Help Starting a Web Design Business
Discussion
Hello PistonHeads,
I'm looking to start-up a Web / Digital Design business but could do with some help. First, to get an idea of what I'm up against, let me give you some background:
I work for a small family IT business that's struggling to make ends meet. It's a job I fell into due to illness (now under control) wrecking my education and I've been trapped earning low pay for years (now late 20s). Because of this, I have little in the way of formal qualifications to go looking for a decent job and after spending some time on the usual employment sites etc., I don't have much hope apart from dead-end jobs that I would hate. I also have a mortgage and bills to pay, so can't just go back to University. I do consider myself to be intelligent (I was an A-grade student before my illness struck) and capable of learning anything I can put my mind to.
In our current IT business (I won't name on here), one thing we don't do is offer any kind of web / digital design and I'm wondering if I can take the business in that direction in order to earn some good money. Unfortunately, we have very little in terms of financial resources to get started with but I can spend at least 4 hours of each working day on this project.
I have very little experience apart from knocking together some simple sites on Adobe Muse. However, I don't think that learning the actual coding skills etc. will present me with a problem. What I do need is help to actually make money out of it. - I don't want to waste time learning all the skills if it's not going to earn me a decent living. After doing some research, it seems that everybody and his dog is trying to do web design and there's a lot of dross at the bottom end of the market; the question is how do I ensure I don't fall into the usual pitfalls?
I'm looking to start-up a Web / Digital Design business but could do with some help. First, to get an idea of what I'm up against, let me give you some background:
I work for a small family IT business that's struggling to make ends meet. It's a job I fell into due to illness (now under control) wrecking my education and I've been trapped earning low pay for years (now late 20s). Because of this, I have little in the way of formal qualifications to go looking for a decent job and after spending some time on the usual employment sites etc., I don't have much hope apart from dead-end jobs that I would hate. I also have a mortgage and bills to pay, so can't just go back to University. I do consider myself to be intelligent (I was an A-grade student before my illness struck) and capable of learning anything I can put my mind to.
In our current IT business (I won't name on here), one thing we don't do is offer any kind of web / digital design and I'm wondering if I can take the business in that direction in order to earn some good money. Unfortunately, we have very little in terms of financial resources to get started with but I can spend at least 4 hours of each working day on this project.
I have very little experience apart from knocking together some simple sites on Adobe Muse. However, I don't think that learning the actual coding skills etc. will present me with a problem. What I do need is help to actually make money out of it. - I don't want to waste time learning all the skills if it's not going to earn me a decent living. After doing some research, it seems that everybody and his dog is trying to do web design and there's a lot of dross at the bottom end of the market; the question is how do I ensure I don't fall into the usual pitfalls?
WebDesign said:
Hello PistonHeads,
I'm looking to start-up a Web / Digital Design business but could do with some help. First, to get an idea of what I'm up against, let me give you some background:
I work for a small family IT business that's struggling to make ends meet. It's a job I fell into due to illness (now under control) wrecking my education and I've been trapped earning low pay for years (now late 20s). Because of this, I have little in the way of formal qualifications to go looking for a decent job and after spending some time on the usual employment sites etc., I don't have much hope apart from dead-end jobs that I would hate. I also have a mortgage and bills to pay, so can't just go back to University. I do consider myself to be intelligent (I was an A-grade student before my illness struck) and capable of learning anything I can put my mind to.
In our current IT business (I won't name on here), one thing we don't do is offer any kind of web / digital design and I'm wondering if I can take the business in that direction in order to earn some good money. Unfortunately, we have very little in terms of financial resources to get started with but I can spend at least 4 hours of each working day on this project.
I have very little experience apart from knocking together some simple sites on Adobe Muse. However, I don't think that learning the actual coding skills etc. will present me with a problem. What I do need is help to actually make money out of it. - I don't want to waste time learning all the skills if it's not going to earn me a decent living. After doing some research, it seems that everybody and his dog is trying to do web design and there's a lot of dross at the bottom end of the market; the question is how do I ensure I don't fall into the usual pitfalls?
