FAQ / Rates

These are some questions I’ve been asked a few times so I thought I’d start a FAQ… Feel free to email me any other questions you may have or give me a call at 760-543-2228.

How much do you charge for consulting?
I charge $90 per hour for creative consulting, research, strategy development, production management, etc., and $500 per half day for on-site consulting.

$90 an hour seems a little steep for a graphic designer. What makes you so special?
I don’t generally take on graphic design projects these days. I offer marketing coaching, internet marketing strategy, creative direction, project management, and production management. However, I usually handle important aspects of design and copywriting myself.  Regardless of the task, a good half my time is spent writing proposals and bids, meeting prospects, studying new developments and software, finding freelance designers and programmers to work with, purchasing and maintaining computer equipment and software, backing up files, bookkeeping, etc. Most good consultants have less than 50% billable time.

How much do you charge to build a website?
A very basic website takes at least 16 hours of work in designing, setting it up, making it live, testing and troubleshooting it, listing it in directories, setting up email addresses, etc. That’s $1440 at $90 per hour for your basic website. A decent e-commerce website including strategies, design, copy writing, production, programming, initial SEO, etc. takes at least 40 hours work from me plus the cost of programming. $5,000 is a good starting point for a decent e-commerce website that actually results in online orders.

If you’re such a good designer, web developer, and internet marketer then why is your website so simplistic?
While learning how to use blogging software called Wordpress, I took the opportunity to throw together a website so I could at least be found online. For a Wordpress website and one that I did in a day while learning how to use Wordpress it’s pretty decent.  I really don’t need to optimize my website for search engine traffic. I’m plenty busy.