There it is again: the tug on your heart, the yearning in your soul, the little lump that forms in your throat every time you daydream about quitting your job, starting a business, and finally living the way you want to.
It’s never been easier to strike out on your own, and one of the most accessible ways to do it is to start your own web design business.
Think about it: As more of our lives move online, the demand for high-quality websites is only increasing, as is the need for people who can build them.
Web design is a job you can do from anywhere, with minimal setup, and for clients in almost any industry. You don’t even need to know how to code (at least not to get started). Your journey starts here.
Why start a web design business?
Your reasons for starting a web design business will carry you forward when times get tough. Here are some powerful reminders for those moments:
- Work for yourself. When you’re the boss, you get to choose your projects and clients, and how to fill your time.
- Leave a dead-end job. No more cubicles, commutes, office politics, mandatory meetings, or deadlines you didn’t choose.
- Gain more freedom. Web design is a remote-friendly career. Whether you’re on a beach, in a mountain cabin, or exploring a new city, your work goes where you go.
- Set your own hours. Work when you’re most productive and take breaks when you need them.
- Learn new skills. Web design includes many aspects, from wireframes to user experience design to CSS. Learning new skills makes you more valuable and versatile.
- Do something meaningful. Contribute to projects you care about and create work you’re proud of.
- You can start lean. You don’t need inventory, an office, or expensive equipment to start a web design business.
- Scale your income. Your salary has a ceiling, but your business doesn’t. As your skills grow, so can your rates, your client base, and your income.
What do you need for a web design business?
Although overhead is minimal, there are some requirements for building websites for a living.
Relevant skills
Running a web design business is mostly a matter of acquiring the right skills and knowledge. For starters, you need to:
To make sure the sites you build can compete on the web, you’ll also have to:
Finally, while it’s absolutely possible to build websites for a living without coding, having at least a basic understanding of programming languages like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, or PHP allows you to make more significant changes and build more advanced features.
Thankfully, you don’t need to master all of these at the start; you just need to know more than your clients. You’ll learn many of these as you go.
Plus, you can outsource some of them with a managed hosting provider like WordPress.com. We take care of security, performance, software updates, and more, so you can concentrate fully on designing websites.
Tip: Gain access to the WordPress.com agency partner program with discounted pricing, referral earnings, and extra tools. You can also easily move your sites to WordPress.com.
Reliable equipment
Another thing you need is the right hardware and software. At the minimum, you should have:
- Laptop or desktop computer
- Reliable internet connection
- Headset or earbuds with microphone
- Code editor (e.g., VS Code)
- Local development tool (like WordPress Studio)
- Some sort of backup solution
Additional nice-to-haves include:
- Second screen
- Printer/scanner
- Project management software
- Time-tracking software (like Toggl)
- Accounting and invoicing software
- Tools to create contracts/proposals
- A customer relations management (CRM) solution
Keep in mind that buying business equipment can lower your tax burden or even give you back VAT.
14 steps to start your own web design business
Once you have the necessary skills and equipment, follow these easy steps to create your web design company:
1. Pick your web design niche
Defining exactly who you’d like to work with helps you create a better offer. For example, “I design websites for yoga instructors who want to sell online classes” immediately makes your services more relevant to that targeted group than a generic “I’m a web designer.”
When choosing your niche, consider the following:
- Select an industry you’re experienced in. That way you already know your customers. It might be the industry you’re currently working in, a hobby, or some other niche you belong to.
- Pick something you’re passionate about. You’ll likely work in this area for a long time, so pick a sector that interests you.
- Consider targeting a particular location. While the internet makes it possible to work with anyone, geographically limiting your clientele can also have its benefits. For example, it may allow you to meet them in person, which is often beneficial in building close business relationships.
- Choose a niche with available budgets. Ensure that potential clients have the means to pay for your websites.
2. Set your goals
Setting goals gives you a direction to work toward. To know where you want to move, ask yourself questions like:
- What am I trying to achieve with my business?
- Which problems am I solving?
- Who do I want to be for my clients?
- How do I want to be different from the competition?
- Ideally, how much do I want to earn?
- What do I want my everyday life to look like?
- How many clients do I want to work with at any given time?
- What’s my long-term plan?
Consider writing a mission statement that summarizes your answer to these questions, as a way to keep you on track when you feel directionless.
3. Decide on your products and services
Web design is a wide field, allowing you to provide a number of different services, such as:
Decide what you want to do and can provide. While you can always branch out later, deciding on a baseline allows you to figure out your pricing.
Don’t think only about the immediate needs of your customers (such as a website), but also future requirements they’ll have, like content changes, design refreshes, or software updates. In addition, decide whether you want to offer pre-defined bundles, individual services, or both.
Finally, do market research to gauge demand for your planned services. Check competitor websites for their pricing, services, reviews, and positioning. Look at relevant job postings on job boards like Upwork or Toptal and analyze what clients are in the market for. You can also research relevant keywords in Google Trends or SEO tools like Ubersuggest, Semrush, and Ahrefs.
4. Figure out your pricing and rates
Your pricing model depends on your offerings. For example, you might charge a project fee for website design, but a monthly recurring retainer for site management and maintenance. To make things easier, base your prices on concrete deliverables, like the number of web pages.
When deciding your rates, factor in the following:
- What your competition is charging: This can give you a way to differentiate yourself and also avoids severely undercharging for your services.
- Your cost of living, fixed costs, and business expenses: Divide required costs by the number of hours you plan on working (including time off and vacations) to get the rate you need to continue operating your business. You’ll need to add a percentage in order to make a profit.
