How to create your dream website design business

 I’m Holly Christie, I’m your host, I’m the founder of This Demanding Life, of Simply Sites and of this podcast and today we are talking about how you can have your dream website design business and I promise you that this is absolutely possible.

So if you are they’re thinking I really like website design but I don’t really like my clients or I’m finding web design really hard or I’m not making the money I want to make from it and all of these different scenarios then I am here to help you because having your dream website design business does take experience and after all we all need to know what we don’t want to get to what we do want and The thing is though, you don’t need to have all of the experience.

Take it from me, it’s enough to learn from others who have been there, done that, and who are not wanting to go back there again. And it’s one of the reasons I decided to start this podcast alongside my mentoring of website developers and designers, because I wanted to support you in having  more autonomy within your business and to reassure you that there’s lots of things that you’ll be doing really right and sometimes with web design it can be a little bit of a lonely profession and I’m sure through LinkedIn and other groups and things like that you will have made other web designer friends there are also other industry professionals like copywriters and photographers and branding specialists and stuff but most of your work you’re going to be on your own, working away, and you’re gonna get the clients who, who you love, you’re gonna get clients who rub you up the wrong way a little bit, you’re gonna get everything in between.

And what I really want to do is to support you in not getting That in between and not really getting the clients who rub you up the wrong way. Um, just really building on those foundations of having a thriving business, which you absolutely love. And I promise you it is totally possible. And this episode is all about building the fundamental components to have the absolute dream business for your website design without having to go into the depths of what you really, really don’t want. 

So let’s get started.  First, we’re going to cover what you don’t want. And what you don’t want could end up being an exhaustive list, and I’m not going to cover every single scenario here. So, because we all have different ways that we work, we all use slightly different tools, different skill sets, and usually we’ve all found a process that really works for us.

So, um, I’m not going to go to through your processes in this episode. However, if you would like to know a little bit more about the processes, hop back a couple of episodes and there is an episode there about how your processes will build your dream website design business.  And that will really help.

It’s 20 minutes long and gives you a great foundation because it also says basically that the processes you have with your clients and the processes you have for your web design build are what’s going to really cement that. And when you have listened to that episode, if you then want to delve into it a little bit deeper, you can go to my website.

It’s called websitecourses. thisdemandinglife. com, and you will see a course there called how to get clients for your website design business. And that goes through all of the processes and stuff there as well. So it kind of layers on and deepens that knowledge there,  but we’re coming back to what you don’t want. 

Pernickety clients who don’t really know what they want.  They are the bane of a web designers and web developers lives because people who say, I I know I’ll know when I see it.  They won’t know when they’ll see it. You will spend forever trying to tweak and get this design right to get feedback of like, Eh, no, that’s not quite right.

And then you say, OK, well, what would right look like to you? And they say, I don’t know. I’ll know when I see it. It’s not helpful. It’s not useful. We don’t want those clients.  And a good way to direct those clients is when you first do your onboarding with them, is to say to them, could you send me the links of say three websites that you really like the design of and tell me what you do like about that design.

And if there’s anything you don’t like, tell me what you don’t like about it as well. And I can find that really useful. Because often there will be a real determining factor of what they do like. So it might be that the website’s colourful, or it could be that it has animated elements, or it could be that the website is very neutral and soft in tone.

And equally, what they don’t want could be, oh they don’t like the potential. Pop ups or they don’t want the bold use of color or whatever else, but it’s a really good learning objective and it gives you a resource to go back to when you start doing the website build for someone, you can go back to them and say, I have built this in this way because I noticed on the websites that you liked that you really liked the animation on this website, so I’ve included animation in yours, for example. 

Okay, so the. The second thing that we don’t want with our clients are clients who have shiny object syndrome.  Shiny object syndrome can be the absolute bane of your life, particularly if, um, you work with quite a few people who get their heads turned by these things. So you, um, So, have the brief for the website and let’s just say that you have a website brief that is five pages brochure site and it’s going to have a home about services blog and contact page, that the brief is a simplistic, clear design, that they like some animation, and that’s great.

