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I understand there are a million web design threads but I'm doing this a bit more as a progress thread for myself and also to maybe to show it isn't as hard as you might think. I have another progress thread that has to do with a fastlane idea and am currently in the process of finishing the information product I want to test out on the market. I'm not one to be diligent about keeping the progress journal day to day but I do like to every now and then give an update.
Anyways, the reason why I thought it was useful for me to make a thread about web design/marketing was because I did something completely differently this time around. I started marketing back in 2019 and learned about web design and copywriting. I went all in for a time then I focused more on a sales job that began to make me more money. So from like 2022 to like 2025 every client I got was either a referral or a cold call (which weren't many but it was a nice little extra income).
I saw a few threads from @Dark Water , @ZackerySprague and @markspray and in general their threads talked about a kid making good money from ads, AI and ideas. So I figured why not? I had some extra cash so I threw it into some ads, wrote the copy and put a $15/day budget. I was surprised at how effective it was, considering I'd never done any ads for web design only for my clients. I just always had the belief web design was too "high ticket" for a meta ad. I've only closed one, am in the process of closing another one tonight but we'll see. Broken even on my marketing budget.
Anyways, a few things I noticed off the bat.
-It really does seem things are kind of shifting towards a more "subscription" based idea of websites. Not that the prospects I've talked to (so far about 15) have outright said it but I've heard more than once how some of them are working with marketers that are charging $200/month for meta ads marketing and a website. Others have outright told me that with AI they could just do it. It really is tempting me because I think @Dark Water has said a few times that charging $100/month for the website does not seem like a bad idea, and for real it really doesn't.
-My offer is pretty generic (websites, SEO, Google Business) and I'm really gonna hone in on how to adapt to this "new" market. I'm struggling between biting the bullet and just testing out that subscription offer or if I should get more field info on selling a "large" package (closing $500 and up). So far there's been a lot of hesitance, much more than I remember back when I started but it could just be I'm rusty aggressively selling websites. But in sales, everything's on you. So I'm not being persuasive enough and the offer does not seem to make them care enough to make it feel urgent.
-My low ball offer also gets resistance ($195 for a full, 3-5 page SEO-friendly website, $35/month maintenance fee) which makes me 99% sure I'm not framing and selling the benefits well enough. I plan on sitting down soon to make it crystal clear what it is that I'm offering and why they even care in the first place. But hey, they are answering the ads and willing to call or meet up so I do know the need is there. I just need to poke at it. My country is famous for cheapskates, though lol not using it as an excuse but people will notoriously low ball you even on the low ball offers (Had a dude offer me $80 for Christ's sake).
All in all, it's been fun. I did it as an experiment and if I can close even a few of my next calls, it would officially be profitable. Have a call later tonight, just finished my first project with this "new" agency and have a list of follow-ups for next week. The ads are also doing fine with one qualified lead per day and most of them have gotten on the call with legitimate business ventures. Closing rate is super low, though, as I've only closed one. But for the first week I think that's pretty good in terms of breaking even with the marketing.
Also, I've been getting the hang of using AI to make the websites and not letting it appear to be AI slop. I found that entering the website into ChatGPT and asking for harsh feedback and how to make it look more natural has yielded good results. Polishing afterwards is where I put most of the time in as well as the website copy and keywords. I did most of my work on Wordpress so there was a bit of a learning curve but it's insane how quickly one can have a website if you just go with the first prompt.
Anyways, the reason why I thought it was useful for me to make a thread about web design/marketing was because I did something completely differently this time around. I started marketing back in 2019 and learned about web design and copywriting. I went all in for a time then I focused more on a sales job that began to make me more money. So from like 2022 to like 2025 every client I got was either a referral or a cold call (which weren't many but it was a nice little extra income).
I saw a few threads from @Dark Water , @ZackerySprague and @markspray and in general their threads talked about a kid making good money from ads, AI and ideas. So I figured why not? I had some extra cash so I threw it into some ads, wrote the copy and put a $15/day budget. I was surprised at how effective it was, considering I'd never done any ads for web design only for my clients. I just always had the belief web design was too "high ticket" for a meta ad. I've only closed one, am in the process of closing another one tonight but we'll see. Broken even on my marketing budget.
Anyways, a few things I noticed off the bat.
-It really does seem things are kind of shifting towards a more "subscription" based idea of websites. Not that the prospects I've talked to (so far about 15) have outright said it but I've heard more than once how some of them are working with marketers that are charging $200/month for meta ads marketing and a website. Others have outright told me that with AI they could just do it. It really is tempting me because I think @Dark Water has said a few times that charging $100/month for the website does not seem like a bad idea, and for real it really doesn't.
-My offer is pretty generic (websites, SEO, Google Business) and I'm really gonna hone in on how to adapt to this "new" market. I'm struggling between biting the bullet and just testing out that subscription offer or if I should get more field info on selling a "large" package (closing $500 and up). So far there's been a lot of hesitance, much more than I remember back when I started but it could just be I'm rusty aggressively selling websites. But in sales, everything's on you. So I'm not being persuasive enough and the offer does not seem to make them care enough to make it feel urgent.
-My low ball offer also gets resistance ($195 for a full, 3-5 page SEO-friendly website, $35/month maintenance fee) which makes me 99% sure I'm not framing and selling the benefits well enough. I plan on sitting down soon to make it crystal clear what it is that I'm offering and why they even care in the first place. But hey, they are answering the ads and willing to call or meet up so I do know the need is there. I just need to poke at it. My country is famous for cheapskates, though lol not using it as an excuse but people will notoriously low ball you even on the low ball offers (Had a dude offer me $80 for Christ's sake).
All in all, it's been fun. I did it as an experiment and if I can close even a few of my next calls, it would officially be profitable. Have a call later tonight, just finished my first project with this "new" agency and have a list of follow-ups for next week. The ads are also doing fine with one qualified lead per day and most of them have gotten on the call with legitimate business ventures. Closing rate is super low, though, as I've only closed one. But for the first week I think that's pretty good in terms of breaking even with the marketing.
Also, I've been getting the hang of using AI to make the websites and not letting it appear to be AI slop. I found that entering the website into ChatGPT and asking for harsh feedback and how to make it look more natural has yielded good results. Polishing afterwards is where I put most of the time in as well as the website copy and keywords. I did most of my work on Wordpress so there was a bit of a learning curve but it's insane how quickly one can have a website if you just go with the first prompt.
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