Web Design Business with Josh Hall

You’ve heard of work/life balance…but what about life/work balance?

What if, instead of prioritizing our work and living life around that, we set our calendars, schedules, and weekly routines to have our work revolve around our ideal week?

As freedom based lifestyle web designers, that’s exactly the option we have available to us

But it takes a proactive approach to make this happen, otherwise calls, meetings, design and troubleshooting will take up our entire week.

So, to help dig in on how to do this practically, I can’t think of anyone better to learn from than Oscar, the CEO of Lifedge who’s at the forefront of this life/work balance movement.

Covered in the episode:

• How to set boundaries between family and work while working from home
• How to turn your “business mind” off after hours
• How to make it work when your spouse is in business with you
• The game-changing practice of a “look ahead” weekly meeting with your spouse or family
• The seasonal approach to hustle

Personally, I love these types of conversations because, as someone who loves my work and who likes to work, I constantly need to be prompted and reminded to make sure I’m not out of balance with my wife and family.

A healthy approach to balancing work and family = doing this sustainably without burning out.

Get all the show notes, and view a full transcription of our podcast chat now at joshhall.co/344

View all Web Design Business Podcasts with show notes and full transcriptions at: https://joshhall.co/podcast

Podcast Playlists are now live!! 🎉

Check out the playlists here

Currently, we have a dozen listening pathways with episode categories on:

1. Starting a web design biz
2. Growing a web design biz
3. Scaling a web design biz
4. Getting clients
5. Pricing
6. Recurring revenue
7. SEO
8. Design & conversions
9. Systems and processes
10. Coaching & Q&A’s
11. YouTube

    Join Web Designer Pro™ before we hit the 250 member cap!
    https://joshhall.co/pro

I’ve noticed a common thread among web designers who always seem to have no trouble getting clients - they’re easily ‘referable’ 🤝

It might be a niche, it might be a skillset, it might be something they're known for but in all cases, they’re easily referred to. 

For example, here are some Web Designer Pro members who fit the “easily referred” bill:

• Want a web designer who also helps you with email marketing? Talk to April who specializes in websites and email sequences at aprilraycreative.com
• Want a web designer who specializes in church websites? Talk to Marc who I referred to my old church because when they reached out, Marc had told me “church websites are my jam” - easy referral! And, he even has a church websites page on his site which made it even easier to refer to and show examples to.
• Know a coach who needs a website? Talk to Jason with SwyftSites who specializes in websites for coaches.
• Need help with local SEO? Talk to Sam who’s become the ‘King of SEO’ here in Pro via his site thencandesigns.com
• Need help with high-converting website copy? Michelle has a service tailored JUST for that called “copy boost” - so clear, so easy to refer.
• Email problems? Amr is THE email guru who’s unbelievably easy to refer because very few web designers want to specialize in that!

In all cases, these folks are easily referable; easily remembered, and often top of mind.

So, what can you do to make yourself more “referable”??

In this podcast episode, I’m expanding on my top 6 tips to make it easier for clients and colleagues to refer you and help you get more web design clients!

Get all links and resources mentioned along with a full transcription at:

https://joshhall.co/343

The Web Design Business Podcast is available on:

Apple - https://apple.co/36wnnc3
Spotify - https://spoti.fi/36ttME

or wherever you get your podcasts

View all Web Design Business Podcasts with show notes and full transcriptions at: https://joshhall.co/podcast

Podcast Playlists are now live!! 🎉

Check out the playlists here

Currently, we have a dozen listening pathways with episode categories on:

1. Starting a web design biz
2. Growing a web design biz
3. Scaling a web design biz
4. Getting clients
5. Pricing
6. Recurring revenue
7. SEO
8. Design & conversions
9. Systems and processes
10. Coaching & Q&A’s
11. YouTube

    Join Web Designer Pro™ before we hit the 250 member cap!
    https://joshhall.co/pro

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 Pro community who joined BEFORE he even had a paying client and in less than a year, is closing in on 6-figures with (as of August 2024) $7,197.00 in monthly recurring revenue. And that’s just monthly MRR, not including one off web design projects and hourly work.

If you’re curious about what he did to get to this level so fast, you’re in luck because Sam is on the podcast sharing exactly what he did!

We cover:

• What in the world Sam was thinking when he quit his day job with 0 paying clients
• How Sam began to get web design clients and instant cash flow
• How he fell in love with one area of web design (Local SEO) and made that his primary service
• How he sells SEO services to build recurring income
• Sam’s plans (and challenges) with such quick growth

One of my favorite aspects of Sam is that he’s an open book. We talk numbers, real sales data, and proven strategies that work in this one.