I'm afraid with no experience and very little time to learn + no resource to outsource, you will really struggle to get any traction from this idea. The lower end of web design (local businesses etc) has to a point dried up a bit as the small independent businesses that would be getting websites are spending their time and money on Social Media instead. I'm looking to start-up a Web / Digital Design business but could do with some help. First, to get an idea of what I'm up against, let me give you some background:
I work for a small family IT business that's struggling to make ends meet. It's a job I fell into due to illness (now under control) wrecking my education and I've been trapped earning low pay for years (now late 20s). Because of this, I have little in the way of formal qualifications to go looking for a decent job and after spending some time on the usual employment sites etc., I don't have much hope apart from dead-end jobs that I would hate. I also have a mortgage and bills to pay, so can't just go back to University. I do consider myself to be intelligent (I was an A-grade student before my illness struck) and capable of learning anything I can put my mind to.
In our current IT business (I won't name on here), one thing we don't do is offer any kind of web / digital design and I'm wondering if I can take the business in that direction in order to earn some good money. Unfortunately, we have very little in terms of financial resources to get started with but I can spend at least 4 hours of each working day on this project.
I have very little experience apart from knocking together some simple sites on Adobe Muse. However, I don't think that learning the actual coding skills etc. will present me with a problem. What I do need is help to actually make money out of it. - I don't want to waste time learning all the skills if it's not going to earn me a decent living. After doing some research, it seems that everybody and his dog is trying to do web design and there's a lot of dross at the bottom end of the market; the question is how do I ensure I don't fall into the usual pitfalls?
If you want to be successful in web design, you need to be good and it takes years to build up to a level that will make you successful.
Why not look into social media marketing / PPC / digital marketing? There's less technical knowledge needed than design and development and if you learn how it all works well, you should be onto a good thing!
On the whole I'd say the differentiator in this area isn't technical but design skills. If you can produce attractive, well laid out designs, provide photography and so on, you stand a much better chance of getting business. Unfortunately, the barriers to entry are low, so I'd view it as a challenging area to get into.
Akiraprise said:
I'm afraid with no experience and very little time to learn + no resource to outsource, you will really struggle to get any traction from this idea. The lower end of web design (local businesses etc) has to a point dried up a bit as the small independent businesses that would be getting websites are spending their time and money on Social Media instead.
If you want to be successful in web design, you need to be good and it takes years to build up to a level that will make you successful.
Why not look into social media marketing / PPC / digital marketing? There's less technical knowledge needed than design and development and if you learn how it all works well, you should be onto a good thing!
Firstly, thanks for your reply. I appreciate the help / advice. If you want to be successful in web design, you need to be good and it takes years to build up to a level that will make you successful.
Why not look into social media marketing / PPC / digital marketing? There's less technical knowledge needed than design and development and if you learn how it all works well, you should be onto a good thing!
Are you saying that it'll take years before I'm doing anything other than scraping around at the bottom of the barrel for a few £hundred here and there?
As I said, I don't mind learning the skills / putting the time in, so long as there's a decent reward for doing so. The alternative is that I try and find a job doing something completely different...but looking at the usual job sites, everybody seems to expect years of previous experience (apart from dozens of adverts for recruitment consultants!). No-one's prepared to train you to do a job in this economic climate.
Re. Media / Digital marketing and PPC, I thought that would be something we could do alongside web design. I'll look into it, thanks.
WebDesign said:
As I said, I don't mind learning the skills / putting the time in, so long as there's a decent reward for doing so.
There are no guarantees of that in any business. It's a massively crowded market but people are still buying and upgrading websites, and you can make good money IF you can sell. If you have no sales experience and no web skills then it's a very uphill battle.Personally I'd look at SEO, SMM or something else that can be tacked on and be paid regularly rather than a one off.
In my experience websites need updated every few years. Most small businesses get sold something either by a local guy or Yell which looks utter s
t after about 3 weeks (in Yell's case straightaway!). These guys just sell and move on, there's no back up so are ripe to speak to (the two issues being either they think it's OK, or they know it's crap but are now wary of the industry). Yell/Hibu sites in particular are easy to spot and wouldn't make the worst starting point to find new clients.Good luck.
These days it is very easy for a business owners nephew/kid/pa etc to knock are pretty good looking responsive website using something like Wordpress which restricts your market. Going for larger clients they will be looking for established agencies with a track record and portfolio and a team who can develop something truly special.
