
Starting a Web Design Firm from Scratch - supersarkar
https://medium.com/thejournal/starting-a-web-design-firm-from-scratch-c7d88caf5764
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carrier_lost
Best of luck to you! You already have achieved a major milestone: Actually
doing something. Lots of people say "Maybe I should do X..." or "If I were to
do X, here is how I would do it..." Fewer people actually do the work to
launch the business. Even if your business fails (which I hope it doesn't!)
you will have succeeded in that you "showed up," you tried and you ran your
own business. That is something to be proud of.

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supersarkar
Wow! That's so inspiring! Thanks a lot for your inspiring words mate. Actually
I have put a lot of project on side many times, this time it ain't happening.
A part reason to write the progress is accountability. So that I keep pushing
even when I feel like I don't want to.

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bamurphymac1
Good luck. I had a moderately successful web design business with multiple
employees etc. in the early aughts (early on didn’t specialize but by 2006 our
niche was home builders whooops!) and it can be pretty emotionally rewarding
work if you develop strong relationships with good clients small biz clients.

Keep your overhead low.

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godzillabrennus
Few other things I learned: 1.) Don’t personally guarantee anything for the
business, including a real estate lease.

2.) Do create three separate bank accounts for taking money in, for paying
your labor, and for paying bills with a debit card. It’s never fun when a
vendor dings your card and accidentally adds an extra zero at the end of a
bill and you needed to make payroll.

3.) You are not a Bank, don’t lend money by working first then getting paid,
take deposits on phases before you start a phase. If a client has a big
project and needs NET terms then use a factoring company to check the credit
worthiness of the client and to take over your accounts receivable for your
company.

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ams6110
> Don’t personally guarantee anything for the business

How do you do this though? Banks/creditors generally demand a personal
guarantee on any small business credit cards, loans, etc. Specifically because
small/new businesses are very risky.

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godzillabrennus
If you are running a service business you shouldn't need any loans if you
manage the business properly. You can use factoring services to get paid on
deals that require terms (negating the need for a loan to make payroll).

Small businesses are risky. It doesn't pay to put your personal financial well
being on the line to sign up a customer. You aren't starting a bank. Good
factoring companies do a monthly credit worthiness check on your clients for
you. A real asset for this kind of business.

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PaulRobinson
There is a comedy show on in the UK the moment called Bad Move in which the
central character (played by Jack Dee), is a web designer.

His father-in-law enjoys pointing out that this is today, a rather absurd
career. Anybody can go online and create a website using a builder in an
evening and get near professional results.

I don't wish for a moment to suggest that this business is up against it, but
I will be curious to see how businesses will react compared to some years ago:
most people who want an online presence, are either happy enough with nothing
more than a social media presence, or are able to get something together
that's good enough in wix.com or similar.

Of course for premium brands, they will hire in marketing agencies or even in-
house staff, but that's not this niche market approach.

It could be a challenge to make a profit at this sort of gig soon!

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csa
I _love_ it when competitors think this way. They are basically giving away a
potentially huge comparative and competitive advantage.

That said, there are a few questions:

1\. Do the gains of getting a professionally designed website offset the costs
in some way? It should, but in many cases it does not.

2\. (Mentioned elsewhere in this thread) The market has a lot of participants
(saturated?), and the median end user is not good at differenting quality
other than by personal reference (kind of... sort of...). As such, being a
provider in the market can be a bit sketchy.

3\. Anyone who is really good at web design (esp. if it extends to other
aspects of the digital experience) will quickly realize that they can make a
lot more money (and consistent money) by owning one or more businesses and
crushing the online presence aspect of those markets. The startup costs are
higher, but the ROI is really good.

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notjustanymike
You really need to put proper fake content in your demos–they are as much
marketing content as your homepage.

"Bla bla bla" is not going to cut it.

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WA
I think it's even degrading dog trainers. As if all they said was _bla bla_.

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supersarkar
Yes this is so foolish of me. I totally forgot to update the demo text.

