How to make extra money as a web designer

This page may include affiliate links. Please see the disclosure page for more information. Posted by Marc Feb 24, Making Money. Back inI started doing some web design work for friends and family as ae way to make a little extra money. InI decided to take the next step and create my own website so I could attract more clients. What started as a little side hustle turned into a full-time web design and blogging business vesigner I have been running since Service-related side hustles, like web design, can be a great option. This article will cover the basics of why you might want to work as a web designer, and the steps that you can take if you want to get started making money as moneg web designer.

Why Web Design Makes a Great Side Hustle

Please use the contact form at the end of the page. Need Support? See the Support Center first. Are you thinking about making the jump from being a «traditionally employed» web developer to being a freelance web developer? Are you a freelance web developer looking for ways to boost your income and better leverage your skillset? I’ve been there and done that on both accounts. In this article, I’m going to share some of the important considerations you need to make when taking the initial leap from employee to freelancer, along with important tips and tools for then making it both work and pay. This is a question that I get asked quite often. And why not? It’s incredibly unstable out there right now. It can be a comfort knowing that the field you’re venturing into holds potential to provide for you. I’ve approached this field from the freelance angle, but that’s not the only approach. It’s important to remember what a freelancer is. Traditionally, a freelancer is an expert in their field. I know, I know Because they were specialized.

01. Cash in on unused files

They got hired to do one job and one job only. They were professional, efficient, and chances were a company could not find better. Contrary to this, employees were salaried personnel hired to do several tasks — and didn’t necessarily have to be an expert at any of them. Back then, you could hire an employee with good graphic design skills, decent or good developer skills and great Internet marketing skills.

Warning — Freelance work can be very Unstable

Instead of completing many tasks adequately, they can complete fewer tasks exceptionally — and that is the recipe for an extremely rewarding and fulfilling career. This was my thought process when I first started contemplating leaving my cushy agency job back in August I wanted to build something that was all me — my network, my skills, my successes. I hope they help you as you make the transition yourself. My point here is that you must account for doomsday — no incoming work. This is a lesson you absolutely do not want to learn the hard way.

Get your finances in order

Great side hustle! This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. To get started, I suggest deciding on and defining the services that you plan to offer. At the end of the day the difference between and expert and a novice is this — experts work smarter, not harder. I’ve been working in internet marketing full-time since I had doubts about my ability to manage this side hustle well, with my daughter at home full-time with me at the time. We quickly got into a scheduling groove and I was able to crank out some pretty good work. Offering add-on services does a few key things. Leave a reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Anyone can apply to teach — and get paid to host — a class. To do this, they offer ‘Braid eCourses’ on personal branding and ‘Braid Coaching’ services. Many designers, especially young ones, don’t charge enough, or rather, they undervalue the price of their work. I batch schedule the work, usually in the mornings when my daughter is at kindergarten. This was my thought process when I first started contemplating leaving my cushy agency job back in August

Get your finances in order

Disclosure: Information presented on Vital Dollar and through related email marketing is intended for informational purposes only and is not meant to be taken as financial advice. Your on-going services could include maintaining and updating the website for clients, managing their social media profiles, creating graphics that your clients can use on their own through social media, managing advertising accounts like Facebook ads ddsigner Google AdWordsand general VA services. Try your hand at consulting Exxtra Creative have turned their design know-how into a full-fledged consulting business Consultants are often what I like to call experienced doers, aka highly valuable people. Later, I also added freelance writing. But the reality is, that you need to work on new ,ake and networks, in order for them to bear fruit. A good business coach goes a long way! Another perk of preferred leads is drastically reduced competition — these projects are typically only shared with tk or two highly qualified professionals, instead of potentially a hundred or. I think this is where my career experience has been really valuable.

How much money can you make as a web developer?

This page may include affiliate links. Please see the disclosure page for more information. Posted by Deb Feb 24, Making Money. Back inI started doing some web design work for ad and family as a way to make a little extra money.

InI decided to take the next step and create my own website so I could attract more clients. What started as a little side hustle turned into a full-time web design and blogging business that I have been running since Service-related side hustles, like web makke, can be a great option.

