I figured that I should start out charging a lower rate since I’m still trying to build a customer base, but I hadn’t thought about how that might appear. I’m certainly happy to raise my rates

I have to say you’ve been a bit of an inspiration for doing this. Even if things don’t turn out as well as I hope (which I don’t plan on happening) this has already been a great experience, so thanks!

1. Your rates are really low. Are you offering professional level services? If so, you should be charging professional level rates. Salary.com says a Entry Level PHP Developer makes an average of $65k a year which is about $35/hr. Raise your rates to give the appearance of value.
2. Don’t give a detailed rate breakdown by the type of project. Clients often have no idea how complex a project will be and can be mislead to believe that their project will be 2 hours when it will actually be 25.
3. Have a dedicated quote style form like the one here: http://plugin-developer.com
4. Start running Adwords campaigns that target “Terre Haute web developer” “Vigo county web developer” and substitute web with PHP and other variations like that. You’ll get more business for very little out of pocket cost.
5. Register as an LLC for liability benefits and to give the appearance of increased professionalism (even if you never look to grow beyond your current one man shop approach)
6. List your open source plugins in your portfolio.
7. Remove latest news from the home page… you have a dedicated news page and there’s no reason to clutter the home page. What you have above that is awesome, though.

There’s more things, but I feel like I’m starting to get out of control so I’m going to stop now. If you need advice, hit me up at my personal address listed with this comment. I’ve been doing the business thing for a while, now, so i may have the answers you need (and I may need your services, before long).