How to Learn Code, Start a Web Company, $15k+ per month within 9 months

[ChasingPaper]

Can you explain that a bit more - Is that for HTML?

I have some sites up to 20 pages so for every page I add in I have to change the menu on all the other pages to include it. Can that resolve that issue?

Its probably the most annoying thing with HTML - changes to the menu or the footer.

Fox,

I know ruby (backend language) and use the rubyonrails framework, with rubyonrails you can simply edit the application file which goes across all pages. It's mainly used for the nav bar and footer and whatever else you want to stay consistent across all the pages.

Ruby is also incredibly simple to learn, it's the easiest backend language and with rubyonrails you can build sites very fast.

Hit me up if you have any questions about ruby or the framework you can use. I wouldn't mind getting on a video call with you and showing you how it worked.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

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[Martinv678]

Can you explain that a bit more - Is that for HTML?

I have some sites up to 20 pages so for every page I add in I have to change the menu on all the other pages to include it. Can that resolve that issue?

Its probably the most annoying thing with HTML - changes to the menu or the footer.

Yes! So this will help you massively. Change it one place and it'll change it across all the pages. Also say you have a button you repeat you would just drop in the template and if it changes it will change everywhere. Also someone said about injecting template with JS/JQuery, I personally would try to stay clear of doing that. This will speed up loading time as the server will have to render less HTML but the user will experience a flicker as the JS will take time to initialise to the page. Also, SEO bots will not pick this up in crawls so will hinder any SEOable content inside the JS.

So on the server (Node) I use express-handlebars what will render the handlebars template to HTML when you go to a URL. It also means you can do different variations of the same page based on the URL (it's obviously been this way for years with other server side rendering but this is a newer way of doing it).

I'll put it online tomorrow for everyone to use. If you need help I can answer any questions you have but it should help.

 

[Martinv678]

BTW the way Breaking The Time Barrier is a great read!

 

[Chimp]

I've read all the pages in this thread but still have a question. I see your main service is to not only to design a website but to draw customers into purchasing the site owner's product/service. Where do I learn this skill? Like how to successfully make call to actions, funneling, etc.? thank you!

 

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[SuperDuper]

When using themes do you have to give attribution? I know for free themes you usually do, but I'm not sure about the themes you paid for.

 

[ChasingPaper]

When using themes do you have to give attribution? I know for free themes you usually do, but I'm not sure about the themes you paid for.

Usually with paid themes no. And most people who use free themes don't either (not saying it's right).


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[Fox]

When using themes do you have to give attribution? I know for free themes you usually do, but I'm not sure about the themes you paid for.

No, technically you are meant to use a theme for only one site per purchase but you do own the site.

All my sites just list my design company with a link back to my domain on every page in the footer.
I actually get a surprisingly low amount of traffic from it though.
I have never sold a site through my own website, always through referrals or cold calling.

 

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[devine]

Also someone said about injecting template with JS/JQuery, I personally would try to stay clear of doing that. This will speed up loading time as the server will have to render less HTML but the user will experience a flicker as the JS will take time to initialise to the page. Also, SEO bots will not pick this up in crawls so will hinder any SEOable content inside the JS.

False, as google crawls initialized and fully downloaded pages, content parts injected with javascript are perfectly crawlable.
Regarding user experience, your page is not displayed, until html file is loaded with everything that is placed above the fold, so no, this is not a problem as well.

 

[JDx]

Making good progress on the first website. Thanks again for all the info!
I forgot how frustrating coding can be lol. But it's getting there.

Quick question for you guys;
The client currently has no website, domain name or hosting of any kind.
I was thinking of offering the website to them for free, as per suggestion in this thread, to start off a portfolio. However, from what I noticed, is that you all had clients who already had hosting in place.
Setting up the hosting and domainname is probably the best way to go for the client, which is obviously fine with me. However, I'm unsure what to do with the costs. Should I set everything up and then transfer everything to their name (so me paying for the first year/months of hosting etc), or let me stay in charge for it all, sending them invoices or whatever?
Keep in mind this client has literally 0 IT knowledge.

