Typography is a pretty big deal in the design community, and it seems that not a day goes by where I don’t see some sort of article showcasing a collection of free fonts in my RSS feeds or posted on Twitter. One great example is the Fresh Free Font Fridays over on Abduzeedo. This weekly column features all sorts of great and interesting fonts that designers can download and add to their toolboxes.

There are also several similar posts available right here on DesignM.ag:

• 25 High-Quality Calligraphy Fonts
• 50 High-Quality Free Fonts for Professional Design
• 50+ Fonts for Big, Bold Headlines

Obviously, these types of posts can be great gateways through which designers can get their hands on all kinds of very affordable resources (who can’t afford something free?). Personally, I’ve found some really awesome fonts through these kinds of posts, and through free font sites like daFont, or FontSquirrel (which deals exclusively with fonts that can be used with @font-face).

Yet, for all the awesomeness that these kinds of posts and sites have to offer, I find that they also reveal a striking problem. It’s not a big problem, of course, and is the sort of thing which, when understood, can be dealt with easily enough. That being said, however, I think it’s worth approaching from a critical perspective.

Basically, the problem with free fonts is that their very free-ness presents the very real possibility of being slowly and painfully bludgeoned to death though massive over use.

A Case In Point

Probably the best example of this kind of thing can be seen plastered all over the signage for various spas and restaurants, or littered recklessly across the posters (likely “designed” in Microsoft Word) advertising your grandmother’s upcoming bake sale. It can even be seen used for the title of one of the biggest cinematic events of 2009.

Yes, folks, I’m talking about Papyrus (and the cinematic event, if you don’t already know, was James Cameron’s Avatar).

I’ve written about Papyrus elsewhere, so I won’t go on about it too much here. Suffice it to say, however, that I experience a visceral reaction every time I see it in use. It’s not that I have any particular hatred for the typeface itself; I am simply frustrated by its seeming inescapable prevalence.

It is literally everywhere, and drives me nuts.

Of course, it probably doesn’t help that I can’t remember very many instances where it is even implemented well, but in many ways, I think that’s just like adding fuel to the fire. The point is that this widely available typeface, which is distributed on both Windows and OS X operating systems, has become so vastly overused that I can recognize it without even looking at.

It’s already well past the point where I will never willingly use the font. Even if a client insists, I will probably be dragged along kicking and screaming. For me, Papyrus is dead.

Another Example

Another, similar example of this would have to be Comic Sans. This particular Microsoft font (which is now also available on Mac), was originally designed to emulate the distinctive, hand written appearance of comic book speech bubbles. Today, however, we have articles like “Why Designers Hate Comic Sans” and “Comic Sans: The Font Everyone Loves to Hate”. There is even an entire website dedicated to the admirable but impossible task of actually banning Comic Sans.

In my own experience, I’ve found this font to be somewhat less prevalent than my own personal nemesis, Papyrus (but that may just be my own perspective). However, they do share the intrinsic trait of being widely distributed on most computers these days. Because of this, they become available to almost all word processors and desktop publish packages and amateur, do-it-yourself designers turn to these kinds of fonts in droves. Generally, they probably do this while trying to find a “different” or “original” alternative from the standard defaults of Times New Roman and/or Arial.

The irony, of course, is that there is really nothing different or original about these fonts at all. It’s simply an unfortunate misconception that prevails in the minds of those who are unfamiliar with the industry.

Despite the underlying tone of this article so far, the point at hand is not to deride Comic Sans (or even Papyrus). That’s been done. The point is that, while there may be some legitimate reasons for disliking the fonts based on their own properties, a large part of why they are so widely disliked in the design community actually has to do with their over use and abuse.

And that brings is back to the point of this while article. The problem with free fonts is that they can very quickly lose their appeal and become trite, overused typographical clichés.

Other Candidates

Of course, Papyrus and Comic sans are not the only fonts that fall into this category, and when I asked for some further examples of overused fonts on Twitter, here are some of the responses that I got:

helvetica, arial, garamond, myriad… (via @RorschachDesign)

Times New Roman, Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica (IMHO) (via @jaemi)

Times, Arial…Verdana (via @Ileane)

imho, Helvetica…. I know its exquisite and all but it is used a bit too much (-_-) (via @richbugger)

zapfino (via @chantaldezigns)

Trajan is way overused, especially in movie posters. (via @studio35design)

Neuropol! Barf! (via @EricaGlasier)

Even from this small sampling, it looks like Helvetica has also become a victim of this kind of over-use, as has its quasi-clone Arial, proving that even the most well designed fonts can become tired and boring when they are over used.

Personally, I have my own list of fonts that I think may have become a bit overused in recent times. These include: Bleeding Cowboys, Birth of a Hero and (to my great disappointment) even the wonderfully crafted Museo.

