Ever wondered how you can charge more for your web design projects?

In this episode, I’ll share my journey from charging $500 for a website to landing $10k+ web projects.

Building on the insights from Part 1 (Episode #119), you’ll learn how to price your web projects for maximum profitability by understanding client needs, communicating value, and building a high-value portfolio.

I’ll also share tips on specializing, advanced sales techniques, and leveraging case studies to boost your credibility and rates.

If you haven’t yet, make sure to listen to Episode 119 for more foundational strategies.

 

Listen to the episode here:

Spotify  –  Apple Podcasts  –  Amazon Music

 

You will learn:

• How to transition from low-priced websites to high-value web projects.
• The importance of understanding client needs and communicating value.
• Effective strategies for building a high-value portfolio.
• Advanced sales techniques to close high-paying deals.

Grab a cup of coffee, your notes, and get ready to redefine how you run your design business!

 

Aventive Academy’s Resources:

Designer to Agency Bootcamp: https://aventiveacademy.com/designer-to-agency-bootcamp/

Free Client Portal for Designers: https://aventiveacademy.com/client-portal/

$12k Client Attraction Masterclass: https://aventiveacademy.com/attract-clients-workshop/

The Wealthy Client Blueprint: ⁠https://aventiveacademy.com/wealthy-client/

12-Week Business Program for Designers: https://aventiveacademy.com/profit

The Creative CEO Accelerator: https://aventiveacademy.com/accelerator

 

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TRANSCRIPT:

**0:00**
I started doing website design because of the money, not because I liked it. It was really just about making some fast cash.
And yes, the web projects we have now are highly profitable, but when I was charging $5,000 or even $500 for a website, it just wasn’t profitable or sustainable.

**0:23**
So after my client paid $25,000 for a website design, I knew I needed to increase my rates because the high-paying clients are out there. I just needed to find them.

**0:51**
Welcome to the Profitable Graphic Designer Podcast brought to you by Aventive Academy. I’m your host, Kady Sandel. I’m a brand strategist, designer, creative director, and the CEO of a successful six-figure design agency based in Austin, TX, serving clients worldwide.

**1:09**
After mastering the art of building a profitable and sustainable design business, I decided to help you achieve the same success. I teach brand, graphic, and web design business owners how to attract more clients, increase their pricing, and develop design businesses that provide the financial freedom and time flexibility you’ve always dreamt of.

**1:30**
We offer online programs, courses, and templates that you can use, along with our coaching accelerator and mastermind high-touch experiences for creatives.
You can learn more about starting and growing your design business at aventiveacademy.com, but for now, grab a cup of coffee and join me in today’s podcast episode.

**1:52**
This is my second episode where I’m talking about pricing and kind of showing you or telling you about my journey and how I went from X amount to X amount.
In the previous episode, we talked all about visual identity and logo design.

**2:08**
So kind of like graphic design and how I went from charging $65 for a logo design to now about $20,000 per branding project. And in this episode, we are going to talk about website designs and how I went from charging $500 for a website to now landing $10K plus web projects.

**2:30**
So let’s talk about the key points. But if you haven’t listened to my previous episode on the Profitable Graphic Designer Podcast, please go and do that. It’s going to be very helpful. It’s all about pricing and helping you as a designer increase your rates, find better clients, and really do what you love while making money and having that flexibility and freedom that you always wanted to have, which is also one of the reasons why you started your own design business, right?

**3:00**
So let’s start with web design or web project pricing.
What I mean by that is when I first started offering website designs, it was only because I thought that’s where the money is. You know, like I was offering logo designs, business cards, flyers, brochures, and things like that.

**3:20**
But at that time, I thought that a logo design was like $30-$40. I was even working at this one signs and printing company in Las Vegas where we charged $25 for a logo design, and the owner of the company would create a logo in, I don’t know, like 15 to 30 minutes.

**3:45**
It wasn’t really a logo. It wasn’t anything intentional.
So a client would come and say, “Hey, I want a logo.” Or most of the time, they would come and say that they need business cards, but they don’t have a logo for those business cards.
And so, you know, Vegas is a little bit different target audience, but the owner of that signs and printing company would just create an icon and would ask the client, “Hey, what would you like in your logo?”