This article will cover the basics of why you might want to work as a web designer, and the steps that you can take if you want to get started making money as a web designer. Peti is a perfect example of what is possible mmake a service-related side hustle, and how it can impact your individual or family finances.

As a side-hustling web designer, most of your clients are likely to be small businesses and organizations. The cost of hiring a larger agency to design and code a custom website is out of reach for many small businesses. Freelancers and side hustlers can fill the gap by offering services that small businesses and non-profits can afford. There are so many moneg businesses and organizations out extrz, and new ones popping up all the time, that there is plenty of demand. As a freelancer, you can charge a fair rate and still come in well below the price of just about any agency.

My rates as a freelancer were similar. Many freelancers will create websites for clients without coding, thanks to the existing resources like the awesome Divi theme that uow it easier than ever to create a website. Creating a website may x require coding, but a business owner who has no experience with websites jake unlikely to be able to create an effective website without some help. Things like maie, layout, and usability are all important. Business owners may not want to take the time to learn it when they can just ,ake someone like you to set it up for.

If not, you can certainly learn how to use the available tools. In too to web design, there plenty of other related services that you could also offer. Offering add-on services does a few key things.

First, it allows you to make more money per client. Less time looking for clients, or talking to potential clients who never wind up moving forward, means more time to spend on paying clients. Second, some of the services allow you to retain clients month-after-month.

Instead of just designing a website, passing it off to the client, and being done, you can continue to provide services and get paid by that client. Those on-going services can include things like website maintenance and updates, managing social media profiles, and managing ad campaigns.

This may or may not be important to you, but web design like many other service related side hustles is a side hustle that has the potential to turn into a full-time income. If you have an interest in being self-employed and working from home or working while travelingthis side hustle could give you that chance. The purpose of a side hustle is to make extra money outside of a traditional job.

Some side hustles, like taking online surveys for example, are great for making a small ,ake of extra money, but will not give you the potential to make a full-time income. If the possibility of making a full-time income mmake important to you, choose a side hustle that gives you a realistic chance, like web design.

One of the nice things about service-related side hustles is that you will be paid for your time. Sa a service-related side hustle, you can start monwy money with just a single clientand the work that you do will be earning real money. Most service-related side hustles, especially those that are done online, will allow you to have a flexible schedule. You can wsb the work around your existing commitments, whenever you are available. A lot deisgner people are looking for ways to make money with a blog, but most people ignore the possibility of monetizing a blog with a service.

The possibilities will vary depending on the niche of your blog. Even small bloggers can make money with services, while other monetization methods like ads and affiliate links tend to require more traffic.

Even if offering a service is not the end goal for your blog, it can still be a useful way to make money in the short-term.

This is actually the approach I took with my own side hustle back in I started by offering web design and maintenance services. Later, I also added freelance writing. While I was offering those services I was also working to grow my own blog. When the income from my blog picked up from things like ads and selling digital productsI scaled back and eventually quit the services. Peti Morgan is a real-world example that making money with a web design side hustle is possible you can even read her dewigner reports to see details.

Peti kindly agreed to answer my questions related to her side hustle, and you can read the interview. I did this so that I could focus on my health, my family and my side hustles! My intention was to grow my blog income to cover monney shortfall, and more — through affiliate sales, ad revenue and selling products of my. So I designner I needed a service-based side hustle to bring in some immediate income — firstly, to cover our budget shortfall, and secondly to fund my online ass and blog.

Amke I decided to niche down further and offer just that — WordPress website design and development, and eBook design. I batch schedule the work, usually in the mornings when my daughter is at kindergarten.

I wanted to build up a portfolio of work, and test drive my side-hustle alongside caring for my daughter, growing my online business and blog and wsb after the household. I quickly realized that I am really dedicated to, and capable of delivering high-quality work, so in hindsight that was too low.

I had doubts about my ability to manage this side hustle well, with my daughter extrq home full-time with me at the time. I was wrong! We quickly got into a scheduling groove and I was able to crank out some pretty good work. It has low overhead, so most of that was funneled towards my online business and blog, and the budget shortfall.

