Journey of the German - Building a web design agency

[PatrickWho]

If clients are responding well to it, that's cool.

Do you find you're catching problems early enough with just an image, though?

Much of my revisions were concerning interacting with the site -- something that is obviously better captured in a working version.

I suppose it would depend on the clients. With mine, I saved time by coding out a working prototype they could play with. Then again, I'm faster with coding a site than with using Photoshop to design one, so I was more efficient doing it that way.

 

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[Andy Black]

If clients are responding well to it, that's cool.

Do you find you're catching problems early enough with just an image, though?

Much of my revisions were concerning interacting with the site -- something that is obviously better captured in a working version.

I suppose it would depend on the clients. With mine, I saved time by coding out a working prototype they could play with. Then again, I'm faster with coding a site than with using Photoshop to design one, so I was more efficient doing it that way.

We're just doing a landing page... two CTAs max. We pretty much have templates for this now.
Catching the design and "angle" of the offer early is very important.

 

[goodguude]

Update after quite a long time.

The digital marketing agency is, as of 2019, consistently making $10k+. I've built a strong network in my local area and realized projects for bigger companies (Yearly revenues of $50 million and more), that I now use as case studies. I also hired my first employee (just a working student for now).

It was and still is quite a lot of work. While knowing that I've obtained a skill & network through which I can make a decent living provides a feeling of "security", the past few months were crucial for my realization that the agency will have a tough time scaling past the $15k mark without niching down. Thus, I partnered up with a sales guy I've got to know through our coworking space and will start a new sub-agency for a specific niche with him.

The original agency will persist, but I will take on only projects with a bigger magnitude ($6k+) and not the time-consuming smaller projects anymore.

Additionally, and probably even more important: I have the opportunity to found a completely new venture in the elderly care market. Especially here in Germany this market has lots of potential. The company will be technology-focused and will have, including myself, 3 co-founders.

 

[GrandRub]

Update after quite a long time.

The digital marketing agency is, as of 2019, consistently making $10k+. I've built a strong network in my local area and realized projects for bigger companies (Yearly revenues of $50 million and more), that I now use as case studies. I also hired my first employee (just a working student for now).

Wow! Congratulations
10k Revenue? What is your ~ % of Profit?

i read the whole thread but i didnt find anything about your experience with webdesign? did you just create good looking wordpress sites for your clients? did you outsource the work?
did you do more complicated stuff for the higher paying clients? or just good looking sites + content creation?
thank you

 

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[goodguude]

Thank you!
It's revenue, but since I am doing most of the stuff myself, I have profit margins of about ~90% (for most of the projects). So, I am building custom wordpress websites and organize the content creation (text, video, images).

Also, I've specialized a bit in Google Analytics, always offering clients to implement it for them and, if they wish, to track & report specific events using Google Tag Manager and Google Data Studio.

 

[GrandRub]

Thank you!
It's revenue, but since I am doing most of the stuff myself, I have profit margins of about ~90% (for most of the projects). So, I am building custom wordpress websites and organize the content creation (text, video, images).

Also, I've specialized a bit in Google Analytics, always offering clients to implement it for them and, if they wish, to track & report specific events using Google Tag Manager and Google Data Studio.

wow 90% is pretty great! keep up the great work