Sam has consistently been one of the most engaged members of Web Designer Pro and has quickly become the “go to Pro” for Local SEO which has not only been a huge help to his business but also for our community as he recently did a full expert training on How to Rank Websites Locally which you can now watch on my YouTube channel!

Even if you’re not yet a member of Pro, we want to give you some hot tips for local SEO because, as Sam has shown, it can really help you build your recurring revenue and be a great addition to your web design business.

Sam just launched a sub-community of Web Designer Pro “Local SEO Academy” which you can check out now at https://localseoacademy.co/josh which is a great additional place for you who are interested in diving deeper into local SEO!

We cover a lot of the fundamentals and most important SEO strategies for web designers in Pro but since that’s not our primary focus, I’m so excited to have partnered up with Sam who is diving deeper into it. And quite frankly, who better to learn local SEO from than the man who went from $0-$7k+ in MRR in one year??

Get all the show notes, and view a full transcription of our podcast chat now at joshhall.co/342

View all Web Design Business Podcasts with show notes and full transcriptions at: https://joshhall.co/podcast

Podcast Playlists are now live!! 🎉

Check out the playlists here

Currently, we have a dozen listening pathways with episode categories on:

1. Starting a web design biz
2. Growing a web design biz
3. Scaling a web design biz
4. Getting clients
5. Pricing
6. Recurring revenue
7. SEO
8. Design & conversions
9. Systems and processes
10. Coaching & Q&A’s
11. YouTube

    Join Web Designer Pro™ before we hit the 250 member cap!
    https://joshhall.co/pro

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 businesses work, learning, marketing, team building, and scaling years on end will catch up to you.

I’ve seen it happen to a lot of web designers and business owners I know.

But GOOD NEWS - burnout can be avoided. 

I’m 15 years into my journey as a self-employed web designer and entrepreneur and I’m still loving it. But it hasn’t always been a smooth journey. And boy howdy do I wish I would’ve heard this conversation earlier on because on the podcast is CEO of Time Boss, Andrew Hartman, who is sharing some “take your time back” GOLD in this convo!


We cover:

• What burnout often looks like (and what signs to watch out for)
• How to protect your sanity and sustainability
• My weird but helpful categories of Work, Fork, Lork & Sork
• How to turn off your mental load
• How the new trend of “4 day workweeks” often leads to more stress and burnout

And much more. All helpful, practical tips for you to help get more time back, no matter what stage of business you’re in.

Spend some time listening then get some time back my web designer friend!

Show notes, links and full transcript live now at joshhall.co/341

View all Web Design Business Podcasts with show notes and full transcriptions at: https://joshhall.co/podcast

Podcast Playlists are now live!! 🎉

Check out the playlists here

Currently, we have a dozen listening pathways with episode categories on:

1. Starting a web design biz
2. Growing a web design biz
3. Scaling a web design biz
4. Getting clients
5. Pricing
6. Recurring revenue
7. SEO
8. Design & conversions
9. Systems and processes
10. Coaching & Q&A’s
11. YouTube

    Join Web Designer Pro™ before we hit the 250 member cap!
    https://joshhall.co/pro

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 glimpse of what’s going on in Web Designer Pro.

This session includes:

• A hot seat with Shannon, one of our OG members who’s back and whose business is rockin' with managing 50+ maintenance clients. But she’s had a slow last few months so we talked about proactive revenue growth strategies including a monthly newsletter, repurposing portfolio work for case studies, sprinkling in before/afters on social media and networking in person
  
  
• Angela has a full suite of services to help her wellness clients go from planning/strategy to design/building and to growth/marketing but the lines have been blurry between them all. We talked about how to draw very clear lines between the offers and how she can offer a “Business Plan Strategy” as a low ticket lead-in offer and put her “Growth Plan Strategy” into a 30-60 day, $1,000-$1,500 coaching sprint for her top clients who want a more intensive consult period.
  
  
• Freya whose excitement on sales calls is one of her strengths but clients don’t always “nerd out” about the tools, tech and strategies like we do. So we came up with a good plan to avoid overwhelming clients by putting that excitement into the “results” that her clients are after then following up with an action plan (in phases) for ongoing work.
  
  
• Landon one of our youngest members of Pro just sent out a $2,800 proposal and wondered if it was too much…too little…confusing…not enough specifics?!? Well, considering Landon’s just a few months into his biz, it’s a great starting point and he’ll continue to raise those rates as his offers become more clear. The proposal was super clear and succinct which is more than most of us can say that early on! Go Landon and let us know if they move forward. Again, great start.
  
