Better images are built in many years, through many projects which add up to the experience. Quality, experience, brand, result, they are all related and reflect themselves in the price.

I consider it a “risk reduction” cost.

Mano, I am designer. I’ve been a designer for so long. It’s impossible for me to say that content is much more important than presentation. At the same time, I cannot state that design is more important than content, because it is not.

The website you mentioned, from where I stand, couldn’t keep me on it for more than a second. And you wanna know why? Because I’ve never been able to see as advisers those that cannot do the whole makeup for themselves first.

It’s like going to a delusional psychotherapist.

I love content. I love even less “thoughtful” content, as long as it is “charming”.

Some people might argue that he has some nice- looking post cards on it but even if they are just posted as hyperlinks I bet there won’t be much difference in traffic.

So “market price” – it’s complicated.

Second point – some excellent “custom” sites are a bybrid of a template – free or paid – and some tweaking, coding, and graphic design.

Since I’m a nonprofit – budget being an issue – I’ve split the difference. I mostly use Thesis (Chris Pearson) or Ian Stewart’s ThemeShaper and child themes. But I’d be really happy if I could afford to pay a designer to critique what I’ve done – and to design a logo. And the occasional information graphic.

I think it’s a big, complicated, fluid market. And one of the reasons I use a paid theme (and I’ve paid for several I havent used) is that I want theme designers to be able to eat – even if I can’t afford to hire them exclusively. So Chris Pearson – whose Thesis platform has been the basis for many brilliant customizations – has had one or two meals on me. Better that than NO meals from me. Also why I donate for plugins and the like – I wish I could do it for every plugin i use.

On the other hand – if someone gave me a good logo on spec, or for free – for moral reasons, I’d have to pay them eventually.

Sorry for the long response. I hope it adds something to the conversation.

Jon Soroko

regalos originales Free themes are used by thousands of bloggers. They will not help you too much in developing a brand around you or your blog, if that’s what you’re looking for, and basically, that is the topic of this post. Otherwise, why would you want a custom design?

Regards!

I still think that anyone doing something like that for $500 will not provide the same quality, be it from India, Pakistan, Romania, England, US or any other country for that matter.

As said before, living in Romania has its advantages too in terms of pricing. But there are other reason too for not lowering the price that much. Among them:

1. Fair competition;
2. Level of experience and quality;
3. Respect for myself and the years spent investing in my education.

Out of respect for the quality work that YOU do, I really don’t want to get into the topic of previous experiences with Indian freelancers, and I really don’t want to generalize, so I will not approach this matter. Hope you understand.

What do you have to say about that?

Now, the best work I can deliver usually depends on two things: How I’m feeling that day, and how the client is limiting me. For example, if they demand a flash website, I frankly won’t do it. If they hate my designs but love something short of aesthetically pleasing, then I fail to do my best work, as I have to please them first and myself last.

The all-in-one package shouldn’t be bought, and this is why I use a sliding scale for how much I charge. I refuse to do a website for $500 flat; no more, no less simply because it’s overpriced for some websites and far under-priced for others. Things like this have to be adjusted according to work done and skills necessary.

I guess I simply go for such a low price because I can afford to and because I feel like I’m ripping off people by using skills I learned two weeks into learning PHP to build their entire sites. I think we’re pretty much in agreement here.

So to sum it up, flat-rate: bad. Adjusting rate: good.

Everyone prices himself however he wants. I too have a lower base price with QBKL, but that’s out of 2 reasons:
1. Life in Romania is a bit cheaper;
2. It doesn’t even put at use half of my skills.

But when someone sells you the “all-in-one” package for $500 – as an example – that I don’t buy.

Copywriting? Logo? SEO, Link-building, attention to details, fit that into the hours behind $500 and after, answer me 2 questions:

1. Can you still deliver the best you can do at this price?
2. How good is the best you can do, generally speaking?

There’s never a bargain, because with well done design jobs it’s not about the price and how many things you can fit into it. It’s about how well done are those that really fit into the price.

As far as pricing, I disagree with the comment that there is no such thing as a bargain with a job well done.

On the contrary, I like to think MNP Hoppal does a great job with web design, and our base price is $*** for the most basic, with copywriting, SEO, link building, and logo design adding to the cost. I can afford to do this on such a low charge because our rent is really low and it only takes a couple days for me to complete a static website as all I do is install my own pre-built content management system and customize it if necessary.

Mind you if a designer is from San Francisco, or New York, or anywhere else where living costs are higher, you won’t find such a great deal, but seeing as I only pay $450 + food per month, I don’t really need to charge more.