{"id":9783,"date":"2020-08-10T21:18:28","date_gmt":"2020-08-10T21:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aikdesigns.com\/blog\/?p=9783"},"modified":"2024-02-05T11:49:58","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T11:49:58","slug":"8-valuable-tips-to-help-you-start-a-web-design-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aikdesigns.com\/blog\/8-valuable-tips-to-help-you-start-a-web-design-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"8 valuable tips to help you start a web design agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

If only I had known earlier what I now know. \u201dThat’s what I tell people.\u00a0I’m quitting my job because I knew I wanted to do web development and that was all.\u00a0I didn’t have a customer list or potential customers.\u00a0I knew I wanted to be challenged and make more money.\u00a0I’ve done both successfully since then, but I couldn’t do it all overnight.\u00a0I didn’t even know I was interested in starting a web design agency, but I finally did.<\/span><\/p>\n

8 tips you need to start a web design agency<\/span><\/h2>\n

Over the past few years I’ve learned valuable lessons about what it takes to run a web design agency successfully.\u00a0Here are my best takeaways:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A rethink is required when starting an agency<\/b><\/li>\n
  2. Find a partner<\/b><\/li>\n
  3. Find a good balance between work and free time<\/b><\/li>\n
  4. Find a mentor<\/b><\/li>\n
  5. Consolidate regular sales<\/b><\/li>\n
  6. Find space for your office – virtual or not<\/b><\/li>\n
  7. Write contracts<\/b><\/li>\n
  8. Define a process<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Let’s look at a few lessons that it took me years to learn.<\/span><\/p>\n

    1. Starting your own web design agency requires a rethink<\/span><\/h2>\n

    I started in a lifestyle business and it was just taking too long for me to realize that I could have done the business much earlier.\u00a0So it may be that you too have to rethink if you want to make your business bigger.<\/span><\/p>\n

    2. Find a (strategic) partner<\/span><\/h2>\n

    I think it’s difficult to be an all-rounder for people.\u00a0So the key is partnerships.\u00a0I thought I could do sales, development, design, distribution, etc. on my own, but I quickly teamed up with Adam Walker and from then on I didn’t have to worry about design and sales anymore.\u00a0On the other hand, he couldn’t develop as well as I did, which is why we complemented each other very well.\u00a0You don’t always have to look for a 50\/50 partner, but a person who has the same goals as yourself will give you less headache.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Thanks to our collaboration, Adam was able to devote more time to shaking hands and other smiles.\u00a0I’m more technical and feel most comfortable developing, so it’s difficult for me to get in touch with customers and keep in touch (a bit over the top)!\u00a0As we grew, Adam didn’t design anything of his own for the company for years.\u00a0That gave him the opportunity to sell products and bring that value to the company.<\/span><\/p>\n

    “If nobody goes out and sells their own products, when projects that have been worked on are completed, then in the future you will just hinder each other.”<\/span><\/p>\n

    Keep the process going, even if it could slow down ongoing projects.<\/span><\/p>\n

    3. Live a good work-life balance<\/span><\/h2>\n

    I knew I didn’t want to work 80 hours a week.\u00a0Or more precisely, because I had a family, I couldn’t work an incredible number of hours.\u00a0I’ve found that after working 10 hours in a day, my productivity drops dramatically.\u00a0I could keep working and slowly write codes that are getting worse and worse.\u00a0But I could also rest so that I am more productive the next day.\u00a0Divide your strength just right.\u00a0If you think that you can no longer work and are exhausted, then take a break.\u00a0Nothing is more unproductive than not being 100% in shape for your company.<\/span><\/p>\n

    4. Find a mentor<\/span><\/h2>\n

    There will never be a shortage of people who have made a living doing what you want to do right now.\u00a0We worked with a mentor for about a year and they convinced us that what we do is worth three times what we calculated.\u00a0It was clear that we weren’t doing enough for the kind of custom WordPress development we were doing.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Web Online Studio Blog<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

