Making Money from web development

feelo

Hi there,

I recently changed career where I am looking to subsidise my move by making additional income from developing basic custom websites. I have previous development experience primarily client/server based systems. I am hoping to develop sites from home when I can. In your opinion:

*is there a market out there for this type of work and how much would people be prepared to pay for basic sites??

*what tools do you believe I'll need to perform this type of work? asp.net??

*what is the best way to acquire this type of work?

I would really appreciate your help on this. Many thanks

Evil Phil

*is there a market out there for this type of work and how much would people be prepared to pay for basic sites??
The market was kind of saturated when I left Ireland last year, and people don't want to pay a lot for a basic site.

*what tools do you believe I'll need to perform this type of work? asp.net??
No, a CMS like Wordpress or Joomla would be the best option for basic sites.

*what is the best way to acquire this type of work?
Networking I suppose, having a portfolio of previous work is a must.

fergalfrog

Phil has covered this pretty well but just to add

*is there a market out there for this type of work and how much would people be prepared to pay for basic sites??

I agree with Evil Phil - there is a lot of companies out there flogging web design/development

*what tools do you believe I'll need to perform this type of work? asp.net??
Joomla/Wordpress will be fine for basic sites but depending on how "custom" those sites will be, you will need html/javascript/graphic design and if there is stuff going on in the background you will probably need somethink server-side like php/asp

*what is the best way to acquire this type of work?
Along with networking I guess the same techniques to how you would get any type of work I suppose - advertising (which includes your own website), word of mouth, promotions etc

feelo

Thanks Fergal Frog, Evil Phil,

Do you believe that I should maybe concentrate on some niche aspect of web developement as opposed to just generally trying to find work developing web sites?? Would you have any ideas on maybe other areas of development I could focus on to make an income from part-time work??

Thanks again

fergalfrog

I have seen companies who focus on one industry for example - eg websitesforaccountants.com but at the end of the day as a web developer the page content is usually data and it doesn't matter what it is.

I am not sure what else you mean by the niche aspect. If I knew what those niches were I would be exploiting them myself.

>> Would you have any ideas on maybe other areas of development I could focus on to make an income from part-time work??

If you can learn iphone/ipad app development there is obviously a growing market there. What kind of dev experience do you have and what is your new career? Is there any way you could merge aspects of the two?

NeverSayDie

feelo wrote: »

Hi there,

I recently changed career where I am looking to subsidise my move by making additional income from developing basic custom websites. I have previous development experience primarily client/server based systems. I am hoping to develop sites from home when I can. In your opinion:

*is there a market out there for this type of work and how much would people be prepared to pay for basic sites??

*what tools do you believe I'll need to perform this type of work? asp.net??

*what is the best way to acquire this type of work?

I would really appreciate your help on this. Many thanks

* Per what the others said; it's a pretty saturated market.

* Re ASP.NET, not much, unless you're adding a lot of functionality and behaviour to a complex site. Basic CMS (which could run on ASP.NET, there's plenty going for it, though PHP may have wider appeal at the lower end of the scale) should do the job for most brochure sites. Main thing you will need is strong design skills, and a thorough knowledge of XHTML/CSS.

* Networking and an impressive portfolio.

feelo

fergalfrog wrote: »

I have seen companies who focus on one industry for example - eg websitesforaccountants.com but at the end of the day as a web developer the page content is usually data and it doesn't matter what it is.

I am not sure what else you mean by the niche aspect. If I knew what those niches were I would be exploiting them myself.

>> Would you have any ideas on maybe other areas of development I could focus on to make an income from part-time work??

If you can learn iphone/ipad app development there is obviously a growing market there. What kind of dev experience do you have and what is your new career? Is there any way you could merge aspects of the two?

Basically my previous experience involved developing client server applications using VB 6/VB.Net/Crystal Reports/SQL Server/Oracle. I did a BA in Drama so acting/teaching drama is my new direction. Might be hard trying to merge the two!!

Evil Phil

Websites for drama schools, groups and theatre companies. Lots of youtube integration and all that. Get a few of them under you belt you could start approaching production companies.

feelo

Evil Phil wrote: »

Websites for drama schools, groups and theatre companies. Lots of youtube integration and all that. Get a few of them under you belt you could start approaching production companies.

Good suggestion Evil Phil. Their may be a market there alright. Does anyone know what kind of fee you could charge to develop a basic site.

lil_lisa

I would seriously suggest, if you really want to get into this, to look at web based programs. Websites are moving away from just providing information and carrying out small tasks to full on programs. The way things are going, there's going to be a lot of hard drive space cleared up as programs move 100% online. Soon, all you'll need is a browser installed and you're away with it.

p

It's not a saturated market by any means. There's a large market for developers who can work with designers and produce good solid sites that use web standards, are SEO-friendly, and axtually look like the design delivered.

Not that many deveopers can actually do that though, thos that do, will be pretty comfortable with clients.

To the original poster, if you've little or know experience in web dev it'll be hard to make money. Just like any profession, skills, talent & experience are what counts, and you can't get that overnight. It'll be tough for you to make money unless you're lucky with some connections you have, or else have a good grounding already in what you want to charge for.

The Corinthian

feelo wrote: »

*is there a market out there for this type of work and how much would people be prepared to pay for basic sites??

Very little - a few hundred tops for very a basic site. If you can sell yourself as a real professional you could just about get into four figures. I've no idea how freelancers can make a living out of it any more, TBH.

*what tools do you believe I'll need to perform this type of work? asp.net??

Because of the answer to the first question programming a bespoke site is not commercially viable any more and as Phil suggested using a CMS is a better route to take.

*what is the best way to acquire this type of work?

Contacts, networking and word of mouth. Targeting a specific market and then contacting them, by phone and with their permission sending them an information pack. Subscribing to every mailing list under the sun and whoring your services the moment someone mentions the words 'Web site'.

feelo wrote: »

Basically my previous experience involved developing client server applications using VB 6/VB.Net/Crystal Reports/SQL Server/Oracle. I did a BA in Drama so acting/teaching drama is my new direction. Might be hard trying to merge the two!!

Not really that hard. To begin with you have agencies, all of whom need Web sites and in many cases will either want to be able to include their talent or even have micro-sites or separate sites made for them.

Secondly, as Phil suggested, there are drama schools, groups and theatre companies out there that may need new or upgraded sites.

Then many actors/artists need their own sites to show off their portfolio.

Finally, if you want to invest time into something more advanced, you could set up a casting directory, like Spotlight who effectively have little or no competition in the market at present.

paul.mcguinness

The best option is to become familar with flexable CMS(Content management systems), free ones of course. jomola is the most supported free CMS. If you can master this and become familar on how to make changes to its templates etc then you can make any small-medium site run on top of if, cutting your workload by by 90% once your up and going.