  

And I have an exciting update since this call…Landon LANDED that proposal!! Way to go dude. What a bunch of awesome PROS here.

I sincerely hope you enjoy this coaching call and implement some of these takeaways and strategies.

Again, this is the type of thing that’s happening EVERY WEEK in Web Designer Pro and things are just getting more, as the kids say these days, LIT in Pro.

Ready to join the fun?

You can now go to the newly redesigned (with Divi 5) Pro page at:

WebDesignerPro.com

Check out all the links mentioned in this episode at joshhall.co/340

Podcast Playlists are now live!! 🎉

Check out the playlists here

Currently, we have a dozen listening pathways with episode categories on:

1. Starting a web design biz
2. Growing a web design biz
3. Scaling a web design biz
4. Getting clients
5. Pricing
6. Recurring revenue
7. SEO
8. Design & conversions
9. Systems and processes
10. Coaching & Q&A’s
11. YouTube

    Join Web Designer Pro™ before we hit the 250 member cap!
    https://joshhall.co/pro

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 niche agency in the landscaping company marketing world with a focus on SEO and marketing. Oh and they’re Divi guys so of course we hit it off.

We cover:

• How to avoid comparing yourself to other agencies
• Being a student, not a follower (when following influencers)
• Proven strategies and layouts over creative design
• Ironically getting great SEO results with the “slow Divi theme)
• Whether or not bropreneur culture is thriving or dying

Enjoy friends! I believe this is one of the longest we’ve aired on the show but it flew by.

And you can check out their podcast by searching Ever Bros Agency Growth Podcast wherever you listen.

Get all links and resources mentioned along with a full transcription at:

https://joshhall.co/339

The Web Design Business Podcast is available on:

Apple - https://apple.co/36wnnc3
Spotify - https://spoti.fi/36ttME

or wherever you get your podcasts

View all Web Design Business Podcasts with show notes and full transcriptions at: https://joshhall.co/podcast

Podcast Playlists are now live!! 🎉

Check out the playlists here

Currently, we have a dozen listening pathways with episode categories on:

1. Starting a web design biz
2. Growing a web design biz
3. Scaling a web design biz
4. Getting clients
5. Pricing
6. Recurring revenue
7. SEO
8. Design & conversions
9. Systems and processes
10. Coaching & Q&A’s
11. YouTube

    Join Web Designer Pro™ before we hit the 250 member cap!
    https://joshhall.co/pro

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 they are there to help members give and get referrals. It’s what led to over 50% of my web business revenue and it’s the strategy that is working for many members of my community Web Designer Pro.

One of my community members who this strategy has worked so well for is Mike Albuquerque who, last year, tracked that he brought in $208,000 worth of web design revenue (website builds, hosting and maintenance plans and growth services) that all stemmed from his networking BNI referral group.

In this podcast chat, Mike graciously opened up on exactly how he hit this huge milestone. 

We cover:

• How Mike got into networking despite behind a massive introvert
• How long it took for him to start seeing results and an ROI
• What he would do differently and the same if he started networking today
• The big difference between networking events and referral groups
• How becoming a connector led to referrals and huge boost in trust with leads

And a whole lot more.

Again, there are tons of ways to get web design clients but if you’re in an area where you can join a BNI group or any similar referral networking group, I recommend it. It’s the quickest ROI, it’s what worked for me and tons of members in my community including Mike who is already on track to well exceed his 2023 revenue based off of referrals.

If it worked for me and Mike, it can work for you! You just need a little patience and persistence for networking to pay off but when it does…hot dog it’s awesome.

A big thanks to Mike for being so transparent with his numbers and sharing his success in what’s worked for him!

Get all links and resources mentioned along with a full transcription at:

https://joshhall.co/338

The Web Design Business Podcast is available on:

Apple - https://apple.co/36wnnc3
Spotify - https://spoti.fi/36ttME

or wherever you get your podcasts

View all Web Design Business Podcasts with show notes and full transcriptions at: https://joshhall.co/podcast

Podcast Playlists are now live!! 🎉

Check out the playlists here

Currently, we have a dozen listening pathways with episode categories on:

1. Starting a web design biz
2. Growing a web design biz
3. Scaling a web design biz
4. Getting clients
5. Pricing
6. Recurring revenue
7. SEO
8. Design & conversions
9. Systems and processes
10. Coaching & Q&A’s
11. YouTube

    Join Web Designer Pro™ before we hit the 250 member cap!
    https://joshhall.co/pro

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 even a few days depending.

In this podcast chat, Barb Davids of compassdigitalstrategies.com sheds light on some of the proven strategies she’s seen and implements for quickest SEO wins including:

• How to tweak existing blog post page titles to see results
• The different between heading title and page title
• Why you DON’T want to change an existing URL
• How to mix in video and blogs to get quicker SEO wins
• Onsite tips and tricks you can implement on you or your client sites today for better rankings
• And a whole lot more

While SEO is ever-evolving and challenging in a landscape of algorithm changes and Ai, these best practice principles continue to stand the test of time and are all what I implement in my web presence.

If you get some quick SEO wins using any of these tactics, drop a comment and let us know what worked for you!Get all links and resources mentioned along with a full transcription at:

https://joshhall.co/337

The Web Design Business Podcast is available on:

Apple - https://apple.co/36wnnc3
Spotify - https://spoti.fi/36ttME
or wherever you get your podcasts

View all Web Design Business Podcasts with show notes and full transcriptions at: https://joshhall.co/podcast

Podcast Playlists are now live!! 🎉

Check out the playlists here

Currently, we have a dozen listening pathways with episode categories on:

1. Starting a web design biz
2. Growing a web design biz
3. Scaling a web design biz
4. Getting clients
5. Pricing
6. Recurring revenue
7. SEO
8. Design & conversions
9. Systems and processes
10. Coaching & Q&A’s
11. YouTube

    Join Web Designer Pro™ before we hit the 250 member cap!
    https://joshhall.co/pro

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 revenue. And he’s on track for well over 6-figures this year in 2024. Recurring revenue allowed him to grow his business to become profitable and stable enough to go full time and now support a wife and family of 8 kiddos.

Today, he’s on the podcast sharing exactly how he came into web design, built, launched and sold his maintenance plan to clients and now how he’s offering his new passion for SEO and marketing plans alongside his standard web design and maintenance plans.

We cover everything from:

• Having a people and results-first approach to sales
• How he launched and built up his recurring revenue through maintenance plans
• Where to draw the line between maintenance/support and growth plans
• How to build relationships with clients to retain them
• How to get better referrals from current clients and more

Marc is one of the most engaged members of my community Web Designer Pro™ and is a great example of every sense of the phrase. I hope you enjoy learning from him and take from his example of putting an emphasis on creating recurring revenue through better client relationships!

It all compounds to a stable, sustainable web business very quickly.

Get all links and resources mentioned along with a full transcription at:
https://joshhall.co/336

Podcast Playlists are now live!! 🎉

Check out the playlists here

Currently, we have a dozen listening pathways with episode categories on:

1. Starting a web design biz
2. Growing a web design biz
3. Scaling a web design biz
4. Getting clients
5. Pricing
6. Recurring revenue
7. SEO
8. Design & conversions
9. Systems and processes
10. Coaching & Q&A’s
11. YouTube

    Join Web Designer Pro™ before we hit the 250 member cap!
    https://joshhall.co/pro

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 these folks, it’s because you don’t have a weed-out funnel (or filter in place. And that’s exactly what we cover in this podcast episode.

I was recently on Kady Sandel’s Profitable Graphic Designer Podcast sharing the ins and outs of my weed out funnel and I’m excited to share that conversation with you!

There’s no right or wrong way to filter out leads but I’m sharing, in depth, what worked for me and what works for hundreds of members of my community Web Designer Pro™.

We cover:

• How to identify bad fit leads from one email
• Whether or not you should have an in-depth contact form
• Overview of my “potential client page”
• How to know if a lead is questionable or qualified
• How to attract those high-paying, awesome clients

We also dig into how to stand out in an oversaturated market of web designers, nightmare client experiences that led to me being more stern about weeding people out and more!

Want my proven, weed out process for your business? I’ve packaged up my funneling framework for you!

Included is:

• Full video training (18:50)
• My potential client page (and examples of other real world potential client pages)
• Email template for questionable leads
• Email template for quality leads
  
  

Normally this is $47 but you can snag it now for only $7!

Use coupon code FUNNELCLIENT40 to activate your discount.

https://joshhall.co/product/web-design-client-funneling-framework/

Get all links and resources mentioned along with a full transcription at:
https://joshhall.co/335

View all Web Design Business Podcasts with show notes and full transcriptions at: https://joshhall.co/podcast

Podcast Playlists are now live!! 🎉

Check out the playlists here

Currently, we have a dozen listening pathways with episode categories on:

1. Starting a web design biz
2. Growing a web design biz
3. Scaling a web design biz
4. Getting clients
5. Pricing
6. Recurring revenue
7. SEO
8. Design & conversions
9. Systems and processes
10. Coaching & Q&A’s
11. YouTube

    Join Web Designer Pro™ before we hit the 250 member cap!
    https://joshhall.co/pro