**4:14**
And then they would talk about it for like two minutes, like, “Oh, I was thinking about having a car,” and she’s like, “OK, got it.”
Then she would create a car with the name of his company and call it a logo. And then she’d charge $25 for that logo, sometimes $35, I don’t remember exactly, but it was definitely in that price range. It was not more than $40 for a logo.

**4:34**
So my belief was that logo designs should be that much.
And when I first went on Craigslist, which is where I charged $65 for a logo design, I realized that some people were charging $100 for logo design.

**4:53**
So I was like, “OK, well, I don’t think I’m there yet, so I’m going to charge $65. That sounds right. I think that $35 is low, and $100 is too much,” which is so funny now that I’m thinking about it.
But long story short, I charged $65 for that logo, and I just wasn’t able to get enough clients to live.

**5:17**
Like, honestly, I didn’t have enough money for rent. I didn’t have enough money to quit my job. I didn’t have enough money for food or anything.
So then I heard that if you want to make money, you have to start doing websites.

**5:33**
And so, yes, I started doing website designs because of the money, because I needed the money, and I thought that’s where the money was. But honestly, I was just never a website designer. I’m more on the branding side, to be honest.

**5:49**
I do like website design and I appreciate when it’s good, but I would rather hire someone, which is what I do now in my branding and design agency. I don’t design anything website-related. I am a creative director in my branding agency, so I don’t even do logos anymore.

**6:06**
But long story short, I never was into website design but wanted to make extra money.
So I called my friend, who is a web developer, and I thought, “OK, cool, we can do it together. I’m going to design something in Photoshop.”

**6:22**
At that time, there was still no Wix, Showit, Shopify, and all those platforms where now it’s easy, it’s all drag and drop, right?
So at that time, it was still you design everything in Photoshop.

**6:38**
No Figma—you design everything in Photoshop and then you need a web developer who’s going to make that. I don’t even know how, like honestly, like a platform, it was WordPress and some other things that I don’t remember and I don’t know anything about development. It’s just so not creative to me that I can’t.

**6:56**
So I called my friend, a web developer, and said, “Hey, can you help me?” And so we figured out that we would charge $500 for a website design and development, which is so silly to me now that I’m thinking about it. We would make a couple of dollars per hour. It so didn’t make sense, but that’s where we started.

**7:13**
And my first web project actually came from a guy that came to that signs and printing company asking for, I don’t know what, and then from there, when he wanted a website design, the owner of the signs and printing company said, “Well, we don’t do website design.”

**7:30**
And I was like, hmm. So I asked her, “Hey, would you mind if I take your client or our client in the company and tell them that I can help them with web design?” And she was like, “No, I don’t care. Feel free to take them.”

**7:52**
And so that’s how I started taking a lot of clients from the signs and printing company to the side and working on their projects. And the owner knew everything, so it wasn’t anything behind her back.
But that’s how I started getting these website projects for $500.

**8:09**
Then I started posting on Craigslist again because that’s where I was getting logo designs from, and then I started getting web projects for $500 as well.

**8:26**
But as you can imagine, living in America, living in the States, that just wasn’t sustainable. I was, first of all, working full-time and then I would come home. In fact, I was out of the house from 7 till 6 because I was working 8 to 5.

**8:45**
It wasn’t even 9 to 5. It was 8 to 5 without a break. I did have a lunch break, but it’s in the office and I’m designing while eating, so I was really working a lot. And I was working for $10 per hour.

**9:02**
So everything is, oh my God. Even now when I’m talking about it, it’s so surreal. But that’s how I got into web design. And from there, I had to move. I mean, it’s not that I had to. I decided to move from Las Vegas to Denver.

**9:19**
And then when I moved to Denver, I was working again in some printing company for, I think, like two weeks only. Yeah, it was two weeks. And then I quit that job. So I was working at that company, still posting on Craigslist and trying to figure things out, even walking around, giving my flyers away, like literally going from store to store and explaining my services.

**9:45**
Oh my God, it’s just so crazy to me to think about that and then to compare where I am at the moment when clients are finding me and I’m charging $10,000, $15,000, $20,000, even sending proposals for $45,000 and having clients in like 30 minutes

.

**10:03**
It’s unbelievable, like huge, huge success. And of course, it wasn’t an overnight success, but I’m really proud of where I am at the moment and what I had to do to get to where I am.

**10:22**
Before we continue with this podcast episode, I just want to quickly remind you that if you’re a design business owner whose dream is to have a successful and profitable career so you can enjoy the freedom and flexibility that comes with it, then I have something for you.

