Make Money As A Web Developer
As a web developer, a career can be very rewarding, but many experts get tired of having to meet and respond to their superiors every day. That’s why many web developers choose to start their own businesses and become independent web developers for multiple clients. If you’re thinking about terminating your full-time job to make money as an independent web developer , or if you only want to earn extra money independently part-time, you need to learn a few things to become successful. Read on to learn how to enter the world as an independent web developer.
Potential salary as a freelancer
The first thing most people think about is how much they will earn as an independent web developer compared to how much they will earn as an employee.
Freelancers are generally seen as experts in the industry, they are considered to be people who are very good at their profession and therefore able to provide services to people independently. They are considered experts who can be hired on occasions to work for the company on a special project as a web developer.
However, the employees themselves almost always understand more things. Even if their job is called a web developer, it is almost expected that they also have some sort of graphic design ability, as well as internet marketing experience, so web developers usually have to perform a variety of tasks.
In general, however, freelancers earn more than employees. By virtue of being an experienced expert, they were given much more than employees in an average working time. The short-term benefit for companies with freelancers is that they don’t have to pay for insurance, compensation or other expenses for them, which is why they get more money.
In today’s cloud-based world, as well as online competition, the market’s payment model has changed slightly. Freelancers still get more than employees, but the difference is no longer that great. To make more money as a freelancer than as an employee, you need to invest a lot of time; however, it can be solved.
How much can you earn
There is no specific answer to the question of how much you can earn as a freelancer. According to the statistics of the salary.com website, the average salary for web developers who work as employers earns 14 million and 21 million forints a year, depending on experience, so half of the professional employees earn less than this and the other half earn more.
It’s not easy to find information on how much freelancers are earning. Find some blogs about freelance web developers who claim to earn more than $ 28 million a year, but most people will earn less than that.
In your first year, you will work to build your customer base, so you will earn an average of 12.5 million a year. More experienced freelancers take home between 15 million and 24 million forints. Your geographical location can also affect your earnings, especially if you’re looking for customers near you instead of searching online. Developers who live in big cities where it is expensive to live usually earn more per year.
Other compensations
Salary is the kind of compensation that people most often think of when it comes to how much they can earn as a freelance web developer. However, there are other types of compensation you can get for working in the field.
One way freelancers are compensated is through free advertising. You can then place an ad on your client’s website or they will advertise you in some way to lower the cost of marketing. Another form is the exchange of services for some goods. Freelancers often get big discounts on software, computers, peripherals, and other important things, or can exchange their service for another professional service, such as accounting or bookkeeping.
These exchanges and benefits don’t increase your salary as a freelance web developer, but they do reduce your running costs so you can save more money. When negotiating with clients, keep in mind barter and discounts as well so you can increase your earnings with alternative compensations.
Added services
Many companies want web developers to do more, even if they hire freelancers instead of regular employees. As a result, many web developers do more things, such as graphic design or content writing.
While you may not want to extend your services to more than just web development, there are benefits. If a company doesn’t want to hire more freelancers to do a project, chances are they’ll pay you more, giving you a chance to earn more per project. Of course, you need to invest more time in each project to complete all the services according to your skills.
Another advantage of multiple services is competitiveness. If you are able to provide all the services to build a website, you can get the job more securely from your clients as you will stand out from the competition. This is especially important when you are a beginner and need to work harder to get new clients than an experienced freelance web developer.
Important things about freelancers
Before you make money as a freelance web developer, it’s important to understand it’s not always stable. Your hourly rate will vary depending on your job. If you’re someone who doesn’t like uncertainty, then this job may not be for you. Let's see what other freelance web developers have to change:
For most people, the biggest benefit of freelance is that you organize your agenda the way you want. While it’s true that if you have a boss yourself, you’ll be more flexible, but that doesn’t mean you work less, it can sometimes mean the opposite.
When you first start out as a freelancer, you need to finish projects quickly and provide a high quality service so you can help your business grow. This means you need to call back and respond to emails quickly, and you may have to work long hours. It is not uncommon for freelancers to take 9-12 hours a day.
The good news is that as your business grows, more people want you to work for them, so you will have a more balanced life because you have to work less. You will need perseverance if you want to get over the hard work that comes with building your business.
Salaries
Another thing that varies for freelancers is the way and time they are paid. As a beginner, you depend on the grace of the client and you will have to follow the method of payment, whatever it may be.
Often companies don’t pay until you finish the job. This way, they guarantee that you will finish the project, but you have to risk that they won’t even pay you, or only after a long time. Over time, however, they will pay an advance, paying the installments slowly until you complete the project.
