Bulletproof Web Design Contracts. When you boil it down to its barest essentials, the sales process is simply a series of verbal agreements that ultimately gets documented in writing. That document ought to become your contract, proposal or whatever legally-binding agreement both you and the client sign to finalize the deal. If one side fails to live up to his or her part of the bargain, it’s called a "breach of contract.
" Since that’s something we all want to avoid, it’s important to realize that the key to a bulletproof contract lies in how you sell. In other words, your contract should reflect everything that you and your client have discussed and agreed upon during the sales process. In order for a contract to be valid, there must be mutual agreement: offer and acceptance. Regardless of whether offer originates with you or with the buyer, there are essential components that should be present in every offering. "Does my Client Even Know What He Wants? " Scope of Work and Scope Creep Client Amends and Revisions "Help! 1. Evidence Based Scheduling. Evidence Based Scheduling by Joel Spolsky Friday, October 26, 2007 Software developers don’t really like to make schedules.
Usually, they try to get away without one. “It’ll be done when it’s done!” They say, expecting that such a brave, funny zinger will reduce their boss to a fit of giggles, and in the ensuing joviality, the schedule will be forgotten. Most of the schedules you do see are halfhearted attempts. Hilarious! You want to be spending your time on things that get the most bang for the buck. Why won’t developers make schedules? Over the last year or so at Fog Creek we’ve been developing a system that’s so easy even our grouchiest developers are willing to go along with it. The steeper the curve, the more confident you are that the ship date is real.
Here’s how you do it. 1) Break ‘er down When I see a schedule measured in days, or even weeks, I know it’s not going to work. This forces you to actually figure out what you are going to do. 2) Track elapsed time You can’t, really. Next: Explore. How-To Price Freelance Projects Successfully. One of the biggest challenges for new freelancers is pricing. Pricing projects isn’t easy.
There are plenty of factors that come into play: How long will the project take? How clear are the client’s requirements? How well do you know the client? How likely are they to stay on course? How likely are you to get future work from them? And then you also have to decide how to charge: hourly, fixed price or on retainer?
Estimate Project Lengths as Accurately as Possible Estimating how long a project will take is the key to pricing it well. You can consider an endless number of factors when estimating a project, including some of the questions I’ve listed above. No matter what you do, always add a buffer. It doesn’t matter if you’ve worked with the client before, know exactly what the client wants, and have done the same thing a thousand times before. The size of the buffer you use is up for debate, but I’d generally increase your time estimate by 15-30%. Bad Clients Such a thing exists.
The Fast, Good and Cheap Pricing Method. Web Design Cost: Pricing Calculator: Design Quote. Web Development Project Estimator. » 22 Questions to Ask Before Developing a Website :: CSS, JavaScript and XHTML Explained. I developed this “Website Development Questionnaire” in 2002. It is old, but it still serves me well, so I thought I would share. I don’t actually add the bold or italic sections below. Those were added here to help you understand the rationale for the questions: 1) Corporate Identity: Corporate Information (for site development): Company Name (Legal) Company Name (Branding) Company Tag Line: Company Phone Number Company Fax Number Address: Other contact information Business hours of operation (store hours / when phones will be answered, if relevant) 2) Domain Names and Hosting: Main Domain Name: What other domain names do you own?
3) Briefly describe what your company does: 4) Adjectives: Please list 5 (or more) adjectives that you think describe your company or should describe your company in order of relevance / importance This information is used to get a sense for design, and to help in SEO 5) Competitors: Are there any websites that you would consider your “competition