Web design is a business. Freelancers are businessmen. Small time, yes. But still, they don’t have a boss to answer to so that makes them a businessman. In starting out as a freelance web designer, you are in charge of how far you can go, everything is up to you. Now, when you start to earn money from your web design works, always remember that in business, you need to invest in order to grow.

Always remember that the money you earn in web design as a freelancer is not totally yours. The government has part of it (tax) and most of it are for your business. Only allot 10% of your earnings as yours to be freely spent (living expenses). The rest, you should reinvest in your business. Here is a list of things that you should pay attention to and spend your money when you already have your web design business taking off the ground.

1. Invest On Stock Photos. Always remember that picture paints a thousand words. In web design, this is important, if you can replace a bunch of texts into a good looking picture, its golden. And besides, web designers are artist that wants to make the site look good. Purchasing lots of stock photos from the start is a good investment that you can never go wrong. Plus, you can keep them and use them again and again. Start collecting premium and high quality photos, don’t be afraid to buy them if its really good. That differentiate a good designer from a noob. Noobs only use google & find stock images, professional designers invest their money for high quality images.
2. Invest On Tools, Add Ons & Other Programs. If you’re using photoshop to make your web designs, you know that there are a lot of things that you can add on to it. Brushes, patterns that all comes in different varieties made by other web designers. Some of it are free, some of it are not. This is also a good investment as they can save you a lot of time rather than making the same effect over and over again.
3. Invest Icons, Eye candies. I definitely hate making icons. They are so small yet they take so much time to create. But the good thing is that they can be bought. If you think you are wasting time in doing these kinds of stuff, buying them is the best option.
4. Invest In Yourself. The best investment that you can never go wrong is yourself. Purchase videos, dvds, tutorials or training seminars & even subscription to design magazines to further enhance your design skills. Buy tickets to conventions like Graphika Manila where you can broaden your knowledge on the latest trends. There is no limit when it comes to web design. Since we are fueled by creativity, it has no limits. The best way to be on top of this industry is to always be aware of the latest trends, effects, and make sure that you have the money to grow your knowledge in the field.

There’s no doubt that freelance web design is the cheapest service to avail compared to a web design company if you want a web site done . As a freelancer you will only work by yourself thus, limiting your expenses and clients having to pay less. That’s why big companies sometimes outsource and stick with freelancers to do their job. Look at India and the Philippines for example, these countries are two of the most outsourced countries with regards to IT, call centers, and programming.

Now that we know that freelance web designers have an edge over companies with regards to price. How much do you have to charge? Well, that is one of the most asked questions by new web designers. And to tell you the truth, the answer lies in your own capabilities as a web designer.

Points To Consider When Pricing

1. Consider All Your Expenses In The Design - In web design, you are pretty much zero in on the expenses as you may already have a computer. You may put in the electricity spent when working on a particular design if you can compute it. But, there are times when you will really have to spend some money like buying stock photos, fonts, software tools, icons and more. Keep in mind these things to add on your pricing.
2. How Much Time Will It Take You To Finish The Work - Most of the time, programmers are paid by the hour and so are designers. But also, most of the time, designers are paid per project. So, consider how much time will it take you to finish this web site. The longer, of course the higher. You’re time is pretty much important here, you might turn down some clients while a project is still on going and you may lose more money than earn if you’re price is wrong.
3. Research About Your Competition - Web design is a competitive field so there will always be a competition. Know the price of other freelancers and compare the quality of their work with yours. Then decide whether you deserve a much higher price than them or lower. You decide.
4. What’s The Cost Of Living - This is probably the most important. Set a price that’s just about right to help you survive in this world. Don’t go dirt cheap just because you want clients. Don’t “whore” yourself if you think you can attract clients by lowering your price. Be sure to set a minimum price that you can afford to help sustain your business. And also, don’t go overboard in raising the price. Some people would raise their charges just because people from other countries are charging this kind of amount. Always remember that in other countries, the cost of living is different from yours. They need that price to sustain and continue running their business.

Although I didn’t exactly said how much you should charge your web design services, I know you could come up with really good and reasonable prices for your clients using the pointers I laid out. All these things depend entirely to you and your skills. If you think you should charge x10 than the competition, you are free to do that no one’s stopping you. Someone out there might avail that services if they feel its worth it. Don’t be afraid to ask for a certain price of web design, especially if its reasonable enough for you to sustain your business.

During the last couple of days, I have been telling future freelance web designers out there on how they can make money online by freelance web design. I also talked about the importance of building a web design portfolio, should you want to gain a large base of loyal and returning clients. But, the reason I wrote this post is that, I forgot to mention how you can take the payment for the web design work.

Taking Your Web Design Payment

The best way to take payments from clients from around the world is to have a Paypal account. Let me explain what paypal do. Paypal accepts money paid by major credit cards, debit cards or another paypal account. This is very advantageous for web designers in the Philippines as you can accept instant payments from anyone from around the world and in dollars too.

There are things you need first before you register at Paypal.

1. A Valid Email Address - You will need a valid email address so paypal can notify you of transactions. Also, this email address can be used by the web designer to purchase other products on the web. If you decided to buy a software for web design, you can use this email address and Paypal will do the rest to pay it and deduct on your Paypal Balance.
2. A credit card or debit card - You will need a credit card or a debit card to verify your Paypal account. This may be done later if you want, but there is a drawback, you can only send $100 limit. After that, you need to enroll a credit card or debit card on Paypal for verification. They will charge about $1.60 on your card and will be refunded back to you when the verification is complete. Just to let paypal know that your card is working and is enrolled successfully into Paypal.

How To Get Accepted in Paypal Using Eon Debit Card

We all know that its hard to get accepted for a credit card. I know, because I got decline numerous of times. But I found out that Union Bank offers Visa Electron or what they called EON Card that lets you use and be accepted in Paypal with no problem. This is actually what I’m using right now and have no problems so far. The only thing is that it took me 2 weeks before I could use the card.

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Once accepted, you can now login to your paypal account. This is where most of transactions happen. You can Withdraw funds from your Paypal account to your Bank account. Or you can put funds from your Bank to your Paypal account to purchase goods online.

Basically, if you would like to offer your freelance web design service internationally, you should be able to accept payments internationally too. And Paypal will do the trick. You can register at Paypal now or see a complete detailed guide on how to make a paypal account.