Determining web design/maintenance fee?

[Andy Asberry]

I designed a web page for a 6000 member non-profit livestock
association. I have maintained the site for 6 years at no cost.
Admittedly, it is not a competitive area but the site consistently
ranks #1 on Google out of 178,000.

It has progressed to the point where I'm spending 20 to 40 hours per
month to research information, maintain membership rolls, receive
classified ads, write articles, etc.

I don't think it could be done by someone with no knowledge of
livestock and the people in the industry. I have fielded almost 500
e-mails for information in the last year. If I resign, I fear the site
would wither and become just another "here is our address and phone
number" page.

Lately, I've gotten a little thin skinned by the demands of some of
the members. "Why haven't I had any results from my classified ad?"
Uh, maybe it is because your e-mail was hotmail and now it is yahoo? I
admit I feel unappreciated. But maybe those wounds could be salved
with a little cash.

I'm far from a newbie but just as far from an expert. what would be a
fair fee to charge for something such as this?

 

[John Prescott]

My thoughts entirely.
I've been doing something very similar for a number of years with a
very well known and respected international car club. I continue to
do it because I once wrote the inhouse membership and car database for
which I charged a reasonable amount. Members and club now think that
they have got a God given right to call on me at any time and are
horrified if I say I'll charge for my time.

I designed a web page for a 6000 member non-profit livestock
association. I have maintained the site for 6 years at no cost.
Admittedly, it is not a competitive area but the site consistently
ranks #1 on Google out of 178,000.

It has progressed to the point where I'm spending 20 to 40 hours per
month to research information, maintain membership rolls, receive
classified ads, write articles, etc.

I don't think it could be done by someone with no knowledge of
livestock and the people in the industry. I have fielded almost 500
e-mails for information in the last year. If I resign, I fear the site
would wither and become just another "here is our address and phone
number" page.

Lately, I've gotten a little thin skinned by the demands of some of
the members. "Why haven't I had any results from my classified ad?"
Uh, maybe it is because your e-mail was hotmail and now it is yahoo? I
admit I feel unappreciated. But maybe those wounds could be salved
with a little cash.

I'm far from a newbie but just as far from an expert. what would be a
fair fee to charge for something such as this?

Regards, John Prescott

Paymaster Systems Ltd,
Moorlands House, Oldfield Road, Bromley, Kent. BR1 2LE
TEL: 020 8467 6107 FAX: 020 8467 6121
e-mail: (e-mail address removed) website <http://www.oursite.co.uk>

 

[Murray]

You are absolutely within rights to ask for money. If they don't want to
pay, then walk away. They'll pay you, or they'll pay someone else.

 

[Andy Asberry]

You are absolutely within rights to ask for money. If they don't want to
pay, then walk away. They'll pay you, or they'll pay someone else.

OK, I'm convinced. But how much?

 

[Murray]

How much is your time worth? Only you can decide that.

 

[Tom Pepper Willett]

What is *your* time, knowledge and experience worth?

--
===
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Microsoft MVP - FrontPage
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| On Wed, 23 Mar 2005 07:27:05 -0500, "Murray"
|
| >You are absolutely within rights to ask for money. If they don't want to
| >pay, then walk away. They'll pay you, or they'll pay someone else.
|
| OK, I'm convinced. But how much?

 

[Andy Asberry]

What is *your* time, knowledge and experience worth?

It is worth whatever the going rate is. And I don't know what that is.
Thanks anyway guys.

 

[Guest]

I thik you should charge a minimum of £200 per day (which is about an IT
free-lance public sector trainer rate) and a plausible £1000 a day which is a
professional designer rate. To have designed that website from nothing
would have cost them c£20,000 I'd guess.

 

[Windsun]

If it is a maintenance only site where you spend maybe 30 hours a month at
it I would not go less than 30 hours x minimum wage. Now, that is a lot
less than what a full time web designer would charge, but from what I
understand, this is also somewhat related to your "real" work - so kind of a
semi-charity case.

And to some extent the idea of charging a fee is not just for the money, but
as a wake up call to the whiners.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Peter R. Fletcher]

From your description, it looks as if maintaining the web site is not
the biggest part of your role, though it may be the most visible part.
What you describe sounds like the job description of the executive
secretary of the association - a role that might be honorary, but
would, for an organisation of the size of the one you are dealing
with, more commonly be salaried. I don't honestly know what salaries
in this area run at, though I would guess at somewhere in the
$20,000-$35,000 range (FTE) for a small non-profit. You couldn't
reasonably expect to get premium web design professional hourly rates
for a job much of which is at a lower, administrative, level.

I think that you need to decide what you really want. If you are still
happy doing the directly web-related work but less so doing the
associated administrative drudgery, I would go to the association's
board (I assume it has one) and suggest that they find someone else,
paid or volunteer, to do that part - if you would be prepared to
continue to do that part for payment, but not otherwise, it would be
fair to say so. It seems to me that things have been allowed to drift,
and the association's board needs a wake-up call. There is a risk, of
course, that they will find someone else to do the whole job as a
volunteer, and that the new "honorary executive secretary" will not do
nearly as good a job as you have, but only you can decide how big a
risk that is and how much you will allow it to affect you.

I designed a web page for a 6000 member non-profit livestock
association. I have maintained the site for 6 years at no cost.
Admittedly, it is not a competitive area but the site consistently
ranks #1 on Google out of 178,000.

It has progressed to the point where I'm spending 20 to 40 hours per
month to research information, maintain membership rolls, receive
classified ads, write articles, etc.

I don't think it could be done by someone with no knowledge of
livestock and the people in the industry. I have fielded almost 500
e-mails for information in the last year. If I resign, I fear the site
would wither and become just another "here is our address and phone
number" page.

Lately, I've gotten a little thin skinned by the demands of some of
the members. "Why haven't I had any results from my classified ad?"
Uh, maybe it is because your e-mail was hotmail and now it is yahoo? I
admit I feel unappreciated. But maybe those wounds could be salved
with a little cash.

I'm far from a newbie but just as far from an expert. what would be a
fair fee to charge for something such as this?

Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may benefit from the exchange.
Peter R. Fletcher