Ah…the tug and pull between wanting to avoid being a burned out agency owner but also not being a stressed out, overwhelmed freelancer…

Surely there’s a happy medium between the two?

Good news, there is. My whole web business education model is focused around this hybrid approach to having a business that runs like a true business/agency but having the freedom and flexibility of a freelancer.

Though I never had a great name for it - someone who does is fellow web design business educator Payton Smith, who calls it “The Solo Agency.”

In this convo, we’re getting into the ins and outs of his experience from being a full fledged agency owner to stripping things down to the basics and taking on a more solopreneur approach. 

We cover:

• The pros and cons of being an “agency” today
• How a life-changing medical diagnosis caused him to rethink his agency model
• How he pivoted to a “solo agency model”
• What he learned leads to more profit and less overhead
• Creating a sustainable business around YOUR goals and needs

I really appreciate Payton being totally open and transparent on this one. With not only the business side of his experience but what he’s learned on a personal level as well.

Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/354

Copy, written by a human, with its flaws, oddities, and personally lived experience beats out corporate, stale, or AI-generated content every time.

From home pages to service pages, to lead generators, blog posts, email sequences, and sales posts…the more personal and genuine you come across, the more it’ll stand out in today’s AI slop world.

To help us get practical and tactical with writing personalized copy that sells more websites, I’m excited to bring on copywriter, podcaster, and speaker Emily Aborn who works with web and graphic designers to help them create, refine, and optimize conversion-based copy.

We cover:

• A copywriters’ take on AI now that we’ve had over a year with ChatGPT
• How and where to personalize content and copy
• How far is too far when creating personal copy
• The superpower of “saying more with less”
• And how stories and real lived experiences translate better today than ever before

Head to the show notes to get all the links and resources we mentioned along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/353

Josh here with big news! Web Designer Pro™ 2.0 (tiered model) is live now!! 🎉

Up to this point, Pro has been one membership tier which gave full access to all of my web design courses, the amazing community and coaching with me directly with a member cap of 250 active members. We're closing in on capacity but the exciting news is...we now have two lower tiers available!

Available in Web Designer Pro™ now is:

1. Courses tier = $49/mo
   Includes access to my entire suite of courses + the private Pro podcast feed
   
   
2. Community tier = $99/mo
   Access to courses, all community forums, events, monthly trainings and AMA's with Josh
   
   
3. Coaching tier = $199/mo
   Access to everything above + direct DM line with me for coaching and weekly group coaching calls

These new tiers will make it more accessible and practical to help you dip your toe into Pro, with a plan that works for you, depending on where you are in with your web design business.

In this episode, we're diving into all the details on the new tiers for Pro and what led to this big innovation.

Jump into Pro now at the tier that works best for you at webdesignerpro.com

The Web Design Business Podcast turns 5 today!!! 🎉 What a ride it’s been so far (and I have no plans on slowing down.)

For this special milestone, I polled my community Web Designer Pro™ for questions and they delivered, asking some GREAT conversation starters.

So in this special, 5 year anniversary podcast episode, I’m dishing out the longest AMA session I’ve done to date at 2 hours!

The questions that came in were mainly in 3 categories:

1. Questions about the podcast (including guest selection, favorite episodes and monetization)
2. Questions about the business of web design (including what’s working today and what I would do differently)
3. Questions about online entrepreneurship (including sustainability, what marketing channels are working today and biggest challenge/best biz decision made )

So that’s what we dive into (in depth) on this one!

I hope you enjoy it and that you get some great takeaways to apply to your web design business and/or online entrepreneurial endeavors.

I also want to say a big THANK YOU for listening to the show on Apple, Spotify, etc or watching on YouTube. I have absolutely loved doing this show at least once a week for the last 5 years and have no plans of slowing down.

Means the world to me to see the reviews coming in, to hear your wins and feedback on how the podcast has helped you in your web design business so thank YOU for keeping this thing alive.

Want to say thanks or give me your feedback on this special occasion?

Leave a comment on the post at joshhall.co/351 or better yet…leave it as a podcast review to help grow the show!