The Point of it All

All of this discussion may be very interesting, but what does it all mean? To answer that question, I would simply suggests that it means that perhaps we need to start employing (and encouraging) a higher level of discretion when it comes to making typographical choices in our designs.

Though I will personally avoid using Papyrus, Comics Sans and so forth in my own work, I tend to avoid making any absolute proclamations by saying that there is never a circumstance in which using these fonts might be appropriate. That being said, however, typographical choices should always work to support a design, and when a font becomes too popular, that very popularity can begin to undermine that support.

The last thing you want is for someone to look at your work and be distracted by the fact that they recognize the typeface from somewhere else. You want them to spend time absorbing the message of the design, not trying to remember where they saw your font before!

Conclusion

Now, just to be clear, I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with free fonts. That would very much be a matter of the pot calling the kettle black, as it were. I’ve made use of a number of free fonts throughout my own work, and will continue to do so in the future.

Sometimes, however, it can be a little too easy to focus on all the positives aspects of something (and being free is pretty positive) and fail to see some of the potential drawbacks. In this article, I have simply tried to underscore what I see as being one of those potential drawbacks as it relates to the wonderful world of free fonts.

Fortunately, I believe that, with a little careful consideration, this problem can be easily avoided through well-informed and intentional typographical choices. Pay attention to other designs you see, and do a little research. The more you know about the fonts and typefaces you use, the better they will ultimately serve you.

Article by Matt Ward

• Dos and Don’ts for Designers Dealing with Business
• 5 Ways to Save Money on Freelancers
• Top Ten Problems With File Prep For Print
• The Client Is Not Always Right
• Don’t Use Photoshop For Everything

For most designers pricing services is not something that is the highlight of the job. Still, it is something that you’ll have to deal with if you’re freelancing or working for a small firm. Here’s my take on pricing web design services.

1. There’s no exact formula.

Unfortunately, there’s no right or wrong way to price your services. Every designer needs to develop his or her own method for pricing, and even then, you probably won’t be able to follow the same formula on every project. Because each job will be different, it’s difficult to develop a method that will work well every time.

2. Both hourly pricing and project-based pricing have pros and cons.

Everyone has different ways of doing things and this is very evident by the information that you will see about how you should base your pricing. Some, like Matt Griffin, feel that you shouldn’t charge by the hour. In general, project-based billing is more common than hourly rates, but that is somewhat of a gray area. Following Matt’s article, Intervals posted 7 Reasons You Should Charge by the Hour .

Here are some resources for choosing a pricing strategy:

• What You Should Charge and Why You Should Stick to Your Price – Positive Space
• Trading the Hourly Rate for Task-Based Pay: Should You Do It – Freelance Switch
• Deciding When to Use Project Pricing – Wake Up Later

3. Pricing is a necessary part of freelancing.

I think most designers would like to focus on the work and forget about things like pricing. Unfortunately, if you’re freelancing it’s a necessary evil. Whether you like it or not you will have to deal with the issue. For many of us it’s something that we’ll never really enjoy, but we need to at least become comfortable with it. Freelancers wear a lot of hats, and pricing is just one of them.

4. Mistakes are a part of the process.

I think everyone has at some point gotten themselves into a position where they wish they could go back and set a different price. In some cases you may be justified to increase the price do to changed circumstances or additions by the client, but this may not always be the case. If you’ve made a mistake in pricing, realize that it’s normal and learn from it. The more you learn from your experience the less of a guessing game it will be.

5. Your prices will affect your own outlook on your services and it will also impact your client’s opinion of your services.

When you see a low-priced designer what’s the first thing you think? He or she must not be very skilled or experienced, right? It’s pretty obvious that your prices will impact the mentality of your potential clients. Some will only be looking for bargain-basement pricing, but others will be measuring you by what you charge, whether they realize it or not.

However, your prices have a bigger reach than just the opinions of your clients – they also impact your view of your own services and abilities. By pricing your services very low you’ll eventually convince yourself that you’re not worth more. On the other hand, pricing your services high (and being able to land clients) will give you the confidence that you can be an elite designer. Of course, your mental approach can only take you so far, but it’s my opinion that this plays a role in your success based on your perception.

For more on this subject see my post at Freelance Switch, The Subtle Effects of Pricing on the Mentality of Clients.

6. Uncertainty is Common.

Freelancers who have been designing and pricing services for years may have the whole thing down, but if you’re feeling uncertain about pricing, don’t feel like you’re alone. Most freelancers struggle with pricing, so being uncertain doesn’t mean that you’re inferior. Take the time to educate yourself (some of the links in this post should help) and keep working on developing a better system or model.

