I am quite proud to say that I had a chance to working with amazing clients, who value the quality of their website. As a WordPress Developer, I had built a long working relationship with most of my clients and I do look after their website maintenance on an on-going basis.
But – Yes. I had been told a couple of times (2 to be precise) that my prices are overpriced. But on the same side, I had been told my services are way better than even most of the local agencies and I am reasonably priced. I had been paid over the quoted price several times, and a couple of times I had said no when the client offered me to pay more as they loved my work so much.
Here is how my pricing structure is at the moment. My minimum ballpark is at 1,500 AUD including tax for any project. On average, the project I deliver costs around 3,000 AUD. Most of the projects I deliver include:
- Research-based web design
- CMS to manage content including landing pages, blog posts, galleries, etc.
- Dynamic forms to capture leads
- Good On-Page SEO implementation
I bring years of experience
I had been working as a web developer for more than 7 Years. My local experience in Sydney is more than 5 years. So I bring a wealth of knowledge as a web designer and developer.
On top of that, I bring my experiences of SEO, website security and User Experience for better conversion.
I deliver what I promise
So many cases with web development projects are over-promising and under-delivering. I get quite a few emails asking to take over partly done projects when developers are either not contactable or irresponsible. I tend to stay away half done projects as my previous experiences had been really bad.
With every lead I get from my email, I make sure I get the specifications of any project in detail. I make sure the project is deliverable as wanted within the WordPress framework. I happily refer the best solution even if its not doable in WordPress or if any other framework is better suited for the projects.
Once I am sure that the project is doable, I provide a list of the deliverables to the client and start working on the project. I have a good record of delivering the project as agreed.
I design and build from scratch
I am not one of those developers taking too many jobs at the same time and taking shortcuts to deliver the project. I value the quality of my work and working relationship with the client.
When I start designing a website, I make sure I have got a solid brief from you and focus my design around well-researched keywords or keywords suggested by you. Research-based web design takes a lot of practice and a fair bit of time.
When developing WordPress solutions, I build from very bottom up. I write good quality codes within WordPress’s best practices. I am not a big fan of page builders or premium themes.
I avoid using Premium Themes
Premium themes are a great way to cost time and effort. And 9 out of 10 times when developer quotes low for the project, they tend up using a premium theme. I don’t have any grudges for a premium theme. But anything that is built for future premium theme just tends to be problematic in the future.
Whether it’s for maintenance or adding new features on the premium themes, it will end up costing more effort and time. If you are building something simple and not expecting to grow in the future, premium themes might be a better choice. But for anything else, custom WordPress Development will be better options.
I don’t outsource my web design and development work
As with the premium theme, I am not against outsourcing. But you have to find a good decent developer to outsource projects for better conversion and return. Then again good quality outsources developers don’t come in cheap.
I have seen several local agencies and developers, taking shortcuts outsourcing their work. On top of that, they use premium themes. Why? Because everyone running a business needs to make some profit for survival. Don’t they? They do work on various tiers of pricing model, for anything decent budget they either work themselves or hire a decent budget. But for a lower budget, they will take any means to deliver fast and at a low cost.
I deal with all my projects and clients in the same way. Being upfront with price and results.
Conclusion
Being called overpriced sometimes was a wakeup call for me. One of the main things I learned was I needed to be more transparent and detailed with my probable clients. With the quote, I started explaining in more detail about my process of work and project deliverability.
Curiously, I did some research around some highly rated themes and page builders. Must tell there were few good new ones. But since I focused more on User Experience and On-Page SEO, I wasn’t able to pick any theme or page builder that is well built, and hence even backed up my stance over custom design and development.
