How much to charge?

I have barely learned HTML and basic SEO when I already have a job offers

[Junanagoh]

Well for those of you that know me about 2 or 3 months ago I started snooping around here trying to figure out what all the fuss about websites is about. I then decided I was going to try it out and about 2 weeks ago launched my first (if not extremely basic) website.

Full time I work as an Admin at a real estate office and was talking to a few people about how I got into this new hobby. Well now I have extra work that I know I will enjoy doing. So I have a few questions about how much I should charge my new "guinea pigs" as one of my potential clients termed herself (I told her I am extremely new). Here are my 2 situations:

#1 Just wants simple stuff done with frontpage (which I have never used) and just wants text, pictures, and links added. This is something I think I would charge hourly for, what should I charge for the simple setup and basic maintenance?

#2 Has the worst website I have ever seen. I don’t know what the guy was thinking. (Sticky me if you want to see, lol). So I will basically be building a website for her as well as maintain it.

How do I figure out a setup fee? How do I figure out an hourly rate? I am new so I am not going to fool myself and say I should get $60 an hour. But how do I give them an estimate?

[kaled]

I'd be inclined to split the work into phases and quote a fixed amount for each phase. That way they get a fixed fee and you get paid before the whole job's finished. Splitting up the job also forces you to take a more disciplined approach when planning, however, it will not suit every job.

Kaled.

[vincevincevince]

I learnt this the hard way. Although it's the last thing on your mind, build in redundancy.

Find out how much it would cost for you to get the cheapest designer you can find to do it. Advertise it on some of the freelance web-design boards (there are many). Don't quote a penny/cent lower - you don't know what may happen and leave you having to hire help to fulfill your new contracts in an area you are not familiar with or experienced in.

[Junanagoh]

Great thanks guys.

[lcampers]

I work for a website company and recently snooped around at the prices they ask for sites and am amazed!

around 10k for a four page, dreamweaver template, crap site...

our designers pretty much know how to upload dreamweaver templates

should i be doing this on my own?

i think the key is having an effective salesforce