Question for Freelance Web Design Professionals

[kdubbie]

***just realized I didn't post this in the Freelancer section, sorry***

Hello, thanks for reading my post.

I am graphic designer (mostly for print, with some HTML and CSS work) and would really like to get into web design/development. I know how to design and code (client side) web pages, but I have very little experience commercializing them for other people. So to up my knowledge in general, I have decided to build a few for my friends.

The questions I have are geared toward protocol and working with clients professionally. Let's the take the following examples, pretending my friends are real clients.

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Client 1: Photographer
Objective: display his work and promote his services.
No forms necessary except e-mail-contact form.

Client 2: Small Veterinary Clinic
Objective: To have an online presence where people can find out more information.
No forms necessary, this is simply to share information.

Client 3: Tattoo Parlor.
Objective: To display the work of all tattoo artists.
No forms necessary except e-mail-contact form for each artist.

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So here are my questions. (*Note: these questions are geared for customers that want fairly simple websites-HTM, CSS - light Javascript. No server side scripting or database languages)

Question 1: What questions should I ask these client before starting, besides the obvious design ideas? Or what information should I expect the client to give me, besides content for each page on the site?

Question 2: What if the client wants to edit the content of their websites themselves? Is that common? Or is more common that any changes to the website go through the freelancer? And if the client does want to edit their own sites, how do I set that up for them for a fairly simple website?

Question 3: I have never hosted more than a personal site a few years ago. Do web hosting companies make it easy for one freelancer to manage a large number of websites? How would you suggest I go about setting up the three websites listed above?

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Now, I do understand that these questions can have many answers, but I'd really appreciate to hear how you all go about it or any advice for someone who wants to start out freelancing.

Thank you very much,
Kevin

[Jason]

Question 1: What questions should I ask these client before starting, besides the obvious design ideas? Or what information should I expect the client to give me, besides content for each page on the site?

I start off by asking the client what they would like to achieve with their website. Who would they like to visit their website. Do they plan to make money from their website? If so how? With advertising or through promoting existing services? How do they intend visitors to reach their websites?

I also like to try to wrestle a budget out of the client, if I know what they have to spend I can better present options to them. For example.. if they have 10k to spend on a website I will tell them how they could best spend that if they wanted to spend their entire budget. I would then go on to explain what less would get them.

Also finding out the client's budget also tells you a lot about their expectations, if they want to spend $500 then they probably have fairly low expectations. $5k... probably fairly high.


Question 2: What if the client wants to edit the content of their websites themselves? Is that common? Or is more common that any changes to the website go through the freelancer? And if the client does want to edit their own sites, how do I set that up for them for a fairly simple website?

In 3 years I have not made a single brochure website. If you cannot do much when it comes to programming then it would be best to partner with a developer. A developer can set up a CMS for you, add any extras which your clients require. You can then focus on working with clients and doing the design work.


Question 3: I have never hosted more than a personal site a few years ago. Do web hosting companies make it easy for one freelancer to manage a large number of websites? How would you suggest I go about setting up the three websites listed above?

I do not host websites, I am a developer and managing hosting is a pain. If some thing goes wrong with my reseller account, clients will be in touch with me.. I can only contact my hosting company and hope for the best.

Instead I have an affiliate account with my web host. I recommend my web host to clients, I set up a developer ftp account and mysql access. I then let the client manage their own hosting. Been working well so far.