Do you want to start a web design business but are not sure where to begin? Here is the only guide you’ll ever need to start a web design business without experience and portfolio and set it up for success.
Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
- 1Is Web Design in Demand?
- 2Is Web Design Profitable?
- 3How to Start a Web Design Business
- 4– Build a Website for You
- 5– Build Websites for Friends
- 6– Build Websites for Businesses
- 7Costs to Start?
- 8– Business Fees
- 9– Hardware & Software
- 10– Web Hosting
- 11– Marketing Costs
- 12– Team Costs
- 13How Do I Start My Own Business?
- 14– 1. Why I Want to Do This?”
- 15– 2. Before You Quit Your Job
- 16– 3. Plan Your Business
- 17– 4. Choose Niche
- 18– 5. Decide Target Client
- 19– 6. Set Goals
- 20– 7. Establish Your Brand
- 21– 8. Set Your Rates
- 22– 9. Take Care of Legal Stuff
- 23– 10. Build Your Business Website
- 24– 11. Project Management Resources
- 25– 12. Find New Clients
- 26How and When to Build a Team?
- 27Additional Services to Offer Your Clients
- 28Summary

Is Web Design in Demand?
The demand for web designers is rising. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 170,000 jobs for web designers were created in 2019, and the job outlook is projected to increase by 8% through 2029. Demand will be driven by the continued popularity of mobile devices and Ecommerce.
The average pay for web designers was $77,200 per year for regular employees and $37.12 per hour for web design companies. However, most companies don’t have year-round demand for web designers. They seek web design expertise when they want to develop a new website or revamp their existing site. Hence, the web design market size is projected to reach nearly $35 billion by 2026.
Therefore, many businesses prefer working with web-design companies on a short-term contract instead of hiring full-time web designers. This has made starting a web design business a lucrative idea for website designers.
Are Web Design Companies Profitable?
Any business can be profitable. How you do business is more important than what business you do. That said, there are certain benefits and drawbacks of starting a web design business you must understand.
How to Start a Web Design Business with No Experience?
If you’re wondering whether you can start a web design business without any experience, the answer is Yes, you can. While experience can play a crucial role in your success as a web designer, don’t let a lack of experience stop you from approaching clients.
In fact, many startups and small businesses can’t afford the rates of experienced web design companies. They often seek new web designers who can get the work done for a lower rate.
If you have no experience, you can start working with new and small businesses for lower rates. This way, you can gain essential experience and build your portfolio. Once you have enough experience and client testimonials, you can start approaching high-profile clients. If you can’t find clients at all, you can offer to work to develop your portfolio.
Stay tuned as further sections delve into a step-by-step process of starting a web design business.
Starting a Web Design Business with No Portfolio
A strong portfolio can be your ticket to getting high-paying clients. But you need good clients to develop a strong portfolio. This could be a difficult situation for new web design business owners. Here are a few tips to get new clients even if you haven’t worked with a single client before.
Build a Website for Your Business

As a web design business, your website serves two purposes:
- It acts as a primary touchpoint between your business and clients.
- It helps you showcase your skills.
Have you ever visited an architect’s office? Would you consider working with them if their office was poorly designed?
Your website helps you create a solid first impression on a potential client. Be sure to put a lot of effort into your site to make sure it reflects your abilities.
Build Websites for Your Family and Friends

If your friends or family members have a business, offer to create a website for them for free. It’s an easy way to build your portfolio. However, don’t leave any loose ends just because you are working for free. Give your best, as your prospective clients will refer to it to judge your work quality.
Build Websites for Local Business Owners

Lastly, you can always build websites for small businesses for cheap or free. In this digital era, every small business, from bakery to salon to restaurant, needs a website, but they can’t afford web design companies. You can build websites for them and make them a part of your portfolio.
How Much Does It Cost to Start a Web Design Business?
As discussed, you only need a laptop and internet connection to start a freelance web design business. Everything else is optional and can support your business initiatives. However, there are a few investments that can take your web design business to the next level. These include:
Business Fees

You may start your business as a sole proprietorship, but registering it as an LLC has numerous benefits. It makes you look more credible, and you can also avail yourself of tax benefits. However, registering your business will require a small fee.
Estimated Cost: $40-500
Hardware and Software

Hardware includes the equipment you will use to run your business. A good-quality laptop is enough, but as your business grows, you’ll need to buy more equipment, such as computers and tablets, printers, etc. Also, there are certain software tools every web design service provider should have in their toolkit. InVision, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Sketch, and Proofhub are some must-have tools for each web designing business.
Estimated Cost: Specific to each business
Web Hosting

You can manage without a website as a freelancer, but when you start a business, having a website is essential. This means you have to pay an annual web hosting fee, which could vary depending on your hosting provider and plan.
Estimated Cost: $5-10 per month
Marketing Costs

Most web design businesses rely on inbound leads. But investing in outbound marketing, such as cold emails and paid advertising, can help you get an edge over your competitors and get more clients. It is better to put aside a small budget for marketing.
Estimated Cost: 2-5% of your revenue
Team Costs

If you hire employees, you’ll need to pay for their salaries and benefits. You can do only so much alone. If you want to scale your business, you’ll need a team of skilled individuals.
Estimated Cost: Depends on the team size
How Do I Start My Own Web Design Business?
Now that you know the basic requirements for starting a web design business, let’s delve into a step-by-step process of setting up a web design business from scratch.
1. Ask Yourself “Why I Want to Do This?”

