What is a Web Design Business?
As a web designer, you create websites for your clients. This includes...at a minimum...designing the layout, navigation and inputting all the information for the website. I encourage you to go beyond just design and create profitable web presences for your clients.

Website Design Business Skills & Attributes
If you have the talent to create good looking websites that are easy to navigate and are pleasing to the eye, you will be providing the minimum service that your clients are entitled to. Unfortunately, a good looking website is not the key to a successful Internet presence. It is simply one piece of the online business puzzle.

To start a web design business and to provide your clients with the best service possible, you need to have, acquire or partner with someone who has:

- design skills
- HTML skills
- dynamic script knowledge - to build shopping carts and other dynamic components to websites
- marketing skills
- search engine knowledge
- copywriting skills
- graphic skills

Many professional web designers will tell you that they are only responsible for the overall design of the site, but this is a tremendous disservice to your clients. Most small business owners are not aware of all the ins and outs of Internet Marketing and once they have paid you a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars for a website and nothing happens with their traffic or sales...it reflects badly on you.

This doesn't mean you need to have all these skills yourself, but you can partner with people who do. Work on your designs with a copywriter, a search engine optimization specialist and/or an Internet Marketing expert to produce the best possible website. Start a web design business the right way.

You can also use an Internet business builder program that will help you build a profitable website for your clients and provides them with all the tools they need to make their business a success. The most comprehensive program available on the market today is SiteBuildIt and it comes at such an affordable price that it leaves plenty of profit for your website design business.

Online Marketing Ideas to Start a Web Design Business

- Create your own professional web presence that promotes your website design business and highlights your skills.

- Choose a niche or target market for your business. If you want to design sites for work at home moms, then target their needs. If you specialize in HTML or PHP, stick with that.

- Market yourself as a web designer that not only designs nice looking websites, but who builds effective and complete online businesses for their clients.

- Create an online portfolio of websites you have designed. If you haven't done any paid work yet, be sure to include any websites you have designed for yourself, friends or family.

- Partner with other designers, writers, Internet marketers and search engine specialists. You all have different areas of expertise and if you work together, you can build up a steady stream of work together.

- Ask your clients to put a link to your website in recognition of the design work you have performed.

- Join a few Internet business message boards or email groups and offer your expert advice where it is requested. Better yet, offer to moderate a web design forum...it shows you as the expert and gives you a little bit of promotion at the same time.

- Target your local market with your website. Be sure to include your location in your website's information as many businesses will want to work with a local client.

- My friend Andrea Wilson of Able Webs acquired a number of clients by giving away website makeovers. She took the home pages of these sites and redesigned them with a more professional look. Once people could see how much better their websites could be, they wanted to continue to work with Andrea. She's been so successful with her makeovers, she no longer has the time to offer them...but it's a great idea for starting out with a web design business.

Andrea also says, "Many Web designers like the actual design work -- the fun stuff -- but dislike the more mundane work of maintaining a site once it's up and running. But to me, the fun part of maintenance work is the guaranteed income. If you're willing to do what many Web designers are not, you'll have a steady income and you'll keep your customers a long time. And because you're in regular contact with them, they'll remember to recommend you to others. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising... and it's free!"

Offline Marketing Ideas to Start a Web Design Business

- Offer a few discounted or freebie jobs to build your portfolio. Contact a local charity or community organizations and ask if they would like you to build a website for them.

- Explore the possibilities with your own personal contacts. You can certainly try cold calling to businesses, but you will find that if you talk to people you know, there's always somebody who is looking to get their business on the Internet.

- Join business groups like the Chamber of Commerce or a group that targets your niche. Use this opportunity to get to know other people in business and build valuable partnerships and even gain a few clients.

- Write a press release about your new business and send it to your local media. Tell them you are launching a new business, or that you were working on a site for an important or charitable organization. If it's newsworthy, tell them about it.

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