7. The variety of prices is as wide as the variety of talent levels.

Just because you see another freelancer pricing services ridiculously high or low, don’t feel like you have to do the same. Anyone can sell web design services. Some are not very talented or experienced, and some have unbelievable abilities and incredible experience. Most are somewhere in the middle.

While clients may argue by comparing your prices to another freelancer, be ready to backup your pricing strategy be explaining why you are worth what you are charging. You can find someone willing to do the job for just about any price if you look hard enough, but in general, you will get what you pay for.

8. Losing a job isn’t always a bad thing.

Newer freelancers are often tempted to price their services at whatever level will get them the job. If the experience and building your portfolio is what’s most important to you at the moment, this might not be a bad idea. Otherwise, if you need to earn enough money to support yourself and your family, losing out on a job because of price may not be a bad thing at all.

We all have a limited amount of time available, and taking a job that doesn’t pay what you need to make isn’t going to be ideal. Hopefully if you pass up on a job because of the price, something else will come along that meets your needs. Taking that low-paying job can hog your time so that you can’t take other opportunities that come along. This is just something that you’ll have to weigh as you go.

9. Pricing can be a good way to weed out the tire kickers.

I think most freelancers get plenty of emails from potential clients who are pretty unlikely to follow through with the project. Typically, these tire kickers are looking for quotes, but they’ll usually have some reason that they don’t want to move forward or they’ll have some hang up on the price.

While it’s understandable that everyone has a price that they can afford and something that they can’t afford, but I’d prefer to identify the tire kickers as soon as possible so I don’t waste too much time answering questions and making no money. One of the downfalls of pricing your services low is that you’ll get more of these types of clients, and they’ll hang around for a while longer. Price your services higher and you’ll find that a higher percentage of your potential clients are serious about working with you.

10. Some potential clients will think your prices are high no matter what you charge.

Some clients will understand what’s involved with designing and developing a website and others will not. Because there are people out there willing to design a website for next to nothing, some clients will think that you should be willing to do the same, even if your service is completely different. Try not to worry about turning clients off, and focus more on proving a service that’s worth the price (and being able to explain why it’s worth the price).

11. Charging more than you quoted may be necessary.

I think we’ve all had those clients that keep adding new things to be done or changing their minds about what they want. When using project-based pricing this can cost you time and money. However, some situations will justify an increase in the price. Of course this needs to be communicated with the client, but it is an option.

Picture this scenario – You take your care to a mechanic and get a quote for repairs. Once they get inside they find that something else is wrong and needs to be fixed for your car to run properly. Are they going to charge more for the additional labor and parts? Yes. Many times the situations you will find yourself in will be similar.

12. Starting out you’ll probably have to charge less than you’d like.

Most freelancers will find that they need to prove themselves before they’re able to land jobs that pay what they would like to make. Building your portfolio and your experience is a natural part of freelancing. Of course, if you’re coming from a design firm where you’ve already established yourself, this may not be the case.

What would you add?

What have you learned from pricing services? Is there anything here that you see differently?

Additional resources for pricing design services:

Factors to Consider When Pricing Design Services – Most Inspired

The Costs of Underpricing Your Design Services – Most Inspired

Is Charging More the Right Thing to Do? – Men with Pens

How Much Should a Web Design Cost? – Pearsonified

Nine Factors to Consider When Determining Your Price – Freelance Switch

The Economics of Web Design Pricing – Ben Bleikamp

Why Your Rates are Painfully Lower Than They Should Be – Freelance Folder

Freelancer Pricing: Finding Your Buoyancy Point – Rubiqube

4 Steps to Effective Web Design Pricing – Tutorialaday.com

Article by Vandelay Design

• Tips For Growing Your Freelance Business
• 5 Common Freelancing Problems and Solutions
• How to Find Local Clients for Your Freelance Business
• How Freelancers Should Haggle
• When and How to Draw the Line When Everything Is an “Emergency”

How many times have you been completely confused at how that ’small’ project turned into such a big one costing double and taking three times the length you estimated? Many of you will say estimating time for web projects accurately is an oxymoron, but by applying a few effective techniques it’s possible to dramatically increase the accuracy of most web project estimates.

1. Why Underestimating Is So Common

There are several reasons, which are freely admitted amongst freelancers and web agencies, as to why web projects are so commonly underestimated – they include:

• The technologies required by the project have never been used before
• At the time of estimating, there are grey areas or complete unknowns
• The client operates in a specialized industry and the solution needs bespoke features that are not familiar to the supplier
• Splitting the project down into the detail would require as much as work as the requirements gathering phase that is chargeable

However, there are also some secret reasons why web projects are commonly underestimated:

• The client needs an estimate for their project tomorrow or they will go elsewhere
• Revenue needs for cash flow now trump the effects of not winning the new work now
• No previous project ‘estimated vs. actual’ data analysis has been conducted to draw on
• Estimating time for a project is not fun

Despite being true, rarely do we admit these reasons to others or even ourselves! The fact is, when working as a web professional, as a one man band or as part of a small busy web team, the secret reasons are an everyday reality that shouldn’t be hidden away.

