Why I Stopped Offering Entry-Level Websites

This week I took the step of removing all entry-level pricing from my website and marketing materials, and honestly, it wasn’t a difficult decision. It means that I don’t have to engage certain conversations anymore and it frees me up to do the level of work that I want without setting myself up to compete in a space I don’t desire to be in.

As a freelancer, it’s very rare that you turn down work when the bills need paying. And an easy way to make sure that money doesn’t come in is to price people out of your service. And yet, that’s exactly what I’ve done and it’s the smartest decision I’ve made this year.

I used to offer cheap-as-dirt landing page design and what I called “Basic” sites for a few hundred of the Queen’s finest pounds (I still can’t get comfortable with Charles on the money), but I made the conscious decision not to do that anymore for two simple reasons.

Quality

Deliberately offering a watered-down version of my core product isn’t the way I want to operate. Initially it was to enable me to provide a service for people with a lower budget, but the trade-off of giving out what I would consider a sub-par product wasn’t sitting right with me.

Either I take the hit on being able to deliver something good, or the client gets a poor, rushed website that I can’t take pride in.

For me, that’s unacceptable.

A.I.

AI is drastically lowering the floor for what entry level design looks like (both price-wise and quality-wise) and competing with that is a race to the bottom. A client with a smaller budget is always going to be stuck between paying a professional or getting something passable for close-to-free by writing a few prompts.

Trying to undercut A.I. is a pointless game and whilst I’d love to help smaller clients out more often, trying to provide value whilst competing in the price range of ChatGPT just isn’t going to happen.

Now, will ChatGPT actually provide them with a usable website? That’s a different story.

Spoiler: The answer is no, because once it spits the files out, you’re on your own.

So what now?

I still offer bespoke and eCommerce sites at a price that allows me to deliver a quality end product without compromising my standards. Your website is far too important to settle for “passable”. Take a look at my Web Design Services to see the starting prices or take a look at the Portfolio to see what work I’ve done before.