The price a Wix designer can charge to build a website depends on the project’s size, complexity, and deadline. That being said, most Wix web designers charge an hourly rate between $25 and $100 per hour. Beginners usually charge below $25 an hour so they can build a reputation, while in-demand experts often ask for more than $100 since they have more clients than available time.
However, even the $25 to $100 per hour range is fairly large, so a freelance Wix web designer needs to take certain important criteria into account so they can correctly price their services.
Your experience doesn’t matter
The biggest mistake a Wix web designer can make is to think that clients care about experience.
Clients do not care about your experience; clients only care about receiving a competent service for their money and timely delivery.
For freelancers, clients are very attentive to the quality of a freelancer’s portfolio and past work.
If you’ve been a web designer for just 6 months to 1 year, but the quality of your websites is comparable (or superior) to a designer with 10 years of experience, then your pricing should be similar to theirs.
Your pricing will of course depend on multiple other factors, but the main idea is to not discount your value and earning potential.
Ultimately, it is very difficult for a client to judge a freelancer’s experience, but they can easily judge their competence by looking at the freelancer’s past work and deciding if they like the work or not.
Does the client only want web design or other services too?
In the strictest sense, web design only covers the domain registration, creation of the site and its pages, how they look, and overall website structure.
However, clients often ask for “extra” services that aren’t included in web design: copywriting, SEO optimization, email integrations, online ads etc.
The problem is that those extra services are skills all on their own that many people pay good money for. As such, it’s unreasonable for you to do them free of charge just because a client thinks they are also part of web design.
As a freelance web designer, it’s your job to properly explain to a client what is included in your services and what is not before you start work on the project.
Clearing this up in the beginning will greatly help in reducing confusion and arguments between you and the clients about the scope of the project.
As a bonus, you now have a good understanding with the client and can ask for a higher fee to perform those extra services.
For example, you can ask the client for a $100 fee to make a 4 page Wix website, but then ask a further $25-50 for the copywriting, $25 for the SEO optimization, $25-50 for email integration, etc.
By packaging your services this way, you can offer a client reasonable prices for simple web design, but also keep the possibility open to upsell other services and keep your limited time cost-effective.
Persuade clients to accept a higher hourly rate
Perhaps the most important criteria that determines how much a web designer can charge clients is good old fashioned persuasion.
Smaller projects don’t usually require much negotiation, but as the project becomes bigger, so will the price tag.
At that point, many clients will become much more cautious with their money, and what they subconsciously want from you is reassurance.
In their minds, they are giving you money, trust, and time so you can materialize an idea into a website.
They are emotionally invested in this idea, so if you want to snag these high paying clients, you will have to reassure them that you are a good fit and can deliver what they need.
Some ways to do this include:
- making super quick mockups of the future site in Photoshop or similar software.
- talking with them at length about the project so you can fully understand what they want.
- going into detail as to what features of the site can work and which cannot.
- Offer ideas they haven’t thought about.
Any of the methods above will convince the client that not only are you serious about the project, but that you are now emotionally invested in their idea too!
Finally, many clients are very easy to convince with lofty promises. Often times, they’ll negotiate with multiple freelance designers and choose the one that promises the most.
Promising a website to a client that you know you can’t deliver, either on spec or on time, is something we strongly discourage.
That being said, as a freelancer, you must master the art of the realistic promise, one that cuts through the false hype of others and clearly explains to the client what is possible and what is not (and what resources the client needs to make the impossible, possible).
Mastering the art of this realistic promise will go a long way in helping you sign those high value contracts and generate trusted relationships that lead to repeat business.
How big or complex is the project?
As you know, not all websites are created equal. A simple 4-5 page presentation site for a psychologist or hairdresser is a vastly simpler project than an eCommerce store with 30-40 products, a login system, tags, categories, image uploads, etc.
Small projects such as presentation websites can usually be priced as a whole, so for example, you can build a 5 page Wix presentation site for $100. Keep in mind to also factor in 1-2 revisions since clients are rarely satisfied on the first try.
If a project requires more than a day of work, consider switching to a per hour pricing strategy.
Even a very simple eCommerce store can take anywhere from 40 to 60 hours of work to complete, so don’t box yourself in by demanding a static fee. Instead, calculate how many hours of work you think you’ll need, multiply that by your hourly rate, and present it to the client as a range.
For example, if your hourly rate is $30 and you estimate the project will take 40 to 50 hours to complete, give the client a $1200 to $1500 price range.
Change your hourly rate so it matches demand
Freelancing is often a feast-or-famine career path.
There will be times when your schedule is completely booked and you will have to turn down clients because you can’t handle the workload.
Other times you’ll be free as a bird and actively have to track down and persuade clients so you can even have some sort of revenue.
Because of the boom-and-bust nature of freelance work, you’ll want to make as much money as possible during the boom periods so it covers the bust period when you’re starving for work.
Thus, whenever you reach a point where your schedule is starting to fill up, try increasing your hourly rates so you can filter out the cheap clients and only keep the more expensive ones that are willing to pay extra.
This way, you’ll work the same amount of hours but increase your overall revenue.
On the flipside, when you have little or no work, try reducing your hourly rate so you can get the wheel spinning again.
As a takeaway, it’s best to measure your hourly rate as an average rather than a fixed sum. Sometimes it’ll be $15 an hour, other times $45. Average that out over a year, and it’ll be $30.
You then measure progress by trying to raise your yearly average hourly rate.
An average hourly rate that increases from $30 in year 1 to $35 in year 2 is clear progress, even if your hourly rate in year 2 fluctuates between $20 and $50.
Do you need to build credibility?
Sites such as UpWork, Freelancer, or even Wix’s own web designer marketplace promote web designers through algorithms that take into account hourly rates, overall prices, project completion rates, reviews, etc.
If you’re just starting out and want to build a sustainable business on one of those platforms, then starting out with prices significantly below market rates is usually a must.
The idea is to quickly gain some projects and positive reviews on your account, which should then trigger the algorithm to organically promote your account among the first results.
After the platform’s algorithm gives you its blessing and approval, you should start receiving much more work offers. At this point, it’s safe to raise your rates little by little until you are fully booked.
Conclusion
With these factors in mind, it’s not uncommon for a web designer to charge anywhere from $300 to $3,000 (or even more) for a Wix website design.
Many designers offer clients package deals or hourly rates, so it’s essential to discuss a client’s expectations and requirements from a particular project, so you can get a clear understanding of the costs involve and how much you should charge for a project to be worth your time.