How to set up a web design business

How to run a web design agency

Once you have made a decision for your optimal legal set up and acquisition of the skill set, you are left with the smaller details: What programs do I use? How do I get clients? What prices do I offer? And more…

For the purpose of this blog post, I will answer these three questions, but bear in mind that they are many more waiting for you…

What programs do I use?

As a web designer, your essentials will be: a website building platform, somewhere to host the websites, somewhere to do the research, and maybe a graphic design platform.

For the build-outs, you can go classic, and do your own coding, although I wouldn’t recommend it if you plan to make money fast. You can use Word Press, like many do, although security and customer service issues are recurring in 2022-23. Alternatively, there are other building platforms that are less mainstream, but outperform companies such as WordPress or Squarespace. One of them is called Snapps, it’s my personal favourite for a few reasons:

1. It’s built on Google Lighthouse, so SEO is much more achievable

1. It is easy to use and can be very forgiving for beginners who may lack knowledge

1. Every tool you could need to optimise your site is on Snapps

1. It is the much more secure than a platform such as WordPress or Wix (this explains the extra cost of Snapps)

How do I get clients?

This is where the skills from your training come into play. No matter where you learnt how to do it, prospecting is probably the single most important factor in making your web design agency successful. It will take years to build up a great reputation and out-rank every other web designer in your area, so in the meantime you must go hunting for new clients. This is the only thing that will keep you going, and the only thing that will get you on the right path. When starting your business in this industry, prospecting should take up at least 50% of your time, although more experienced gurus tend to recommend as much as 70%. What we are trying to say is: prospecting must be a priority. Get a client, or two, or three, and then work out how you are going to help them achieve their ambitions. Don't spend too much time hesitating and asking yourself if you are good enough, just prospect and deliver.

What prices do I offer?

At first, you must remember that you're a startup, you're not going to be matching prices of individuals with 10+ years experience and a powerful name for themselves. When I started off, I sold fully optimised websites for just £500, I would target people that I already knew, making it easier to build trust at the time of the sale.

Be very careful though, you are only a startup for a certain amount of months, maybe even a year. Once that time has ended, you have to up your prices. That initial price, whatever it was for you, should probably be doubled, start selling websites for thousands, adding extra services such as Search Engine Optimisation, Google My Business Optimisation, Social Media Management, and more. This is where you start making real money and get what you deserve from all the hard work you had to put in to get everything running correctly.

Furthermore, pricing should really vary depending on the client's goals and objectives. If you have a client who wants a 3-page local website with no optimisation and no added value, you should charge a lot less then a more ambitious job. For example, a regional project with a 20-page website, seo, google my business profile, social media management, reputation management, weekly updates, etc.

The difference in price for 2 projects like this should be gigantic.