Starting a website building business

website business starting

[antilles]

Hi everyone

I've done some amateur website design on and off for the past couple of years and am looking to start a website design business part time for a bit of extra income. I've already got a couple of jobs lined through word of mouth.

Could anyone give me any pointers / advice which I could use going forward?

My current thoughts are to target companies and businesses without websites, and offer them a basic website based on a choice of half a dozen or so basic 4 or 5 page designs, which I'll either download or create myself. The customer will be given some kind of info sheet explaining exactly what they'll get for their money, down to the number of pages, images per page, logo etc.

I have a few thoughts running around in my head including pricing - not currently sure what to charge, I guess it will be 'suck it and see' and try not to undersell myself.

Also one big point of confusion - how do the experienced among you handle domains and hosting. Do you get the client to purchase these, or do you purchase these yourself and somehow transfer to the client? Are there advantages of either method?

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

First of all, like me, are you going to be paying tax on your part time earnings? ;)

[antilles]

We'll see how it goes for a few months I think! Eventually I would like to replace my full time job although I don't know how realistic a prospect that is until I test the water

[bkeep]

You can make a decent full time income. The first thing is to get your name out there and do a few sites and advertise your services to your local area. Once you get a little credibility as someone who delivers what they promise You will have to raise your rates to keep from being overwhelmed.

I have a few thoughts running around in my head including pricing - not currently sure what to charge, I guess it will be 'suck it and see' and try not to undersell myself.

What to charge really depends on what you think your worth and what your clients will be willing to pay.

Also one big point of confusion - how do the experienced among you handle domains and hosting. Do you get the client to purchase these, or do you purchase these yourself and somehow transfer to the client? Are there advantages of either method?

When I first started, I just did the designs, I noticed after awhile I was letting a lot of money go through my hands.

I figured that both me and my clients could benefit from me managing their sites so the next step in the evolution was to be the middle man. I maintained all the billing records and billed my clients an additional charge to take care of the hosting.

Once that got to be a pain to manage I just got a server and provide hosting as well as design services to anyone that wants it.