Looking to start building sites for people...I have a few questions if you wouldn't mind

#1) Easily attainable. I used to go around and take pictures of businesses in my area create a facebook page with followers and sell it to them with a website package etc. So your neighborhood is an easy way to look. Craigslist as well. Church also if you attend.

#2) Create templates that are proven to convert. If you can't do that buy a developers license for a software like premise, or optimize press, that allows you to install on as many domains as you want.

You could then use their templates etc. as your portfolio.

For example if you bought the developers license for Genesis by studiopress you could use all of their example sites or themes on your own domains and/or subdomains using separate wordpress installs and/or templates for certain pages or subdomains. Overall you'd only need one domain, because you can use subdomains for each wordpress template or install. Like example1.abs.com, example2.abc.com etc.

3) my take on this is many hosts offer unlimited addon domains. You could easily make a profit on the hosting you're already paying for. I have recurring income from a few people that I host as addon domains, mostly as a favors, but still a few extra 100 for nothing.

4) I always took 50% UP front and created what they wanted in a test environment with a watermark etc. and made it clear that I would create what they wanted for 50 percent up front and when we agreed on the design would implement the agreed upon design for the remainder. Used paypal, check, or cash. Which covers everything...

Hey rmcmill...thanks a lot for that info. That clears up a lot, but there's a few things that I'm still a bit confused about. Do you mind if I pm you when I post some follow-up questions to this thread (I'm away from my comp now)? That way it doesn't get lost onto the second page before you have time to see it?

Thanks again!

Very attainable. I know a guy that charges a flat rate $1500 for a simple website creation and does many of those per month. You should try to also offer hosting for the folks that you create websites for and provide free support to them when they call rather than them dealing with someone in India. The same guy I had mentioned went to college in Nashville, started building websites for Country Music Artists trying to make it big and word got around quick that he was the guy to go to. He knew there was a niche in Nashville and he took advantage of it. Hope this helps.
Best of luck to you.

I've been into web design for about a year now, and WordPress for about 6 months. Have built about 6 sites (plus a couple small practice ones in pure HTML/CSS) So I'm probably just a few steps ahead of you BKelly.

First you need to define a market. Are you selling to small businesses? Freelancers? Medium/large corporations? If someone needs you to build them an ecommerce site would you be able to? Building blogs can hardly be compared to building an entire online store with payment processing, memberships, etc...

Regarding your questions

1.) 2,000 a month is possible but not as easy as it sounds. Designing a site for a client can easily take up to a month (more or less) because of communication, content creation, revisions, and error/problems so it will be difficult to do more than 1 site a month by yourself unless you hire help or outsource (more costs).

To make 2,000 in profit you're going to have to charge upwards of 3,000-4,000 per site to cover costs (taxes, themes, hosting, premium plug-ins, hired help, software, payment fees, etc...) and that will be very difficult to sell to small business owners because many will not understand the value of a professional website.

2.) Build a portfolio is the best way to get trust and get clients. If people can see work you've done, testimonials from people that you've worked with, and demonstrate that your knowledgeable/professional it will be much easier to build creditability. This may even mean that you'll do a few sites for real cheap (few hundred dollars) to build up a portfolio and more experience quickly. Then slowly start to raise your prices as become more valuable.

3. I recommend that clients purchase their own domain, because the domain then becomes their property and an asset to their business. As for hosting, I ask what the client is most comfortable with. That they can get hosting themselves and then forward me all their credentials, or that I can setup hosting for them.

Everyone's going to be a little different on how they want the domain/hosting done, so best to be respectful of their wishes while also giving them recommendations and different choices.

4.) For websites I usually do half upfront and then half once the final design/layout has been chosen (people will be very hesitant to just fork over 2,000 to someone they just met) this way there's more leverage and trust in the relationship. Basically, once the 2nd payment has gone through then the site is finalized to be 'launched' so make sure that the payments are all squared away before the site "officially launches" because then you'll lose more control if you wait much after that.