Of course there a plenty of shoddy websites and you might get a few to purchase an upgrade but I think you will be grinding your way through very little turnover.
What type of stuff does the business currently do? Are there avenues to expand down what you are currently doing and have some history in?
Unfortunately its the same with everything, people want to be wowed, either with your stloads of experience or a shinny penny you can show them.
Of course there a plenty of shoddy websites and you might get a few to purchase an upgrade but I think you will be grinding your way through very little turnover.
What type of stuff does the business currently do? Are there avenues to expand down what you are currently doing and have some history in?
Unfortunately its the same with everything, people want to be wowed, either with your s
tloads of experience or a shinny penny you can show them.Could you do a bit of market research with your existing IT customers and see if any would be interested in a website refresh? Your biggest head start might be the customers that you already have...
As others have said, incorporating web design with other related activities like social media, SEO + PPC might also be a more attractive proposition - especially at the small business end as they really will need to see some return on their very limited budgets.
As others have said, incorporating web design with other related activities like social media, SEO + PPC might also be a more attractive proposition - especially at the small business end as they really will need to see some return on their very limited budgets.
Are you actually creative/good at design? If no, then you'll need to outsource this respect and do the coding yourself.
Are you good at sales? If no, then yes, you'll be scraping the bottom of the sales bucket doing a lot of work for not a lot of money until you have a portfolio of work to give customers confidence to pay you more for decent projects.
As others have suggested, I'd look into doing SEO/PPC/SEM.
I certainly wouldn't look at doing both coding and SEO/SEM as both, whilst linked, are full time jobs in their own right. If you try to do both you'll end up doing an average job at best, rather than a good job doing one thing.
As an aside, your efforts might be better served working out why the business is currently struggling to make ends meet?
Are you good at sales? If no, then yes, you'll be scraping the bottom of the sales bucket doing a lot of work for not a lot of money until you have a portfolio of work to give customers confidence to pay you more for decent projects.
As others have suggested, I'd look into doing SEO/PPC/SEM.
I certainly wouldn't look at doing both coding and SEO/SEM as both, whilst linked, are full time jobs in their own right. If you try to do both you'll end up doing an average job at best, rather than a good job doing one thing.
As an aside, your efforts might be better served working out why the business is currently struggling to make ends meet?
jammy_basturd said:
As an aside, your efforts might be better served working out why the business is currently struggling to make ends meet?
agree with this - surprised that an IT business is doing badly - there is so much demand out there for decent IT people...ref. web design - I think it could be worth doing some more detailed analysis of what a business wants / needs from the web - there is perhaps an assumption above that web design is all about giving a company a shiny new website - wordpress and a template will do it - hwoever that is to totally miss the point which is to understand why the customer wants / needs a website - to think through how their spending £20 / £200 / £2,000 / £20,000 with you will bring them more back into the business, if it doesn't they might as well keep their money! Therefore web design should be about business strategy / function / process / growth / etc. - if all you are doing is putting up shiny little brochure websites then you have basically missed the boat in terms of today's web needs and you will bottom feed with all those who sit at home and charge £10 - £15 p/h and make no money...
on the other hand - start doing websites that help companies grow and there is a lot of potential
Mostly said above but to sumarise my experiences: most businesses still place little value on a website. When they decide they want one its often the lowest priced one they can find. Despite everything, conveying that a website can generate revenue seems to escape many businesses. With Wordpress its fairly easy for almost anyone to produce a decent site for little cost and that is good enough for most businesses. Of course there are also many who do 'get it' but it can be frustrating how many simply don't. Its like the Internet was invented yesterday!
Frimley111R said:
Mostly said above but to sumarise my experiences: most businesses still place little value on a website. When they decide they want one its often the lowest priced one they can find. Despite everything, conveying that a website can generate revenue seems to escape many businesses. With Wordpress its fairly easy for almost anyone to produce a decent site for little cost and that is good enough for most businesses. Of course there are also many who do 'get it' but it can be frustrating how many simply don't. Its like the Internet was invented yesterday!
Pretty much what I was going to reply with.I have spoken to a few small business owners who still don't have a website. They happily get business through word of mouth or leaflets.
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