**10:48**
The Profitable Designer Program is my signature 12-week system that will help you improve your business, sign amazing high-paying clients, and truly achieve your financial and lifestyle goals.

**10:48**
Visit aventiveacademy.com/profit to check if you can join us now or if we are currently not accepting more designers into the program. In that case, you will be able to join the waitlist and be the first to know when we open the doors again.

**11:05**
Now we’ll go back to the episode in a second, but I just want to add that designers who completed the program were able to sign five-figure design clients, 10x their pricing, reach six figures and beyond, make $20,000 per month while working only a few hours a week, and more.

**11:25**
Here is what Julia said: “It really has everything you could ever ask for to build a six-figure business that will allow you to have financial freedom. And that’s why I personally did it—I wanted that flexibility.”
So if you want to be my next success story and achieve results like these, visit aventiveacademy.com/profit.

**11:45**
Now let’s go back to the episode.
But okay, so I’m on Craigslist, all of that, and then as I was working in that different printing company, I was still charging really low rates and I wasn’t able to really quit that job, but I had to. Like I had to in my head, not because of some other circumstances, but I just had to quit that job and fully focus on my design agency.

**12:15**
And that’s what I did. And then I started really hustling. I was posting 21 posts per day on Craigslist, trying to get clients, and I quickly realized that my pricing doesn’t make sense.

**12:30**
So I went to $240 for a logo design, and I increased my pricing for website design to $750 or something like that. And eventually, I moved to Austin, where I live right now, Texas.

**12:52**
And I realized that people are charging way more for branding services and website services.
I started going to networking events even back in Denver, but nobody talked about pricing.
And then once I went to a networking event here in Austin, a woman told me how someone wanted to charge her $5,000 for a logo design. And she was just like, “It was just too much. I don’t understand how someone would ever spend $5,000 on,” I think it was like full visual identity, maybe even brand strategy.

**13:09**
But that’s when it clicked. Like, “Oh, if someone is trying to charge her that much, that means that they are able to charge that much.” And that’s for visual identity, not a website. And I’m like, “Okay.”

**13:26**
And then I had these clients. I worked on their logo and labels, packaging, I think something like that. And then I wanted to offer them website design as well.

**13:42**
And they said that they already have a website designer. And I was like, “Okay.”
And somehow during our conversation, I realized that they’re paying $25,000 for a website design. And I was like, “Oh my God, like, how is that website going to look?”

**14:00**
I mean, you know, it was a long time ago, but $25,000—that’s just a lot of money.
And then when I looked into their final website, it was a three-page Shopify website, literally.

**14:16**
And it’s not like even scrolling pages, like no, it’s one, let’s say, maybe. I mean, it is scrolling, but it’s not like scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. It’s not like a very long page.
One was a product page, and one was like contact or FAQ, basically text-based with photos here and there.

**14:37**
And that was $25,000. And I was like, “How is that even possible? How can I do that?”
So I tried to increase my pricing, but that didn’t go well. People would be telling me no. I would get a lot of nos, and my conversion rate dropped drastically from, let’s say, five leads.

**15:00**
Like I sometimes wouldn’t get any. And I was like, “Okay, I’m doing something wrong, something’s wrong. What do I need to do to get these high-paying clients?”

**15:20**
So now I knew that they exist. I already worked with one. I just didn’t know how to convert them and how to get them as my client for website design.

**15:39**
But I worked on their logo and on their label and packaging. They were so close. So what did I do wrong?
And I was just looking into how do I find these people? How do I convert them? Something’s off.
And I wasn’t thinking that clients will not pay that much. Clients will pay that much. I just didn’t know how to position my business as the best possible option for them, where they’re going to invest in their website. And now the keyword is “invest.”

**16:25**
So instead of talking about how I offer website design and how we do this and that and how long it’s going to take, how much it is, what’s included, things like that, I really focused on the investment part and telling them, “So when you invest in this website, you know you are going to get this and that,” in terms of “you’re going to increase your revenue, you’re going to sell more products, you’re going to get more clients, you’re going to get more customers,” like whatever their end goal was. Because there are no clients that have an end goal to have a website. That’s just not the case. They’re not looking for a website design, they’re looking to grow their business.

**16:41**
And so that’s what we should focus on. That’s what you should focus on if you want to increase your pricing.
It’s really all about understanding clients’ needs and what they value, and that is again the end result.

