Web Design for the horsey set?

[fury]

Hey all,

I hope I’m posting this in the right place! I’m typically just lurking COTH because I have absolutely no access to horses at the moment (if I were riding, I’d be posting about a new problem daily, trust me :lol:), but I decided to register so that I could ask you all about this.

I recently found out that the owner of the restaurant I work at pays… well, quite a bit of money for the website. I’ve seen the website, and I was creating more thoughtfully designed ones in high school. I’ve always enjoyed graphic design and creating websites, have no problem getting hosting, and wouldn’t mind being a webmaster, either.

While browsing local barns looking for lessons, I came across many, many websites that aren’t doing their facilities justice. I understand why websites aren’t exactly a priority for a barn owner or trainer, but they’ve definitely become very important in attracting new clientele.

So I’ve been considering putting together a portfolio of design examples and giving it a go. I’m not looking to make $$$$$ (a friend of mine does graphic design for a living and does just that), I’m just hoping to make enough to maybe pay for lessons twice a week so that I can start riding again.

I’m trying to figure out the best way to go about this. I’ve considered making sites for fictional barns for my portfolio, offering free/discounted redesigns to barns for my portfolio, etc. I say discounted, but to be honest I’m not even sure what’s a reasonable price to ask for this kind of service!

Do any of you do this kind of thing? If you’ve paid to have a website created, can you tell me what that process was like for you? Any advice at all would be very appreciated!

[Halt_Near_X]

As far as price, figure out what you want to make per hour and how long it would take you to make a typical barn website.

Now estimate how long it would take you to work with a barn owner to settle on a design, generate content, rustle up photographs (including any image editing they need), review the site as it’s built and (inevitably) handle scope creep issues when they request last-minute changes. Until you have some experience at doing all of this, take whatever estimate you have and multiply it by at least 10.

Add that estimate to the time it’ll take you to do the design/site building, multiply by what you want to make per hour, and that’s the minimum you should charge to build the site. It is likely going to be a LOT more than you think it will.

In terms of building a portfolio, I’d recommend volunteering with some rescues/charity orgs and helping them. Not only will this build your profile, but it’ll expose your skills to a wide community AND you’ll build the very important personal connections with people that can help you get paying jobs. Offering a basic site design in a charity auction can be a good way to build a portfolio, too.

And as an aside, depending on your area, you may well need to have a business license and deal with taxes. Contact your local small business bureau for help/advice too.

ETA: talk to your graphic design friend and see if they will mentor you/walk you through some of their projects. Building a website is the easy part–all the client interactions that go in to it are the hard part, and if your friend will mentor you, you’ll go into your first projects a little more prepared.

[fury]

Oh wow, thanks for all of the info! I would have never thought to contact charities and rescues.

I thought pricing over with everything you suggested and it is a lot more than I thought it would be. I don’t want to undersell myself, but I also don’t want to be so pricey that people don’t want to work with me! I guess if I manage to get together a really nice portfolio…

I’ll have to send a message to my designer friend and ask him some more questions. He used to live in the area, so he probably knows if I need a business license or anything like that. He’s just clueless on the horse part, but I suppose it shouldn’t be too different working with horse people!

Btw, I love your username! :lol:

[ArabDiva]

@Halt Near X;8066648

As far as price, figure out what you want to make per hour and how long it would take you to make a typical barn website.

Now estimate how long it would take you to work with a barn owner to settle on a design, generate content, rustle up photographs (including any image editing they need), review the site as it’s built and (inevitably) handle scope creep issues when they request last-minute changes. Until you have some experience at doing all of this, take whatever estimate you have and multiply it by at least 10.

Add that estimate to the time it’ll take you to do the design/site building, multiply by what you want to make per hour, and that’s the minimum you should charge to build the site. It is likely going to be a LOT more than you think it will.

In terms of building a portfolio, I’d recommend volunteering with some rescues/charity orgs and helping them. Not only will this build your profile, but it’ll expose your skills to a wide community AND you’ll build the very important personal connections with people that can help you get paying jobs. Offering a basic site design in a charity auction can be a good way to build a portfolio, too.

And as an aside, depending on your area, you may well need to have a business license and deal with taxes. Contact your local small business bureau for help/advice too.

This is VERY good advice.

Ten years ago I started out designing and building websites for barns, nonprofits, and churches. Now I work for a software company and manage $1m+ projects.

Client expectations management is an important skill, it can mean the difference between really enjoying your work, to never wanting to build another website again.

That being said, if you can get good at it, there’s definitely a market out there.

I recommend pricing your time by the HOUR instead of by the job – i.e. don’t say “I will make you a website for $500,” say, “My hourly rate is $XX and generally, depending on the needs and desires of a particular client, I can get a website done for $XXX, let’s meet to talk about your needs and I’ll draw up a customized quote for you.” That way, if the client starts making all kinds of changes because they can’t decide what they want, you’re getting compensated. Money is also a good motivator for clients to decide what exactly they want, the first time around.

Generally when selling a design I would make 2-3 different mockups and allow the client to choose one. The ones that they didn’t choose could be tweaked (different colors or textures or layout changes) and “recycled” – offered to other clients later.

Working for free for a rescue or therapeutic program, as Halt Near X suggested, is a great way to gain some valuable experience and bolster your portfolio. Also worth checking into dressage GMOs, riding clubs, local show associations, and that kind of thing. I designed and maintained my dressage GMO’s site for 3 years, for free, which later turned out to be an asset because it looked great on my volunteer history for a riding scholarship I was applying for. It also brought me a few paying clients. They allowed me to advertise in the omnibus and newsletter for free, too.

Check out sites like http://webdesignledger.com and http://smashingmagazine.com for design inspiration and freelancing tips and tricks.

[Groom_amp_Taxi]

Also, rather than designing from scratch for folks/businesses who don’t already have sites, a good way to start out might be to offer to “refresh” sites that are not being maintained. My impression of a lot of the local horse related websites is that the owner did it/had it done once with great intentions of keeping it updated with current sales horses, client accomplishments, etc, but that part of it falls by the wayside or migrates to FB for the majority. In the end, if the owner of a site can not commit to on-going or regular maintenance, simply having a presence with the basics of the business becomes a better solution.

You might also be able to barter webmaster/maintenance/design skills in exchange for lessons or a partial lease.