30 Exact Steps to Selling Web Design

Welcome to this checklist guide for starting to sell web design and growing a web design
business. Over the next few pages, I will walk you through a detailed step-by-step process for
creating a profitable web design business as easy as possible.

Why am I doing this?

I know what it’s like to be stuck when starting an online business. Before I started with web
design I had failed with several other online businesses. Even with web design, it took me
months before I started seeing any real progress.

At the time I felt I was stuck because “​I suck at making money by myself​”, but looking back now,
I know that wasn’t the case. I just had no idea what I was doing so, of course, I felt lost.

I hope that this guide helps you to never feel stuck as I did. I wanted to give you a clear
roadmap to success so you quickly learn to sell profitable web design deals and enjoy doing so.

Chances are you are more capable of achieving your goals than you think. The biggest obstacle
will probably not be yourself, but rather not having a clear direction to go in.

With this guide, you will know that every step you take is a step in the right direction. This
means as long as you are taking action you are making progress.

Why Web Design?

I know when it comes to making money online, these days there are a lot of options. I love web
design because it’s an honest way to learn a lot of great skills while getting well paid to do so.

If you stick with web design for a while you will learn how to build websites, sell online, attract
potential customers, and get them to take action and buy.

Once you have learned these skills, you are free to go create your own businesses, products,
and services. Web design (for me) is not a destination but a ticket. It’s a way to start creating the
life you want no matter how little resources or experience you currently have.

If you stick with this guide, I will show you how to build a profitable web design business in a
short amount of time ​AND​ how to develop sales skills for any other future business you create.

If that sounds good to you then let’s get started…

Stage #1 - Getting Started

Stage Goals:
❏ Learn the basics of HTML and CSS
❏ Code a simple website in HTML
❏ Learn to download, install and set up a website theme
❏ Learn to buy a domain and hosting
❏ Get a simple test site live online with a working contact form

Context:
My intention with this guide is to give you the skills to make a lot of money with selling web
design services. To make this happen you got to have some level of technical skill to get
started.

Now I am a BIG fan of taking action as soon as possible, but before you go ahead and find your
first client, it makes sense to at least know the basics. Once you know the basics you can then
start to make very fast (and profitable) progress.

Just like building a house - the better the foundation, the faster you can build. So let’s start
there.

Resources:
Here are some resources I highly recommend for this stage. All of these I have used myself.

#1 - Codecademy
Codecademy.com has a great intro course to HTML and CSS that will quickly show you the
basics of coding. When I first started, I had ZERO coding experience and this is the main course
that got me up to speed.

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Now some advice - don’t feel bad if it’s tricky at first. I found this stage difficult, but you will learn
very fast if you stick with it. Once you know the basics of coding it gets way easier. If you get
stuck then use Google to search for the answers, but also try to understand why it works. This
website is best to find answers to common coding questions: ​Stack Overflow​.

I recommend starting here and just doing the HTML and CSS sections:
https://www.codecademy.com/learn/paths/web-development

They have both a free course and additional paid exercises. I did both but either is fine - work
within your budget.
#2 - Udemy
Once you’ve learnt the basics of coding, it will give you a lot of confidence to be able to build a
website from scratch. This is more of a training exercise than how you will actually build real
website projects later. When you are working with real clients, you will want to work fast (by
using themes, templates and tools) but for now, this is a great way to get more experience and
confidence.

The course I recommend to do is this: ​Build Responsive Real World Websites with HTML5
and CSS3.

This is a course by Jonas Schmedtmann and he does a great job of showing how to use basic
code to build a great looking and simple website. I highly recommend checking this out. A side
note ​–​ this is a paid course (it costs around $30).

#3 - Learn to Use a Theme / Template / Website Builder

Once you know how to code, it makes sense to not have to code from scratch for every new
project. To code from scratch would take a LOT of time and it isn’t needed. I will talk about this
in more detail later, but clients don’t pay you to code - they pay you to help their business.

So the faster we can code the more time and energy we have to help them in other, more
valuable ways. This is one way we can get a huge competitive advantage as a web designer.
By using “easy to build” systems we speed up our workflow while making the end result even
better.

To do this I personally used HTML themes. These are website templates that someone else
already coded. Using a HTML theme you can simply make some edits and switch parts around
to make a great looking website in a very short amount of time.