Also;
Do you guys charge for revisions or edits after the site is delivered?
If so, where do you draw the line between a small textual change vs a fairly bigger layout change, regarding charging for this? What is considered a change "worthy" of charging for?

Cheers

 

[Fox]

Making good progress on the first website. Thanks again for all the info!
I forgot how frustrating coding can be lol. But it's getting there.

Quick question for you guys;
The client currently has no website, domain name or hosting of any kind.
I was thinking of offering the website to them for free, as per suggestion in this thread, to start off a portfolio. However, from what I noticed, is that you all had clients who already had hosting in place.
Setting up the hosting and domainname is probably the best way to go for the client, which is obviously fine with me. However, I'm unsure what to do with the costs. Should I set everything up and then transfer everything to their name (so me paying for the first year/months of hosting etc), or let me stay in charge for it all, sending them invoices or whatever?
Keep in mind this client has literally 0 IT knowledge.

Also;
Do you guys charge for revisions or edits after the site is delivered?
If so, where do you draw the line between a small textual change vs a fairly bigger layout change, regarding charging for this? What is considered a change "worthy" of charging for?

Cheers

On my free sites I still got the client to pay for their own hosting. Its best if you can get them to set it up themselves and then give you access. This is quite easy with GoDaddy.

I allow people a month for small changes for free. After that its $50 an hour. Even if its during a job if its a big change then the price increases usually.

 

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[Martinv678]

False, as google crawls initialized and fully downloaded pages, content parts injected with javascript are perfectly crawlable.
Regarding user experience, your page is not displayed, until html file is loaded with everything that is placed above the fold, so no, this is not a problem as well.

Yea I get but you're assuming that everyone in the world is using google... The HTML will load... make a http request to get your <script src="> then will initialize the js. So will a flicker will occur also if a user returns from another page and has scrolled down the browser will try to return them to the correct place which may not be above the fold.

I just know if I did JS injection in my slowlane job I would be walked out the building as it's not best practice unless you're building a SPA with React/Angular etc. To be honest this is massively detracting from what the thread is about tbh. I'll put the boilerplate up later.

 

[devine]

Yea I get but you're assuming that everyone in the world is using google... The HTML will load... make a http request to get your <script src="> then will initialize the js. So will a flicker will occur also if a user returns from another page and has scrolled down the browser will try to return them to the correct place which may not be above the fold.

I just know if I did JS injection in my slowlane job I would be walked out the building as it's not best practice unless you're building a SPA with React/Angular etc. To be honest this is massively detracting from what the thread is about tbh. I'll put the boilerplate up later.

Bing, Yahoo, Yandex, Rambler and pretty much all other search engines I can think of also crawl it like this, if I understand your concern correctly.
And no, you can place all necessary js scripts in <head> and your website won't display, until these .js files are loaded.

 

[Fox]

Lets keep it about the business side. How to code and best practices are always changing, the overall approach stays the same.

I will look into what you have said though, it would save me a lot of time on bigger projects. Thanks.

 

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[sarks15]

Lets keep it about the business side. How to code and best practices are always changing, the overall approach stays the same.

I will look into what you have said though, it would save me a lot of time on bigger projects. Thanks.

Thanks for this thread @Fox.

Today is my third day using www.codeacademy.com. I found this thread late Friday evening and just went for it. My day job is retail and I don't hate it. I believe that hating anything is just the wrong mindset. I just know that I have more to offer and learn. So I'm going to turn myself into a valuable resource and help a specific market/industry.

I've got enough experience in creating Wordpress sites. However, I see no reason in not learning other things. This week will be all about completing coding and the Udemy course. Eventually I'll start my own progress thread to give back and teach instead of sit back and take.

There are only two questions that come to mind regarding your process Fox:
Do you use MAMP or another local host to build websites?
How do you use a staging URL if you use any?

Ciao!

