I’m a member of a dozen or so web design groups spread across Linkedin and Facebook. One thing I noticed recently is a post about needing to charge to have a meeting with clients. I didn’t think much of it at first, but people were commenting about how they charge for meetings. Things like 30min free and then their hourly rate applies. I’m sitting here wondering how this became a thing? In this industry you have to meet clients either in person or by phone. One website project will probably have a 1hr meeting up front and possibly a 2 hour meeting for the project kickoff. I know it takes a lot of time (free time), but in order to make a website that meets the clients needs you need to understand what they are trying to do online.
gaming ear buds

If you find yourself talking to a web person and they want to charge you to meet to talk about your website project just run. I’m not sure about their strategy. Maybe they have soo much work coming in that you need to pay for them to take time away to meeting with you. My other thought is that they are starving for work and are trying to keep money coming in because they can’t land the project.

Find a web person or a web company where you can go to them and meet face to face. I have clients all over the US and even other parts of the world, but really its the local person down the street who ends up finding me. If you want to talk to a web person like me and happen to be in Australia well we have Google chat and Skype and its not going to cost you anything until I touch some code.