If you want to see some videos I made on ​using HTML themes​ check them out here:

Learning to use HTML Themes and Templates Youtube Playlist

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But you don’t have to use HTML themes, and for some types of projects there are more suitable
options out there. Some other options are:

Elementor
This is the world's leading WordPress page builder. A lot of my students use this and really
enjoy the system and get great results with it.

Webflow
This is a method of building websites that might suit those with a graphic design or Photoshop
background. It doesn’t rely so much on coding skill as it does on design principles.

#4 - Extra Recommendations
For hosting, I recommend ​SiteGround​ or ​Cloudways​.

I have tried a lot of different hosting providers and these are my favourite. There are cheaper
options (there always is) but they give a great service at a reasonable price.

Once you signed up for a hosting plan, check out the hosting provider’s website or use Google
for a guide on how to get your first website online. If you use a well-known hosting provider
there will be a lot of online guides and videos to show you how to do this. If you get stuck, just
call up the hosting provider and talk to the help desk.

For building and editing HTML themes offline I use ​Brackets.

For uploading the files from my computer to hosting I use ​FileZilla.
Both of these save me a ton of time and are free.

Some of the above links are affiliate links but these are the resources I have been using
personally for years. They help support the YouTube channel, but don’t feel pressured to use
them if you don’t want to.

One last area you might have trouble with is contact forms. There is no easy answer I can give
here since there are some many different types. Make sure to test the contact form every time. If
there are problems here are some possible solutions:

- Contact the creators and ask them for help

- Google it and/or search on forums or Fb groups
- Hire someone on Fiverr or UpWork to fix it (and get them to show you how to do it yourself)

Conclusion:
At the end of this stage, you will have a great base to move into actual client work. If you know
the basics of coding, how to create and upload a simple website, and how to troubleshoot some

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common website issues you are ready to go!

This stage can be the toughest since you don’t get to make any money just yet but if you get
through this stage you are more than halfway there.

In the next stage I will show you how to find your first client and how to get started using web
design to help their business.

Stage #2 - The Fundamentals

Stage Goals:
❏ Using your current network/local area to find a business in need of a simple website
❏ Meet or talk over the phone with the business owner
❏ Find one or more basic business challenges you can help them solve
❏ Create a simple project plan and get them to commit
❏ Design a simple website that helps with these challenges
❏ Get the website live and operational

Context:
This is where the real magic starts to happen. Where skills meet the real world.

Here’s the big secret about making money with web design…

It’s not about how the website looks, it’s about the results that the website gets.

If you built the fanciest website ever but no sales come in for the business you created it for…
well, it isn’t really worth much (or anything) to them.

It sounds obvious, but this is a massive point that most web designers forget about. They focus
only on the code, the design, the layout - and they forget it actually has to create sales.

Keep in mind - the better the results you can create, the more you will be able to get paid.

What does “creating results” mean?

Creating results simply refers to us helping businesses to run smoother and make more money.

Nearly every business has dozens, maybe hundreds, of problems they need to improve, fix or
remove if they want to stay in business. As web designers, this is where our focus should be.

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Our goal is to find out what business problems our clients have and then help to solve as many
of them as we can. This is what makes your web design services valuable and profitable.

The trick to adding value is learning to develop your sales and problem-solving skills. If you
know how to sell and can fix problems, then clients will be eager to pay you for your services.

To help you get going with this I have done up some resources.

Resources:
These are some starter videos to get you going with the main concepts behind how we can get
results for businesses using web design.

Start with watching these and I will then show you how to get your first client.

- How a Website Can Help a Business

- Should you Do Web Design For Free?

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 - The 3 Core Skills You Need for Selling Web design

Now that you have learned about helping a business let’s go over how to get your first client…

Try watching all four of these videos to see how to land your first client.

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If you don’t feel confident about selling at this stage don’t worry about it - we will cover it in the
next section.

Conclusion:
All you need to do for now is to find ​one​ business and get started helping them. Use the current
connections and local area to find your first client - ask family, friends, the business you know
and the people you can easily connect with. The above videos will show you how to do this.

Once you find a suitable business, focus on solving simple business problems with a basic
website. Again - the videos above will help with this.

When you have your first website done and online you are ready to move on to the next stage!

