How do web developers still make money?

[Marc van Leeuwen]

How do web developers still make money, I am just wondering when it costs £1 a month on free website builders such as GoDaddy or other platforms? users don't need to know programming and codes and they can build websites by drag and drop blocks in an user friendly interface. Are there any web developers here? what would you say?

 

[matteomatt]

People still are, you just have to cater to a more specific niche or a different client. As far as the small business owner who just needs a simple website, they will still pay if you find the right ones, but you are right most of them don't need to these days.

However, there are plenty out there who need quality work done, or more complex systems like eCommerce, and if you can deliver for them you can still make money. Still, you are absolutely right, especially when american currency is worth more in other countries.

Someone in India might be able to live off 5$ a day, and spend all day working on websites. For me, 5$ a day doesn't pay for anything

 

[Waqass]

Waqass

That's absolutely right. Simple drag and drop will never do the job for a real website. Every one needs a customize solution if they want their site to be different. Here comes the coders. Moreover the free lancer coder don't even sell directly to the client and they can sell their themes or plugins which are getting popular these days thanks to WordPress.

 

[harrygreen90]

harrygreen90

It depends where they are living.

Also, some people in India could not accept this pricing because I met some freelancers from India, their pricing is pretty high. That's telling a thing, you will get what you pay for, you pay less, you will have low quality services.

 

[Rob Whisonant]

You are looking at the hobby market that would rather spend their time instead of money. Market to real businesses. They don't have a problem spending money to get something done for them that is professional. You can't really create a professional looking site using drag and drop.

Also they are paying for your creativity. Many people that are not creative try to build websites and end up with something that is so non user friendly it's just a waste of Internet space.

 

[TCoder]

As a developer, I make over 200k a year, like everyone says you can't drag and drop and create applications and API's that have databases with complex SQL queries for the most part. I would never in a my life code websites for people and small businesses, you have to work for a med/large corporation that code real industry specific applications that budgets million dollar IT projects.

Just like at the the salaries in USD: https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/senior-developer-salary-SRCH_KO0,16.htm

Then when you have a larger skill set, you just go up in value. When you know multiple technologies really good.

 

[Mike001]

Your not serious with this question, are you?

I have been a professional web developer for over 15 years, and have built my business every year and now have a staff of over 25 people that build and maintain 100's of commercial sites. To think that you can properly build a website, that is optimized for SEO, database integration, and follows the Best Practices of web development with a drag and drop application is just too silly to even address.

The best thing that has happened to web developers in the last 5 years has been the popularity of WordPress, Joomla and some of the other big CMS applications. Many organizations have attempted to build their web presence with these drag and drop CMS applications. Once they realize the impact those all in one applications have on their SEO, site response times, maintenance, security, and ,many other areas, they quickly realize these applications are not the way to go.

With the new changes in the search engines algorithms, Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ask, AOL and many more and the fact that they are now looking at page structure, proper use of HTML elements, proper use of CSS, mobile responsiveness and many other aspects of proper web design, many of the big CMS will soon start taking serious hits in SEO. They have always had problems with SEO but they will soon become much worse. When you design an application to a one size fits all mentality it is almost impossible to properly design the pages.

So yes, we web developers are still in high demand and based on what we see occurring the demand will continue to grow.

 

[EpicGlobalWeb]

Doesn't look like the demand is going to slow down any time soon either. The ever-growing and ever-demanding cloud platform(s) alongside the IoT field are only going to shift the focus from traditional desktop programming into cloud software(s). It is likely that qualified developers will continue to be paid very well for the forseeable future.

You have to think about the people who make the drag and drop platform. Those people didn't drag and drop their way into millions.

 

[FreebieBoy34]

There is still ways to make money with web development as long as you deal with the right people or company. Yes, the competition is getting harder and harder every day especially now that free website platforms are getting larger in numbers. But at the end of the day, web developers are still needed for they have the capacity to solve any unforeseen issue which these site can't do. And that's why I still believe that web developers can still make money...

 

[Mike001]

I have to disagree with FreebieBoy as far as the competition getting harder and harder based on all the free platforms that are out there.

If anything those free platforms when used by most commercial businesses or people looking to make money and score well with SEO, they have actually drawn us business. Due to their one size fits all mentality, the changes taking place in the scripting languages, all the changes to the SEO algorithms, the developers of those platforms can't keep up. So when the owners of those sites realize what they sacrifice by using them, they usually hire a developer. Works for Me!

And there really isn't that much competition at least I don't see it.

 

[Elisabeth Kuhn]

Most of those supposedly $1 drag and drop websites cost quite a bit more after the first month. And yes, they have major limitations that make them unusable for most serious purposes...

I'm not a fancy web designer and mostly work with WordPress, and I'm not going to fight over clients who are willing to put up with the limitations of those "$1" websites! I prefer clients who value quality. Also, I offer high quality copywriting services along with setting up their sites, and those "other" sites do not.

 

[shivanshis4]

They is a huge demand. If you are freelancing, have skills and getting good clients, development is a well-paying job. Companies are also there if your matter of concern is full-time web developer job. Automation and Content Management systems have reduced the scope by a little extent but customized products are still ruling the market. So, they still make money - by developing and maintaining web products.

 

[mikeandy01]

Of course web developers are still making money because it come down to 3 simple things really...

1: there will always be people too lazy or busy to build a website themselve no matter how simple.

2: despite us sometimes thinking everyone see's the same advertisments as us about website builders and what not, its not true as some people simply havent looked into actually building a website or what comes with it, and so their perception of how technical it is and how much works involved and the value of that work is way differnent from ours, therefore people/businesses will still pay people to build a website for them.

3: Most developers make money by building their own websites and monitizing anyway while also hiring out their services to others for some extra money which can be good if your getting rich busy/lazy clients lol

you could think of it like this...Why do people buy mcdonalds?...i mean why not just buy their own burgers and buns with a bag of fries and cook their own?...yea of course there is people that do...But despite this mcdonalds still sells thousands of burgers and fries a month!?!...the secret is in the unique selling point!...they have burgers and fries with a unique taste and unlike anywhere else or you cooking your own therfore they have people who love the way they do their food and buy it daily!

so its the same thing you have people that could just make their own but then think about all the neat little features they want on the site or the cool looking style they want it to have plus the time it would take to learn basic html and things that are still needed to be understood when building a website, whether using a builder or not

 

[denisehilton]

In my opinion the best way for web developers to make money is freelancing. I mean why would you need a physical job when you can make several thousand dollars right from your home.

 

[enstinemuki]

Well, I think drag and drop tools are more of web design and not web development. These can't create complex simple or web applications that are in high demand today. Developers still have a huge market.

Take a look at sites like fiverr, freelancer, upwork, etc and you will understand there is a growing demand in the market

 

[daniel27lt]

Those drop and drag website builders are for newbies and small businesses, which are ideal for them. But if you're wanting something unique and dynamic then you'll require to hire a web developer or do it yourself if you have the skills and knowhow. There's only so much they drop and drag websites builders can do.

 

[WebzSuite]

Simple, fairly static websites can perhaps work for some time. However as business grows they will needs most likely something custom made (web applications) and those are not cheap.

I have a degree in a software engineering (C# .NET) and some of web applications, that are well written will cost from $30,000 up to $x,000,000