You’ve got what it is that you want. You know where your calls to action are. And then suddenly someone comes up and says, Oh, I saw a quiz on a website and I really want a quiz on my website.  Okay. So first of all, if someone wants you to build in the functionality or add a plugin or something like that, then you need to get them to go back to the beginning and say, that’s fine.

We, and if you have the skill set for it as well, you can say, that’s fine. I can build that in. And just to let you know that. I estimate it’d be this much work or it will cost this much to add that in because often when people get the cost of something they suddenly don’t want it particularly if the cost goes into the hundreds and particularly if there’s a lot of work involved for example putting quizzes on websites.

There’s actually a lot of work involved in the questions. So, what questions are they going to ask? What are the purpose of the questions? Where does it then lead to? What’s the purpose of the quiz? Who’s it being marketed to? Where on the website does it go? There’s a lot to go in there.  And then people will come and say, Oh, I was just trying to I was buying a loaf of bread on a bakery website and I saw that they had this pop up menu and it looked amazing and I’d like that on mine.

And again,  there’s nothing wrong with someone wanting an additional feature if it’s not just that they’ve seen it on a website and been absolutely blown away by it and think, Oh yeah, that’s the one for me. Sort of thing. If it actually comes in as part of the website plan, that’s fine. And the brief can change, but we have to be really aware of scope creep.

And so every time someone says, I, you know, I’d like this, I’d like that. It’s about managing expectations and managing where you are in the builds and saying that’s, that’s fine if that’s what you want, because no one likes being told no, they like no to be their own decision. So to say that’s absolutely fine. 

Now, I’m at this stage in the build, so this would have to be added during another phase. This is the timescale I think I could bring it in at, and this is how much it’s going to cost. Would you like to go ahead on that basis? I will raise an invoice for it. And again, it just creates that thinking space for someone to determine whether they actually really do want it, need it for their business, and whether it’s purposeful for their business.

I was, uh, speaking to one of my favourite branding photographers, Tash, the other day and she said that her tagline for her branding photos are photos with purpose. And I thought, yes! Because ultimately, all websites should have a purpose. They are not just a shopfront, they’re not just a nice to have, they’re a really essential part of your marketing tool.

And  To do that, everything on the website must be purposeful. So whether it’s a pop up, whether it’s the way you’re using colour, whether it’s animation, whatever it is, it should have a purpose. So always bring it back to that with these clients.  Clients who ghost you, or don’t have any respect for your processes. 

In my opinion, these ones are the worst, because They get all excited usually on the sign up, they sign up and then you can just never pin them down to a date to get feedback or to get any information that you need and they just go completely quiet. And it’s frustrating because as a designer you will know how difficult it is to pick up a project and put it down and you know, get in and out of the flow with a project. 

And one of the ways to handle this is to have really tight terms of service. And if you don’t have really tight terms of service and contract, then you can have a look at my web designer’s contract pack. It’s on my website, thecourses. thisdemandinglife. com. And it has absolutely every contract you could possibly need for your website design business.

And it’s 45 pounds, so it’s not a bank breaker whatsoever, but it is UK law compliant as well. So you know that It really will work for you and I had a client who kept ghosting me last year, um, we just never managed to get this website finished, we got really close to the end, she kept ghosting and in the end it did go to the small claims court to get the, to get paid and to get the project finished and I won because my, um, terms of service were so robust as well and I had followed all my procedures on the terms of service as well, so really really do make sure you have a really robust terms of service and make sure you send it to the client alongside the quote for when you first quote for the work and with the invoice when you,  um, when you start the work as well when they book the project and that way they’ve had it twice and you know they are kind of liable to work within those bounds as well. 

So clients who don’t ghost uh, sorry. Clients who don’t ghost you. Clients who do ghost you.  Clients who ghost you are particularly challenging because they just don’t respond to you. And again, within your terms of service, you will want to have something that actually deals with this. And again, you’ll see within the website designers contract pack that the terms of service that is an editable document so you can brand it up and do it for yourself.