There are a lot makke moving parts when it comes to designing and developing a website, so if you want to offer this service as an individual person not as part of a project aasyou need to know quite a lot of stuff.

I think this is where my career experience has been really valuable. I think this is really important for small business owners and entrepreneurs bootstrapping their businesses.

Many VAs can do this sort of thing. But if they want to be able to easily add extra pages in the future, or want a blog, then I make sure that they have an appropriate theme customized for their needs. The two give me a LOT of design options and elements. I can pretty much throw anything together with this combination. My favorite themes are Edtra and Extra from Elegant Themes, and they offer a ton of flexibility as. Beware that it can be quite hard to judge your own value.

Women, more than men, tend to undervalue themselves. Because they could be undervaluing themselves. Likewise, if you want to work with people who will pay you more, your services and products need to appeal to.

Look for people who are willing to pay you for your services, and who value what you have to offer. They know, like and trust me already, and many of them are in my target market, which is — small businesses ready to scale up out of the DIY phase. Ironically, it was this business school that helped me work out my target market! A good business coach goes a long way!

From experience, they make for excellent clients! Because you have already bridged that relationship gap, and you can work well together from the start. I just want everyone to be falling over themselves to book me! But the reality is, that you need to work on new relationships and networks, in order for them to bear fruit.

Here is a look at designeg you can do if you want designrr get started. Earlier in the article, I mentioned that how to make extra money as a web designer are several services related to web design that you could offer. To get maake, I suggest deciding a and defining dexigner services that you plan to offer. Are you going to be using existing WordPress themes?

Are you going to customize themes or create your own from scratch? Before going any further, decide on what you will offer and how you will do it. Getting some experience under your belt is an important step.

When I was getting started with web design, my first few clients were friends and family. Most of us know several people who run some sort of small business or maybe they work at a small businessand these people are a good place to start.

With your first few clients, before you have established a track record, you may need to offer your services at a low price in order to get the business. I used project-based pricing rather than an hourly rate, but my prices at first were definitely low.

In addition to building your portfolio, your first few clients will help to give you some experience going through the process from start to finish. Even having just two samples can be enough to show potential clients what you can. When it comes to the items in your portfolio, quality is much more important than quantity.

Only show off your best work. If potential clients want to see more examples, they can always ask you for it. Here are some ideas for ways you can promote wrb and get xetra when you are still relatively new:.

The best way to make more money is to increase the amount that you make from each client as opposed to trying to get more clients. Your on-going services could include maintaining and updating the website for clients, managing their social media profiles, creating graphics that your clients can use on their own through social media, managing advertising fxtra like Facebook ads or Google AdWordsand general VA services.

Even though WordPress makes it easy to anyone to update their own website, there are a lot of small business owners that would rather pay someone to xs it. And you never know, it could grow into something much bigger.

Specialize in something

Earlier issues. Finding ways to earn passive income is a growing concern among many freelance designers. In a previous article for Smashing Magazine, I compared various ways to sell software products online. Disclaimer : This post is about my own personal experience. I was lucky enough to join ThemeForest the biggest themes and template marketplace on the Web in Januaryshortly after it launched.

Service: Figure Out What Service You Can Sell to Businesses

ThemeForest seemed like the perfect way for an unknown, inexperienced designer to make money: no need for a fancy degree or years of experience — just design something cool and the market will reward you. Top designers now gross six-figure annual incomes solely from selling themes, and some do so despite being relative unknowns in the rest of the design world. Overall, it was very positive. First, it helped me launch my design career, because my first couple of freelance clients were all people who contacted me after seeing my templates. The high point of my ThemeForest career. So, if selling themes is so great, why did I design the last one more how to make extra money as a web designer two years ago? There are a couple reasons for this, the main one being that the market drastically changed, and customer expectations changed with it. If you want your theme to be competitive, you need to support shortcodes, build a custom back end and design multiple layouts, not to mention provide excellent support and build a documentation website.