However, for smaller projects like logo designs and business cards I always ask for 100% upfront because it's only a few hundred dollars and makes the whole process much easier with just a single payment.

Hope that helps a little

It's awesome that you're learning html and css, but I think you're definitely jumping the gun. Web development is an incredibly competitive industry. There are a ton of people out there who have been building sites for years that will not only have more coding expertise, but more importantly understand what makes websites effective marketing tools; and a lot of them are priced very competitively. You'd have to offer cut throat prices to even get work and honestly while it does look like you can get a site up and running, it takes a very specific skill set to make a strategically designed website (I say this as a 13 yr developer, even I hire a good designer with specific expertise in web design). I think you would struggle to hit several hundred a month due to the fierce competition.You should continue to learn about programming and use this forum to learn how to make a website that is an effective marketing tool. But I definitely wouldn't recommend quitting your day job until you've gained much more experience.

Here's my answers to your questions.

1. I don't think this is a realistic goal for someone with 3 sites under their belt. It's just a very competitive industry.

2. There really isn't an easy answer for this. Keep building sites of your own and focus on learning what makes great sites effective. It's going to be extremely hard to sell someone a site with your current portfolio.

3. If you're asking this question I'd say you should spend some time researching registrars and web hosts. I would register everything in their name and give them the login info but tell them to avoid making edits. Anyone who does their research before purchasing a site will stray away from companies that try to keep ownership of their domain and host (unless you lease a server and host the sites yourself). Make sure you understand how all this works, your clients are going to ask these kinds of questions themselves and if you can't answer them with confidence you won't get the sale.

4. This all depends on your price point. If you're $1,000 or less you can ask for all of it upfront but you'll need a good contract so your clients feel comfortable paying you before delivery of the product. Larger projects can be broken up into payments based on milestones in the project. With your experience and no real portfolio pieces you're probably going to have to do the site with no upfront payments and even take a risk that they may not like the end result and not pay (I know this sounds extreme but so is trusting someone to build your company website who's never built a site professionally).


I know I seem to be a Debbie downer here, but I've been in that world and can tell you it's so competitive these days that even if you're a very experienced developer with a great designer it's still very hard to compete in website sales. Your only saving grace with the amount of experience you have would be if you're a great salesman. Again, I don't mean to discourage you here, just trying to save you from learning these lessons the hard way. Best of luck!

Some good points Dave. Web Design is very competitive and to stand out you'll want to find ways to differentiate yourself. For example I also do professional photography, and offer discounted photoshoots to clients to help get unique and professional images of the company/business.

Sorry, I do not mean to put a damper on your spirits, but let me quote you – “Is $2000/month attainable for someone who doesn't really have experience building for others,”

I am afraid the answer is NO – if it were so easy, then so many people would not be struggling with IM and quitting it in despair.

Sure, many people are going to tell you that it is very easy to achieve what you are trying to – well to that, I would only say – all then best – you will learn the truth on your own.

Once again, I am not trying to discourage you, I am just trying to tell you the real scenario.

All the best. Regards.

Thanks a lot everyone for the honest advice based on experience!

No I have no experience now, but I'm a smart motherf***er with an innate ability to figure anything out. I also have tons of time!

I was thinking along the lines of building small, simple sites for well beyond market price in order to build up a portfolio. I will create a website with "my portfolio" on there as well. I will gradually move myself up in price as I gain more and more professional experience.

This thread was very helpful. Thanks a lot!

That depends on your skill level. Modern web design is art married to technology. The more you excel at each one, the better your chances.

You mentioned using WordPress for this. Carefully consider what happens when WP and plugins need to be updated and what happens if a plugin breaks or is hacked. Who is responsible for that and could it mar your reputation?

Would you buy from someone without a portfolio?

Your currently empty portfolio doesn't need to have actual clients. You can make sites for fictitious businesses and put those in your portfolio.

Get reseller accounts.

Payment usually comes in stages.




These sites do not meet the minimum quality standards of modern design and should not be mentioned as examples of what to do.