If you're just starting out, charge $500–$2,000 for a complete small business website (5–8 pages, basic WordPress or similar). Hourly rates for beginners sit around $25–$50 CAD depending on your market. A college student in Ottawa might start at $25/hour, while someone with a design diploma and a few portfolio pieces can justify $40–$50. The biggest mistake beginners make is charging $200 for a full site because they lack confidence. This attracts nightmare clients who demand endless revisions and never respect your time. You're better off doing one $1,200 site than six $200 sites—the learning curve is the same, but one pays your rent. Scope matters more than hourly math at this stage. A basic brochure site with stock photos, contact form, and mobile responsiveness should take you 15–25 hours including revisions. At $50/hour that's $750–$1,250, so quoting $1,000–$1,500 flat gives you margin for the inevitable scope creep while staying competitive. What to include at beginner pricing: - Responsive design on a template or page builder - Basic on-page SEO (title tags, meta descriptions, heading structure) - Contact form and Google Maps integration - 2–3 rounds of revisions What not to include: custom coding, e-commerce, ongoing maintenance, content writing (charge separately), or ad campaign setup. Clients will ask for these—have a price sheet ready. Raise your rates every 3–5 projects. By project ten, you should be at $2,500–$4,000 per site or $75–$100/hour. Ottawa SEO's junior designers start around this range once they can work unsupervised. Get a deposit. 50% upfront is standard and filters out clients who'll vanish or dispute payment. Use a simple contract even for small jobs—email agreement counts if it states scope, price, timeline, and payment terms. Never start design work on a handshake.