Stage #3 - Learning to Create Results

Stage Goals:
❏ Use your network to look for a business who generally needs more sales
❏ Meet or talk with the business owner about how you can help them sell
❏ Create a simple project plan outlining the problems they face and how you can help
❏ Build a website using this plan with a strong focus on sales and creating customer action
❏ Get the website live and operational
❏ Track immediate and ongoing improvements/results

Context:
Once you have your first project done you will have already learned a lot. You will know how to
communicate with a client, how to agree on a solution (the website), and how to complete a web
project. You are already off to a great start.

In this section, we will build on these skills to help businesses even more and increase our
market value doing so. The more valuable we are - the more we will be able to charge clients.

There are a lot of different ways we could be helping businesses when it comes to web design.
But if we want to make the most money and have the biggest impact there is one main area we
should focus on ​–​ ​sales​.

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Almost every business wants more sales and to increase their revenue and profits. They want
an easier, smoother, more effective sales system that brings more money into the business with
less effort.

If you want to get paid well in web design, you gotta be someone who focuses on the “sales
system” behind the website. You need to see a website not just as a website but rather as a
bridge between potential clients and paying customers.

How to get started doing this is by finding businesses who might want more sales. You then
want to look at the big picture - who are they selling to, why are those people buying, and how
does the website connect to that.

When you learn to look at the bigger picture you can then start to build the best website possible
because you understand the context. In the following resources, I will show you how to get
started with the basics of building these sales system focused websites.

Resources:
Check out the following videos to learn how to start building websites that get results. Knowing
this increases your value as a web designer, making it a lot easier to land high paying clients.

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Conclusion:
When you first start learning web design it seems the “best coder” would make the most money.
But that isn’t the case. While businesses like websites that look good, they ​pay​ for websites that
bring in sales.

The great thing is it's a lot easier to master selling than to master code. If you stick with this
guide you will quickly get to a level where clients will pay you very well to build a website that
sells.

For now, just focus on the basics. Start with a business that needs general help getting more
sales and apply what you have learned in the videos above. In the following sections, we will
look at how to improve our “sales creating skills” and being to increase our prices.

Stage #4 - Working on Your Skills

Stage Goals:
❏ Prospect for a business with an immediate need for more sales
❏ Have a sales meeting looking at their business problems and the potential that exists
❏ Create a detailed project plan showing how you can help them
❏ Create a budget that will allow you to do your best work / get the best results
❏ Close the client on the budget and get a partial upfront payment
❏ Get the website live and operational
❏ Track results and create an interesting and compelling client case study

Context:
If you get to this stage, you are doing amazing. You have learned how to code, you’ve built your
first website, and then built another website that focused on creating more sales. This is
amazing progress!

In this stage, we are going to switch things up slightly. We are going to start looking at how we
can get paid more as a web designer. As I said earlier I believe that every business needs help
with getting more sales. ​BUT some businesses will pay a lot more than others for this help.

What is the difference? Urgency.

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Imagine two different businesses. One business would like some more sales but in general,
they are doing quite well. The other business needs more sales right away or they might have to
fire some staff!

Who is going to be more interested in hearing about how you can help them? The business who
needs more sales NOW.

Looking for businesses that have an urgent sales problem means they are much more likely to
be interested in possible solutions. The difference between trying to sell to someone who “​kind
of” ​needs a solution and who “​needs a solution right now, today”​ is massive.

When we come across businesses that need immediate help we are in a great position to start
increasing our prices. To learn how to find these types of businesses and how to sell them your
web design services check out the following videos linked below.

Resources:
These videos are going to teach you how to show the client they need urgent help. Once they
can see that they need help right away, it becomes a lot easier to close a sale.

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Conclusion:
Most businesses already know they need help to get more sales. But human nature can stop
people from taking action even when they know they should. When we are selling we need to
overcome this problem by showing our potential clients they need to take action immediately!

By finding real AND urgent business problems, we get the attention of potential clients. We
change their thinking from “​it would be nice to have a new website sometime​” to “​I need to fix
this big problem right away!​”

Once you learn how to sell in this way, you will find it much easier to land high paying web
design jobs. You will also find those business owners much more value your time and input into
helping their business. This is because you are focusing on real problems they never managed
to tackle before. You were the person who got them to finally take big action!