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pryelluw
Ive had great luck selling squarespace websites for around $3k to small
businesses. Look into that.

You need to partner with a copy writer. A business website lives and dies by
its copy.

Good luck. There is good money out there. You just need to stand out. :)

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detritus
Do your clients know from the off you will be using SquareSpace — and, more
importantly — do they know what SquareSpace IS?

Kudos to you, I'm just amazed people will pay that for what I tend to view as
a DIY service!

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ams6110
People will pay for what they don't want to do, even if they know they _could_
do it.

A business client will be focused on their business. Their website, while
important, is likely not their core competency. So it makes perfect sense to
outsource that and they won't care what the underlying platform is.

~~~
detritus
Sure, I get that - it's probably just me, but I'd expect a site I'd
commissioned to be built 'for me' and become 'my property', not merely a
fulfillment service that locks me in to two external suppliers.

I just find it odd, is all.

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jajern
You're on HN though. When I used to do websites I would give options with
tiered prices. Something on SquareSpace (or similar) would be a cheaper option
but I would let them know why. A custom, scratch built site would be 3-4x more
money so they would usually go with the cheaper option. Very few clients truly
cared about the website. They just knew they needed one and didn't really care
about the method used to achieve it.

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detritus
Your last point is very true! it's been a few years since I was a full-time
web designer, but I always had my own range of starting templates from which
I'd work from - the equivalent these days of which would be the likes of
Bootstrap or something. THAT I can get my head around.

Perhaps I should poke my head back into the space then, help to pay for the
occasional holiday here and there!

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throwaway2016a
Good luck and congrats on getting started!

I'm curious about how you decided your niche and pricing. Did you do market
research? Specifically, talking to dog trainers and see if they would be
interested and how much they are willing to pay for your services?

As someone who has tried to sell to niche markets like that before I've found
many niches are very stingy with cash. Some of them are likely sole
proprietors and what you are asking for their website might be an entire
week's pay for them.

~~~
supersarkar
Thanks a lot for your inputs on this. As I am doing this first time, inputs
from experienced people is GOLD for me.

Frankly, I have not done such market research. I saw a niche where people are
actually buying website (by looking at Insta accounts of Dog Trainers), then
checked for competition (there are a few, and that's good; I avoid Zero
competition markets).

Before writing the copy I did some research on Dog Trainers, what they like,
what they love and what they hate. Without knowing my target public I can't
write a good copy. If you find places of improvement on my current copy then
please let me know.

Also, thanks a lot to mention that the price may be expensive for them. This
means I have to do one of two things - either lower the price, or build a copy
that make them realize the ROI.

Thanks again mate :)

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throwaway2016a
You forgot the third option... I could be wrong and that price is completely
OK for them :) I haven't talked to your target audience either, I don't know
what there price point is. I have only talked to adjacent markets.

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supersarkar
True! Oh god there are some many awesome inputs here from you guys, I have to
take out my notepad and start taking notes!

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bigmanwalter
Good luck. It's tough to compete in a saturated market. You'll need to make
1-2 sales per week. I'll be following closely :)

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supersarkar
Thanks for your well-wishes mate :)

1-2 sales per week - that would be a good target for me. Thanks for pointing
that out!

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noelwelsh
Suggestions for improvements:

Change the headline on your landing page to clearly say what you do. E.g. add
"Bespoke web sites for dog trainers" after the "More ..." bit.

The CTA at the bottom is easy to miss on skimming. Make that bigger.

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asciimo
Dog training ERS might be more familiar with the word "custom" than "bespoke."

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supersarkar
Great, I will split test ;)

Thanks for your input friend :)

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combatentropy
Have you read
[http://gettingreal.37signals.com/](http://gettingreal.37signals.com/)

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moretai
Good Luck. You sound exactly like me, for better or for worse. Hopefully you
can make something of yourself.

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supersarkar
Thanks mate :)

Would like to be in touch with person who thinks I am like him/her!

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brianzelip
Appreciate you putting this out there. Best wishes, and keep journaling!

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supersarkar
Thanks mate, means a lot :)

