How much can I charge as a Squarespace Website Designer in 2024?
Prefer to watch?
Here’s that video for ya!
Are you currently toying with the idea of taking a stab at becoming a web designer? But when you search online you can’t find any really clear information on how much you could actually make?
Or maybe you’re still on the fence about transforming your side hustle the main money-maker and, wondering if you can actually make enough to ditch the cozy 9-5 and make this your full time gig?
Well friend, settle in - you’re in the right place!
When I was first starting my little web design side hustle, I was a student in college, working on a totally unrelated degree.
When it came to pricing my services as a designer, I sort of subconsciously told myself…
“Well, I’m student and I only do this part time, so It’s just fun money for me. I enjoy doing the work, so it’s ok that my prices are lower than normal.”
But now that I’ve built a successful design business, and teach others to do the same through my courses and blog, each week I’m hearing some version of that same pricing mindset.
“Oh, I’m just a stay at home mom. I didn’t really expect to be making anything while I’m at home with the kids, so I really don’t need to be charging much. Anything is more than expected.”
Or
“This is only the second site I’ve built, so it doesn’t feel right to charge for it since I’m just learning.”
And… consistently get this question
“If I become a Squarespace website designer, how much should I charge?” And “How much can you make as a new Squarespace web designer?”
Setting your pricing as a new designer can be pretty paralyzing.
Especially if you’ve been used to working for someone else, and therefore someone else was always deciding how much your time was worth and therefore how much you make.
But you’re the boss now, and you are the only one who gets to decide how much or how little you will make… !
So to help you figure out what to charge, a coupla years ago I did some research online to poke around at what web designers were charging.
I looked at the sites of my own Square Secrets Business™ students and a lot of Squarespace designers I found on Google.
I averaged out the prices I was seeing online on Squarespace web designers websites and came to the conclusion that …
A smaller 5 page site built by a newer designer tended to go for $2,000 US Dollars.
Now that pricing is from a few years ago, and pricing has definitely increased since I did my little research project then.
Just recently I did the same research and this year when I looked at the pricing it had really changed!
Now I should clarify, the prices I’m stating here are JUST for a website. That means, no branding, no copywriting, just a website build. And again, I noticed the most common packages had 5 or 6 pages to the website being built.
I’d say a 5 or 6 page site is on the smaller side, that’s most appropriate for a new business. More established businesses tend to have much larger sites and often require integrations, online shops, etc. which obviously increases the project price.
But for easy price comparison, I’m talking just a website here.
So the other thing I noticed this year was quite a difference in UK website pricing versus US & Canada pricing, which I’ll share!
In the UK newer designers were charging on average $2,000 GBP for a 5 or 6 page site from newer designers.
The story in the US & Canada is quite different, where pricing is averaging more like $4,000 for a website.
Now I should clarify, these are really starting, intro designer price points.
I’ve spoken to quite a few of my students more recently who are charging $9k, $10k and $11k per Squarespace web design!
(Check out some of their stories below…)
Emily
And grab the free training that they all took!
I’ve noticed the more experienced, established web designers and agencies pricing tends to be hovering around the $10k price these days, give or take a couple grand.
It is totally possible to charge $10K+ for a website!
People with a coupla years experience under their belt and a killer portfolio are definitely commanding $10k/project these days, so I hope if you’re watching this and you’re new to the web design world, that gives you an idea of what you could reach in just a couple years.
Check out some of my incredible students and how much they’re rakin’ in for their projects…
Now the caveat to this is you will NOT make this kind of money as a web designer if your only client-finding strategy is Fiver or Upwork.
All the prices I’ve listed are from designers who implement a marketing strategy and who get clients through their own efforts and websites, not by working on a freelancer platform like Upwork and Fiverr.
If you haven’t yet figured out your marketing strategy to get clients OFF of Fiver or Upwork, definitely take my quiz, “which client-finding method matches your personality type?”
Now, what we’ve been talking about so far is pricing per project which is great and all, but you might still be wondering…
what does that result in you being able to earn in a year working as a web designer?
So I personally would do a full web design project in 2 weeks, working with just 1 web design client at a time and I think that’s very attainable timeline for others.