00:00 - Intro to 5 year podcast anniversary
03:30 - Strategy for getting guests
09:28 - Showcasing client results when building portfolio
12:24 - Walking the line being boss and spouse when working together
16:21 - Tips for asking to be on a podcast
18:27 - Guests pushing their free or paid resources
21:13 - The legacy I hope this podcast leaves
23:39 - Vision of the podcast and how it's evolved
30:35 - Episodes that led to the most personal growth
39:13 - Most rewarding part of the job
44:46 - Favorite moments from the podcast
48:55 - Podcast gear, setup, etc
50:22 - Future plans (and how the pod fits into them)
55:20 - Next hot marketing strategies ahead 
1:00:26 - Cultivating an engaged community
1:05:45 - Creating and growing Web Designer Pro
1:09:01 - Marketing funnel from podcast to Pro
1:12:42 - Reflecting on the work you've done
1:13:21 - Best (and most challenging) decision in business to date
1:26:37 - Most memorable podcast episodes
1:28:53 - Biggest mistake new web designers make
1:33:47 - Current struggles and pain points
1:36:00 - What I've learned from so many different people, cultures and personalities
1:42:56 - Batting imposter syndrome (as a web business coach)
1:51:46 - What I'd do if I restarted everything today
1:53:35 - Thank YOU
1:55:42 - Web Designer Pro 2.0 teaser

I don’t know about you…but I didn’t officially “launch” my web design business when I got started. I just kind of fumbled through starting my freelance journey. But if I were starting today, I would put much more effort and emphasis on creating an official “business launch.”

Now to the big question…how do you launch a web business successfully? i.e. Get clients fast?

Well, my guest in this podcast chat, Alexia Lynn launched her web design business in June of 2024 and got 3 new clients in her first 2 weeks after her amazing launch. So I can’t think of anyone better to learn from!

Alexia went ALL OUT for her launch and it’s paid off in a big way in just a few short months. And today, she’s pulling the curtain back on exactly what she did, step by step.

We cover:

• How she got her business ready in order to “launch with confidence”
• What marketing channels she decided to use
• How she built anticipation for her big launch
• How replying to comments kept her launch posts top of feed for weeks
• And even though it was a success, what she would do differently

If you enjoy hearing what worked for Alexia but would love a more step-by-step, checklist guide for your own launch plan…you’re in luck! She’s made her launch plan available FOR FREE at https://visualvibedesign.com/designer-launch-plan

Big thanks to Alexia for sharing everything she’s done in the first phase of her journey. Whether you’re preparing to launch your own web biz or you’re an established web designer looking for a revenue boost, you can use these strategies as well!

P.S. Alexia is a member of my community Web Designer Pro and will be doing a live training breaking this launch plan down in more detail in November 2024! Join today to catch the live training or have access to the replay.

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

https://joshhall.co/350

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

Let’s get real and share exactly how it is…WordPress is not the tool of choice for most web designers getting into the game today.

It may be where most end up, because WordPress is the most popular, customizable, and only open-source platform online but as a starting point, it’s not where most new web designers are starting.

Drag and drop platforms like Framer, SquareSpace, and ShowIt and even more robust platforms like WixStudio, WebFlow, and Duda seem to be where young whipper-snapper web designers jump to first.

So it begs the question…is WordPress just for old people nowadays?

To dive into this topic and to explore both the challenges and opportunities ahead for WordPress, I’m pleased to bring on a young web designer and thought leader Mark Szymanski who, despite being a young whipper snapper web designer, decided to choose WordPress over all the options above.

We explore:

• What made Mark decide on WordPress over more user-friendly builders
• The challenges in competition WordPress has moving forward
• How WordPress can market better to young web designers
• How important it is to have a lean tool stack as an agency owner
• The key ingredient that continues to keep WordPress leading as the most popular platform

Note: we recorded this conversation before the recent WordPress vs WPEngine drama happened so that is not discussed in this one.

If you have anything to add on this topic - feel free to drop us a comment on the show notes at joshhall.co/349

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

Clients don’t really want a pretty website…they want a 24/7 sales machine.

You work hard creating beautiful designs that are built solid and have intentional messaging and copy…but how do you know all that work is paying off for your client?

How do you measure results?

How do you keep your clients coming back for ongoing work over and over again?

Well, at the end of the day…one of the best ways is to offer some sort of CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) as a service.

But I’m sure you have a lot of questions on how to do this practically and how to sell it to clients so I can’t think of anyone better to dig into this topic with than Leigh Scott, a conversion rate optimization specialist.

