The way I see it, a lot of your charges will be on a willing seller-willing buyer basis. But what makes you stand out amongst your competition is the value you add to your service.

Let's say a Mr Client gives Webguy a brief. "I want a website. Put my picture there with a welcome message, my contact info, my company profile and my 50 products and specs in there." And for this job, Webguy charges RM 2,000 for his 20 hours of work. The deal is done and both parties are happy.

But assume Webguy is a true professional. It takes him 20 hours to do up the site. But he takes 5 hours to go through Mr Client's competitor's websites and writes up a report for him - explaining why and how he can maximise the usefulness of his site. He recommends a form to mine data and spends an additional 2 hours doing it. Then he takes an extra 2 hours to make the site comply with webstandards and explain to the client how it will benefit him in the future. Webguy also collaborates with a good graphic designer who takes 4 hours to come out with a design that is both functional and beautiful - and explains to Mr Client how important that is to his Brand Image. Then Webguy goes on to recommend other features that will benefit Mr Client and give Mr Client's customers a satisfactory experience on the website - perhaps a testimonial page, and a help forum, and maybe even a blog by Mr Client to interact with his customers.

All in all, Webguy had taken 40 hours to do the job that would have taken other designers 20 hours. But with the additional 20 hours, Webguy had increase the usefulness of MrClient's website by 300%.

And instead of RM 2,000, Webguy can now charge RM 10,000 for his work which includes his time and also his valuable ideas. Webguy tells MrClient, "For 2K, I can make you a website but for 10K, I can make you a website that will be a valuable marketing tool for your company."

Don't just offer designs, offer solutions!