I generally price my designs at $3000-$3500 for a full website redesign/ user interface design. This usually comes to around $40-50/hour which I think is fair.
I have noticed however that a lot of prospective clients, who absolutely love my design, find my prices to be too high.
Am I charging too high? How much would you pay for a redesign of your website or webapp?
I would update your website itself also. To me your website doesn't speak the same level of sophistication as the piece you see in the portfolio. Your website represents your self and your identify as a designer. Dress it up a bit, this is your best chance to really showcase your design sense and originality. As many other people mentioned before, package your product well.
As a full time freelancer, you should spend at least 30-50% of your time marketing yourself and networking with potential clients. Building a solid customer database and having these customers refer you to perspective employees are most important if you want to have a consistent flow of work.
Are you really putting your work out there? Here's a quick checklist to get the ball rolling.
1. Do you regularly update your portfolio with new pieces? 2. Do you have a profile on all the designer networks? (behance.net is a good one to start with). 3. Do you keep in touch with your past clients and make sure they're happy with your work? 4. Have you considered starting a blog that would attract potential customers with valuable information about graphic design and design theories that they could use for their own projects?
I think with the quality and level of work in your portfolio you certainly deserve to get that rate. I've worked with other designers who charge twice as much as you do, but then again, they all presented their web presence really well. When a customer tells you your rates are too expensive, it doesn't necessarily mean that they don't have the budget. It could mean that they don't perceive your value at the price you quoted. As long as you can convince your clients that you're worth every penny and MORE, you should have no problem getting the rates you want.
You may want to consider offering multiple "packages" if you don't want to lose those clients. $3000/$40 = 75 hours... if you offer a package that's 25 or 50 hours, you can lower the price and maybe keep the client.
That said,
1. You have to set expectations clearly - if they're not paying for a $3k website, they're not getting a $3k website. (most people will still expect that quality even if they're paying less, for whatever reason) Be clear with them about what they're getting.
2. If you have enough work at that price, don't bother. My guess from you posting this is that you want their business.
The problem with the whole "packages" is that I don't do that. Most people who come to me just want a new design and aren't concern about whether it takes me 10 hours or a hundred. Like-wise I quote a fixed price and not an hourly rate, most being in the $3000-$3500 range.
If you don't want to call them "packages", that's fine -- but if you're giving fixed-price quotes of $3000-$3500 irrespective of the client when all they really want/need is 10-20 hours of your time you might be doing yourself a disservice.
By the same token, if your experience tells you that you really need the 75 hours to do a good job for a client, then don't sell yourself short.
Maybe you need to ask your clients to clarify what their expectations are in terms of hours and incorporate that into your quotes?
Maybe you need to clarify that you can be flexible with the overall price in exchange for less time (e.g. maybe do fewer revisions, simpler designs, whatever -- I'm not really a design expert).
Or maybe it's time to start billing by the hour? :)
Of course, you may hold yourself to a high standard and feel that you require that much time to do a "good job" by your clients. That's fine too, but understand that's a business decision that will leave you with fewer clients.
Just my two cents, but hope it provides some food for thought.
The problem with offering a "lower price product" is that none of the clients want them, although it is possible that I simply haven't marketed it properly.
Confused now. :)
Is it the price or the outcome you're talking about here? I'm not talking about offering a "lower price product", I'm talking about offering your clients a little flexibility to suit their budget (while covering your own bases in terms of time spent on any project).
In any case, there's nothing to stop you from communicating that you're willing to discuss options on the quote if they're willing to make concessions wrt your time/revisions.
Maybe I'm just misunderstanding. Good luck all the same!
Additionally, you have the problem of people expecting you to be cheap because one of the few things your site tells me about you (other than showing me some sound enough finished work) is that you're based in a low income country and know how to use the right tools.
People that want a cheap offshore guy that knows their way around Photoshop go straight to the enquiry form. People that are prepared to pay more care about whether your design goes through multiple iterations before the final version, whether you'll work with them to make it reflect their company image, whether you understand usability, whether you've worked with the same clients over a number of years etc. - they'll probably skip your site altogether in favour of the next one with more marketing fluff.
Also, there's no way that you can throw out a "general" price. The requirements of the sites and the clients are all different. Aside from the workload differences, you can double your prices for some clients and get away with it just because you get that gut feeling about it.
So the question to ask yourself is this: do you have enough work? If you have more work than you want, raise your prices until you have less work. If you have less than you want, consider lowering your prices. If you are already taking less than you feel you should, then focus directly on who you are targeting and how you are approaching them.
If you mention that upfront, expect a certain set of people to expect you to do the work for 100$ (or less!). Blame outsourcing. ( I live in India fwiw). I make no claim that this is what is happening (I am a developer and know nothing about design and the rates thereof) Just something to be aware of. Good Luck.
Personally, I would remove the fact that you are based in Bangladesh from your about page. A few years ago I did freelance work and found I could get a better response rate when I mentioned that I was Canadian (even though I was living in China at the time).
Here's what might be going through a prospective's client's mind when they find you. They like your designs, then they read your About page and start forming a price in their mind - maybe $500 - $1000 because you are in Bangladesh. Then when you quote your price, it is way over what they were thinking so they go elsewhere.
Discrimination? Yes. But, like a resume, you don't want to give people anything that could take you out of the running before you've had a chance.
If they ask you where you're located, don't lie but don't bring it up either unless they do first.
I would also spice up the About page and say more about what you offer and why you are good to work with.
Also, I like the VLC website. I visited that site for the first time in a while recently and noticed the new design and thought it looked really good.
I submitted a new AskHN thread to get some ideas. Please comment if you have anything to add.
I used to work in creative teams, and I've worked with colleagues who charge £500 a day in the UK. A lot of the value comes in not only the design, but how he packages it up.
(Just looked at your portfolio. I'd say your prices are good).