Ask HN: Is there any money in website design for small businesses anymore? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Is there any money in website design for small businesses anymore?

#81

Post by jason_pomerleau » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 4:33 PM UTC

hanoz wrote: post #51

jason_pomerleau wrote: post #16

There is lots of opportunity out there, but it depends on what you mean by ‘small business’. Super small companies (under 10 to 15 people in this context) are usually best off with SquareSpace or Wix. Companies slightly larger than this invariably end up wanting/needing things that these platforms can’t offer, and have the kind of budgets that can support a solo operator or small team. At this level, you are competin…

If (I assume) your skills are on the coding and architecture side of things, how so you cope with the visual design side of things, for your "build me a web site" clients?

I do both, and I’m not actually super awesome at either. It turns out to be less important than many think. My design work is professional, but isn’t going to win any awards. My dev skills are pretty good within the context of WordPress - there isn’t much I haven’t done on that platform. But I’m pretty sure I’d be laughed out of the room at a Google or FB. I was a senior engineer at a BigCo but my role there was more leadership and PM than coding.

Re: Ask HN: Is there any money in website design for small businesses anymore?

#82

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Re: Ask HN: Is there any money in website design for small businesses anymore?

#83

Post by aasasd » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 4:39 PM UTC

zuttton wrote: post #65

ianai wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If he’s maintaining sores then maybe that’s already done.

What does maintaining sores mean?

You know how people keep patching things up for years without ever taking the plunge and resolving the problems?..

Re: Ask HN: Is there any money in website design for small businesses anymore?

#84

Post by jugg1es » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 4:47 PM UTC

All the comments here make me sad for my young children. I am now a lead dev at a medium-sized company, but I had a side business doing web design/development from age 14 to about 26. I never made big money, but when you're 15, a $2k payday for a month's worth of learning experience is pretty incredible. And a $15k project for a couple months of work in college buys a lot of beer.

Based on the comments here, it sounds like that time is over for good :(

Re: Ask HN: Is there any money in website design for small businesses anymore?

#85

Post by paulcole » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 4:51 PM UTC

Yes. I work at a 15-person agency doing website design and SEO for small businesses up from about 5 when I started there 4 years ago. We specialize in a few verticals and have a few industries we won’t work with. We do wordpress only and turn away plenty of clients who we don’t want to work with.

Re: Ask HN: Is there any money in website design for small businesses anymore?

#86

Post by rblion » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 5:02 PM UTC

There is always demand for well-designed things that last a long time. I never run out of work or referrals.

Re: Ask HN: Is there any money in website design for small businesses anymore?

#87

Post by nfRfqX5n » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 5:02 PM UTC

CareyB wrote: post #26

I’ve been at this since the ninteies. At the peak I was getting $2500 for a ten page Drupal site I could do over the weekend. These days you can get a ‘custom’ programmed site from a guy reselling the services of an Asian programming group for $100, so how are you supposed to compete? I have made some money ‘fixing’ those sites, but for the most part my business is dead agaist things like Wix (Ugh), or Goddady Site B…

i do very little freelance work but none of my clients have a custom site. it's all updating/tweaking squarespace, shopify, wordpress. people LOVE to have custom stuff, even on the pre built platforms.

Re: Ask HN: Is there any money in website design for small businesses anymore?

#88

Post by josefresco » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 5:04 PM UTC

Yes. I run a small, profitable web design and development business that serves small business. Biz owners who choose Wix/Squarespace are the very bottom of the market. We instead service those who have graduated beyond that level, who need more advanced solutions, and more importantly someone to do the work for them. We slot right in between DIY and a biz that has in house web team.

Hilarious to read some comments here from the "no" crowd - talk about out of touch. Are all you guys holed up in San Fran/Boston disconnected from the small business that actually powers America?

Re: Ask HN: Is there any money in website design for small businesses anymore?

#89

Post by victor106 » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 5:05 PM UTC

jason_pomerleau wrote: post #16

There is lots of opportunity out there, but it depends on what you mean by ‘small business’. Super small companies (under 10 to 15 people in this context) are usually best off with SquareSpace or Wix. Companies slightly larger than this invariably end up wanting/needing things that these platforms can’t offer, and have the kind of budgets that can support a solo operator or small team. At this level, you are competin…

Can you shed some light on how you find clients?

Re: Ask HN: Is there any money in website design for small businesses anymore?

#90

Post by Endy » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 5:12 PM UTC

The first thing you should do is realize that not every "lost sale" is your fault. There are some people in this world who won't be willing to pay you, even if that ends up costing them more in the long run. As far as what you have to offer that particular business, though? Does the online website builder he used provide customer support that's better than yours? Does it provide copy writing and editing for his basic pages and ongoing support for his blog? How about the e-commerce side, what percentage are they taking (and what would you be taking)? How much are they charging for the kind of long-term support you're offering?

One other major place to focus: How long did it take him to build the site himself? Was it free, aside from time?

Online builders are pretty slick nowadays, but I think that you're not fully automated out of the market just yet. The problem is, you can't beat free for some people. Even if a year down the road, five years down, they end up having laid out more time and lost more money on their "free" website, there are certain people in the world who'll always take the nominally free option.