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If you’re a freelance web designer, you’re probably very familiar with the predicament that most designers experience: trying to determine how much money to charge for services. This can be one of the hardest things in the world to do. Charge too much, and you may not find a willing client. Charge too little, and you may come off unprofessional or – at the very least – won’t make enough money to sustain yourself. Here are a few tips on how to set a competitive salary range if you’re an interactive web designer.
Add Up Your Expenses for Each Year
This includes not only every penny you put out to operate your home office, but every bill you’ve got to pay, every monthly check to private health insurance, and every cent you fork over to Uncle Sam in self employment taxes. Once you’ve added everything up, divide that amount by however many hours you’ll work in a given year. As a rule of thumb, use the figure 2080, which accounts for 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year. Unless you’re an interactive web designer with a strong urge to die young, you’ll want to schedule some time off in there occasionally, so try to keep it as close to 40 as possible. This will give you how much money you need to make per hour to break even.
Decide How Much Profit You Want to Make
If your round-the-clock job is web design for small businesses, you no doubt want to make a profit out of that. This is a business, after all. Now that you’ve determined how much money you need to earn per hour in order to break even, extrapolate that out to how much money you’d like to be able to put away for savings, or to fund business expansion, or whatever your plans are.
Determine Your Market Demand
Are the skills you have or the web design services you offer in high demand? We all know that being an interactive web designer these days can keep you plenty busy, but not everyone finds themselves drowning in work. Dependent upon your skill, education, and expertise you could be someone who rarely goes any length of time between jobs. Keep this in mind when setting a desired salary for freelance projects. If you charge too little, you’ll find yourself working hard for too little money. If you charge too much, you might lose business to other designers who offer the same service but charge less.
Find Out What Others Like You are Charging
This may require a bit of research, but if you want to charge a rate that’s both competitive and that earns you the kind of living you need to earn, it’s important to find out what other professionals in your line of work are charging. The easiest way to find this out is to network with other web designers, through online forums or industry events. The more designers you meet, the more of an idea you’ll get with respect to what others are charging (and ultimately what you should be asking for every job you take).
To maximize your exposure and to discover new freelance web design opportunities, pay a visit to the website of Artisan Talent. At Artisan, you can create a free online profile that will be visible to companies seeking to hire freelance web designers like yourself. Likewise, you can also search job postings and apply for freelance work assignments. Get started by visiting www.artisantalent.com today.
Vince F is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
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Artisan Talent is a Digital, Marketing and Creative Staffing Firm placing talent in jobs perfectly matched with their skills all over the US.
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