{"id":1275,"date":"2020-12-02T14:57:25","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T19:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learnwebsite.design\/?p=1275"},"modified":"2020-12-02T15:00:36","modified_gmt":"2020-12-02T20:00:36","slug":"start-web-design-company-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learnwebsite.design\/questions\/start-web-design-company-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"I have no experience but would like to start a web design company. What is the lowest number of employees I can start and their job descriptions?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; fullwidth=&#8221;on&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_fullwidth_post_title date=&#8221;off&#8221; text_color=&#8221;light&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.0&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; title_font_size=&#8221;50px&#8221; meta_font=&#8221;|300|||||||&#8221; meta_font_size=&#8221;20px&#8221; background_image=&#8221;https:\/\/learnwebsite.design\/media\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Blue-BG-scaled.jpg&#8221; parallax=&#8221;on&#8221; text_orientation=&#8221;center&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;180px||100px||false|false&#8221; global_module=&#8221;900&#8243;][\/et_pb_fullwidth_post_title][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; admin_label=&#8221;section&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.22&#8243;][et_pb_row admin_label=&#8221;row&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.25&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;3.25&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;|||&#8221; custom_padding__hover=&#8221;|||&#8221;][et_pb_text admin_label=&#8221;Text&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.7.4&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221; hover_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243; sticky_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.quora.com\/I-have-no-experience-but-would-like-to-start-a-web-design-company-What-is-the-lowest-number-of-employees-I-can-start-and-their-job-descriptions\/answer\/Leighton-Smith-31?prompt_topic_bio=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Question Source: Quora<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>I have owned and operated a web design business since 2006 with only 1 employee \u2014 myself.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That being said, being your own boss and running a web design business alone means you must wear several hats:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Website Designer<\/strong> \u2014 The core of a web design business is the design of the websites themselves. If your websites are not attractive, the business will fail. Therefore, general knowledge of design, graphic design, and web design is important. Learn color theory, web design trends, and browse the Web for websites that impress you. Save the ones you like and note the reasons they stand out to you. Notice the unattractive websites as well, and consider why you don\u2019t find them visually pleasing. The more websites you design, the more you\u2019ll hone your design skills. <a href=\"https:\/\/learnwebsite.design\/divi\">Divi<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/\">WordPress<\/a> make design a breeze using the <a href=\"https:\/\/learnwebsite.design\/divi\">Visual Builder<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Web Developer<\/strong> \u2014 Development is different than design. Web development involves an understanding of code. The primary website coding languages are HTML, CSS, Javascript and PHP. WordPress makes it easy to build websites without needing an extensive knowledge of programming languages, but it\u2019s valuable to know the basics of the 4 primary languages:\n<ul>\n<li>HTML (HyperText Markup Language) handles the core content and structure of a web page. CSS<\/li>\n<li>CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) gives a website style. Use CSS to design and beautify a website.<\/li>\n<li>Javascript enables interactions, animations and functionality for your website.<\/li>\n<li>PHP (Pre-Hypertext Protocol) lets your website interact with servers and databases to store and retrieve data.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Webmaster<\/strong> \u2014 Designers design a website. Developers build it. Webmasters take over the completed website to maintain and manage it going forward. This involves having a <a href=\"https:\/\/learnwebsite.design\/lessons\/website-maintenance-plans\/\">Website Maintenance Plan<\/a> (the linked course goes in-depth on how to structure and sell these valuable plans as a webmaster). As the webmaster for your web design company, you are generally responsible for hosting, managing, backing up, securing, and updating your clients\u2019 websites. Here are 16 ideas for your maintenance plan:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Domain Registration<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Web Hosting<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Email Hosting<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Uptime Monitoring<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Site Backups<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Security Updates<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Search Engine Optimization<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Local Listings<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>SSL Security<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Geo-Redundancy<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Virus Removal<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Site Updates<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Website Support<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Blogging<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Analytics<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Performance Optimizations<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Marketer<\/strong> \u2014 Web design clients aren\u2019t going to fall from the sky. You\u2019ll need to drum up business, and there are several ways to do this.