charging annually? a good idea?

[killbill]

I'm afraid of over-pricing my monthly updates to my client.

I'm thinking if it's minimal updates maybe like 3-5 times a year I'll charge him like $35/hour. But if he wants changes like 5-10 times a month I'll charge him a flat lump sum for the whole year. Like $750 for the whole year for unlimited updates/maintenance? Is that too much too little? What is a "good rate" that you designers tend to mostly agree with.

[Governator]

Save your self some time, create a fully functional admin backend, show him how to use it, and then just charge more for the website itself.

[oracleguy]

Originally posted by Governator
Save your self some time, create a fully functional admin backend, show him how to use it, and then just charge more for the website itself.

And what is even better is, once you write it once, you can re-use it for future clients.

[Governator]

good point oracleguy :thumbsup:

[percept]

I have several maintenance contracts with my clients to keep their sites updated. I have had most of these contracts for years and therefore I get great "residual" income from them. Most are quite visual and need new graphics frequently and so it would be difficult for them to keep their site updated by themselves without lots of skills outside their realm. But yet I'm cheaper than them hiring a person on the inside.

I base my contracts (one year at a time) on a monthly retainer where each and every month I invoice them for "x" amount of $ in turn for "y" amount of hours. Then I keep a spreadsheet which keeps track of the actual time I apply to the maintenance. Some months may be under and some over.... then I recap at the end of the year. The hours owed or banked are simply carried over... or in one case where I owed them several hours I simply didn't invoice them for the last month... what a way to make a client happy!

[jamrx7]

I charge $50 a month standard maintenance, which I tell them includes upto 2 hours of minor changes, wording, a new photo, checking links, stats report if they want one (which comes automatically from my host anyway)...

If they choose NOT to take the $50 monthly maintenance program, they get charged $35 an hour for EVERYTHING they want, the miminum fee being $35, not any half-hour nonsense.

Guess what... ALL my clients choose the $50 a month, and I spend about 15-30 mins a month on their sites :D

:thumbsup: