[consulting] Drupal web design as hobby - shall I start consulting?

[Alexei Malinovski]

Sami, thank you very much for information! Do you work as Drupal consultant?


2010/8/14 Sami Khan <sami at etopian.net>

>
> > Q1: Site creation:
> >
> >  How much money would you ask to create similar site as
> > http://MalinaMusic.ru <http://malinamusic.ru/> ?
> > (http://MalinaMusic.com<http://malinamusic.com/>- for Google
> > translated version). I was thinking about 1000 Euro to create a
> > similar site without content (articles etc).
>
> Depends on the market. Generally, $40.00-50.00/hour minimum and
> $2500-$3000 minimum for a site like that; in the US or Canada though. You
> could probably get more, depends on the client and the amount of effort
> needed for customization... But there are plenty of cheapos; who will not
> want to pay more
> than $1000... some will offer a few hundred. I would suggest avoiding that
> for your sake, and to preserve the market.
>

Wow, that's quite a bit more then I expected for such a site. Even though if
I would be making making living out of Drupal development, this would be a
fair price, I guess.


>
> There are also consulting shops that will subcontract you work and some
> may rip you off, so be aware of those too; usually they are looking to make
> a buck off a developer and will give you the hardest parts, and try to keep
> as much money as they can for themselves. In general, put everything in
> writing as to what is to be done and get them to agree through e-mail on
> the document. When the spec is finished ask them to pay before you
> continue. If they fail to pay, don't give them anything until they either
> pay or just walk away; put this in your contract as well.
>

Thank you for warning about that. Actually, I do not plan to work as
subcontractor. Since my sister has a lot of friends in showbiz who
desperately need site but do not have I might be able to have plenty
requests to create music sites directly from musicians.


>
> > Q2: Site creation:
> >
> > Since I'm a newbie, I have only 1 site in portfolio I need to extend
> > portfolio and be very nice with first Customers.
>
> Do some work for a charity. I find it difficult to motivate myself to work
for charity. Everything I do should either belong to me or my family or
bring me money. Of course in long run big portfolio is good. I guess I will
look around my family. I know that my girlfriend mother needs a website
dedicated to selling cats. I guess I'll do this one.


> > Another problem is
> > timeline. I'm not sure I can commit to specific schedule. For example I
> can
> > offer them to pay me 50% only after first version of site is ready and
> they
> > are happy with it. The rest is paid when site is ready 100%. Of cource
> I'm
> > risking that they will not pay me at all. But this way I will test
> > Consulting, how it works for me without risking Customer money.
>
> You can ask for 50% up front, if you are worried... Don't give them the
> code and host it on your site until they at least pay 1/2. If the refuse,
> show them the contract and tell them that they are failing their side of
> the contract.
>

The ugly truth is that many people in showbiz are absolutely non technical.
They are clewer, creative, nice, talkative but not technical. So, if I do
the web site I make sure that it runs somwhere. The funny thing is that they
even allow me to own they domain names. In other words they do not realise
that they can and *SHOULD* own the domain name!!!


>
> >
> > Q3: Site maintenance
> >
> > What are the components of site maintenance(hosting&support)? At least I
> > see
> > following
> > - End user training how to use CMS
> >
> > - Hosting cost
> > - Regular drupal and modules upgrade
> > - End user support if they have questions or messed up something
> > - Doing regular site backup (automatically)
> > - Recovering site from hacker attacks/spam etc
>
> Most of this work is not very profitable, avoid if possible... If you have
> to do it, make sure it's in the contract.
>

Most probably I have to do hosting and site maintenance to be a one stop
shop for showbiz people. I do realize it is not profitable and, actually,
might be time consuming to maintain the sites. Another solution could be if
I find someone who is ready to take over the maintenance. I will look for
such companies/individuals in Russia.



> >
> > Q3: Site maintenance
> >
> > What problems do you see if I host several sites/Customers on the same
> > account on Bluehost using Multisite feature. At least I see problem of
> > upgrade. Whenever you need to upgrade drupal or modules other sites must
> be
> > upgraded as well. I guess this is a bad idea to host different Customers
> on
> > the same account?
>
> Probably... It depends on the customers though, for some it matters; for
> others not so much.
> If they are paying for separate hosting, get them their own account;
> please... It's better for everyone.
>

Ok, I see. If I ask 100 Euro for hosting and it is 70 Euro at Bluehost. It
is still slightly profitable for me :)


>
> >
> > Q4: Site promotion
> > I have no glue how to quote for it. for example I can promote site on
> > Twitter using applications like Twitadder. How much would you ask for
> that?
>
> Advertising is priced differently everywhere... Find out whatever is
> cheapest and works, this will take a lot of time.
>

I guess it depends of what I offer. Article writing is time consuming. I'm
not doing this. But adding followers on Twitter using Twit adder is like ,,,
automatic :)

Again, Thank you for information! It is valuable for me!
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