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Friends &amp; Family<\/strong> \u2014 One of the best ways to kickstart your portfolio and reviews is to build (discounted) websites for your friends and family. Do any of your friends or family members own businesses? Let your friends and family know you\u2019ve started a website design business and could really use their help. Leverage your personal network of friends and family to help them out, build or improve their website, as they help you out by building your portfolio, reputation and experience<\/li>\n<li><strong>Warm Calls<\/strong> \u2014 Have you ever come across a website that needs help? Maybe it doesn\u2019t look very professional? Give them a call or email them. Let them know specifically how you can help them with their website! You could also make a note of businesses in your area that do not have a website at all. Email or call them to offer to build their website.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Freelance Sites<\/strong> \u2014 Have you heard of <a href=\"http:\/\/freelancer.com\/\">Freelancer.com<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/upwork.com\/\">Upwork<\/a> ? These websites let you bid on projects. You can create a profile on sites like these and search for companies who need a web designer like you. Put in a \u201cbid\u201d by stating how much you would charge to solve their website design problem. If they choose you, you\u2019ll be paid to design or improve their website (or whatever else they requested).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Search Engine Optimization<\/strong> \u2014 Have you heard of SEO? Have you ever done a search on Google? Companies that have optimized their websites for search engines have a better chance at showing up on page 1 of Google search results. Learn SEO for free at a website like Moz so your website can rank well when people in your area use Google to find a web designer. However, don\u2019t sit back and expect customers to come from your Google listing. Invest your time in SEO but don\u2019t rely on it as your only referral source.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Non-Profits<\/strong> \u2014 Do you have any non-profit organizations in your area? How do their websites look? Do they have a Facebook but no website? These organizations are great first customers! They are passionate, they know people, and they need a good website. You might not get as much money from these customers, but they can help you grow your business by recommending you to other businesses!<\/li>\n<li><strong>Trade Organizations<\/strong> \u2014 Do you have Tradebank or ITEX in your area? These are bartering organizations. Basically, you build a website for \u201ctrade\u201d dollars, which you can spend with other businesses also in that network.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Advertising<\/strong> \u2014 You can run TV ads, Google Ads, Boost Posts on Facebook, and countless other means of advertising, but you might be wasting your money if you don\u2019t gain any customers from that. If you decide to advertise, find a company that will monitor your ad campaign closely, optimize it, and stop advertising if you don\u2019t find any customers from it.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Network &amp; Referral Marketing<\/strong> \u2014 Have you heard of BNI? <a href=\"http:\/\/bni.com\/\">BNI.com<\/a> is the absolute best way to get customers. Look into local BNI chapters in your area. Meeting people, making connections, shaking hands, passing business cards is the #1 most effective way to attract more customers. It is so important to meet people, because people do business with those they know, like and trust.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Accounting<\/strong> \u2014 Running a web design business requires invoicing your clients, both for the initial build of their website and the recurring charge of hosting and maintenance. There are free and paid options for this, and you\u2019ll save money by passing on an accountant if you learn the accounting software yourself. When taking on a web design client, send them an invoice for the entire amount agreed upon and request half down, balance on completion. Most modern accounting services will allow your clients to pay online with their credit card.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Any one of those roles can be hired out, but there are pros and cons of hiring. <strong>A major disadvantage is that you must be serving enough clients to pay their salary<\/strong>. When you\u2019re first starting out, you won\u2019t have that regular stream of income.<\/p>\n<p><strong>My recommendation is to learn these skills yourself, be your own boss and your only employee.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/learnwebsite.design\/courses\/how-to-create-successful-website-design-business\/\">It is definitely possible to start a web design company with 1 employee and be successful<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question Source: Quora I have owned and operated a web design business since 2006 with only 1 employee \u2014 myself. That being said, being your own boss and running a web design business alone means you must wear several hats: Website Designer \u2014 The core of a web design business is the design of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnwebsite.design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1275"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnwebsite.design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnwebsite.design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnwebsite.design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnwebsite.design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/learnwebsite.design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnwebsite.design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnwebsite.design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnwebsite.design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnwebsite.design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}