When I was still in university doing projects on the side of my degree I would do them in that time frame and when I went full time, I would do the same, but with a lot more free time in those 2 weeks to work on other stuff in my business.
So let’s say you decide to take 4 weeks vacation a year, there’s 52 weeks in the year, minus your 4 for vacation that leaves you with 48 weeks left to work.
Doing one project every 2 weeks that’s 24 projects you could complete.
Let’s say you’re just starting as a web designer, charging the going rate in the US & Canada at the moment for a smaller site by a newer designer, then $4,000 a site, $4,000 x 24 projects = $96,000!
Give it a couple years, my students who are charging $10k/site raised prices to that rate in anywhere from 1.5 to 3 years, do 24 of those $10k web design projects in a year and that’s $240,000!
Of course you will have some expenses in your business and be a good human and pay your tax, but even still, as you can tell, web design is a fantastic industry to be in.
And the best part is, this isn’t one of those jobs you need a degree for.
But Paige - that just feels soooo unattainable right now!
And friend… if that’s the case, you are going to low-ball your clients, and do yourself a disservice.
Why?
Because you will charge whatever you believe your value is, and if you believe your value is low… well you’ll be charging 🥜
If your mindset and belief in yourself and your work is in the gutter, you will charge well below the market and always feel a little bit like you’re being held back and you will be quietly disappointed in what you’re earning.
You’ll be wishing ‘someone’ would give you permission to charge more.
You will be afraid AF to raise your prices and will have this invisible barrier between you and what you really want.
And do you know what that invisible barrier is? Your own mind.
Before you decide what to charge, you need to get yourself in the most positive, woo-woo, rah-rah place you’ve ever been.
Becoming your own boss is an emotional rollercoaster and I’ll be honest, it’s not going to be easy to get in the positive flow and stay in it.
I’ve found reading personal development books to be the best way to get myself in the zone. I then pair that with meditation, affirmations, and envisioning exactly the future I want.
I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I’ll just say for me, it worked.
So let me give you some resources to help…
3 Mindset books to read before you price your web design services
Wondering what you should read?
Or how the heck to start envisioning this new future for yourself as a real possibility?
I’ll share a list of the exact books I read when I got started, and the exact order I recommend you read them in.
Mindset Book #1:
The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod
It’s all about habits, and creating a morning routine for yourself that is guaranteed to have you taking on your day from a place of calm, confidence, and focus.
Practice the Miracle Morning, and miracles will legit start happening in your life.
Why? Because YOU decided they would.
Mindset Book #2:
You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero
You’re going to be hard-pressed to take on the world and kill it if your mind is constantly practicing its rather annoying habit of constantly telling you “you can’t do that,” or “No one is going to buy from you,” or “You don’t have a formal education in this, no one will take you seriously.”
If negative thoughts are popping up left and right, you need to read this.
Jen will have you feeling like a real badass that can take on anything life hands you, with a laugh along the way.
Mindset Book #3:
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Okay so this book is super old, but it’s super good. And it 100% completed the reading trifecta for me!
It’s all about making money. Lots of it. With your mind.
Yes, it sounds pretty woo-woo, but honestly, it works. If you don’t believe that you’re able to make money, you won’t. If you believe you can, you will.
As Ford said:
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't – you're right.”
So in order to make money in your online business, you’ve gotta believe it first! And this book is the perfect starting place to help you get your mind around making money.
Now I’d def recommend reading all of them, in that specific order, before you ever sit down to decide on your web design prices.
(ps. those are affiliate links!)
So I hope that helps give you a bit of a peek into what’s possible earnings-wise as a web designer, as well as some of the tricks of the trade to have the confidence to up your prices!
My past student Lindsay had a background in journalism and no experience in web design BUT with her job at a magazine on shaky ground, she decided to teach herself web design online.
How’d it go for her?
Well, within 2 years she went from no clue about building websites to consistent $11,500 web design projects!
Yes really. $11 grand. To learn how she did it and how you can too, watch the video below for Lindsay’s story!
(Update: Lindsay is now charging $14,5k for this project!! Yes, really!!)
