Building any type of business can be difficult. Building your own web design business can prove challenging unless you have the necessary skills, commitment, and persistence.
You may know a lot about building websites, but very little about the actual business of it all. No worries, we’re here to tell you exactly how and what you need to do to successfully start your own business venture with no fuss.
Knowing all the shortcuts is way more valuable than investing in an expensive course. In the next part, we are going to tell you exactly how to launch your business in just a couple of simple steps, and just a few days.
Pick a name for your business
Naming a business is no easy task. First and foremost, you need to decide whether your personal name will be a part of your business’s name or not. Once you decide pro or against, you can then move on to choose the whole name.
There are certain steps you need to take to ensure that the name of your brand is on point:
- The name is easily written and remembered
- It explains your business with ease
- It is not too long
- It is available
- The domain for it is available
To ensure that your business’s name will do you justice, try to brainstorm for multiple options. Having your heart set on just one name can prove difficult in the future, since it may already be taken, or the domain is not available. Try several different names that convey your message and are true to your brand.
Once you have your preferred options, test them out:
- Check if the name is available
- Research the domain availability as well
- Ask your surroundings which one they prefer
These are all the steps you need to take because the name you choose will be representing you and your brand forever. So better choose wisely.
Choose who your customers will be
Just like the name, you get to pick and choose who your customers will be. It is your business, and you get to set the rules.
Do not try to attract everyone. That is not how businesses work. You need to attract customers who are willing to pay your rates, pay them on time, and refer you to other people, or come back for more web design.
Do you think that a good web design agency works with just anybody? The answer is no – they choose their customers, same as you should.
And don’t make a rookie mistake of lowering your rates below acceptable just to attract customers. You will never be able to increase the prices to where they should be.
Write a good business plan
Apart from needing to know a lot about web design, this is a business after all. So, you need to make a great business plan.
Your business plan should:
- Have a clear business identity
- Set goals and targets
- Have product prices stated
- State short-term and long-term goals
- Include an estimate of expenditures and profits
If you are unsure of how it should all look, there are plenty of business plan templates available online, or you can hire someone to do it for you.
Set up your brand
Before you set your brand, you need to decide which voice you want to use. Are you young and full of fresh ideas, or experienced and mature?
Do you wish to price your services high and deem them luxurious, or are you an economical millennial trying to fit in?
When you design all those finesses, the fun starts. Now you get to design your logo and pick a color scheme.
Use the color theory in psychology to your advantage, and compel people to choose you, instead of your competitor.
Get your domain name
Once you have everything in place, you need to register for your domain name.
All you need to do is go to a domain name registrar, check if your preferred domain name is available, and pay a fee.
You can choose between many suffixes, such as .com, .edu, .game, .green, .hiphop, .net, and .org. The most used one is .com, and even though it was initially intended for commercial sites, it is now used for almost any kind of site.
Typically, you need to wait 48 hours before your domain name is up and running. But after the 48-hour waiting game, your website can be born.
Set up your web design business
When you have everything in check, you need to decide which kind of business you want to run. 4 of the most common business structures are:
- Sole proprietorship
- Partnership
- Corporation
- Limited liability company (LLC)
Check with your lawyer what would be the best solution for you and your business. The first two options are faster and less expensive to start up, while the latter are more costly and take more time. However, the personal liability in the first two options is completely on you. With corp or LLC, you will not be personally responsible for the company’s debts.
Build your online presence
Once you have everything up and running smoothly, it is time to showcase what you’ve got. Being a web design business, your website needs to be spot on and show all your skills and strong suits.
To help your site up quicker, you can use web design tools. These were designed to help you with frameworks, testing, mockup, and more. Do not think they are beneath you just because you are a web designer. Those tools will help you put up a website, and your portfolio, in half the time. If you went step by step, it would take you a lot longer to get to your goal.
Create a marketing plan
One of the best things you can do for your new business is make a solid marketing plan. Going days or even weeks with no posts is deadly for a fresh business. But firing up social media with no rhyme or reason is also not a good look for you.
So, sit down with a calendar, and make a short-term, overall plan, and a long-term plan. If you need to post three times a week, set up the days you will post. If you think it is necessary to post twice a day, set up a time to post and make sure you have enough content to post that often.
Blasting on social media is not the only marketing solution. You can also get your visitors to sign up for your newsletter, and send out emails containing all your updates.
Shy away from spamming your customers, because that is a great way of losing them.
Promote your new business
Once you have a marketing plan in place, you will need to act on it. However, as we stated above, when you make a marketing plan, make sure you have enough content to cover it.
If you are lacking in content, or don’t have fresh ideas, you can always use one of your old posts as a throwback. You can even use your customer’s feedback as a post, thanking them for the collaboration. Most potential customers will see how you value your clients and will want to become one.
It is important to take baby steps when starting your own business. Make sure you leave enough time and think your decisions through. Consult a lawyer for any legal matters you may not fully understand, and study everything you don’t know. Always make sure you are present and visible to new clients.