How to Get Web Design Clients

Here’s the hard part about selling websites:

A business only buys one every few years.

So waiting for inquiries means waiting a long time.

You have to find the businesses whose site is failing them right now — and point it out, kindly, with proof.

That’s the whole method. Seven steps.

step 1Pick businesses that live and die by their website

Some businesses barely need a site. Others lose customers every day theirs is broken.

Go after the second kind:

• Dentists and clinics — new patients look at the site before they book
• HVAC, plumbers and roofers — people search on their phone, often in a hurry
• Law firms and accountants — the site is the first impression
• Restaurants and salons — menus, prices and booking
• Contractors — photos of finished work sell the next job

Then pick one city you can name in your emails.

“Dentists in Tulsa” is a list. “Small businesses” isn’t.

step 2Find sites with problems an owner can see

Open Google Maps. Search “dentist Tulsa.” Click through to each website.

You’re not doing a code review. You’re looking for problems the owner will recognize in ten seconds:

• Slow to load on a phone
• Text too small to read without zooming
• No tap-to-call button — the phone number is part of an image
• A footer that still says © 2018
• A “Not secure” warning in the browser bar
• No online booking, or a booking link that goes nowhere
• No website at all — just a Maps listing

For the slow ones, use Google’s free PageSpeed Insights.

Paste in the address. It gives you a mobile score and a list of what’s slowing the page down — something concrete to point at.

Then write it all down:

Cherry Street Smiles has a good site. Skip them.

Your list is only the practices with a real problem.

step 3Write one email about one problem

Don’t send a redesign mockup nobody asked for. It costs you hours, and it’s easy to ignore.

Don’t send a list of 12 things wrong with their site. Owners take that personally — someone they like probably built it.

Send one problem, what it means for them, and one easy question:

Look at the offer.

It isn’t a project. It’s the report and three fixes — useful even if they never hire you.

That’s what makes it worth replying to.

step 4No email? Use their contact form

Lots of small businesses only list a contact form.

Use it — and pay attention while you’re there.

If the form throws an error, you’ve just found your opening line for the Facebook message or letter you send instead.

step 5Follow up by giving something away

The first email often lands on a busy day.

Follow up, but don’t just repeat yourself. Each touch brings something new:

1. Day 0First email

   One problem, one offer, one question.

2. Day 3Quick bump

   “Want the speed report? It takes me two minutes to send.”

3. Day 7Just send it

   The report and the three fixes. No strings.

4. Day 14Last one

   “I’ll stop here. If you ever redo the site, I’d love to quote it.”

Day 7 is the important one.

You stop asking and start helping. It shows how you work before anyone pays you.

Then stop. Four touches is plenty.

step 6Partner with people who don’t build websites

Some businesses meet your future clients every week:

• Marketing agencies that run ads but don’t build sites
• Print and sign shops — a business ordering its first sign often needs a site too
• Bookkeepers and accountants who help people start businesses
• Business coaches whose clients are launching something

One short message is enough to start:

Offer to send work back. Referrals that go both ways tend to last.

step 7Turn every launch into the next client

You just launched a site. The client is happy, maybe for the first time in years.

That’s the best moment you’ll get to ask for three things:

1. 01
   A review

   “Would you write two lines about working with us on Google?”

2. 02
   A referral

   “Who else do you know whose website bugs them?”

3. 03
   A care plan

   Monthly updates, backups and small changes — a fixed fee.

The care plan matters most.

Projects end. Care plans keep paying — every month, without a new sale. That’s the way off the feast-or-famine cycle.

Then post the launch — a before-and-after on LinkedIn or Instagram, with the client’s OK. The next dentist sees it.

What to do this week

1. 01
   Pick one kind of business and one city

   Dentists in Tulsa, HVAC in Tampa — be specific.

2. 02
   Check 40 websites

   Mobile score, tap-to-call, booking, contact.

3. 03
   Send 10 emails a day

   One problem, one offer, one question.

4. 04
   Send the free report on day 7

   Give before you ask.

5. 05
   Message 3 partners

   An agency, a print shop, a bookkeeper.

Or hand the checking, writing and following up to your AI team — and spend the week designing.

Questions