call the hosting company in the middle of the night to resolve an issue. I choose to focus my time on other aspects of growth, but that's just me.

I think everyone goes through a huge learning curve on pricing, myself included. I'd like to bump up my prices by the end of the year. I'm not to the point where I can say "$80 dollars an hour" without a trace of doubt yet, perhaps I'll get there in the near future.

@John, good points. I'm not sure I will take care of hosting for every client. But my smaller business clients I think it can be a positive long term relationship. I have some value-added services to add to the hosting like analytics reports, and an hour of included support for what ever they want.