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Should I become a Twitter Background designer

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June 23, 2009

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Since I began my Twitter account in December 08, I’ve noticed that some people like to have a special Twitter background that offers their contact information and business name, along with a slogan.  Since Twitter is a networking tool, having a background image that reflects your business model helps your potential followers understand about you in a glance.

I’ve seen several companies that specialize in designing Twitter backgrounds for people/businesses, and now I wonder if I should begin designing Twitter backgrounds for a fee.

I love running Live on Purpose, but it costs me money to do so. I have yearly hosting fees and monthly newsletter broadcasting fees, as well as the costs incurred in producing, editing, and holding the affiliate program for the ebook. I would love to be able to offer my readers a service that is needed and that I enjoy doing, that can be done relatively quickly. (And believe me, if I were to go into freelance web design, I’d never have any free time. Web sites take lots of time to build)

So, I’m opening this blog post to a conversation about charging for Twitter backgrounds.  Here are some resources to show what is currently available. Some designers charge, some web sites offer free backgrounds that users then further customize.

http://twitterbackgroundsgallery.com/featured-designers/ This is a gallery to show how some people customize their Twitter Backgrounds.

http://www.twitterimage.com/ Wow, this one charges $100!

http://freetwitterdesigner.com/ Awww, this one is free but users design it themselves from stock images.

http://www.twitterbackgrounds.com/custom-twitter-backgrounds This one charges $99.

My personal Twitter background took an hour or two to design and tweak. I’d do the pro backgrounds in a higher screen resolution so they would look good in browsers on larger screens.

http://twitter.com/liveonpurpose

Well, after doing that quick tour of background suppliers, I can see why they charge $100. If a designer’s normal fee is $50 an hour and one background can take two hours or more of design time as well as the time spent in communication with the client and tweaking the design, then that $100 is well earned.

What do you think? Would you pay that much for a custom Twitter background design?

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7 comments

  1. Terrill Welch says:

    June 23, 2009 at 10:30 am (UTC -7 )

    Hello Jessica,

    My quick answer is “YES!”

    What I would really like are a few different backgrounds that all compliment my website branding. So a package of three would be even more appealing. I don’t know if there would be any time savings for the designer in doing this but even for a slightly lower cost for three – I would be inclined to do that rather than a one off.

    The reason is that my twitter account is different than my website because I’M looking at it more often and I get bored with the same background. My website, I slip by and then I am gone again. Kind of like a formal room in a house – always warm, welcoming and familiar but stays “nice” for company.

    My twitter and Blogs are more busy interactive places that I “work” at for several hours a day. I’m more likely to change them according to my mood or projects.

    Hope this helps! Terrill

    1. Jessica says:

      June 23, 2009 at 11:11 am (UTC -7 )

      I was considering offering three different color schemes and small variations on the theme in the package. That would be fun for the account holder, to change the color of the background periodically.

  2. Kathy Smith says:

    June 23, 2009 at 1:17 pm (UTC -7 )

    Since Twitter is mentioned on a lot of famous television shows, as a starter package I would offer 1 for $49, 2 for $79 and 3 for $99. it is still like saying $50, $75 & $100 but either way. If possible, I would just add Twitter in a Day so the turnaround doesn’t have to say how much time. If someone needs a logo design that is where the price is negotiable otherwise use an array of template logos or the individual person or company. But for you to come up with the tag line alone is worth it. http://liveonpurpose.info/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif

  3. Laurie Buchanan says:

    June 24, 2009 at 6:18 pm (UTC -7 )

    Hello Jessica –

    As the webmistress for the HolEssence website, I am fully aware of how much time and effort goes into creative/technical effort.

    What I am not familiar with (yet) is Twitter. Our current phone contract ends at the end of July and we will be switching phones and carriers at that time. I expect we will start using Twitter with our new phones.

    I agree with Terrill’s suggestion of offering a ‘package deal.’ But I wonder if Kathy’s suggested prices will actually cover your time/effort. Maybe boost it a bit more, say $69, 2 for $99 and 3 for $119 …

    1. Jessica says:

      July 3, 2009 at 8:33 pm (UTC -7 )

      Thanks, Kathy, that’s an excellent suggestion about the three prices.
      Laurie, that’s another good idea, to boost the prices a little to account for the back and forth communication that happens during a design phase. I used Twitter on the computer only for seven months and it works great. I told Twitter my phone number just prior to my cross country trip, only because I don’t own a laptop. However, I also don’t own a fancy phone made for texting, so it took me five minutes to type five words, and its little memory banks got filled up quickly just by accepting direct messages only. I chose not to have all Tweets come to my phone.

  4. Cordell Till says:

    February 3, 2010 at 6:01 am (UTC -7 )

    Hi thanks a lot for a perceptive post, I actually found your blog by mistake while looking on Goole for something else closely related, anyhow before i ramble on too much i would just like to state how much I enjoyed your post, I have bookmarked your site and also taken your RSS feed, Once Again thanks for the blog post keep up the good work.

  5. Jessica says:

    February 3, 2010 at 9:55 am (UTC -7 )

    Thanks Cordell, I appreciate your comment here.

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