By first identifying and admitting why underestimating is so common, can you then set about implementing changes to your estimating process that will reduce the barriers each reason creates and increase your accuracy.

Technologies Not Used Before

There are three approaches you can take when confronted with a brief that requires a technology you have minimal experience with:

1. Negotiate a paid for functional specification phase as a first step
2. Consider hiring an expert
3. Research in your own time and make your best guess

Try to negotiate with the client a mini-project where you are paid to conduct a research and functional planning stage before committing to the whole project. This way you can research the unfamiliar technology and deliver a functional specification to the client.

Best case scenario
You give the client confidence, have a much clearer understanding of the work required, re-estimate and are hired for the rest of the project.

Worst case
You have completed foundation learning of a technology you previously didn’t know that you can sell to new clients, you generate revenue and the client has a comprehensive specification they can use in their tender process.

Added bonus
You, and the client, get to find out how you work together, giving both the opportunity to part company before being locked into a lengthy project.

If you’re not able to convince the client to pay for this initial functional planning stage, and can’t find a suitable expert in the technology, but want the work and have confidence in your ability and passion to learn what needs to be learnt, then the best advice is to do some initial research in your own time and just take your best guess!

Estimating Takes Too Long

Thorough web project estimating takes time, but it tends to inherit all the same rules that apply to coding, the more thorough you are, the more accurate you’ll be.

Is it possible you will spend time working out the features required only to learn you haven’t won the work? Will you have given the client a free and detailed breakdown of their project for free? Absolutely, but this is the just nature of sales, some you win, some you lose – don’t get disheartened, try to get feedback from the client on why you didn’t win and use the advice given to refine your next estimation.

Estimate Is Needed Tomorrow

If a client is demanding an estimate tomorrow after briefing you on the project today you should immediately try to assess if the project is right for you by:

1. Determining if the response rate being demanded by the client, and any previous communication, is a sign of the type of client they will be to work with
2. Assessing if the potential gain to your business from the project (high profile client or long-term repeat business) is worth the risk of underestimating and going over budget
3. Trying to confirm a ball park budget range with the client so you can estimate realistically, or politely decline if far too low. The best kind of clients are experienced enough to know this is not someone looking to use up all their hard earned cash but someone looking to provide the best solution they can for the budget

If the results of these quick steps are favorable, be positive and go for it! There will be another chance to decline if you later find out the project is not right for you, and then you may utter the words “Into the garbage chute, flyboy!”

Cash Flow Dilemma

Cash flow is the life blood of any freelancer or small web agency, without they don’t survive.

Occasionally a situation may arise where work will be taken on with the knowledge it may not be profitable. As gut wrenching as this can be, and despite all the comments you will hear how you should never do this, the reality is the bills and wages have to be paid!

When a freelancer or business owner is presented with the choice of committing to a project for a price they know is low, but by taking on the project means they live to fight another month, or risking not taking on the work on in the hope more profitable leads appear – empathise with and respect them.

It is a tough and gutsy decision that only they can make but rest assured they have their bills or your wages at the forefront of their mind when they make it and estimating low for a project isn’t always as naive a decision as it may appear to those not on the frontline.

Estimating Is Not Fun

Ok, so it’s not as sexy as adding that beautiful grunge effect to your design, and it’s not as exciting as tweaking that jQuery plugin to work just the way you want, but estimating time for a web project more accurately is almost certainly more important than both when it comes to sustaining a freelance or small web agency business.

However, while few will disagree as to its importance, many will continually find it difficult to muster up the passion and diligently estimate time for a web project, but why!? Here are more secret reasons:

• It’s hard work and takes many outside their comfort zone
• Estimating usually has to be completed alongside your plans for your already fully booked week
• It forces you to try and predict the future
• It makes you largely responsible for the business’s sales success, solution offered, project profitability and growth and survival of your business (scary stuff!)

Web agencies often have the edge here because they will have dedicated salespeople or project managers who are used to the rigors of estimating, but freelancers will generally be more inclined to find the whole process rather boring and just want to get on with the fun stuff.

While we can all no doubt empathise with this, the harsh truth is that, when running a small business or operating as a one man band, one or two badly estimated projects in quick succession can ultimately lead to the demise of both!

So what other techniques can be used to further increase the accuracy of your estimates?

