Web designers often ask me “how long will it take to get to 6-figures in my web design business?” And it's a tough question to answer. There are a lot of variables to how fast you can build your web design business. Your background, your time availability, your area of focus or expertise, your aversion to risk, work ethic, etc are all factors. But I can tell you, there are folks who go from zero to 6-figures in less than a year. One of those folks is Sam Sarsten, a member of my Web Designer...
Sep 02, 2024•1 hr 28 min
What’s the most terrifying phrase that hovers in the back of all our minds as a web designer and web business owner? Well, aside from “email down” it’s likely “burnout.” You may have seen a fellow web designer go through this or experienced it yourself. And the harsh reality is, burnout is where all roads can lead if we’re not careful. The onslaught of clients, fulfillment, design, development, troubleshooting, sales, support, administration, calls, meetings, content creation, your OWN businesse...
Aug 26, 2024•1 hr 3 min
We’re doing a first for the podcast on this episode…I’m featuring a recent Web Designer Pro coaching call! If you didn’t know, in my web design community Web Designer Pro, I host a live coaching call every week. These coaching calls typically include: Member website reviews Member hot seats 10-15 min coaching sessions) And AMA (ask me anything) time Today, I’m sharing a recent call that had some great topics of discussion with you to help you in all these areas in your business and to give you a...
Aug 19, 2024•1 hr 16 min
I was recently interviewed on the EverBros Agency Growth Podcast about my journey in fumbling through starting and scaling a web design agency. It was a really good, casual chat with tons of important topics for web designers (early stage and established alike) so THE BROS were kind enough to let me repurpose our chat here for you! Don’t let the name fool you, these are not your typical marketing bros. In fact, they’re super down to earth, sustainably minded, and have a very, very successful nic...
Aug 12, 2024•2 hr 55 min
In person networking and referral groups remain to this day the best way to start getting clients, get more clients by expanding your network and get better clients by way of referrals. There are a lot of different ways to get clients in person and virtually, and I’ve done many but if I were starting as a web designer today, my FIRST priority would be to join a networking group. More specifically, I would invest in a referral group like BNI. Referral groups differ from networking groups in that ...
Aug 05, 2024•1 hr 15 min
Ever had a client ask “How long would it take to get to the top of Google?” Ah, I can see your head nodding along now. As web designers, we can’t expect clients to understand how long SEO results can take. We know nothing will lead to instant results and due to all the variables, competition and goal of the client, it may take months to see results…but there are some quick wins that you can implement to help clients see progress fairly soon. By fairly soon, I mean less than a couple weeks or eve...
Jul 29, 2024•59 min
Recurring revenue…the two most lovely words in web design (or any business for that matter.) Having enough recurring income to cover my family's bills is what changed the game for me, it’s what helped get us through a 56 day NICU journey and it’s what ultimately led to me creating my first course on how to launch and sell website maintenance plans. One of my students Marc Hyde went through that course back in 2021 and within three years, his maintenance plan is now over 30% of his business ...
Jul 22, 2024•1 hr 18 min
In the early days as a web designer, it’s common to say “yes” to any project that comes your way just to make some money and build a portfolio. But it doesn’t take many “bad client experiences” before you’re ready to weed out those bad-fit clients. But what makes a client bad-fit? Are they cheap? Do they not understand your value? Are they a bad personality fit? Are they super-intensive with communication and a drain on your mental bandwidth? All of the above? If you seem to attract a lot of the...
Jul 15, 2024•1 hr
Ah privacy policies…your favorite aspect of web design, right? Yeah me neither but day by day, it’s an aspect of websites that becomes more and more important with new privacy laws being passed in the states along with other countries, even outside the EU with regards to GDPR compliance. So, to help us make sense of where things are at with website privacy policies, I’m excited to bring back on to the podcast, my friend and privacy policy expert Hans Skillrud of Termageddon. In this chat, we cov...
Jul 08, 2024•57 min
This is probably ignorance on my part but my eyebrow always went crooked when I heard digital agencies, hosting companies, saas products, or any online entrepreneur talking about how they’re a “green” company. It’s not like we’re a manufacturing company or chemical plant with waste and pollutants. We work on a computer at home…so how can we “go green?” Use less paper? Recycle old equipment? What else can we do? Well, it turns out there are a lot of ways to contribute to sustainability and to do ...
Jul 01, 2024•58 min
I recently did a live training on how to Scale Your Web Design Business for Brad Hussey’s web design community CreativeCrew. We did a live Q&A session afterward and had some amazing questions come in. Brad and I got to riff on scaling a web agency, the lessons learned from our experience, what we both may have done differently and what we felt worked really well. I’m pleased to share the entire Q&A portion with you here in this special edition episode of the podcast! We cover topics like...