 

[SenGracic]

Wow ; this post is killing it ! Since I read that post two days ago :

CodeAcademy HTML/CSS Done! (already had some basics with html/css did the W3school tutorials a year or two ago)
I'm doing the Udemy course now... Did over 50% ( finishing the navigation part on Omnifood )
Already learned about e-mail automation last week (Aweber).

Will need to work on my copywriting, though !

Thanks a lot for this post , the value is huge !

 

[Adryor]

Hey guys,

Do you know any HTML template with visual builder (similar to the one that Fox mentioned from themeforest) that you can use multiple times with single license? DIVI Theme is great but it's on wordpress and I'd like something with HTML.

And I like the visual builder because it's nice quickly set up the page and then make some minor changes in css.

PS. This post has immense value.

 

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[FootlooseEntrep]

Great thread. I'm torn on whether to learn how to build websites or not. I see a lot of people say you can outsource, but this thread makes a lot of good points in showing how much money there is to be made individually by helping update or build websites for businesses.

How many hours a day/week did you spend learning to code in the initial 9 months?

You can also try CPA marketing. To give you a gist, my first success came when I sold a website for $1,370. I then got into the business of creating micro niche sites which I monetized with Adsense. This path has solidified my strategy of building sites from scratch and selling it with a bang. I built up several sites and got them earning $200 – $700/month and flipped them after a few months of monetization. I wrote down all the steps I took in my blog: <link removed by mod>
Hope it helps you!

 

[Fox]

Thanks for this thread @Fox.
Do you use MAMP or another local host to build websites?
How do you use a staging URL if you use any?

Ciao!

I use Brackets, which is a free website builder application for Mac. It basically just edits code.

I do use a staging URL. Its really helpful for showing clients demo websites before we switch over. I would highly recommend one for people getting into this. Some clients don't want downtime so its great to have everything 100% before you put it on their domain.

 

[Fox]

Hey guys,

Do you know any HTML template with visual builder (similar to the one that Fox mentioned from themeforest) that you can use multiple times with single license? DIVI Theme is great but it's on wordpress and I'd like something with HTML.

And I like the visual builder because it's nice quickly set up the page and then make some minor changes in css.

PS. This post has immense value.

With HTML you can use a theme 1,000,000 times without paying twice but thats your choice. Technically you are meant to pay the builders every time you use it. I didn't know in the beginning so I was using the same themes over and over for free but now I pay each time.

A HTML theme is unlike Wordpress where there is no plugins or signals back to the developers. It is self contained so there is no real way to know if someone is using it.

With Brackets (and most builders) you can also host the website locally so its really easy to see changes and test builds. The only things that won't work are parts like contact forms or wordpress sections that need to be fully hosted to work. I work offline 90% of the time.

 

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[Fox]

Pretty relevant: https://www.reddit.com/r/learnprogr..._list_of_technologies_i_use_to_create_static/

Also, has anyone had any problems with cold calling? I have done it around 30 times (I know, very little) but I don't get any results at all, people just say no or hang up. It might be cause I say "Hi this is name, is name there? Hi name, how are you doing today?" The moment they hear the "how are you doing" they figure I am a salesman and change the attitude.

Try start local. Maybe even call into places in person. When you phone use places in your city or town to begin.

This also works a lot better with smaller/medium size "rough" type companies. Calling a factory and asking to speak to the boss is pretty difficult, calling a furniture removal company and its probably the boss answering the phone. Start with companies that don't have secretaries.


_______________________________________

Here would be something I would use:

"Hey is Todd there, its Fox"

Either I get straight through or they ask who I am with... "Im with Fox Design" (no explanation, neutral or slight dismissive tone - "this guy must know Todd!")

"Hey Todd, how are ya? Its Fox, you got two minutes?""

Busy Todd: No not at the moment

Fox: "Okay whens good?"

Busy Todd: "Who is this?""

