With more than 252 thousand websites created daily according to Forbes; nearly anyone with the right skills and resources can make money as a web designer because a lot of brands are increasingly in need of professional web developers with the right skills to launch their digital transformation.
Like most beginners; when I started building websites, I was not immediately aware of some of the opportunities or the available options I could leverage to earn a living as a web designer from scratch or even increase my earnings, not until years later, after a lot of trial and error.
But, you don’t have to be like me. Today, things have changed. The increasing utilization of digital technology by businesses to drive growth has sparked a demand for web developers and their expertise. And a lot of experts have leveraged these opportunities to earn a living, regardless of their locations.
In this guide, I’ll be sharing with you some of the key ideas and strategies I’ve learned over the years and how you can use these insights to position your web design brand, get visibility and earn new customers as a web designer.
Get a Plan
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The first step to make money as a Website Designer is to create a plan that outlines the strategies you’ll use to make the kind of earnings you desire. Remember, this is on the backdrop that you already have solid web design skills in place.
Of course the wise old saying is true. When you fail to plan you’re planning to fail. So, to start earning as a website creator, identify your earning goals and then create a plan you can work with to get these goals achieved.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re going to achieve 100 percent of the goals or just 50 percent of what you set out to achieve. What matters more is that you have a formidable plan that outlines where you’re going and the possible steps that will get you there.
For example; before hitting the ground, you’ll need a plan or simply an idea on how to get your first client, the first 5-10 clients. The first 10-20 clients and so on.
From that idea, you can now create a plan on how to get potential client to know your brand, how to get them to patronize you, how to get your referrals, how to promote your business for more visibility as well as how to grow the business from one stage to the next.
As a new web designer, you have to keep in mind that growth is very crucial and it must be intentional. And one of the best ways to stay on the growth track is to have a goal and a plan that is both realistic and well aligned with your goals.
In addition to that, keep in mind your plan can be flexible. Create a plan that will adapt to meet industry demands and economic realities easily without getting you out of business.
Build a Brand
Outside getting your plans sorted, if you really plan to make money as website designer, you need a solid brand that stands out, is compelling and convincing enough to get clients to say yes without even talking to you at first.
This is so crucial because before convincing people to trust you with their websites, they have to be convinced that you can actually build the website.
So you want to start with identifying who you are as a web design brand, your purpose, goals and your target audience.
As soon as this is sorted, go ahead and define your unique value proposition. Clearly articulate what sets your web design business apart. And how you can differentiate your brand from the other web developers.
Choose a mission and vision statement that clearly outlines your goals and will guide you through the whole building and development stage of your business.
PS: As a general rule, you want to create a brand that is in line with your goals, purposes and business plan
Get a Portfolio
A well designed portfolio is a great way to showcase your skills in a way that allows your customers to gauge your expertise, verify your skills and analyze your design styles.
As much as possible, to make money as a website designer, you need a well curated portfolio that will position you as the website design expert that you say you are. And you must have this well sorted out and convincingly so.
To get started, create a personal website where you can showcase your portfolio of work. On that website, you’ll create separate pages that outlines each aspects of your work.
You may choose to create a single portfolio page to outline all your work or you can split the portfolio into different pages that showcase your diverse skills and versatility.
Alongside your portfolio, you want to highlight the brands you’ve worked with, the results you were able to achieve for them as well as the impact it created.
Additionally, as part of your portfolio, make plans to highlight testimonials, success stories and case studies in a way that will position your brand positively.
Offer freelance Services
Now that we’re out with the planning and set up stage that can lead you to make money as a web designer, let’s get into the implementation stage.
As you get set to launch, one of the popular steps you can take to earn a living in web development is to consider offering your service as a freelancer to brands across industries or niches.
It’s quite a well known way to get started and have a feel of the market. And a good number of web developers started out offering freelance services.
As a freelance web designer, you can opt to start out using popular freelance platforms like Fiverr, Freelancer, Upwork or you can even create your own platform where you offer freelance services directly.
Alternatively, you can decide to go Solo as a freelance web developer, working on your own platform from the onset, targeting clients and businesses you choose on your own platform or business website, without the need for a third party platform.
Where you choose to start out on a freelancing platform, research available platform for freelancers that work effectively based on your location and then head over to your preferred freelance platforms, build your profile and start scouting for jobs.
If you opt to start out on your own, one of your best bets is to create a website or build your own platform and start sorting for clients from there, using third party marketing platforms like the social media to further extend your reach.
The thing about these two options of freelancing is that both options are great ways to start a career as a web designer. But you must keep in mind that starting with a pre-existing freelance website can open you up to the existing market, it can also put you in a tough competition with well established web developers on those platforms.
On the other hand, starting on your own platform might take a little while longer to build and grow your client base but it gives you more leverage to create your brand on your own terms and grow it across the web.
I usually tell my students, before choosing either option of freelancing, you have to consider your goals, resources and plans then choose only the option that fits your goals.
Start a Web Design Agency
Outside starting out as a freelancer, you can also make money as a website developer by building your own web design agency.
You can start this by hiring or putting together a team of professional web designers with skills and expertise that will serve your needs and that of your clients.