Jun 24, 2024•49 min
One of the benefits of being a web designer is your option to build recurring revenue. As a WordPress web designer, I learned that one of the best ways to do this was to offer a hosting and maintenance plan. Or “care plan” as it’s more commonly referred to these days. For years, it was my assumption that if you use self-hosted platforms like SquareSpace, WixStudio, Webflow, Showit, etc then you can't offer care plans because there's no plugins to update or advanced security to monitor....
Jun 17, 2024•56 min
I’ve met a lot of 6 and 7-figure agency owners over the years and there’s always often a recurring theme…many are completely burned out, disgruntled OR they’ve sold or left the agency altogether. It’s probably the main reason I personally prefer the “small shop or studio” route as a solopreneur web designer with a lean and mean contractor team but at the same time, there’s value in truly creating a “business” in the form of an agency. But…are ALL agency owners burned out? No - despite meeting ma...
Jun 10, 2024•1 hr 4 min
I recently caught up with my friend Shannon Mattern, fellow web design business coach who has a group coaching program called The Web Designer Academy. We often talk off-the-record but decided to record our most recent catch up, an honest conversation about what’s working for web designers in 2024. Shannon and I are both in a unique position to be able to oversee many web designers, some early on in the journey making less than six figures and some who are established web biz owners running six ...
Jun 03, 2024•1 hr 12 min
Hey friends, Josh here popping in with a bonus episode sharing a mid-year update for both personal and business side of things. Together we'll cover: An update on my daughter's recovery (thank you for the thoughts, prayers and support!) Updates on the business side of things including: which courses I'll be revamping this Summer, what projects I'm working on thanking my VA Kam (who's moving on) after 3 1/2 years of awesome service and a look ahead at what I have planned ...
May 30, 2024•28 min
In this podcast, Jake expands on how a few key relationships (with no hard selling or cold pitching) has led to the growth of his 6-figure web agency which exclusively serves landscaping companies. In This Episode 00:00 - Relationship-First Approach to Web Design Clients 07:02 - Success Strategies for Small Agencies 11:35 - Labor Allocation and Marketing Strategy 17:03 - Client Acquisition Through Authenticity and SEO 31:35 - Building Trust and Fostering Relationships 43:04 - Template Emails and...
May 27, 2024•1 hr 10 min
Lisa has done 6 rounds of strategy calls with her hosting/maintenance plan clients (to this point) which has led to an additional $25,000+ boost of revenue for her. She has refined this strategy to be a well oiled, revenue boosting machine and she’s opening up about how she does it for you so that you can do the same! We dive into all of the questions above and more in this one but if you want more, Lisa recently did an entire guest expert training with visuals, templates and more inside of Web ...
May 20, 2024•57 min
Considering starting a podcast to help build your web design business and get clients? Podcasting is AMAZING for expanding your network, deepening your relationship with customers and building trust with potential clients but I'm not going to lie...it is hard work. And it's not for everyone. To make it work, you have to set yourself up for sustainability to do it consistently and in this special Q&A session, I'm answering many common questions from web designers who are intere...
May 13, 2024•56 min
I’m excited and a half to welcome back to the podcast, WordPress agency legend Troy Dean who shares exactly how you can offer growth plans anywhere from 2k to 10k+ per month for your clients. As the founder of AgencyMavericks.com Troy and his team oversee hundreds of agencies of all sizes with a core focus on growth plans and paid discovery so he knows what’s working TODAY, what rates people are charging and what services get results for clients. In This Episode 00:00 - Building Recurring Income...
May 06, 2024•55 min
Kady Sandel, founder of Aventive Academy and host of the Profitable Graphic Designer Podcast is back on the show sharing some incredible insight on how to get past the 100k annual revenue mark with your web design business. If 6-figs is the goal, honestly don’t miss this one. In This Episode 00:00 - Achieving Six Figures in Web Design 04:22 - Navigating Six Figure Income Expectations 09:25 - Raising Rates and Business Growth 13:57 - Building a Six-Figure Web Design Business 26:19 - Effective Pri...
Apr 29, 2024•58 min
Josh shares a recent Q&A session sharing insight and honest thoughts on the TheAdminBar 2024 WordPress Professional Survey Results. This is a good look at what is working (and what isn’t) in web design today regardless if you’re a WordPress user or not. In This Episode 01:01 - Web Design Business Survey Insights 16:32 - Shifts in Web Design Trends 22:08 - Web Design Income and Success Strategies 27:50 - Building Recurring Revenue With Strategy Calls 34:13 - Web Design Builder Trends 39:55 - ...
