How do you usually charge update of contents of a website that you have previously done for a client?
It is like a website that you have previously done for a client that has no CMS or whatsoever management system to update the contents. It is quite a big site with lots of contents but because the client has limited budget and CMS was really not a solution for them to keep their work within budget. So the whole site is literally just static webpages. And because of this, as and when, the client would ask me to do an accumulated set of updates for their website. These updates would take me at least a few hours to complete and another few more hours for the next few days as he has changes.
I could charge him per hourly but he always find it too much to pay. He usually expects around US$45 to US$50 for a 5 to 6hours(not counting any additional hours in the next few days for changes YET) of updates, which I thought is too low. I’d quote him US$100 to US$120 for the hours but he finds it too much(is it really too much?! I find it pretty low already). He often justify this by arguing that it is only creating a few more pages and copy/paste of new contents. For a few times, I agreed to his budget, unwillingly of course, as I didn’t want to turn him down since these updates could be a constant revenue for me. Today, he sent me his new set of updates again. I haven’t given him my quote yet but I know his budget. I am starting to think how should I handle this guy. I don’t want to turn him down in an awful manner and loose a client forever but I don’t feel happy to do the work thinking that I am only getting a paltry sum of fee for a long hours of job. Worst still, he always delays the payment for 1 to 2 months!
It doesn’t matter what the work is, it matters how much you get paid for your time. If you have to put more expensive work on the backburner to do these updates than you deserve to get paid the same amount.
If, on the other hand, you have free time, then you may want to take on the work even if the rate of pay is lower.
I will usually recommend clients to go with a CMS. However, this client is paying very very little for a new website and a CMS is definitely out of budget. The client believes that doing the updates is very simple and making me do them shouldn’t cost too much. He is someone who wants to get more than what he pays. After all, to some of these people, they believe it is just like MS Office where you just could do the changes with “just a few clicks”. So to him, there is no need spend more for a CMS.
The client believes that doing the updates is very simple and making me do them shouldn’t cost too much. He is someone who wants to get more than what he pays.
Every time I hear this it’s like there never were these people – or the means to deal with 'em – before web design came along. Rest assured, you did not discover something new.
And it starts with explaining, back then, you can pay me now or pay me later. I think, however, web design hasn’t developed the maturity. Time to start.
If you can’t interact with customers you have absolutely no business creating user interface designs. Huh …maybe we’ll get interface design on the web someday after all.
Doesn’t everybody? If I go to a restaurant, get mediocre food and a huge bill to go with it, will I come back? Heck no! You have to make your client field that he/she is getting more work done than what he thinks its worth. That being said, some people are cheap and you will have to fight them the entire way. Explain to him that these changes will take x amount of hours and that this isn’t a hobby so $8 an hour doesn’t cut it (example). If you accept this work for that price you are showing that’s how much your time is worth, even if you feel you are being underpaid. So the next time updates come around, guess who wants to get the price again, and again, and again?
What you should have done when quoting for a CMS vs a static site is to also quote for the updates to the static site and for the training on how to use the CMS.
So for the static site it might have been X for creating the site and Y per hour for the subsequent changes. For the CMS it might have been 3X for creating the site and 4Y as a one off for training them how to use it. From those figures they would them have been able to work out how much ongoing work on the static site would end up costing them the same as if they paid the extra to be able to make the changes themselves through the CMS.
That would not only have enabled them to decide whether the static site really was the appropriate option with their budget but it would also have meant that you wouldn’t have any difficulty afterwards if they did choose the static option to be able to charge them appropriately for the updates because they would have known about it in advance.
If you didn’t advise the ongoing costs up front then depending on how your contract reads you may end up having to provide some or all of the updates at no extra cost.
So what you are saying is the client asked you for the cheapest solution possible only to realise that it wasn’t adequate for their needs? You really should have educated your client during the process to ensure this kind of faulty thinking didn’t occur. During the project planning stage you should have realised that the site would become a large scale project and thus the static solution wasn’t going to be the right one, however now this has occurred the client is obviously a bit disgruntled at the thought of paying more money for something you should have seen in the first place. As the damage has been done I think you need to talk to your client and explain that it’s better to pay the higher amount and get the CMS to handle their situation than to carry on with small payments for work which could be avoided in the future (at least the repetitive kind). The price they have quoted you does seem rather small, if you don’t feel up to the work for that price either explain to your client that you can’t work for such a small hourly rate (you have bills to pay too)… and if they aren’t willing to go with a more reasonable figure you will have to turn down the offer. Communication is key in any client relationship and it seems the lack of it has caused all of the problems both before and during this time.
He’s not a client, he’s a loss-making drain on your resources.
Ask him if he will work all day for $45. The answer of course is no, so why should he expect you to?
Or maybe the real answer is that he doesn’t actually expect anyone to work all day doing skilled work for $45, but since you gave in to his unreasonable demands he’s just taking advantage for as long as it lasts.
If you fill up your precious working hours with people like this you will soon go bust. :injured:
Allocate a set number of hours for a month and a price associated with that, he has to pay every month regardless. If he goes over the hours then you charge him more. It’s called residual income. Non-CMS clients are annoying though, so make them pay.
It seems to me that you are a troll. And are replying negative to all my posts, of course we’re all open to our way of doing things and disagreements.
I was referring to residual income from maintenance on websites. Allocating a certain hours per month to the client for a cost, then adding in additional cost if the hours are exceeded. This generates residual income each month. What don’t you understand troll?
When I see users posting all sorts of authoritative advice that doesn’t seem to be well thought out, I take issue with it. Many people come to this forum for help and advice and they deserve better.
Your definition of residual income is awkward at best. You said
Allocate a set number of hours for a month and a price associated with that, he has to pay every month regardless. If he goes over the hours then you charge him more. It’s called residual income
which isn’t really fair description of residual income. Residual income is loosely defined, but is usually similar in meaning to passive income or money generated by an asset or other mechanism without having to do any work.
A classic example is a book author who gets $1000 to write a book, but then collects residuals on the sales for years and years. Some people consider rental property income to be residual income, although if you have to work to manage the property that’s not really the same thing.
You offered an example where the client has a set number of hours a month for a set price. If the client goes over the hours then you do the work and charge a higher rate. That is essentially the opposite of residual income - it’s doing more work for more money.
In your example, you might be able to argue that if the client didn’t use any of the hours in a given month but still had to pay, the vendor would have made money for doing nothing. They would have leveraged an existing relationship/project/agreement and made money passively as a result. That is a bit more like residual income.
At least, that’s what is says in my troll handbook!
Please try to remember that tone and intonation cannot be derived from the written word, and often thoughts which make sense in ones head do not come out as intended when they make it onto paper/on screen.
There’s some decent advice coming from all parties (allowing for differences in definitions), so please do not take it off track by taking exception to one another.