It is also likely that you will be without regular income due to the agreed payment method. Therefore, it is important to have a savings account that can help with business and personal expenses in such cases.
The payment method may also vary. Many freelancers choose PayPal, but cash and checks are also in use. Transfer via Western Union or another bank can also be convenient, but there are charges. You can do it with a credit card, but you still have to pay if you get money from your clients. It is important to consider our available money when discussing the method of payment. For some types of payments, you have to wait a certain amount of time, after which you can only access the money.
Other options
Being a freelancer can be very rewarding and many web developers who have become freelancers from employees will say they are happy with this decision and would do it again.
However, freelance work can be very stressful. Clients can sometimes be indecisive and require more editing on your completed work. This can mean you work more hours, so you will pay less per hour.
As well as family and friends can add to the stress. They don’t necessarily understand what it’s like to work from home and they can expect you to do things for them or just talk to them on the phone. It’s a good idea to set expectations with the people around you before you start making money from home, and it’s important to make sure everyone understands what you need to do to be successful.
While freelancers don’t have to spend their time reporting to their boss, it doesn’t eliminate stress. You are responsible for satisfying your clients and you will not have a supervisor to whom you can turn for advice. Also, most of the work has to be handled by you as there is no team around you to share the work with and support.
Stress can be compounded by more negative things, such as giving up some of the luxuries that employees have. You will not receive incentives or bonuses and you will be responsible for yourself. If you are ill or someone in your family dies or needs to be cared for, you cannot take leave or report illness. If you don't work hard, you won't successful person.
Seasonal customization
Many companies like to update their website from time to time, making it more interesting. You can influence this desire with seasonal services, packages in which you redesign the page according to the specified season. If you offer a package that includes multiple services, you can include advertising and marketing advice for the specific season.
Another bonus can be the unique e-card design. Offer your clients a unique e-card that they can email to their customers as a seasonal greeting. The card can greet you smoothly or provide some kind of coupon or discount to encourage purchase.
Try to provide a seasonal service package that includes the new design and extra services until specified holidays each year, and ask for a fee for the service on a monthly, quarterly, or occasional basis to ensure they will continue to be used.
Hosting (Hosting Insurance)
With a web hosting service, you can earn extra revenue for your business. Many hosting companies offer sales plans again so you can create packages for your clients. You can request a separate price for storage, bandwidth, plus email users, and more. You can apply for the money monthly, quarterly or annually. Not only does it mean that you will make a steady income, but it also means that you reduce stress as you take weight off your shoulders.
Say no when negotiating
When negotiating with clients, sometimes the best word is simply “no”. Sometimes if you show that you are willing to leave this table for some reason, you are encouraging the client to agree to your requests. You’d be surprised to find out how many clients pay the amount you dictate after you say a specific no.
As a new freelancer, you have to be very careful not to promise too much. If you’re on the lookout to get the job, you can sometimes agree to an impossible deadline or a bad salary; however, if you can’t finish properly or have to save because of the client’s low pay, you won’t make a good impression on your future customers. Your reputation may be damaged and you may not enjoy the benefit of having more customers bring in as they will not be completely satisfied.
When you’re in a negotiation with a client, it’s important to actually think things through, no matter how much you need to work on. Think about promising less and doing more. Allow yourself more time than you need to surprise the client with an early delivery. If you can’t say for sure that you can solve the job by the given deadline, say no smoothly. It is better for you to quit your job and lose the money you receive for it than to accept but not keep your promise.
Sell your services and work for someone else
As a web developer, it will often be the case that the customer doesn’t like the work you worked on and works flawlessly. You can leave the job in this case as well, as you have to wait for the buyer to start from scratch again, wasting more hard hours working on a website that they won’t even use.
Or are you sure you wasted those several hours?
You can sell the site to someone so you can make a profit on it. Many companies, possibly web developers, can buy the site to use as a template or whatever. You can also resell scripts, graphics, and tutorials, so remember this before deleting your files. In addition, there are websites where you can sell web templates and themes online so you can earn extra money as well as your name, which can help you gain new clients and gain popularity.
Another way to use your unused work is to give it to someone, e.g. to the client for free. You may not understand why you would want to do this, but the truth is, you can still make money if you don’t ask for money for the template itself. Here are few ways you can do this:
- Provide a service where you personalize free templates, change graphics, change layout, and put in the text your business needs.
