It’s cold, wet & windy outside but I am warm & cosy in my office. The sunshine of my day is being provided by my Twitter friends and also this lovely recommendation written by Maria on LinkedIn.

I asked Sharon to produce a clean & crisp webpage allowing the reader a brief snapshot into the services we provide at Artemis. I loved the fact the Sharon provides different packages for start-ups and those, like me, who just wanted a no frills clear webpage.

Being able to update and extend the site is another added bonus to Sharon being flexible – this mean as the business grows so does the website.

Maria is one of my first clients to use my Start-Up Package offer. You can see her website soon (should go live later today all being well).

Another website went live today.

This was for Fission Engineering Recruitment, a company that requested a basic 3 page brochure website. Often larger web design firms will not want to take on such small jobs but I am happy to. I like the fact that, in general, small websites are fairly quick to turn round and so I get all the fun of creating a new website for a new client but at high – speed so to speak.

Chris, the owner was great to work with and, I am pleased to say, is happy with his website.

As part of doing 31 Days to Build a Better Blog I was searching for other blogs in my niche to analyse and learn from. This search led me to an article website and a post from an LA based web design company.

The article basically bad-mouthed freelance web designers and stated ‘hire us instead’.

Hiring an individual freelancer is a gamble for the simple fact that you are working with one individual. What if your designer becomes sick, has a family emergency or lands an unexpected chance of a lifetime job while working on your website? You could end up paying for a barely begun, half-finished or worse yet a rush job site. When you work with a design firm featuring multiple personnel, you can have confidence about the progress and completion of your web design.

A valid point, but I am rarely too sick to work (mainly thanks to taking care of my work/life balance), yet if I was I do have contacts who take over an important job for me. Plus, if the worst did happen I cannot see an ethical freelancer asking for any money if they haven’t completed the work.

A firm that specializes in website business design in Los Angeles will only hire professionals who are formally trained and highly skilled. By contrast, a freelancer can have any sort of training – or virtually none. If someone can work with HTML, they can build a website. It isn’t uncommon to find individuals working as freelance web designers who have no design training or skills.

Yikes! Us freelancers are the worst dregs of humanity aren’t we? OK, there probably are unskilled and unscrupulous web designers out there – which is why I always advise to get referrals from previous clients.

When you work with a freelancer, you have no guarantees about their experience working as a professional, either. They may be severely lacking in communication skills. Missing deadlines may not be a problem for an individual freelancer even though it’s incredibly frustrating and costly for your business.

It gets worse doesn’t it? If I had to ever miss a deadline I would be utterly mortified. Also, I have two undergrad degrees, an MA and a teaching certificate so I am certainly not lacking in communication skills and think it is a rather horrible generalisation to state that some freelancers could. Plus, I feel that clients would be able to tell from their initial contacts with a freelancer whether they were unprofessional or ‘severely lacking in communication skills’.

Unlike professionals who work for a design firm full time, freelance web designers usually build websites in their spare time. A freelancer who has an a full time job and is working on your site evenings and weekends can’t possibly give your project the same focus, attention and time as a design firm.

I know many freelance web designers who would really take offence at this paragraph. I actually don’t know where to begin to refute their claims without descending into an abyss of bad language and snide comments. (Well I do but I liked the phrase ‘descending into the abyss’)

Here is my response…

I am glad I do not work as a freelancer web designer in your neck of the woods after that diatribe against people who are often working just as hard if not harder than you are.

I may work alone but I have contacts in place should there be a family emergency or I fall ill. By the way, I ensure I have a healthy work/life balance which means I am not often so ill that I cannot work.

I am not doing this in my spare time, I run my business as a serious concern and do my utmost to ensure my clients receive a top-notch, personal service that works for them and their business. I spent years learning my craft and continue to keep myself up to date with the latest technologies to provide a better service for my clients.

Relying on one individual isn’t as bad as you make out either. I know everything that is going on and do not argue with myself over which is the best option for the website or have a problem of miscommunication between my creative and business sides.

And if I did land that dream job (which I don’t think will happen as I have it already) I have an ethical responsibility gene that does not allow me to leave a client in the lurch.

It is fine to point out the cons of the competition but you really should balance it with some pros in order to appear impartial & reasoned.

So, do your experiences with freelancers concur with the quotes given in this article? Or have you had a bad experience with a big design firm and been happier with a freelancer? Let me know in the comments.

As someone who has tried to build a friendly, helpful and most importantly ethical business I get really cross and upset when I read about web designers who take clients for every penny they can or who don’t listen to their clients and their needs.

Here’s a statement I read today.

I do not need website designers that lock me into a contract allowing them to charge me for hosting, or for changing a photo, you all know this goes on. I am not blinded by SEO chat, now I do it myself. Oh and its FREE.

This poor person has obviously had a bad experience at least once with a web designer and so bad-mouths us as a whole. We are not all like that, honest.

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On a side note, I had a look at this person’s website and I am afraid to say it does look like he built it himself without professional help. I know myself that if I want a professional job doing I have to pay someone who knows what they are doing – and that applies to everything in life but most importantly in business.

Don’t get me wrong, websites can be created, run for free and look pretty reasonable – I am not afraid to point someone to WordPress or similar if I feel that would be right for them – but you need to spend time and energy learning at least the basics to create something effective and attractive.

When I started my business I agonised for ages over what to charge for my services. In the end I got very good advice from Joanne Allday – she asked me find out the charges of a design company I admire, compare myself to them as a percentage and charge accordingly. Although I do not charge projects on a hourly rate it does help me to at least have a ball park figure to give potential clients.

Now, I am certainly not the most expensive designer and I bet I am not the cheapest but I am competitive and I feel I give excellent value for money. Even so, I still get enquirers sucking air through their teeth and saying “hmmm, I’ve had a cheaper quote.” My knee-jerk reaction is to want to bring my price down but then that cheapens my work and my worth so I don’t. I would rather work with clients that value my services thank you very much.

So what started me writing this blog post?

I received an email notification that there was a potentially appropriate job advertised on a job board I subscribe to. I took a look (although I have yet to find a decent job through this method and really should unsubscribe) and it sounded ideal – a journalist wanted a couple of blogs transferred to a different CMS, tweaks done and some other stuff, ongoing work around a couple of hours at a time. Hey, I might apply for that I thought. Then I read the amount he was willing to pay – £8/hour.

OK, this wouldn’t be intensive design work and if I was requested to do this for a client I would not charge my full hourly rate, however, £8/hour for my expertise that I have trained for and worked hard to achieve. £8/hour for all the times I continually add to my learning to provide a better service for my clients. I am sorry, but I have to draw the line somewhere.

Do you think I am right to refuse to work for this amount?  Do you have a sense of how much your services are worth? More importantly, do you stick to that sense of worth or are you willing to sell cheap to get work?

About 8 months ago I had the pleasure of meeting Chris Abram to discuss creating a website for a locally run but international video competition. This eventually became known as The Eric’s and prizes included statuette replicas of the fantastic Eric Morecambe statue that graces the promenade in Morecambe.

The award ceremony was held at the Duke’s Theatre in Lancaster on Saturday 10th April 2010 and I was extremely miffed that I could not attend as it clashed with my trip to the Gadget Show exhibition in Birmingham. However I believe that all went well and everyone had a great time.

You can click on this link to see a list of the winners and some screenshots from those that took the main prizes. Congratulations must be given to Chris who worked hard to put everything together in a desire to promote the wonderful seaside resort of Morecambe.