2. Consistent Project Phases And Tasks

As previously mentioned, when being asked to provide an estimate for a project, it is invariably not something anyone has allocated time to do. As a result of this, estimates are often put together quickly and if compared to past estimates it’s not uncommon to see the same project phase or task classified in many different ways, and for similar sized projects the estimates for each to be completely different.

If you win the work you may think “so what?”, and to some extent you would be right, however, the first step in creating more accurate estimates on a long-term basis is to always break down the project phases and tasks in a consistent manner. Web projects can generally be broken down into the following phases:

• Research and planning
• Solution design
• Design
• Front-end development
• Back-end development
• Content entry
• Testing
• Go-live

By always beginning to compile estimates using a consistent high-level breakdown means you can have a re-usable template eventually and track the time spent on each.

But don’t stop there! Consistently breaking each phase down further will not only increase the accuracy of the estimate, but again, also result in valuable data over time.

3. Getting Granular

Now the project estimate is broken down into high-level phases, it’s time to get more granular and break each phase into tasks. This is where the estimate begins to become more tailored to the specific project, but also includes common tasks that you can add to your estimating template and use again and again. For example:

• Research and planning
  • Requirements gathering
  • Project planning
• Solution design
  • Sitemap
  • Wireframes
  • User workflows
  • Functional specification
• Design
  • Initial homepage look and feel
  • Content page
  • Master content page template
  • News main page
  • News item
• Front-end development
  • 5x Templates build XHTML/CSS
  • JavaScript and AJAX
  • Cross-browser fixes
• Back-end development
  • CMS Setup and configuration
  • News feature
  • Contact us form
• Content entry
  • Homepage copy
  • Addition of 10x News items
• Testing
  • Internal functional testing
  • Client User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
• Go-live
  • Live server setup
  • 301 re-directs from old site URLs to new

The page templates and features specific to the client’s project can be listed at this stage, alongside the tasks required in all web projects.

Once you get into the habit of compiling estimates in this way you will find yourself envisaging the phase and tasks lists during the pre-sales initial communication with the client and this invariably:

1. Refines your requirements gathering skills to quickly get the information you need in order to put together a thorough estimate
2. Forces you to think the project through in a step-by-step fashion and minimises the chances of missing a large, or several small, tasks that could end up putting you over budget because you didn’t factor them in

So, you now have a pretty solid phase and task list for the project and all that’s left is to estimate hours for each and send it off to the client right? Maybe, but wait, what exactly does the News feature consist of? Is your interpretation of a News feature the same as the client’s?

Now is the time to investigate and define it, as opposed to after the contracts have been signed.

Getting More Granular

While it’s tempting to estimate hours for the News feature and submit to the client, if possible, try to nail down exactly what the client wants from this feature at the estimating stage, after all, if you look around, you’ll be able to quickly find different variations of the same feature that have a huge differences in terms of size, features and complexity, and thus cost.

Using the News feature as an example, talk to the client and determine what it needs to do so that you can again minimise the chances of missing something in your estimate that could, when added to the other ’small’ missed tasks, amount to a serious budget overrun situation.

You may find out the News feature requirements are:

• News feature
  • Add/edit/delete news item
  • Upload image
  • Attach PDF
  • Auto-archiving
  • RSS

Excellent, you have now defined the News feature and can confidentially estimate the time you think it will take to implement. But hidden in even the most basic and common of features lay more ’small’ things that if not captured, considered and quoted on, can add to the likelihood of overrun.

For example, the client has specified they need to be able to upload images to news items, but do they need any of the following:

• Auto-resize capability?
• Auto-thumbnail generation?
• Full-screen viewing?
• Caption addition facility?

Any of the above News features could add a few hours to the overall project and thus need to be ideally catered for in your estimates – a few missed ‘couple of hours’ tasks and suddenly the project is two days over budget.

Getting granular and mentally trying to build the solution means you are able to identify and address these issues early on, making sure to cater for them in your final estimate.

“A Web Project Manager knows how to design and develop most of the project on his own, even if with poorer results compared to his team. This allows him to estimate projects with good approximation and to understand his team’s problems and difficulties”

Introduction to Web Project Management, Antonio Volpon

Advantages Of Getting Granular, For You And The Client

By getting granular with project phases and tasks for estimates you are also able to tweak them very quickly if you discover the estimate you have submitted is above the client’s maximum budget.

For example, how often have you been told by a client they want to go with you but your quote is ‘just a little too high’ and ‘if you could reduce it by five hours we can business’? Usually this means you have to do one of two things; drop the hours you estimated for the News feature and hope you can explain later down the line how the budget does not allow for image uploads and thumbnail generation etc., or remove the News feature altogether.