Apr 22, 2024•57 min
If you’re a graphic designer who’s capped at a revenue level, it might be time to transition to web and luckily, there are so many ways to do it in a way that works for you. I hope my journey helps give you a proven path to follow 🙂 In This Episode 01:01 - Graphic Design to Web Design Transition 13:44 - Challenges and Opportunities in Web Design 23:19 - Digital Marketing Strategies for Graphic Designers 32:52 - Expanding Roles in Graphic Design 39:21 - Web Design and Branding Similarities 50:36...
Apr 15, 2024•1 hr 26 min
Ran Segall, founder of Flux-Academy.com shares his insights on how to craft the right offers today as a beginning web designer and how to package up your services in a way that builds your web business sustainably in 2024 and beyond. In This Episode 00:00 - Web Design Services and Referral Partners 05:26 - Webflow and Trends 18:12 - Web Design Challenges 30:02 - Building Community and Partnerships for Success 36:05 - Transitioning From Courses to Community 49:59 - Web Design and AI Cooperation 5...
Apr 08, 2024•54 min
If you're a web designer who's serious about starting or building your web design biz, I'm guessing there are some glaring challenges and struggles you're going through. And if you feel alone in those struggles...you're not. There are so many common challenges I hear from web designers who are serious about starting, building and growing their web design business which we're going to solve here in this special coaching Q&A session. Alexia, an early-stage web des...
Apr 01, 2024•39 min
Kyle Prinsloo, founder of freelancerfam.com, a private (and free) discord community for web design freelancers shares how he started as a freelance web designer with a “value ladder” approach to getting clients. In This Episode 00:00 -Introduction 07:32 - Web Design Journey 12:51 - Learning the Basics 17:38 - Being in a Community 22:13 - Clients around the World 27:41 - Platform Transition 31:43 - Create Recurring Income 38:39 - Doing What you Enjoy 44:58 - Value Ladder of Knowledge 47:53 - Pric...
Mar 25, 2024•1 hr 5 min
Copywriter & Brand Messaging Strategist Sarah Guilliot shares how to create client case studies to make more and easily attract new web design clients based off of client stories and results. In This Episode 00:00 - Creating Effective Web Design Case Studies 04:51 - Uncovering the Power of Case Studies 08:17 - Effective Case Studies for SEO 13:46 - Creating Effective Case Studies 25:01 - Improving Business Results With Real Numbers 31:00 - The Power of Casual Conversations 35:44 - Benefits o...
Mar 18, 2024•57 min
Brad Hussey of the Creative Crew Community shares how you as a web designer can create content that attracts the right type of customers for you. In This Episode 00:00 - Content Creation Strategies 10:42 - Thought Leadership 17:13 - Amplifying Through Interview Series 30:46 - Building a Business on Rented Ground 37:10 - Tool-Specific Content 52:20 - Evolution of Web Design Tools 1:04:30 - Building a Community Get all links, resources and show notes at: https://joshhall.co/316 When you join Web D...
Mar 11, 2024•1 hr 15 min
This is a replay of the live Q&A Josh held for Web Designer Pro™ members on Scaling a Web Design Biz In This Episode 00:00 - Introduction 04:10 - Starting with Finances 10:15 - Raise Rates to Scale 15:00 - Testing New Waters 19:36 - Clients Pay for Quality 26:48 - Go MAD with SOP 32:40 - Password Sharing 35:20 - Team Communication 41:03 - Project Management 49:21 - Giving Team Access 52:46 - Tools to Use 1:00:06 - Finding Good Help 1:05:04 - Pro’s for Hire 1:10:23 - Josh’s Professional Dev. ...
Mar 04, 2024•1 hr 23 min
Co-founder of Circle.so Andy Guttormsen is back on the podcast sharing his insights on what’s working well for the top engaged and profitable communities and membership sites today. In This Episode 00:00 - Online Community and Membership Trends 05:06 - Evolution of Online Memberships and Communities 19:46 - Community Experiences and Engagement 25:05 - Building Engaging Community Experiences 35:29 - Building a Valuable Community for Success 44:08 - Building and Moderating Online Communities 50:54...
Feb 26, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Lindsay Halsey of Pathfinder SEO is one of the industry leaders for teaching web designers SEO and how to package up and sell SEO services. She’s on the forefront of the latest SEO trends including Google's new Generative Search Experience which is essentially Google AI. In this episode, she’s sharing everything she knows to help you prepare for both your website and as a potential new offer for your clients when Google rolls out the new experience! In This Episode 00:00 - AI Search and SEO...
Feb 19, 2024•54 min
