I moved to using minimum ballpark figure for any of my WordPress project few years back. I chose not to work in an hourly basis or take on projects done by any other developer. I also don’t work on customising any premium theme.
Right Decision
Looking back I think I made the right decision.
I do work full time for an agency based in Sydney and freelance on my spare time. Working on minimum ballpark figure worked for me as well as client too. Doing so I was able to deliver well optimised websites doing really good on organic SEO.
In cases where I worked as both designer and developer for the project, I was able to deliver top notch website in highest of client satisfaction. An example of this type of project was ipSCAPE, where I designed and developed the website as per client’s requirement. End project was highly appreciated.
Past Experiences
Another case was the PSD to WordPress conversion of Supreme Fasteners. I was provided with PSDs and my main work was to convert PSD to easy to manage Content Management System. Besides delivering to what client expected, the site is well optimised for SEO and doing really well on organic traffic. Some image manipulation of the product images was done using Adobe Photoshop.
My most recent project Encore Beauty Studio’s website, again involved me working as designer and developer. I picked up client’s requirement and made suggestions to best target the market niche for the website. Beside design and development, my other task involved selecting web host, integration of website and doing some custom photoshoot.
OK coming back to topic. Why I price on ballpark? I pride myself doing the best quality work, back it up with delivering good results. Over the long term website done by me does significantly well on organic SEO. I help client to make best decision in terms of their business niche. I bring in table my various skills that includes server hosting and management via cPanel, design skills using Adobe Photoshop, Organic SEO techniques, installation of SSL certificates etc to name few.
Research Based
All my projects are research based. I use my self-learnt and well practice technique to yield better User Experience and Conversions. In short I bring various skills and deliver projects that in long terms returns best ROI (Return of Investment). Using minimum ballpark does help me to provide some extra room for research, and commit seriously on the project.
Other main thing is that even though I use minimum ballpark for my projects I never overcharge clients. My reputation matters to me a lot. In case if projects are well below my minimum ballpark figure, I provide option to the client if s/he wants me to refer someone to carry on job for them.
In cases where you work like me, delivering projects from scratch to finish and if you deliver good results based on client’s expectation, it might suit you better to work on minimum ballpark.