But, if you have a granular estimate for the News feature, you can confidentially, and at this crucial expectation setting stage, simply remove a couple of sub-features of News and the News image upload functionality in order to align with the client’s budget.

When communicating this to the client they will clearly see what you are proposing to drop and why and they will still get the News feature they need, but perhaps with a few less nice to haves. Using this approach is usually well received by clients as they have full and transparency on the reasoning behind the changes to your proposal.

This kind of transparency during the sales process will invariably give the client confidence in you because it demonstrates to them you:

1. Are an expert in your field
2. Can envisage the project in its entirety
3. Adopt a diligent and methodical approach and more than likely will continue to work this way on their project

Best of all, if you are successful with your estimate and you are hired you already have the foundations of:

1. An instant statement of work
2. A defined project scope
3. The timings you need to put together an accurate project schedule with milestones
4. Client expectations settings very early
5. Demonstrated your thoroughness and understanding of their business and requirements to the client

So what now? Well, now you have won the work, it’s time to start collecting the data that will enable you to create even more accurate estimates in the future.

4. Consistent Time Tracking And Analysis

Before starting the work, you should first replicate all of the phases and tasks, along with their time estimates, into your time tracking tool of choice. Once this is done, you can then begin work and make sure to be disciplined and track everything you do and log it under the right category.

Of course many of you will do this by default as it allows you to:

• Know how long you have to complete each phase
• View how long you have for each task and sub-task
• Reporting on how long everything actually took

But the real value of keeping a consistent set of high-level phases, from estimate through to time tracking, is that after a few projects you can begin toanalyse the data and start to identify averages and trends that you can use to refine your next web project estimate.

Analyse Estimated vs. Actual Time

This is where the real magic happens! By breaking down and tracking your time for multiple projects into consistent phases and tasks, you will have valid comparable data to analyse, for example, after five projects, once you average out the numbers, you may well discover the following:

• Research and planning took around 5% of the total project time to complete
• Solution design: 5%
• Design: 25%
• Front-end development: 15%
• Back-end development: 30%
• Content entry: 8%
• Testing: 10%
• Go-live: 2%

The more projects completed that use a consistent estimating and time tracking structure, the more real your averages will become.

With this valuable information you can then set about increasing the accuracy of your next estimate by being able to, assuming you can get a budget range from the client:

• Immediately allocate the estimated hours you need for each phase
• Determine the best solution you can offer the client for their budget

It even allows you to accommodate the client that ‘needs an estimate tomorrow’ when you don’t have time to break it down in detail.

Conclusion

Estimating time for a web project accurately is something many attempt everyday but few manage to succeed at. There is no one formula that will satisfy every situation and the chances of estimating what a project will cost exactly are almost zero.

But it is possible to drastically increase the accuracy of your web project estimates by:

1. Identifying the reasons why underestimating is so common
2. Understanding why it is so important
3. Resisting the temptation to not get granular
4. Creating a consistent, methodical and re-usable estimating process
5. Analysing the estimated versus actual data from multiple projects to identify trends

“The Devil is in the detail: When people say that the devil is in the detail, they mean that small things in plans and schemes that are often overlooked can cause serious problems later on.”

Further Resources

Here are further articles and related resources that may help you to increase the accuracy of your web project estimates:

• Web Development Project Estimator
  A neat little online tool that allows designers and developers to quickly create cost estimates for web projects.
• Schedule and Cost Summary
  This Cost Estimate and Scheduling spreadsheet provides a lightweight method for learning to estimate time to complete a web design project, and calculating cost for completion.
• Tick
  Simple to use time tracking tool that makes it easy to keep track of project budgets.
• How to Estimate a Web Site Project
  Patty Ayers discusses a five-step process for estimating web projects.
• Simple process to estimate times and costs in a web project
  Antonio Lupetti describes his process for creating web project cost estimates.
• How to Accurately Estimate a Web Design Project
  John Reeve talks about catering for the usual missing elements in estimates; project management, contingency time and margin for error.
• Estimating Resource Time for Web Development Projects
  Bill Breen explains one way to approach estimating time for web projects, and how the size of the project should influence you estimate ranges.
• How To Estimate Time For A Project
  A Sitepoint article by Alyssa Gregory.

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Last week I offered some thoughts about getting started as a freelancer. Today I want to talk a little about growing your business once you’ve managed to get things running. Two main things we’ll talk about are cultivating a client list and how to price your services.

As freelancers we sell services. We get paid for putting time into a project and how much we get paid all comes back to a simple formula.

Revenue = Billable Hours x Hourly Rate

You don’t have to and you really shouldn’t be charging clients per hour, but no matter how you charge the above equation is in there somewhere when it comes to you making money. We’ll get to pricing in a bit, but first I want to share something I should have mentioned in the last post, about writing a business plan.

