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

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

#101

Post by namanyayg »

josefresco wrote: post #88

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 he…

Are your clients local? Would you mind talking about the city you're located in?

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

#102

Post by namanyayg »

IAmGraydon wrote: post #78

I am not a web developer by profession (I'm a marketing director and entrepreneur), but I freelance 2-3 sites per year on the side. Most of these sites are fairly simple sites for small businesses and organizations. I make more money doing this (per hour) than most other freelancers I've met, and it's because I offer what my clients can't get with Wix/Squarespace: effective, high end design. I'm a decent web develope…

Can I have a look at your portfolio?

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

#103

Post by namanyayg »

no1youknowz wrote: post #9

I would ditch website design and move into marketing. Leads are what any business wants the most: - How to drive free traffic to sales funnels. - How to connect with a potential customers. - How to build the right audience for the product. - How to craft the sales message that resonates. - How to understand A/B/N metrics and speak in plain english to the business owner. I know of companies which do the entire process…

How would you recommend a web developer to learn & pick up these skills? Any books or courses?

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

#104

Post by avitzurel »

Here are my thoughts:

I am far from my days of "building websites", but I built one as a favor for a friend just this week (simple contact form, single page). I was talking to him over the phone about his previous website, how it was built, who built it, etc...

I think there is A LOT of money to be made with building websites for small businesses.

Yes, the challenge is not technical, and yes, we (from an engineering point of view) think it's a commodity and that Wix and the likes are solving all the problems, that's wrong!

Let's start from the bottom, if you have real sales, that talk to small business and take care of their online presence, you will get a lot of business.

Forget about the CMS, forget about the self-serve, you act as the technical person and take care of:

1. Yelp Page 2. Facebook Page 3. Instagram Page 4. Website 5. Content writing

You can get a ton of business with targeting the right business types and pricing it right.

You have to figure out the problem you are solving. forget SEO and forget everything that we as engineers think about, think about the value you are adding to a small business.

If you tell a busy business owner that he can text you the updates they want, or you call them once a week and get a few new photos that you will update in the right places and get them more business, you will thrive.

If you develop a high-touch business in a market where everybody thinks they will win with a low-touch 5$ a month market, you can win.

My friend paid 3K$ for his previous website.

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

#105

Post by namanyayg »

tjwds wrote: post #7

I work at an eCommerce firm with a design/dev arm. It's absolutely integral for us to be able to provide the full package for clients for a number of reasons. Sure, straight-up "let me build your website" style sales may be an industry that's slowing down, but it certainly isn't for online sales or integrating any other services, so ymmv.

I've had great success by setting up and customizing Shopify stores for clients, but I rarely am able to find such work. Any advice on how I could find more such clients, who want e-commerce stores set up and have a decent budget for it?

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

#107

Post by namanyayg »

mrhappyunhappy wrote: post #56

I’ve positioned myself as a CRO consultant who does UX work. My projects span from e-commerce to landing pages and apps. I never mention “web design” anywhere and will turn down a 5k project pretty quickly if there is poor fit. I think opportunities exist for those who position to offer solutions to business problems. You must be able to say “no” many times to give one yes to find the right client - this means having…

How can one reach the point of getting lots of leads?

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

#108

Post by mattzito »

So I’ll tell you from my past experience that there are plenty of designers that make money building websites using platforms like squarespace.

The trick is that the designer adds additional polish and takes the full service approach:

- wiring up CRM platforms

- mailing list management

- SEO optimizations

And so on. In some cases these folks are more than comfortable working in something like Wordpress or Jekyll, but they also want the site to be maintainable by their customer and choose Squarespace instead.

But I would agree that the days of “make me a simple website” are long gone. Now you have to be a full service shop.

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

#109

Post by goatherders »

avitzurel wrote: post #104

Here are my thoughts: I am far from my days of "building websites", but I built one as a favor for a friend just this week (simple contact form, single page). I was talking to him over the phone about his previous website, how it was built, who built it, etc... I think there is A LOT of money to be made with building websites for small businesses. Yes, the challenge is not technical, and yes, we (from an engineering…

This is an excellent post and should get some love. 60% of small businesses don't have a web presence at all and 90% have only ONE of website, FB, and Yelp. Offering to handle all of this stuff and then wrapping in Proofer/AdviceLocal/Yext and twice-monthly blogging is a nice business to be in. PRetty common to get $3-5k site builds and $500-1000 a month to manage and maintain the other stuff.

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

#110

Post by avitzurel »

goatherders wrote: post #109
avitzurel wrote: post #104

Here are my thoughts: I am far from my days of "building websites", but I built one as a favor for a friend just this week (simple contact form, single page). I was talking to him over the phone about his previous website, how it was built, who built it, etc... I think there is A LOT of money to be made with building websites for small businesses. Yes, the challenge is not technical, and yes, we (from an engineering…

This is an excellent post and should get some love. 60% of small businesses don't have a web presence at all and 90% have only ONE of website, FB, and Yelp. Offering to handle all of this stuff and then wrapping in Proofer/AdviceLocal/Yext and twice-monthly blogging is a nice business to be in. PRetty common to get $3-5k site builds and $500-1000 a month to manage and maintain the other stuff.

You don't give a CMS, you talk to them where they are, on the phone, WhatsApp, anything. You give them customer service where customer service is completely dead.
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