price their services to avoid earning less
for their efforts.
11 Best Ways to Price Your Graphic Design Work for Better Earning
This post provides detailed information on how to price your graphic design work so you can make better earnings.
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Choosing graphic design as a profession is not just about passion but also about the possible income you can make out of it.
It is purely business and businesses are established for the sole purpose of making some cash.
So, if you have decided to be a graphic designer, you need to know how to price work for better earning.
This is in order not to get frustrated by not making much from your jobs to justify the time and energy you put into it.
Here are best ways to effectively price your graphic design service:
- Choose your billing
- Consider what others are charging
- Consider the client’ budget
- Improve your skills
- Smart negotiation
- Ask for payment upfront
- Be objective not emotional
- Stick to your billing
- Diversify your services
- Collaborate with established sites
- Build a strong profile with the above platforms
11 Best Ways to Price Your Graphic Design Work for Better Earning
- Choose your billing
This is one of the best things you can do for yourself when it comes to getting the best price for your graphic design jobs.
It is important you do this so that you don’t find yourself fluctuating your prices all the time.
There are two possible ways you can consider doing this: per hour billing or flat rate.
Some designers prefer to bill their clients on the hours involved in the job while others prefer going with a flat rate.
Either way, you just have to know which is best for you among the two.
- Consider what others are charging
Definitely, you are not the only one offering graphic design services on the internet.
So, if you are to bill your clients, ensure that the margin between what you are charging and what your competitors are charging is not much.
This entails that you have to keep an eye on your competitors to know what an average designer charges.
Note that most clients already know what most designers charge and may not patronize you if you charge far higher than what others offer.
- Consider the client’ budget
Most clients will make it known to you what budget they have for the job they are offering you.
This is to say that is the highest amount they are ready to pay for the job.
You have to think about that before rolling out your price.
If your charges are far higher than your clients’ budget, then you may end up losing them to other designers.
Unless in a case where the client’s budget is way shorter than what is supposed to be charged for such a job.
- Improve your skills
There are many forms of graphic designs which you will need to learn to expand your horizons.
You will need to acquire more skills in this field for you to stand a chance of demanding something bigger than before from your clients.
One of the skills you can have is your ability to do your job at a lesser time compared to others.
If the job is normally done within a certain number of days or week, then you can develop yourself good enough to do the job for a lesser timeframe.
This skill added to your profile will help you get the best from your clients.
- Smart negotiation
Nothing beats negotiation in any business. As much as you have the skills and all that, you will need good and smart negotiation skills to get the best price for your graphic design jobs.
Sometimes, clients intentionally price you far lower than what you charge.
You will need to negotiate your way into their hearts to make them raise their price for the job.
Notwithstanding, don’t be rude or harsh in your negotiation, be friendly and give room for the clients to express themselves.
- Ask for payment upfront
This is a good policy to adopt. Most designers complain of having clients who tend to delay payments and other funny things they do when the job is done.
It is not enough to be specific about your pricing.
No matter the billing system you intend to use, ensure that the clients pay upfront before the work starts.
This is important as it will make the client remain committed to the agreement knowing that his/her job is at stake.
So, don’t make the mistake of making the client to be at the deciding end of how much he/she wants to pay after the job is done.
- Be objective not emotional
Be realistic about your pricing and don’t attach emotions to it. This is your business and businesses are not run with emotions rather objectivity and target.
Some clients will come to you with some explanations to make you charge far lower than your standard pricing.
Though sometimes you can let go, but let it not become a regular occurrence else you will not make any meaningful income from your graphic design job.
- Stick to your billing
Fluctuating your billing or pricing is a big red flag to your clients. They will see you as someone that is not sure of what he/she is offering.
It will appear as though you are new on the job and are experimenting with their jobs.
So, to avoid this, it is important you stick to your billing and avoid fluctuating your pricing far too many times within a short period.
If there is any good reason to hike or reduce your billing, do, but let it not become so obvious to clients.
- Diversify your services
Diversifying your services is a show of expertise and exposure in this field.
Clients love to hire designers who are versatile in this field; designers who are good in different forms of graphic design.
With various abilities, you can meaningfully engage clients in good negotiation, especially when they know your worth and what you represent in this field.
- Collaborate with established sites
Collaborating with established websites is a good way to maintain good pricing.
There are some known platforms that offer to act as mediators between you and the clients.
What they do is that they set the price for your work and make clients pay while collecting a little commission for the service rendered to you.
This is a good option if you are not good at negotiating with clients.
These platforms, including Upwork, Hiresine, and 99designs can help you do this.
All you need to do is to register with them and become a member then, sit at the comfort of your home and await jobs as they roll in.
- Build a strong profile with the above platforms
As much as these sites or platforms carry out the job of a media, they are not responsible for the profile you put out there.
You are totally in charge of the profile you put out for clients to see.
The best they can do for you is to suggest how best to write your profile.
So, if you are on these sites, take your time and write a well-crafted profile, if possible state some notable individuals or organizations you have worked for in the past.
This is sure to give you leverage in those platforms.
Conclusion
It is important for graphic designers, especially the ones starting out newly to learn how to price their work so that they don’t earn less than what they should.
This post provides valuable ideas you can apply to ensure your price matches the time and efforts you put into your work.