Writing a Business Plan

Andy mentioned business plans in a comment on the last post and I really should have included a section about business plans in that post. I’ll offer a few thoughts about them here.

Most people think of business plans as these formal documents you take to a bank for a loan or to investor for financing in your company. Unless you’re looking for financing a form plan really isn’t necessary. Instead I suggest writing an informal plan.

I had no idea what a business plan looked like let alone how to write one, so with a little searching I found the sample plans at bplans.com. The plans are there to sell you on the software, but the software is necessary. Download a plan that seems similar to your business, make a copy, and delete everything except the outline. Then start filling the outline back in with your own plan.

Don’t feel like you have to fill in everything. For example I felt financial predictions would be 100% guesswork so I skipped them. I focused on who my clients would be, the services I would offer, and my unique selling proposition.

What this did for me was to get me thinking in more detail about my business than I had to that point and it helped me set the direction for my business.

Every so often when I feel I’ve lost focus or direction, I refine my plan. Now it’s more creating a simple text file and putting my thoughts down somehwere. Mostly it’s stuff I’ve been thinking about and the act of writing it all down seems to help me.

My original plan still guides me, but I’ve revised it here and there over the years.

Just Say No

abhinav also commented on my previous post with a question about working free for friends and family. You have to learn to say no.

In the beginning it’s easy to think that you should take on everyone who contacts you as a client. You shouldn’t. You have to learn to say no. This was one of the hardest lessons I learned and probably the most important. The moment I started turning bad business away was the moment my business started to grow.

Some clients will always drain your time or energy. Years ago I had one such client. For every hour I was paid to work I had to put in about 4 or 5 hours of time. He’d haggle over everything down to a few dollars and before even beginning a project I was working at a loss given all the time spent estimating costs and coming to an agreement with him, if we came to an agreement.

I needed his money. I wasn’t making much elsewhere so it seemed logical to be working for him even if I wasn’t making what I should. Something was better than nothing I reasoned.

The cost though, was in opportunity. For every hour I worked for him I couldn’t work for someone else. I also couldn’t put the time into marketing to attract better clients. The people he recommended were only going to be like him. All he was going to lead to as a client was more of the same. It would be me working long hours for little pay and lots of frustration.

The best thing I ever did was cut him loose. From that point on I learned to spend more time investigating potential clients before deciding to take them on. It was hard turning away paying work while staring at rent or the phone bill, but it really was the best thing I ever did. In time I began attracting clients who didn’t drain me and my bank account. And those clients recommend me to others who are also good for my business.

Some advocate cutting the bottom 5 – 10% of your clients every year. I don’t think you have to do that so formally, but if you have a client who’s more trouble than their worth, let that client go, and don’t be afraid to say no to new clients if you have reservations.

With friends asking for freebies you also need to say no. Now we all have friends and family who we won’t charge for work. I’m not going to charge my mother or brother if they want a site. Everyone else is paying. If friends and family insist you work for them for free then you should do the same. Walk into their place of business, grab some items off the shelf and tell your friend thanks for the free stuff. They’ll likely stop you, at which point you can ask why they expect you to pay when they don’t think they should.

Learn to say no.

Thoughts on Pricing Your Services

I mentioned at the start that your revenue comes down to a simple formula of hours worked x hourly rate. I think it’s best to give clients a price based on their project and here’s how I generally go about setting a price.

First determine an hourly rate for yourself. Base this rate on your experience, where you live, how much money you need to pay your expenses. Try to set a rate reasonably in tune with others in your area. When I was setting mine I looked at other web designers in Boulder and Denver who offered similar services and seemed to have a similar experience to myself. Some posted those rates on their sites. Others I called or emailed with some quickie questions that gave me a feel for their rates.

When a client approaches me for a project I do my best to learn as much as I can about the details of the project and then break out the different tasks and estimate how long each will take to complete. When I’m done I multiply by some % based on how confident I am in my estimate and how well I do or don’t know the client.

Especially early on you won’t really know how long it takes to complete certain tasks. An estimate can be more of a guestimate. That’s the reality of pricing your services

In the end I might increase the estimate by 20 to 100%. The estimate is then multiplied by my hourly rate and we have a quote to send off to the client. The time factor idea is actually something I learned from being a structural engineer many years ago. Engineers apply factors of safety to their calculations to account for unknowns.

The Empire State Building had a factor of safety around 4.0 (if I remember correctly). It was designed to be 4 times as strong as the calculations at the time thought it should be. Today buildings might have a factor of safety around 1.2 to 1.5 applied as we’ve come to understand building materials better. There’s more confidence in what we know so the factor of safety is less.

