Smashing Web Design Business Model
Unfinished article
This is based on two articles by Sitejet in Smashing Mag.
Main idea
The central idea in this is to think of your business as offering a service, ie. something ongoing, as opposed to a product. This will better create a regular income, aka MRR or monthly recurring revenue.
This service model is a mindset shift, to be sure, but it’s a smarter way of doing business. To succeed, start thinking in terms of a recurring service — not a one-and-done product.
Sitejet
Break even number
The first step is to work out your break even number. How much does it cost to run your business.
There are one off fees, like a computer, and regular fees, hosting, snipcart, forms etc.
Have multiple tiers
Having different plans will give a broader scope. Minimum is 2, basic and another one.
We’ve done well with three plans priced at $30, $50, and $100 USD per month.
To differentiate your premium tiers, add advanced features like more storage, faster updates, extra subpages, detailed traffic statistics, multilingual support, and more.
Sitejet
Don’t charge by the hour. As you get better you should get faster at your work.
- basic plan might be a pre-made theme with x amount of customizations and x updates per month.
- custom programming
- custom, from scrach web site.
Marketing
It’s best to focus on how a web site will help grow your customer’s business and lead to more sales rather than trying to sell the technical aspects of it.
Vertical
It’s better to find a narrow niche and focus exclusively on that at first. Something you’re knowledgeable or passionate about: non-profits or environment or climbing etc.