Just like building a business, starting a web design agency might require that you register with a government agency depending on your geographic location, put together a more robust resource or double up your marketing effort to get more clients.
The advantage of having a web design agency over starting out as a freelancer is that it gives you a lot of leverage and an opportunity to take up more jobs and make more earnings.
With more hands to work, you also create a lot more time to better serve your clients, generate more income and ultimately, grow your business.
Compared to freelancing starting a web agency will require you to have some prior idea about the business aspects of web design.
This you can get from freelancing or interning at a web design agency.
In addition to that, building your own web design agency will demand more resources as you’ll have to put together a team of experts with web design skills or related skills that can complement you.
If you can effectively scale these hurdles then starting a Web Development Agency could serve as a pivotal step to launch out as a web designer.
Specialize in a Niche
Considering that there are a lot of professional web designers out there, sometimes, the industry can get over saturated with experts. As a new web developer, it can get very difficult to stand out or even get to make money as a Web Designer where you’re not able to carve a niche for yourself.
So at this stage the wise saying that you should be the biggest fish in a small pond could come in very handy. Instead of trying to compete with the big fishes and other long established web developers, go ahead and create your own niche.
This is not difficult to do. For example instead of creating websites for all kinds of business, you can start with focusing on creating websites for small businesses or just building e-commerce business websites or focusing on a specific niche or industry.
With this, you get to build websites in this niche so much so that you learn the skills, gain thought leadership and eventually build a brand recognition that can set you apart.
As soon as you’ve mastered this niche and become a notable brand, you can then spread into other niches and start growing in there as well.
The great thing about specializing is that it can give you the chance to choose a less saturated part of the industry then start from scratch and build up more easily.
However, things can get really tricky where your preferred niche has very few potential clients. So, you want to also consider the market and potential demand in your preferred niche before settling for it.
Create Additional Services
Outside building websites, it is important you’re able to create additional, relevant or allied services to your clients, outside plain website design services.
This can include services like Content Development, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing, Website Management etc.
Where you have these skills in place use it as an avenue to further make money as a Web Designer by creating these additional services as a complementary service for a higher pay or a stand alone add-on service.
Apart from helping you to earn some more income, doing this allows you to serve your clients even better. Especially considering that these are additional services that will enhance your client’s experience while upping your brand positioning as a website developer.
Also, you must understand that clients might need other relevant services close to web design that will help them achieve their overall digital transformation goals. Offering these services gives you the chance to help them achieve their goals while you earn in return.
Engage in Affiliate Marketing
Just like it is in most other digital niches, affiliate marketing provides a decent opportunity to make money as a web designer.
Considering there are a good number of businesses are naturally allied with web design, you can align with these businesses to sell their products while getting a decent cut on all sales.
Particularly, as a web designer, you can sell affiliate products from web hosting companies, domain name agencies, themes, plugins developers, specific mobile applications, Influencers etc.
Depending on your current location, there are a number of affiliate programs you can join like Amazon, Jumia, Travelstart, Fiverr etc. You can check them out.
With affiliate marketing, you get unique links or codes from these other businesses and paste them on your website via blog post, pages etc. or even promote them directly to clients via social media posts etc.
Whenever a user gets the products via those links or your unique code, you get to receive a commission for such sales. This is a great option to earn a living as a web designer especially if you have a blog that creates and share content at intervals.
Promote your Services
It’s difficult to actually make money as a web designer without promoting your services. This is so because only the people that get to see, know and trust you are the ones that’ll patronize your service.
So, promoting your services is very crucial in getting you to achieve all the steps outline above because it creates visibility. And the more people get to see your brand and your offerings, the more likely they are to patronize you if they think you can meet their needs.
Now to get started with web design business promotion, you need a simple plan that will outline what you’ll do and how you’ll do it successfully.
For example if you have adequate resources, you might want to target the four key areas of promotion which includes; content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing and paid promotion.
Depending on your model of operation you may not be able to tackle all of this at the same time. That’s why you need a plan. Specifically, you’ll need a plan for content marketing. This will take care of the kind of content you’ll create for your blog and how many times you’ll be posting on it.
Alongside this, evolve a social media plan which will identify the top social media platforms with the highest number of your target audience, as well as your social media posting and promotion plan.
And finally, evolve an email marketing and paid promotion plan. Find when or best times to send emails to your subscribers, when or best advertising option to use for your promotion and then the expected outcomes for each of these.
PS: You don’t have to use all of these options at the same time. You can use each at a different stage in your business journey or combine some to create a better outcome.
Final Words
Web development is one of the top high demand skills that commands respect, influence and relevance but, there’s a learning curve to it.
As a web developer aiming to build a robust career for yourself in the industry, you have to understand that with the increasing demand for website design services the sky is your limit.
But of course, to enjoy the benefits that comes with everything you’re doing you must have top tier web design skills, possess a strong marketing plan and you have to be willing to go all the way, against all odds.
Outside this, you must also be willing to learn, make mistakes and grow. Considering that navigating the business of web design can be quite a tough journey to take alone…
We have created a website design mentorship and training program where you can learn cutting edge web design skills, gain mentorship and gather needed resources to support your journey when you sign up here. Or contact us here.
Now, it’s over to you! What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced as an aspiring web designer? Drop your comments below.
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