It will have things like say, if I don’t hear from you within 14 days then I will consider the project abandoned and it will be archived. There will be a reactivation fee for unarchiving it and your project will essentially be put to the back of the queue. You know, I’ll get round to it when I get round to it.

So there are lots of steps that we can have in those places. There’s also, um, what’s known within the industry as a sunset clause, that if something has gone on for so long, you know, we essentially.  set the sun on it. I love this because it always makes me think of Hulk in the Avengers when it’s like, the sun’s going down, it’s like, yep, it’s all, we’re packing this down, you’ve, you’ve ghosted us too much, and that sort of thing.

So not every single website will make it to completion. But we want to make as many websites as we can, get to completion, get you paid on them, get those websites in your portfolio, and all that lovely experience you’re going to get along the way. So not just experience of dealing with clients, but the experience and the skill set you’re going to build while you’re building these websites.

Because the more that you do it, the better it’s going to be. And as my lovely friend Lucy’s brother says, Practice makes progress and we are always looking to progress as well.  So the final one that we don’t want with the clients are clients who don’t pay on time. And again, your contract and your terms of service are absolutely going to protect you here because you need it to be really, really clear.

And  When, uh, you’ll hear me talk a lot about drip fed content, and I am not a fan of drip fed content, when a client says to you, along the lines of, oh, I, here’s the text for the home page, I’ll be along later with the text for the about page, or, you know, I’ll drop this in Dropbox, or I’ll do this, that, and the other.

No. No one can run a business like this. And, as I said in a previous podcast, you wouldn’t commission a house to be built for you and say to the builder, here are the bricks for the kitchen, just use those, I’ll get to the living room when I feel like it. Uh uh. Not going to happen. And it shouldn’t happen like that for your website either.

So once you have the website booked and the invoice paid, give the client a deadline. Do give the client support with what content they need to get to you and the methods in which they can give it to you and deliver it. And then set a deadline for when you can expect to hear from them. And at the same time, do check in about a week before then because clients can go into a bit of a freeze.

You know, they’re not used to copywriting, they’re not used to having together this content. You know, if you think websites only get built every few years for a company, that it’s not part of their everyday pattern and they may need some support. And being the person who supports them, and note the use of the word support.

You’re not doing it for them, but you’re supporting and pointing them in the right direction of where they can go to get this stuff. And so check in about a week before that deadline.  And so that if they haven’t managed to get themselves on track, you can support them in getting on track, and you can issue a new deadline if that’s what you need.

And that way you will know where your calendar’s at as well as them knowing where they’re at with everything. And then when you handle, um, a website client like this, then usually you’ll find that the payments come quite easily because if someone feels very well supported, they want to continue to pay for that support.

And you may have a pricing model like mine is 50 percent up front for the deposit for booking the website, 50 percent on completion. You might have that as well, or you might have a monthly installment amount, in which case make sure you have an agreement in place. Again, we have a payment plan agreement in the website designer’s contract pack. 

And whichever way you do it, and It makes sure that your payment boundaries are the ones that are really, really important there and really robust because at the end of the day, we all have to have a thriving business that can afford, you know, our lifestyles and our work and the software licenses and everything you need for your work.

If you have someone on a monthly payment plan, I recommend you use a direct debit as well. GoCardless is very popular with website designers. I use it myself. It’s very easy to use and to set up payment plans for individuals there as well.  So we’re going to move on to what you do want, which is perfectly aligned clients, clients who respect you and respect the design  process and those clients who are willing to work collaboratively. 

And if you’re new to website design, it could be that you’re getting a lot of the former clients, the difficult ones, the pernickety ones, the shiny objects, the ghosters, that sort of thing. And I promise you, it really doesn’t have to be that way.  And the good news is that we can change this anytime you like.

And you don’t even have to go to the existing pernickety  ghosting clients and say to them about, you know, Hey, right. We’re having a change, I’m, I’m gonna get good clients and you’re not it, sort of thing. It all starts with your messaging and your messaging, obviously, the first port of call is on your website and the next port of call is on your social media channels and the final places with your messaging is where in your email communication, your telephone communication, if you use the phone, zoom communication, all of that.