Knowing your “why” before doing anything is important. Why do you want to start a web design business? Is it because it is a lucrative business and web designers are in high demand? Or is it because you are passionate about turning your creative and critical thinking skills into a location-independent business?
Remember that running a web design business, like any other business, is hard work. Don’t get started unless you are certain that this is what you want to do for the many upcoming years of your life.
2. What to Do Before You Quit Your Full-Time Job

If you have a regular web designing job, you are at an advantage, as you don’t need to undergo the rigorous process of learning the skills from scratch. You probably already are an expert. However, if you plan to quit your job to start a business, there are a few boxes you must tick. These include:
- Build a professional portfolio website
- Build proposal templates
- Invest in social media branding, especially on LinkedIn
- Set aside an emergency fund for 6-12 months
Most importantly, don’t have bad blood with your boss when you quit your job. If your business initiative doesn’t work out, you should be able to pick up where you left.
3. Plan Your Business

The first step in starting any business is to create a business plan. Your business plan should answer at least the following questions:
- What will be the costs involved in starting the business?
- Who are my potential clients (target market)
- What is your pricing model?
- How will you position your brand (name, logo, tagline)?
4. Choose Your Web Design Niche

New web designers tend to have their fingers in every pie. They approach all sorts of clients and try to offer services in every niche, from eCommerce to healthcare to finance.
Choosing a niche might feel like limiting your potential, but it can go a long way in getting high-quality, niched clients. It’s better to be an expert in one field rather than being average in all fields.
5. Decide Who Your Target Client Is

Determining your ideal client is a crucial step in starting a web design business. Clients looking for web design services can be:
- Enterprises and large companies
- Small and medium businesses (SMBs)
- Startups
- Web design companies and digital agencies looking to delegate work
You can’t sell your services to everyone. Decide which type of clients you want to work with as early as possible.
6. Set Your Company Goals

Before you kickstart your business, determine the goals you want to achieve. Of course, you want to generate revenue and make money, but your goals need to be more specific. Some goals to set are:
- When do you want to get your first client?
- How many clients do you want to get by the end of six or 12 months?
- How many clients do you want to work with every month?
- How much revenue do you plan to generate by the end of six or 12 months?
7. Establish Your Brand

Your brand will help you stand out from your competitors. Don’t think that branding is only for big-budget companies. With the digital marketplace being so competitive, every small business needs to have a branding strategy.
The key elements of any brand are:
- Business name
- Logo
- Colour guide
- Slogan/tagline
- Voice/tone/personality/messaging
8. Set Your Rates

Deciding how much to charge for services is often a tricky choice for new business owners. Here is a simple approach to pricing you should follow.
First, find out the industry-standard rate. The average web design cost is about $500 to $1000 per website.
What most new businesses do is reduce their rates to look more competitive. This is not the right approach, as you are not only undervaluing yourself but also giving an impression that you are not as good as your competitors.
A better approach is to offer extra services for the same rate. So, if your competitors charge $750 for designing a website, you can offer website designing and five social media post designs for the same price.
9. Take Care of the Legal Stuff

Setting up a new business may have some legal requirements, such as:
- Acquiring licenses
- Getting insured
- Developing and signing contracts
Additionally, you need to set up a tax account and manage local, state, and federal taxes. It’s better to work with a legal expert to take care of all the legal stuff.
10. Build Your Design Business Website

Since your website will be the main touchpoint between your brand and clients, building your design business website should be one of the first things you should do. Get a custom domain name for your business and build your website in WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, or other website builders.
11. Project Management Resources

Building strong relationships with clients is the key to success for small business owners, and it boils down to creating a smooth project workflow. Be sure to implement project management tools like Proofhub and Trello to streamline communication and collaboration between your team and clients.
12. Finding New Clients

Finding new clients is one of the biggest tasks for a new web design company. Here’s how you can simplify this process and get high-quality clients that help you grow.
How Do I Get My First Web Design Client?
There are numerous ways to get your first client and possibly many more. Here are some useful ways and platforms:
- Freelance websites, like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer
- Social media platforms, mainly LinkedIn
- Web design forums and social media groups
- Referrals from friends and family
How to Get High Paying Web Design Clients?
Everyone wants to get high-paying clients, but don’t let that be your driving force. When starting, focus on giving your best to every client. Once you gain experience and strengthen your portfolio, you’ll be able to attract high-paying clients via organic search and on LinkedIn and freelance platforms.
How to Get International Clients for Web Design?
Thanks to the internet, you don’t need to do anything different to get international clients. Social media and freelance platforms allow you to connect with clients across the globe.
Everyone wants to get high-paying clients, but don’t let that be your driving force. When starting, focus on giving your best to every client. Once you gain experience and strengthen your portfolio, you’ll be able to attract high-paying clients via organic search and on LinkedIn and freelance platforms.
How to Get International Clients for Web Design?
Thanks to the internet, you don’t need to do anything different to get international clients. Social media and freelance platforms allow you to connect with clients across the globe.
13. Scaling Your Business

Scaling up is the key to growing your business. In the initial days of your business, you might be comfortable handling everything on your own. However, there might come the point where you will want to scale up your business strategically.
How and When to Build a Team?
One way to scale up is by offering the same services to more clients at a time. This will require you to hire a team that can take the burden off your shoulder. If you reach a point when the incoming work is too much for you to handle alone, consider it the right time to start building a team.
Additional Services to Offer Your Clients
Another way to scale up your business is by offering additional services to your clients. Businesses in need of website design services will likely need website development, SEO, marketing, and website maintenance services. You can scale your business by offering additional services to your clients.
Summary
We hope this guide helped you learn the key aspects of starting a web design company and scaling it up. Keep in mind that starting your business is the first step. The web design world is constantly changing, with new trends and technologies entering the market. Keep up with the changes and stay competent to increase your chances of success.