PRICING
What to charge for a simple website fix
Pricing small fixes is where a lot of agencies undersell themselves. A one-hour job to add a missing security certificate or set up a chat widget can feel "small," so the instinct is to charge small. That's usually the wrong instinct.
The business owner isn't paying for your hour. They're paying for the problem going away, and for not having to figure out who to call, what to ask for, or whether it'll be done right. That's worth more than the time it takes you.
A simple way to think about it
Instead of pricing by the hour, price by the outcome. "Missing SSL certificate, fixed and verified" is a deliverable, not a task. Deliverables are easier to price with confidence, because the client isn't comparing it to an hourly rate — they're comparing it to the cost of leaving the problem unfixed.
For most single-issue fixes (a certificate, a chatbot install, claiming a business listing), a flat fee in the $300–$600 range is reasonable for a first-time client. If you're bundling two or three small fixes together, $500–$1,000 is a fair range for most local businesses, and it's an easier number to say out loud than it sounds.
Don't quote before you look
One habit worth building early: always take a quick look at what you're actually fixing before naming a price, even for something that sounds simple over email. Ten minutes of checking saves you from underquoting a job that turns out to be messier than expected.