As the founder of zainatain.com, a design and conversion consulting company, this is her bread and butter.

We get into the weeds on this one including:

• Mapping out sales funnels for clients
• Micro goals vs macro goals
• Common CRO metrics
• Creating a CRO roadmap for clients
• Selling result-based CRO services

A big thanks to Leigh for opening up her playbook on this one!

If you want to learn more about CRO, she’s the next industry expert who’s doing a live training in my community Web Designer Pro! If you’re catching this the week it comes out, you can join Pro and watch her presentation live, otherwise when you join, the replay with all links and resources will be available for rewatch on-demand for you.

And be sure to check out the show notes for this page which has all the links and resources mentioned at joshhall.co/348

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

I recently published a newsletter sharing 5 ways I would get clients if I were starting out in web design today in 2024.

It got a lot of great feedback from both early-stage web designers and established web designers looking for a revenue boost alike - so I decided to expand on these 5 strategies as a full podcast!

We’ll dive into each of these strategies, how I would go about them and how I would execute on them in detail.

In short:

• Join a referral group
• Utilize LinkedIn
• Create local SEO targeted YouTube videos
• Host an interview series
• Start a monthly newsletter

Again, even if you’re established as a freelancer or web biz owner, you can implement some of these strategies as well to get more clients.

But man if I was an early-stage web designer…I would’ve loved to have this roadmap when I got started! So I hope it helps. 🙂

To get more help starting or building your business, be sure to pick up my free training here.

Get all links and resources mentioned along with a full transcription at:
https://joshhall.co/347

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

We just added new listening pathways on the Podcast Playlists page!

🎙️ joshhall.co/playlists

New playlists added:

• Accessibility
• Self-care for web designers
• Content marketing
• Copywriting
• Platforms and builder chats
• Ai
• Speed & optimization
• Legal and privacy

Also added a new quick link menu to help you zip around to your ideal listening path.

If you’re an established web designer, think back to your first year in business. What was your highest paid project? Aside from some exceptions, I’m guessing it was in the low-thousands…or hundreds.

Well, Ben Forred, a web designer who’s still in his first year of business, building it as a side hustle alongside full-time corporate employment recently landed a $7,500 website package and in this podcast chat, shares the entire journey on how he did it.

We cover:

• What Ben did to speed-learn and be able to build websites from start to finish in a few months
• How Ben created and refined his offers and price-points
• How he utilized his background to discover an untapped niche
• His genius process of selling a low-ticket item first to build trust
• How he turned a $1k website project into $7,500

This is a bit of a 2-part convo because we also dig into Ben’s desire to leave his corporate job to have the freedom and flexibility he wants in his personal life as a Dad to a growing young family.

Ben’s story on how he got into web design really sets the stage for the quick progress he’s made in less than a year. It’s evident that he’s serious about this web business and is going for it - and as one of our top engaged members of Web Designer Pro™…I feel honored to have a part in his journey.

Incredible first year that he expands on here. Next step…6-figures and freedom!


Get all links and resources mentioned along with a full transcription at:
https://joshhall.co/346

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

It’s been a little while since we’ve talked about accessibility on the podcast and one area we haven’t covered at all to this point is specifically how to make accessible eCommerce websites.

Everything is more complex with eCommerce sites and accessibility, while complex even at the basic level, gets even trickier. 

So, to help understand all of this, accessibility expert Bet Hannon (CEO of accessicart.com) is on the show as we dive into:

• The very basics of accessibility
• Easy accessibility wins you can achieve on your sites
• The common accessibility traps for eCommerce sites
• The #1 accessibility culprit for restaurant websites
• Offering accessibility from the start of your projects

And more.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with accessibility - perhaps because it CAN be extremely robust but every time I speak with an expert in it, I’m reminded that the most important thing is to have the basics covered. So if you do everything we talk about in the first 10-15 minutes here, that’s a great start.

And while we do get into some of the accessibility penalties that have been circulating, I don’t want you to feel intimidated or scaled by web design as a whole. Accessibility is a lot like privacy and security in terms of the “rare events (aka lawsuits and penalties)” making the headlines.

The goal is simple, make websites as accessible to everyone as possible.

Build sites with that in mind and you’ll be far ahead of most other web designers and you’ll make the web a better, more user-friendly place for all.

Get all links and resources mentioned along with a full transcription at:
https://joshhall.co/345

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