How many times have you gotten a contact through your web site asking how much XYZ website would cost? They say, "I want a website like this one." Or ask, "How much would a website for 'this type business' be?" When you ask what their budget is, they don't know. You can spend an hour looking at what they have (if anything), what they want, and then writing a quick guesstimation/quote... maybe you go ahead and spend hours putting together a full estimate. I get them all the time. And sometimes, since I'm rarely the least expensive bidder, they go with someone else -- or no one at all just now. It's just too far outside their budget.

Maybe there's a better way.

I ran across a post tonight on the Signal vs. Noise blog about this very thing. And since I have an estimate waiting, I'm going to use it. It will probably go something like this: Me, "Well, I'd be happy to give you an estimate. What is the budget for your project?" Client, "We're not sure yet. What do you think it will cost?" Me, "OK, so a solution around $80,000 will work?" Client, "Oh no, our budget is more around $X-Y."

This should work to narrow down the budget -- even if the client doesn't think they know what it is. I like this -- a lot. I'll try to let you know how it goes. :)

PayPal users: watch out for the latest phishing scam. This one is particularly nefarious: it looks like a legitimate PayPal email and links to a fake version of the PayPal web site. The subject line is "PayPal Account Security Measures" and the sender's email address is service@paypal.com. Make sure your anti-virus software is up to date because its payload may also contain a virus or spyware.