- Provide basic templates for free and provide premium templates for extra money. You can add widgets, other features in the premium version that your clients pay for.
- Provide other services to your clients for money. You can ask for money for installation and setup, search engine optimization and other extra services that are useful to them.
- Another benefit of free stuff is the recommendations. People love to get things for free and may feel they owe you. This way, they can also recommend it to other people to help you gain new clients.
- Customization services. As we just mentioned, however, customization is a very good way to increase your revenue. There are clients who may be interested in a website template, such as:
- Developers who are new to the profession and are trying to build their skills. If these people are looking for a website with features they can’t create yet, they can contact you and buy it.
- Big companies and small shops who want to create or update their website for a certain price.
- Developers and companies who have very serious deadlines and are paid to have others do the work for them.
No matter how many people want to buy templates, they want to customize the design to meet their expectations. You can offer your services to save them time. If you sell templates online, don’t forget about the ad so you can change it very quickly since you made them. Enter your website, email address, Skype information or other way they can contact you.
You won’t get as much for customization work as you do for development work, but it can be good for your revenue and you can quickly find a stable job as a freelance web developer.
Teach
- Instructions for using CSS
- A guide to using Photoshop
- Guide to using Dreamweaver
- Instructions for using Illustrator
- Instructions for using Java and Java Script
- Guide to HTML and PHP programming languages
- Instructions for using Drupal
- A guide to using WordPress
- Guide to using a CMS
- Instructions for using Facebook
- A guide to using YouTube
- A guide to using Twitter
Try freelance pages
If you’re in the middle of a slow period, you can try freelance websites to reach new clients. Some of the best known are:
On these pages, you can browse the projects of customers who are looking for a web developer. You can read the description and bid where you describe what you are going to do for the money and what your unique qualifications are. You can advertise a service on other sites for a specific amount. Then people who need web design help can buy the service.
No matter which freelance site you are on or above, you will have to pay a certain portion of the price for the site as you use their site to make a profit. The payment method varies, there are also monthly fee sites. But it’s worth it because you can find a stable job on these sites without investing much in marketing. Because of this, the goods are usually very worthwhile. Just look properly at the percentage of the page and reward your clients based on that.
Dare to be unique
When it comes to finding clients and running a business, you often have to be creative in the world of freelance web development. Smoothly set up a page and announce that it is available or won’t generate revenue and you won’t be a successful freelancer yet.
Marketing will be a very important part of your success, especially in the beginning. Here are few ways to promote yourself:
Direct mail
Putting up flyers for nearby companies or putting together an email list to whom you send your services can be a good way to get in touch with clients directly.
Referral groups
Referral groups are clubs or organizations where people from all walks of life meet regularly. They discuss their services and businesses and find out what the other members are doing. They will also mention members ’services to other clients to help them with their business. In these groups, you are also expected to recommend others.
Referral incentives
It’s a good idea for your current customers to give you some kind of goods or discounts in exchange for referrals, as this way you can get new customers creatively. Spoken recommendation is the strongest form of advertising, especially if you work as a freelancer.
Always keep learning
You know that the world of web development is constantly evolving. New technologies are constantly coming, fashion is coming and going. If you want to be a successful web designer, you need to keep up with the changing industry.
Take seminars and courses and continue to practice your skills, this will help you gain more experience. This will make you different from your competition and increase your chances of success.
Keep in mind that they will not be paid for your training and education as a freelancer. This benefit can only be enjoyed by employees. As a result, you have to sacrifice your own free time for self-education; however, it is well worth it in the long run.
Set up a routine to learn something new on a regular basis, say once a month, once a quarter, twice a year. As you browse, read articles about web development and subscribe to industry-related publications to keep up with the changes.
Build Relationships
As a freelancer, you’ll be in your own office, which is probably in your own house, but that doesn’t mean other people won’t be important to you. As mentioned earlier, referrals can mean a lot to your business, so it’s important to build good relationships. Go to network-related events and connect with freelance groups online as well. Not only will you get a chance to make new recommendations, but you can connect with other people who understand the difficulties and challenges of freelancers. You can share ideas and give each other advice and support.
Surprisingly, a relationship with competition can be helpful. When you have to give up a job, it’s a good thing to be able to give them a name that you know will do a good job. Do this a few times and you will be surprised to find that you have a new client to whom your competition has recommended. Furthermore, with the contacts you will find out what services web developers provide in your profession.
Conclusion and final words
So the opportunities to make more money as a freelance developer are very good. The market and demand for freelance web developers is growing and if you enter the market with a good approach, you can make good money.