One thing I can’t stress enough is to track your time when working on a project. Track each task you perform. In the beginning you won’t have a good idea how long something will realistically take. As you track time over a few projects you will. My first few estimates varied widely. Now I can estimate pretty well and hardly need to apply any factor of safety.

Create Happy Clients

It costs more to attract a new client than it does to attract new business from existing clients. Ideally if you do a good job and treat your clients well they’ll keep coming back to you with more work. There are a few things you can do to nudge them a little.

* Offer ideas to improve their site. The ideas need to be genuine. Offer a few while working on a project. Your client won’t implement all your ideas, but if they’re good ideas they will implement some of them.

* Reach out and say hello. Sometimes it pays just to say hello. One year I sent every client a personal email wishing them a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday season. I was very busy in January. Several clients had been thinking of contacting me about work. My simple email reminded them to do it now.

* Offer limited time discounts. When business is slow you can reach out to clients and offer them a discount on your usual price if they send you a project. Make the offer for a limited time and try not to make this offer at the same times each year or your clients might hold off sending you work until you offer another discount. This isn’t one I’ve tried myself, but I know others who have been successful with the approach.

* Send clients helpful information. This is similar two the first two points. Sometimes I’ll come across information I think will be beneficial to a client so I send it to them. The information doesn’t have to be anything that might lead to work for me, but it could. It’s a good way to say hello and show your clients you’re thinking about them and how to improve their business even when they aren’t paying you. It’s a great way to establish trust and build a stronger relationship.

* When it makes sense offer to work on a retainer. Some clients need work on their site every month. You can figure out how much this averages over the year and offer the option of a monthly fee based on that average. Usually I’ll discount the average a bit. This helps smooth out your cash flow and it saves on estimates and negotiating. With even a small discount your client will likely save money over the year so it’s a win-win.

I usually place some caps on how much work I’ll do each month for the price. If a client is going to pay you for 5 hours of your time each month, I wouldn’t design and develop a new site for them in that time. I’d certainly put in 6 or 7 hours one month if they needed it. Whether or not you should base the fee on hours is another matter.

One last point. The more you get to know your client and their business, the better you can serve your client. You’ll be able to reduce the factor of safety in your estimates and you’ll be better able to suggest good ideas that can help your client’s sites and get you more work. You’ll be creating more win-win scenarios.

As you work with the same client again and again it usually becomes easier to work on their site. You’re more familiar with it so it should take less time to make similar changes. This helps reduce your cost.

Spread the Wealth

One trap you can fall into is relying too much on any one or two clients for your income. No matter how good your relationship with a client the work could stop coming for any number of reasons. The client may not have work for you or your contact at the company has moved on and the new person brings in his or her own contacts.

If that client was providing you with 50% of your income then it’s possible you can lose 50% of your income overnight. I don’t know if there’s an ideal max % of total income for any single client, but I’d suggest keeping it below a % you feel confident you can survive without.

The way to do this is by finding new clients and new types of clients so you’re not so reliant on one or two. You want to diversify your client list.

You can look for clients who tend to send you work at different times of the year. Some businesses usually have more money in the summer and some in the winter. Odds are they’ll send you work when they have more money to spend.

Naturally you wouldn’t drop a client who sends you a lot of work. The point is to not get satisfied and think everything is great, because you have one great client. You want to do what you can to spread your income over as many clients as possible. That way if one moves on it doesn’t affect you all that much. It’s a lot less stressful to lose 5% of your income than 50%.

Summary

Starting a business is difficult. Growing a business is also difficult. You can never be comfortable with where you are. If one or two clients stop sending work it could easily take a way a significant portion of your revenue. You want to do everything you can to keep growing. Work to gain more clients. Work to build better relationships with existing clients.

Learn to say no to draining clients and track your time so you can better estimate future projects. Seek new clients, but also seek new work from existing clients. That latter will cost much less. Get to know your clients and treat them all as well as you can.

Spread your revenue over as many clients as possible. Naturally there are limits to how many clients you can serve, but don’t be so reliant on any one or two. Things happen and clients do move on or simply don’t have work for you for periods of time.

I have one more set of ideas about scaling your freelance business to share, which I’ll save for next week. Think about the simple formula of revenue being equal to hours worked x an hourly rate. There’s a limit to how much you can grow offering services by your lonesome. You can:

* Increase the billable hours you work

* Increase the rate you charge

* Reduce costs by working more efficiently

Each can only be taken so far when you work for yourself, since it’s all based on the idea that your revenue is tied to hours worked. There’s plenty of room to grow within the above 3 concepts, but if you want more there are other things you need to do. We’ll talk about those things next week.

Article by Steven Bradley

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