- Your clientele and the value of your services: To a high-ticket business, a new website could mean a huge increase in revenue, so price accordingly.
5. Settle on a name for your business
A fun part of striking on your own is finding a name for your business. You’ll want to pick something that’s:
- Easy to remember and pronounce
- Appropriate for your industry, location, services, and goals
- Short and attention-grabbing
- Not already in use by someone else
Before making a decision, check whether your desired domain and social handles are available. Also, consider your long-term goals — if you plan on building a team, naming your business “Kevin Jones Web Design” might not be the best choice.
6. Handle the legal stuff
Depending on where you reside, there will be some bureaucratic hoops to jump through. Find out what licenses, permits, insurance, and other requirements you need in order to operate your business. If necessary, seek legal advice.
An important step is choosing your business structure, which affects your taxes, liability, and legal requirements. The most common options are:
- Sole proprietorship: This is simple and easy to set up, but offers no personal liability protection.
- LLC or equivalent: This involves more setup and paperwork, but protects your personal assets if your business fails.
It’s not the most fun aspect of starting your own web design business, but don’t neglect it — you’ll thank yourself later.
7. Create your branding
Branding is your company’s identity. It usually consists of the following elements:
- Logo
- Color palette
- Fonts
- Voice/personality
Compile these elements into a style guide for easy future reference. This is great practice to prepare you for how to approach client projects.
8. Register your domain and build your website
You can’t start a web design business without your own website. It’s part of your portfolio and directly shows what you can do for others, so build something clients would be happy to pay money for. Below is a great example of one designer’s cohesive and high-quality web presence that’s sure to impress potential clients.
Go through the same steps you would if working with someone else. Take copious notes to document your process. At the very least, your site should have:
- A homepage with a call to action
- Service and pricing information
- Contact information and/or a contact form
- Your portfolio of past work
- An about page
- Social proof, such as testimonials from happy clients
Publish it under your own domain, so you can set up a professional email address.
Tip: If you’re building websites for clients, you shouldn’t need too much advice from us. If you do need some guidance on building a site for yourself, follow this guide.
9. Start building a portfolio
Your past work is one of the best ways to convince people to work with you. It’s living proof that you have the skills you claim to possess.
But how can you create one if you never had a client?
- Do personal projects. Design a web presence for a fake company or redesign an existing site with your own ideas.
- Reach out to your network. See if anyone you know needs web work or can refer you to someone who does. Consider offering a special rate to fill your portfolio.
- Use freelance websites. Services like Upwork are not known for their great earning potential, but it can be worth doing a few projects to create a showcase.
Be sure you do an absolutely stellar job for your portfolio pieces and make sure to collect testimonials for your website.
10. Establish processes and workflows
Formalizing your web design process makes it much easier to repeat it later on. It also makes you look professional and provides a streamlined client experience.
This typically consists of these steps:
- Goal-setting
- Scoping
- Resourcing
- Project management
- Sitemap/wireframes
- Content creation
- Staging site setup
- Visual design
- Testing
- Launch
- Site maintenance
To put yourself in the best position, plan them out beforehand and document them as you go along. You can use our customizable checklist template, which includes more details on each step.
11. Create proposal and contract templates
Formalizing templates for work proposals and contracts helps you standardize your process, set expectations, and agree on terms, such as:
- Scope
- Timelines
- Deliverables
- Deposits and payment schedule
- Penalties for late payments
- Cancellation policy
- Copyright
This assures both you and your client agree on the important aspects of the project and avoids unpleasant surprises. Always be sure to protect your income stream by getting a deposit (usually 25–50%) before starting work, and hand over the finished site or files before being paid in full.
AI can help you create first drafts or you can use service providers like PandaDoc, Proposify, The Contract Shop, or Contract Killer. You may also wish to consult a lawyer.
12. Promote your business
After putting the important pieces in place, you need to work on being seen. This starts with SEO to promote your website, which can include writing blog posts that address and solve issues common to your target group.
In addition, claim and fill out your Google Business Profile, Bing Places, and business directories like Yelp, Yellow Pages, and/or local alternatives. This ensures you’re visible to local clients.
Social media should also play a role in your promotion. Pick one or two platforms that make sense for you, create a simple content strategy, and start publishing. It may also make sense to create a YouTube channel and/or podcast to share your insights and promote your offerings.
13. Approach clients
Relying solely on inbound marketing isn’t always enough to find web design clients. You also need to play an active role with outreach.
If you’ve picked your niche well, it shouldn’t be hard to find relevant companies in your area who may need your services. Make a list of them and pitch your services to their marketing team. The more concrete and tailored your proposal, the higher your chances of being hired. You can also offer something with actionable value for free, like a consultation on how to improve their homepage.
Your personal network is also a good place to look for clients; job boards and Facebook groups are also worth trying.
Find ways to network with potential clients in person. Attend business functions, chamber of commerce events, industry meetups, and similar gatherings. Focus on understanding business problems and providing your expertise as a solution to them. Stay in contact and follow up so you can build relationships before pitching your work.
Once you have clients, ask them for referrals — it’s often easier to land a new client through an existing one.
14. Keep learning
Web design is constantly evolving. Trends come and go, requirements change, and new technologies emerge often. If you want to stay competitive, you need to stay informed.
Developing new skills, learning additional tools, and acquiring more knowledge enables you to better serve your clients, which in turn allows you to offer more services and charge higher fees.
Start your web design business today
A web design business can be an amazing vehicle to build a fulfilling and flexible career. The barriers to start and the risks are low, though it takes effort and patience.
Need high-quality managed WordPress hosting for your clients? Consider WordPress.com. See what our hosting services have to offer.