How do you want your clients to perceive you? How do you want to come across to them? And what do you want your messaging to be?  And again, my, my course of how to get clients for your website design business really supports And it’s like, I’m not a messenger, I don’t have a website. And you can build a website, but it’s going to take a lot more than that.

And it’s great for people who are looking to get into the messaging world. And I think it’s really important that you have the right people around you. Because you can’t do this all day. You can’t do it in a day or two. And I think it’s really important that you have the right people around you. It’s going to be a really great thing to have.

as well.  And once you’ve got that messaging, you can start to really infiltrate it into your website, into your social media channels, and into your communication. So, for example, my messaging and my personality traits is I am very supportive. Nothing’s too much trouble, but it’s not going to be done without boundaries.

So, if someone wants something added to the website, that’s fine. Absolutely fine, but they will have a timescale and a cost for when that can take place as well. So as I say, I don’t often say no. There are a few clients where I recognize or if they put red flags up to begin with, I say, you know, we’re not going to be a good working match and let me recommend you to someone who is. 

But, assuming that I’m working with really well aligned clients, it means that they’ve come to me and they’re aligned with me because my messaging is really speaking to them. And my ideal client, for example, um, is a service led website. They’re small and micro businesses. I much prefer working one to one with people.

And I put that messaging out that I will support them, I will hand hold, I have the knowledge, I have the experience to do this.  And if you think, oh goodness, I am new to this, I don’t necessarily have the knowledge or experience to support them through it. Don’t worry too much because if you’ve come into website design, the chances are that you have the skill set.

to support them through it and to give them what it is that they want. And the earlier that you establish boundaries of not saying yes to everything, having strict timescales, and letting clients know what those timescales are and when they can expect to hear from you.  For example, every website client I have for my custom build clients, I send them a video walkthrough every week without fail, telling them where we are within the website build and what my thought is around how I’ve designed it and created it and inviting their feedback as well so that I can accommodate that within the design and that it can be a really collaborative experience as well.

So, um, Again, you’ll find all of this in my How to Get Your Web Design Clients course as well, because it’s such an important part of the process, and sometimes  We’ll find that clients aren’t very good with boundaries because, as I said earlier, their web journey isn’t something that they do every day. So they’re trying to kind of plan a website, build and create the content and liaise with other professionals, such as the photographers and stuff, and they’re trying to do it all.

on top of doing their other job as well. So it’s not the easiest process for them and it can be quite a bewildering process for them as well. So many people come to me and say they feel stupid because they can’t do something on their website or they don’t know how to do something on the website and if people feel like they’re on the back foot because they don’t have the experience or knowledge that you have, that it immediately makes them feel a little bit defensive and Often they’ll feel a little bit detached from the process as well.

So it’s really important to be that kind of voice of reassurance and sometimes, you know, Website designers aren’t always known for being the most loquacious, or being the most conversational. And sometimes it just takes that reassurance and say, It’s absolutely fine, I know that this isn’t an everyday occurrence for you, and I do do this every day.

So if you have a question, I am more than happy to answer it. And the more helpful that you are, the better the experience will be. And I don’t mean helpful as in, They ask you to build, you know, three more pages and they don’t want to pay any more, uh, money than that. That’s not helpful.  But the more approachable you are, the more likely you’re both going to enjoy a really good relationship, and the more likely that they’re also going to leave you a stunning review and recommend you to their colleagues and their friends. 

So  I’m going to leave it there for today because we are 22 minutes in and it is a lot of information but just be reassured that if you have a pernickety client that you can guide them. I also have a resource called turn negative feedback into a winning website and you can get that by going to my website websitesmadesimple.co.uk forward slash ebook and you can download that and you don’t have to wait for your feedback to be negative before you download and use this resource. It can really help you with presenting the designs to clients, particularly if you feel that your boundaries have been a little bit weak or you have, um, haven’t nailed your processes.

This will really help you there as well. So that’s it for this episode, wishing you a brilliant and thriving time in your website design business and I will see you again soon.