Fox: "I work with fixing companies online marketing, I just worked with X, Y, and Z (same or similar niche) and we did really well. X sales are up ____% and Y just landed two big projects with BigTime industries. When you have a few moments I can tell you more and how we can help you too. I already can see some easy solutions that would work really well for you guys. Is _________ good for you? (aim for later the same day)""


Not Busy Todd: ya I got a moment, who is this?"

Fox: "I work with fixing companies online marketing, I just worked with X, Y, and Z (same or similar niche) and we did really well. X sales are up ____% and Y just landed two big projects with BigTime industries. When you have a few moments I can tell you more and how we can help you too. I already can see some easy solutions that would work really well for you guys. Now how many calls are you guys getting off your website every week... ?"

> proceed to extract as much problems, issues and uncompleted goals as possible
> get their thoughts on the web in general and past work they might have done
> suggest I go through all these ideas and formulate a plan for them they can have for free
> move to stage 2 which is a detailed plan and quote

_____________________________


Now this isn't some magic bullet script that will sell websites like pancakes but it does work quite well. I am persistent but not rude. These guys are busy (I hope) so its just about hopefully finding them at the right time and in the right mood.

 

[Fox]

I've read all the pages in this thread but still have a question. I see your main service is to not only to design a website but to draw customers into purchasing the site owner's product/service. Where do I learn this skill? Like how to successfully make call to actions, funneling, etc.? thank you!

I didn't do any course but have worked in a few jobs where I had front of house positions. I think of a website like this...



Lets say there are 10 possible links on any one page. 8 will being them "downstream" while only one or two go back to the home page.
Every click brings them through a little journey that ticks all the boxes needed for a sale (social proof, trust, scarcity, and so on...)

Now one one page I might have three different links that all say different stuff but go to the SAME page. For example...
"See how we can start helping you today" (link)
"Begin your journey towards better results now"(link)
"Our proven record of success" (link)

All these links bring them to the Services page. And so on until someone has gone the whole way through the site till and they end up on the COA page which asks them to do only ONE simple task - call, usually email or buy.

Now if someone really wants they can find the company history page or privacy policy but its not promoted.
Also its all done in a set order. Lots of websites just have links going everywhere with no plan or formula.

My before and after analytic stats on website designs show the results. Time on the site goes up 100-300%, amount of pages views is the same. And of course COA results go up to.

 

[Fox]

Any more questions post them up, Ill get them to them ASAP. Same with PMs (but try post here if it can benefit everyone).

 

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[Chimp]

I didn't do any course but have worked in a few jobs where I had front of house positions. I think of a website like this...

Thank you very much. I have a much better understanding of this now.

 

[TKDTyler]

Hey Fox,

Thanks for all the information! Do you usually work within industries that you understand? It would make designing websites through understanding of customer needs much more intuitive.

If not, how do you go about understanding what would cause a potential customer to pull the trigger? Are there questions you typically ask clients before you get started?

 

[JoeyF]

Fox, thanks for the thread, it's got me back into pushing the website part of my business a bit more, which has been great over the past month, Sept was my best month. The thing that's beautiful about website sales is, it's the perfect lead on to my main offer which is Adwords management.

It can be tricky to sell Adwords management to people who don't know you because you've got to convince them that you are a good guy in a sea of charlatans.

When it comes to web design, all you have to do is convey a strong message and back that up with a good portfolio and customers will have a much easier time trusting you.

Then when you provide a first class website, it's on to the upsell, which by that time is an easy sell because you're now a trusted advisor.

Anyway, my question to you is this, do you ever consider bringing on a high level designer and paying them %30 - %50 of the fee you take for each job to handle the creation of the website for you?

This is the way I work.

Seems like you have a very solid sales process and with the addition of other people to handle the work, this could scale pretty quick.

Thanks again

 

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[Chazmania]

Any more questions post them up, Ill get them to them ASAP. Same with PMs (but try post here if it can benefit everyone).

You mentioned that it's quite possible for someone to get up to $4000 - $5000 per month with hard work and hustle within 4-6 months.