**17:11**
So ever since I started talking about the deeper needs of clients, I was able to justify higher prices, and then my clients were also able to see the value in what I’m providing.

**17:29**
And of course, you can’t always guarantee the end results. Because even if you build the best website ever or the best logo or the best label and packaging, if they don’t do anything with it, then it’s not on you that they’re not making sales. It’s not on you that they’re not growing their business if they don’t know how to market themselves properly to get more eyeballs to their business.

**17:48**
So it’s not just about us helping them get to the next level, but we’re helping them move the needle.
And this is actually something I was always saying to my clients. And because I’m so honest and straightforward, they trust me and they are like, “Oh, OK, so she’s not promising the results, but she can help me get closer to my results.”

**18:04**
And then they immediately trusted me because they realized, “OK, it’s branding and then marketing and then actually making sales, and then it goes advertising and all of that so that we can actually see the ROI, which is return on investment.”

**18:21**
So as long as you’re talking to the clients like they’re your friends and you’re on the same side, you want to help them get to the next level. You want to help them grow their business, and you accidentally offer a website design, they will trust you and they will hire you for that website design and/or other design services.

**18:42**
So the next thing that I did after I realized that I’m going to increase my pricing, I literally jumped onto charging, I think, like $3,000 per website. So from $500 or $750 or whatever, I went to $3,000, and after that to $5,000, then $10,000. Now it’s like $15,000-$20,000 depending on the project. But I wanted to build a high-value portfolio. I really wanted to create a portfolio that showcases my ability to deliver high-value web projects.

**19:14**
But I am not a web designer, and that’s not what I want to do, and that’s not what I do. That’s not what I enjoy. So I hired a web designer for my branding and design agency who’s going to help me build that portfolio so that we can attract more clients and she can get more work as well.

**19:32**
And that’s how now I have a branding and web design studio, and I don’t do websites, but we do offer it to our clients.
So when clients come to us, now they can get brand strategy, visual identity, labels, packaging, and the website.

**19:50**
And again, now I already have a team. It’s an agency. I’m not a freelancer anymore, but that’s how I started growing and building this design business where it’s at that level that I just love, and I choose

to do only the things that I truly love in my business.

**20:07**
And I really want you to do that as well. If you don’t like doing websites, you don’t have to do them and you don’t even have to bring on anyone. You can focus on the things that you want to do in your business only and outsource or hire for the rest.

**20:23**
And so, yeah, after that, I was naturally going into specializing and finding my niche. And that also helped increase my website projects, increase the pricing of my website projects, and then of course, advanced sales techniques that I talked about.

**20:40**
And yeah, I think that’s it. But long story short, it’s very similar to how you increase any pricing, whether that’s logo design, business cards, or website design. You always have to think about the end results that your clients are looking for.

**20:57**
It’s not a new business card; it’s a business card that’s going to help them get more eyeballs on their business so that they can convert them into potential clients, buyers, customers, or whatever their business is all about.
The same is for a website. The same is for a logo. You know, it’s never, “Oh, I want a logo.” It’s, “I want a logo that’s going to connect me and my business with my target audience, that’s going to build trust, that’s going to do this and that,” you know? So you have to figure out what the end results of your potential clients are.

**21:31**
I hope you liked this episode.
And if you have any pricing questions, feel free to reach out on Instagram at @aventiveacademy, and I’ll see you there.

**21:49**
Thanks for tuning in to the Profitable Graphic Designer Podcast. But wait, before you go…

**21:49**
If you enjoyed this podcast episode and want a chance to access one of our online courses for free, simply leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. Each month, one lucky reviewer gets to pick a course as a token of our appreciation.

**22:04**
And here’s a reminder: We are here to help you build the design business of your dreams, whether it’s creating compelling proposals, attracting $10K clients, pricing your design services, improving your portfolio, reaching six figures and beyond, or helping you stand out.

**22:22**
We’ve got you covered. I invite you to join over 1,000 designers in my signature 12-week program, the Profitable Designer. Visit aventiveacademy.com/profit. And also, don’t forget to hit that subscribe button. That way, you’ll be the first to know when each new episode drops so you never miss out on future content.

**22:44**
Until next time, be sure to connect with us on Instagram at @aventiveacademy, where we share valuable business tips, stories, and resources for brand, graphic, and web design business owners.
Bye for now, your host, Kady Sandel.