Stage #5 - Mastering Sales and Creating Results

Stage Goals:
❏ Repeat the above stage till you have a total of 3 successful projects
❏ Read 5 sales, marketing and copywriting books
❏ Take one proper course on sales skills
❏ Study and learn one additional web skill
❏ Join and get engaged with at least one business group or network

Resources:
There is a lot more I would love to teach you about how to sell and grow a profitable web design
business. But with this guide, we are a little bit limited with space.

In this section, I will give you some general steps to take to keep improving at sales. Just follow
these steps and you will find that in no time you are quickly mastering the art of selling.

#1 - First is to set the goal of completing 3 great web design projects​.

These should be projects where you really helped a business with some big sales problems and
got them some great results. This will help a lot with your skills and confidence, but also in
building a great portfolio that will be useful to land more sales.

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#2 - Next is to actively start learning how to sell and market as a skill.
You want to be putting in time every week to learn more about selling, copywriting, marketing,
persuasion, and psychology. All these skills are core business skills you can use for life.

Here are the top books I recommend on these topics for now:

The 1-Page Marketing Plan

Spin Selling
Breaking the Time Barrier (free eBook)
Influence: The Psychology Of Persuasion
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
The Secrets of Closing the Sale

Pick 2 or 3 that appeal to you the most and get through those first ​as you take action​.

#3 - Taking proper sales training

If you really want to get ahead in selling and making money with an online web business, you’re
going to want to look at some proper training courses.

A real sales training program or a course is going to give you direct feedback and input and
clear insight on where you can improve. It might also have group engagement and live calls
which are amazing for real-time feedback and help.

When I first started selling online I invested a lot into coaching, 1-on-1 training, and various
sales courses. While it was a lot at the time, it was money well spent and I have made that
investment back in a short amount of time.

If you want to get my current list of recommended sales programs and courses, just shoot me
an email with​ “​sales training​” as the subject line​ to ​[email protected]​. Also, I got my
own sales training program just for web designers so I will add that in there too.

#4 - Study and learn one additional web skill

As you start to charge more for web design it makes a lot of sense to increase the number of
solutions you can offer. More ways to help = more ways to get paid.

There are dozens of ways you can do this including SEO, social media marketing, copywriting,
video production, photography, content creation, email systems, booking systems, email
marketing, ecommerce, graphic design, logo design, and so on.

Hopefully, you don’t all flood my inbox, but if you also want a full list of the current courses and
programs I recommend, send me an email with​ “​extra skills​” as the subject line​ to

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[email protected]​. I’ll do up another current list for these too.

#5 - Join and get engaged with at least one business group or network

This is key ​–​ don’t try to do it all alone. You will benefit a lot by surrounding yourself with other
web designers, entrepreneurs, and business owners. The journey towards your big goals is a lot
more fun when you are around great positive people you can connect with.

Look for both online and offline groups, networks, and forums you can be a part of. And don’t be
the person who joins 50 groups and does nothing! Pick a few groups you like the most and get
engaged. What you put into a group is what you will get out of it.

Extra Resources:
These videos will help a lot also. They are all based around specific selling techniques you can
put into use right away. I added in two real sales calls also (warm lead calls).

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Conclusion:
Learn how to sell and you won’t ever be stuck in life. Out of every skill, being able to sell will
give you the ability to always make money and enjoy both control and freedom in your business.
This applies even more with web design.

Final Stage - Graduation Test

Stage Goal:
❏ Sell your first website for over $1,000 and post up to let us know!

Final Notes:
If you’ve read this far you got what it takes. Stick with it and do what is outlined in this guide,
and you will be easily able to land $1,000 web projects. In fact, I kind of over-designed this
guide to put you in the $2,000 - $5,000 range!

Along with following this guide make sure to surround yourself with the best resources,
influences and people. This will help make things even easier.

My goal with this guide is not that you spend years trying to become the world's best web
designer. ​It is that you use web design to become the most you are capable of.

Web design is just one way to get to your big goal. It shouldn’t be seen as the end
destination, just a way to get started on your bigger journey.

In the future there is a lot more I would like to teach you about selling, mindset, and taking big
action. I hope that I can continue to help you and give you valuable resources like this one.

If you want to keep in touch, then here are some ways to do so:

The Fox Web School YouTube Channel

The Fox Web School school blog and programs I offer

I wish you all the best and make sure to let me know how your journey goes!

Keep focused on the end goal and keep taking action and you WILL get there.

- Rob Anthony O’Rourke

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