Basic Guide on How to Start a Web Design Business

Getting into web designing business could be difficult for some factors. It depends of what level of specialization you have for this area and the available resources needed at hand to start with. Basically, all you need is a striking portfolio, and a range of designing, business management, and marketing skills.  If you think you have all these basic requirements, then you’re good to go.

Single owned and Agency Web design Business Set Up

Single Owned Set Up

A web design business can possibly manage by a single person. One can start through a home-based set up or a rented co-working space. If you decide to solely start your own, that’s fine. As long as you got what it takes to handle everything from designing aspect, billing management, and to strategic marketing.  But you need to know the disadvantage of running your own. In the long-term, your client-based network will getting bigger and you will probably getting a lot of emails from your clients asking support, project quotations, and consultancy. And this time, an extra workforce is necessary to help you cope up with the client’s demand.

The solution is to hire someone from your local or just outsource talents through job marketplace platform such as oDesk, eLance, and Freelancer.com. But you need to provide a working bank account or debit/credit cards for online transaction like this. These web portals allow you to create an agency and manage your online team of experts. The advantage of this kind of web design business set up is the ability to manage your time and flexible target income.

Agency Set Up

Having the right group of talents in a website design company is a good advantage. Your business will surely prosper through their help and contribution. But you need to take certain process before putting them on board. And that’s the big challenge. Since you will be investing your precious money to compensate them, your selected employees must have firsthand knowledge to their designated task.  Remember capable workers are lifeblood of your business.

Ideally, having a few workers like 3 or 4 would be a good starting point. To kick-start your website design business, you need a propeller head to work on the programming and server task, a web designer who can produce quality web graphics and layout, a business minded staff to handle financial matters, and a marketing expert who can do search engine placement and advertising campaign. As a founder of your own agency, your role is the most important in bringing your business into success. Moreover, this is also important as to your workers. Invest equipment needed to run such as computers, office tools and equipment, Internet connection, peripheral device for computers, and software.

Home-based set up is not ideal for agency setup unless you envision having a co-working space style in manning your business. Co-working set up is commonly used  today with various firms in the US especially in the IT industry. Starting a web design business utilizing this set up would need ample budget. And you need to further research and do business planning before starting.

Now it’s time to work on the bigger picture. I've listed couple of ways below that might be useful to start your web design business.

Create your Identity

As an old saying, first impression is lasting. So make sure your website design and logo is stunning.  Choose a unique and short company title that is easily remembered. Ideally a two or three syllable would sound recognizable and include a tagline that best describe what your company is all about. And most importantly, include a portfolio of your recent works so that your potential client may know what best you can do for their business.

Set up your goals and objectives

For me, setting up goals is a paramount on every business venture. You need to set mission and mission and let your clients inform what you’re up to. Set your target market and know your competitors. Set a reasonable rates and focus more on reputation than getting high paid from your clients.

Get your first real client

If you’re working as a freelance web designer or have worked  in a company, well – make those people as your potential first real client. Send them a newsletter campaign or a proposal letter informing them that you’re launching a new web design business. Offer them an enticing competitive price and benefits. And convince them what makes you different from the other web design companies. In case you’re just starting at all, be positive and always put your best foot forward. As the founder of your own web design business, you should be the first one to make the real deal with a client. Getting your first client is such an achievement.

Establish your good reputation for a solid client-based

Establishing your good reputation is just like building your monument. The more your clients trust you, the more they become confident in signing you a new contract. There’s a big chance of getting referrals from word of mouth. So always aim on getting good feedback rather than good earnings.

Market your services using SEO, SEM, and SMM.

Deciding which marketing method and strategy is a crucial part of your business. You need to balance both traditional and online marketing. In today’s modernization, more and more people are getting into the internet and social media. So using the internet for your marketing effort will indeed effective. Since we’re talking about web design business, I know this is something you can handle with. All you need is a marketing guy who can do SEO content. But getting a real traffic for your site and obtaining organic search results through search engines could be frustrating.

However, you can use the power of social media while waiting for your site to be crawled by search engine bots. Social media is free and one of the most effective way in marketing your business. And lastly, get an adwords account and start campaigning through PPC and CPM. It will surely increase your change of getting potential clients.

Provide paid and free support

Always get involve with your clients. Best if you can provide them free support for minor fixes right after you launch their website. While making you available when they seek consultation for whatever improvement they’re working. In this way, your clients will think that you’re more of a partner who likes to grow with them. Also, offer them paid support for major works involve such as website redesigning, adding features and custom functions, and other third-party integration that involves advance programming.

I hope you find this article useful to start your own web design business.