Unless you're targeting a specialized market where you're really in demand, I'd have nothing to do with "web freelancing".

A few years ago I worked at a job shop that did web sites for small businesses, and I was talking with my accountant about getting my taxes done and he asked me how much we'd charge for a web site. I told him it would be around $2000... That would include a CMS install, original template, and some SEO. A pretty fair price for the time of the talented people it takes, plus the sales overhead. He was shocked. Although just getting another 10-15 clients a year would have paid for his site quickly, he was hoping he could get one for more like $50.

4 out of 5 small biz clients will let you make a tiny profit, but 1 out of 5 is a client from hell who'll balloon a $10k fixed price project to something that costs you $30k and wipes out the product you made from the other 4.

Not for me. I make web sites for my own account.

Charge more and ignore the people who want something for nothing.

He will find out eventually that he both needs a website, and that they cost more than $50. He can either go straight to the $2000 solution, or find out the hard way with two or three cheap sites that don't work and end up at the $2000 solution 6-12 months later anyway.

The best clients are those who either understand or who have already burnt through months or years of frustration with the cheap shops.

Use that as part of the pitch, ie. 'Ye you can get somebody offshore for $100, and I will see you in a year, or we can just get it done properly now'

Work with people where your services are going to make them lots of money. I've never met anybody who won't spend $5k for $50k of added value to their business.

Not everybody is meant to be a consultant, and consulting (or running any business, or performing any job) is a lot more work than "just writing code".

Is freelancing really viable for developers?

It obviously works for writers, designers, artists etc, but for various reasons, I've always been skeptical about whether the work would be there for a developer.

There's tons of work. I've freelanced with Ruby on Rails for a good chunk of the last few years, and I know at least half a dozen other freelancers who do Ruby, PHP, and Objective-C work as well. The hardest part, I think, is finding the work. It is indeed out there, but the signal to I-just-need-a-quick-wordpress-template-thrown-up noise ratio is small. One of the best avenues I've found for freelancing is to network with web development and creative agencies, do a little subcontracting for them, and then subsequently absorb some of the smaller projects they're approached with but are too small to be worth it for them.

Well, I've been freelancing for the better part of 15 years now. Mostly as a web developer.

There's a lot of work available - I did freelance PHP and other platform development during university. The issue is aligning customer expectations. "Make me a facebook for $200" etc.