Servage Magazine

Freelance web design and programming is good for some extra income, but it is not a career or for long term gains. For that, we have to plan for and establish a business and should take approaches accordingly. In this post I will discuss some big and small things to consider before opening a web design business.

Marketing

You may have noticed those ads on the web, offering to create a website within a fraction of time, by using their DIY software. Most of these ads offer their DIY platform online for a onetime fee or let you download it. Awesome! Just like a commodity, you can do web design without the help of any web designer or programmer, and can run your business successfully!

Except the professional web design community, and a handful of customers, know the relevant facts behind these claims. Basically, if you go with DIY, you can create only blog-like, primitive level websites. That will hardly help you run a business online successfully. You might have good clients at your side who want out of this commoditization trap.

Therefore, you might have a lot of challenges when you start seriously thinking about starting a website designing business. You have to face various obstacles and mental barriers when acquiring new customers. In other words, your marketing plan is where constant efforts are mandatory to grow and sustain in the business.

Whenever a client approaches you, she will come with some problems, small and big. You will need to solve them or show that you are capable of bringing viable solutions. The client acquisition process demands sufficient patience, time and skill. Hopefully, you are ready for it as a web designer, or you can manage this through partnering with or hiring someone who can meet your standards and expectations. If you are not ready, then forget about the doing your own business and stick with your day job.

Experience

If you have ideas of jumping straight into the web designing business, it may be unwise, unless you at least have an experienced partner and/or have enough money to invest. Getting experience and position in the field is the most advisable course. When you spend some years in the job and get accustomed with all aspects of the web design trade, such as prevalent technologies, business practices, and the behaviors of customers along with tricks and techniques in working with clients, you will be in a better position for setting up your business.

When working for a well established web design company, you gain a better understanding of the behaviors of other developers. You then realize how to manage and recruit workers as this pertains to market forces. The ideal position in such work is acting as a project manager. If you are a project manager, you probably have relevant experience managing the team of developers, designers, marketing personnel and most importantly clients, directly or indirectly. Once you acquire adequate experience and expertise, you are ready to jump into your own web design business, as sole proprietor or with partners.

Finance

When you start your own business, you can’t expect an immediate flow of customers nor can you get clients just based on word-of-mouth marketing. You’ll need to spend some funds on advertisements and other marketing activities. Moreover, you have to plan for expenses for office premises, furniture, equipment and other required infrastructure, as well as human resources or workers. Therefore, solid financial backing is a must; otherwise, you won’t sustain the business at initial stages when you have to spend days without any work or income.

References & More Reading

10 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Starting a Web Design Business

Starting A Web Design Business