    Our mentor helped us learn more about value-based approaches<\/b><\/p>\n

    You could have the same type of functionality on a small mom pop-up store as you would on a multi-million dollar business, but it’s worth a lot more to a large company.\u00a0Calculate what it’s worth.<\/span><\/p>\n

    5. Building recurring income<\/span><\/h2>\n

    Always focus on this type of work.\u00a0Even if you have too much work today, you have prepared yourself for the future.\u00a0Recurring sales growth is good for you and good for customers.\u00a0Think as easy as possible – maybe you offer a maintenance plan for your customers’ website.<\/span><\/p>\n

    6. Find office space, online or offline<\/span><\/h2>\n

    At Sideways8 we work remotely.\u00a0We don’t see any point in an office overhead.\u00a0I think it only works if your contractors or employees could work remotely.\u00a0Some people need micromanagement;\u00a0if so, I would say you need an office and regular meetings.\u00a0If you have a team of self-starters, then you can save yourself the hassle of an office.\u00a0At the beginning of a new company in particular, it is important to save money wherever possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

    7. Write contracts<\/span><\/h2>\n

    A smile and a handshake work great until at some point it stops.\u00a0Our contract started out very general, for example \u201cwebsite with calendar\u201d.\u00a0But what does that mean?\u00a0What does it look like?\u00a0Do you need recurring events?\u00a0Must tickets be sold.\u00a0What types of payment for the tickets are accepted?\u00a0Who is the credit card processor?\u00a0Where do we get the\u00a0SSL certificate<\/a><\/strong> from\u00a0?\u00a0So you understood what I mean.\u00a0Write everything down – especially the timeline and content.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Always create the content before you have created a page!<\/b><\/p>\n

    We waited two years and two months to get content from a customer.\u00a0We had everything created quickly and then just waited for the content.\u00a0Since we didn’t have any details in the contract, we did all the work for 50% upfront and couldn’t get the other 50% until the site went live.\u00a0So always get the content in advance before you create the page.\u00a0You are free to include the content as a single item in the contract.\u00a0In any case, up-selling in the contract does not do any harm.<\/span><\/p>\n

    8. Define your processes<\/span><\/h2>\n

    I think it’s the most important part, but it could be even more difficult to perfect then.\u00a0Do you have a plan for every project and don’t you deviate from it?\u00a0If it doesn’t go down well with you and your client, then you should adapt it for the next project.\u00a0Trying to hit a moving target is difficult, but if you define everything and put it on a piece of paper then the target is attainable.\u00a0Because the more precisely you define your goals, the easier they are to implement and ultimately the more achievable they are.<\/span><\/p>\n

    1. Time tracking<\/span><\/i><\/h4>\n

    Track your time for everything you do.\u00a0Things add up, a phone call here, an email there that needs to be billed to be profitable.\u00a0Time is one of the most important things that one can no longer get.<\/span><\/p>\n

    2. Project management<\/span><\/i><\/h4>\n

    Find an online tool that will keep you on top of things.\u00a0The bigger the projects get, the more difficult it is to manage them via email.\u00a0If you or the client brings in someone new to work on the project, you need a way to go through what was done.<\/span><\/p>\n

    3. Change requests<\/span><\/i><\/h4>\n

    You will always want to please a customer, but when you start simply making unplanned changes to the project, a door will open for your customer to expect big change requests for free.\u00a0You can document a change request and make sure you know it will cost something.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Going on your own is hard, and growing and starting a web design agency is difficult in some ways.\u00a0In some easier.\u00a0It will always be easier when you surround yourself with \u201cbig\u201d people.\u00a0Always be ready to hire people who are smarter and better than yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n

    This article is written by the <\/span>Digital Gravity web development Dubai <\/span><\/a>company offers the wide array of solutions such as web programming, web design, SEO and marketing know-how from a single source with a manageable budget.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    If only I had known earlier what I now know. \u201dThat’s what I tell people.\u00a0I’m…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-digital-marketing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aikdesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aikdesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aikdesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aikdesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aikdesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9783"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aikdesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29054,"href":"https:\/\/aikdesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9783\/revisions\/29054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aikdesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aikdesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aikdesigns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}