Small business website pricing

[bobatkins]

<p>What's would be the average ballpark price for working with a small local business who is setting up a website and wants a photographer to come to their location and shoot a bunch of images which they will use on their website. Say 3 hrs shooting and 20-30 edited images for the site?</p>

<p>I'm thinking maybe $500? Does that sound reasonable?</p>

[leicaglow]

<p>Bob, it sounds a little low to me, but it may be market dependent. I's be charging at least $600-700, and more like $800-900 with photo editing. I look at it as unlike any photo shoot, whether it be a website or otherwise. I might consider the size/financial capabilities of the business/my schedule availability though.</p>

[hansdans]

<p>Well Bob, Axel has put it politely and correct. If you are by definition using a professional photographer to do the website photos it does not matter if the order comes from small or large company. The hours spent and the invested capital for hardware and editing software and work hours has to be paid according to normal pricing calculations. The professional will charge normally and will do a good guaranteed job. But I am sure that there will be many eager people -photographers as well - who might do the job as agreed "maybe 500 USD". I think it would be better to rephrase the question and define all the elements in the formula ...and then you get further in the discussion of the definitions...<br>

"Although the digital age has produced a huge number of people who are more or less skilled in their photographic work- but does not by any means mean that they are professionals in the true meaning"(said one professional not so long ago). Then again meeting deadlines with perfect work might not be what you are referring to your example :)? </p>

[bobatkins]

<p>Thanks for the input. Pricing is always somewhat tricky. Too high and you lose the work, too low and you're not doing anyone any favors, especially yourself. Part of the process is deciding if you want the job and what you think the client is willing to pay. In this case I don't think the client would pay $1000, so I guess my question is whether the job is worth $500 to me. At that price I'm certainly not in the "giving it away for $50" category and I'm not turning down another job to do it, so maybe in this case $500 isn't unreasonable. The deadlines aren't tight and the client doesn't need exhibition quality images so those are factors to consider too. Pricing if the client wanted it in 48hrs and needed top quality images would obviously have to be quite a bit higher.</p>

<p>While in principle it should matter if the client is "Joe's plumbing Services" or the "Ford Motor Company", I think in practice many photographers do quote rates based at least in part on the nature of the client. Whether or not this is a good idea is certainly open for debate.</p>

[eric merrill]

<p>Bob:</p>

<p>3 hours shooting for $500 sounds reasonable. Including 30 edited images for free does not.</p>

<p>I doubt if they could license 30 stock images for $500 let alone custom created ones. I'd separate shooting time and licensing fees if I were doing it.</p>

<p>Eric</p>

[leicaglow]

<p>I have a lot of colleagues all over the country and know that the midwest, for example, is hurting a lot more than areas where I live (though Oregon does now have the highest unemployment rate in the country). While I don't like giving away work too cheap, I think, Bob, your "gut feeling" is really valuable.</p>

[patrick_f]

<p>Bob, I know it is a tough economy but walk away! Even hiring a digital tech/assistant is at least half of the money you proposed. What about your day rate? What about licensing and usage? What about expenses (including an assistant)? Please do not become a "bottom feeder" as you only hurt everyone. If you want I can email you a copy of a recent estimate I put in for a similar type project. I priced it perfectly and now 20 days of photography a year is enough to finance my future plans! This job should be in the 4-digit range, not a pathetic $500 regardless!<br>

Good luck</p>

[brian.]

<p>Shooting thirty images in three hours breaks down to ten images an hour, one image every six minutes. While this seems do-able, remember to add setup time, lighting, breakdown time, then post production time, and delivery (no time for any equipment problems). What's the complexity level of the products to be shot? Shiny? Plastic? Color matching?...This is more than one day's work. While I understand times are tough, I just wonder if there is a way to get more than $500? Perhaps the $1000 price point might seem too high to your client, but perhaps you could limit the number of shots/time and keep it in the three digit range. Client might go for that. Good luck either way.</p>

[mikael_karlsson]

<p>Bob:</p>

<p>I agree with Brian about limiting the usage period of the images as well as making sure you retain all rights to the photos. Give them, say, five years of usage and if they want to keep using the photos after that they'll need to contact you for re-use. I generally price re-use at 75 percent of the original fee if the client still have the image and no work is required on my part.</p>

<p>Also, $500 sounds too low. Do you think they would go for $750? In all negotiations set yourself a minimum price that you're willing to accept for a specific job. Then be mentally prepared to walk away if they are not willing to pay more than your minimum price.</p>

<p>Hope that helps.</p>

[steve_carless]

<p>Most work like this you licensed use of the images. $750 + yearly fees for the images works for me.</p>

[cathy_and_david_bock]

<p>We charge $500 for half day shooting, $1000 for full day shooting for commercial jobs and then charge $250 per image (per year) that they wish to use on their site/business. Nuff said. :)</p>

[Spearhead]

<blockquote>

<p>Please do not become a "bottom feeder" as you only hurt everyone.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>There is no proof of this kind of statement. If the market goes down because of Bob's pricing, then he has a lot more influence than anyone, including Bob, could imagine. Also, it's Bob's time and money, not "everyone's."</p>