- Is that assuming that person has average sales ability, or is exceptional ability required?

- What inspired you to take this course of action? You moved to another country and started from scratch and pretty quickly built yourself a nice service business. Did you see someone do this before? How did you know that you'd be able to get this off the ground quickly with so much at stake?

 

[Fox]

You mentioned that it's quite possible for someone to get up to $4000 - $5000 per month with hard work and hustle within 4-6 months.

- Is that assuming that person has average sales ability, or is exceptional ability required?

- What inspired you to take this course of action? You moved to another country and started from scratch and pretty quickly built yourself a nice service business. Did you see someone do this before? How did you know that you'd be able to get this off the ground quickly with so much at stake?

It just assumes they have a sales ability. If you are 50% of the next guy just do twice as much. Ill be honest, I could do a lot more to sell. More calls, more emails, more research but I just do enough. Once my University course is done I will step things up and try aim for bigger monthly figures.

The idea on picking the right company is that its the easiest sale possible. So I don't see it as sales, I see it as selection. There are a lot of low hanging fruit in web design and that suits me just fine. I aim for a sweet spot of big companies in obscure industries with terrible websites.

I always wanted to be my own boss so I just decided one day to go for it. I thought if I could survive a year then I could do it forever. I will reach the year mark in two months. My dad, my uncles, my two brothers, my granddads - all self employed. Even when I was making big oil money it would still get to me that I had a boss and couldn't decide on my own destiny. If I was told I was working somewhere thats where I went. I make a lot less now (I had months over 40K) but I much prefer it. I would rather be a hungry lion than a well feed lion in a zoo.

If you go for something with the right approach you will make it work. I always think back to my family linage over 100s or 1000s of years. Everything they went through with how Ireland was and the work and sacrifice it would have taken to get by. For me to sit in front of a computer and just sell some websites to companies is super easy compared to that. Everything you need is freely available, you can call and email as much as you want and nothing is stopping you. In short I just made it work.

 

[Chazmania]

It just assumes they have a sales ability. If you are 50% of the next guy just do twice as much.

The idea on picking the right company is that its the easiest sale possible. So I don't see it as sales, I see it as selection. There are a lot of low hanging fruit in web design and that suits me just fine. I aim for a sweet spot of big companies in obscure industries with terrible websites.

That's exactly what I meant, you answered the question better than I asked it!

If you go for something with the right approach you will make it work. I always think back to my family linage over 100s or 1000s of years. Everything they went through with how Ireland was and the work and sacrifice it would have taken to get by. For me to sit in front of a computer and just sell some websites to companies is super easy compared to that. Everything you need is freely available, you can call and email as much as you want and nothing is stopping you. In short I just made it work.

Another great point - nothing to worry about compared to real risks.

Great answers thanks again. You're making the time for all these answers while going to school and running your business? That's not easy. This thread is definitely gold.

 

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[Longinus]

Next take the following UDEMY course:

https://www.udemy.com/design-and-develop-a-killer-website-with-html5-and-css3/

If you want to get a big fat coupon (I paid €19 instead of €195), click HERE.

 

[Cato]

Hi all,

I just finished reading all this threat responses. Information here is incredible. Thank you guys for sharing this knowledge.

Myself I have have been in the same business (Web development / marketing) for years now and this thread inspired me to seriously aim for the bigger projects! Thanks for that!

One idea for the ones who want to start out in this field.
Build a service website and rent it out. That was thing I did at start. You´ll get your first projects that way, because you just build it for yourself. Then you could try out SEO strategies for those sites. And then, when you have results (first price inquiries or calls), then you reach out to some businesses, and SHOW the results and offer to rent site out (risk-free for them). Its easiest sell you can make. Additional to that, you will get confidence and fast.

Build and rent a site actually could make you more money for long term. I mean, lets say you rent site out for 150-200 bucks for month. And you do this for 12 months, its 1800 - 2400 in year. From just one website. Key here is to make site that gets results (price inquiries), that´s it.

Good luck to all ya´ll