WordPress agencies and experts are searched by thousands of people worldwide monthly according to the keyword research tools. Starting a web design and development service-based business using WordPress is one of the best ways to start your entrepreneurship journey.
While building a website or building a business using WordPress in both cases you can control your investments as per the service, budget, plugins, themes and available options, skills. It’s because as you know WordPress is an open-source web application with a large community and ecosystem.
Easy to Start:
The minimum things you need to start a WordPress design business are the basic knowledge of WordPress options and web design skills. And your 1st website in WordPress should be your own website, blog, and portfolio or a combination of all of these three. So that not only you can show your previous works to the right prospect but also learn and become confident in building a simple and good-quality website in WordPress.
WordPress Business Planning:
While your 1st client can be your friend, neighbors or relatives. You can start locally to get a few projects in beginning to survive. Your 1st goal should be to survive and earn whatever you’re getting. Your goal is to become good at communicating your ideas, and business plan and building high-quality WordPress websites. Even if you get $50 or $100 for your service, that’s also good. And with each new similar project, you can increase your price by 20% to 50%.
Such random strategies and goals are good for short-term and quick bucks. But you need a strong and long-term scalable and profitable WordPress business plan. Starting a business just to survive financially is not enough. You have to build WordPress and web development as your passion and most interested subject.
It helps while working in the Website development field you will never get bored, confused or distracted. In any business success, you need focus, and for that, you have to dedicate yourself to the service and technology.
But to achieve the success in WordPress website design business and grow revenue or income by 20% to 50% each month you need an easy-to-execute and powerful WordPress business plan.
And in this post, I am sharing with you all of the strategies, tips, and steps that will help you to start and run your WordPress agency or freelance business successfully.
Steps to start WordPress Agency Business:
1. Build your own WordPress Website:
Clients can ask you mostly to show your existing WordPress works, own website, and portfolio. And you should show that proudly and confidently. You will not be able to ask for advance payments for web design work if you’re not confident and will not be able to look profitable for clients.
So show the best work and build your own website as simple as possible that makes an impression or showcases your skills, and talent.
You can see various sample portfolios, create sample designs, and add a blog page, services pages, about yourself, your story, contact page, and office address (If you have that).
There are various free WordPress portfolio themes that you can use. You can also see, learn and research established WordPress developers and service provider agencies for more and better ideas. Read More: How to get work experience to add in portfolio on your freelancing profile
2. Book an easy, memorable, and unique domain name for your website:
You can start WordPress with your domain name with the addition of any audience-specific unique word such as chai wala, physics wala and wp wala, seo wala, website wala etc.. Use the one word related to the industry and another related to the target audience. And when you combine the word with your service + audience demand, then it becomes a unique word to book domain.
You can also use keyword research tools to find unique, low competition, and memorable names.
Also consider the demography, and location of your target audience for the domain.
And do not include WordPress in the domain but you can use WP when creating a website for your WordPress web design business.
3. Buy scalable and multiple websites hosting services for your agency:
If you want to start with a minimum cost you can choose a starter WordPress hosting plan for your WordPress agency business. But you do not have to host your own website, you will also need to host clients’ websites.
You will get various types of clients in the web design business. Some of them have domains, hosting, and even already installed themes and plugins. And you will also get some who even don’t know what is domain and hosting.
Similarly, you will also get some clients whose budget for the website is very low and some will have higher.
So you need to make a balance between your pricing and service delivery. At the same time, you need an easy and less manageable process and system.
For that, you can use or buy a shared hosting plan if you want to host various low-traffic websites or clients’ websites along with your own website. You can also choose to buy reseller hosting plans, and when you’re an established agency then you can scalable hosting service.
Providing hosting services along with a WordPress website will cost less for clients. Where in another way, if they buy separate hosting then the cost of building a website for them gets more.
You can host the small website on your own hosting server. But also remember, if you have a client whose plan is bigger and they have a target to get 100000+ monthly visitors then always suggest and host their websites on a scalable hosting server.
Else if you do not understand or have little more budget for buying scalable hosting yet for your agency then you start with shared hosting or reseller hosting with any cheap hosting provider for WordPress. Even you can start with a starter plan only for your website. And later when you have a budget and business expansion plan you can switch to premium hosting for an agency.
4. Start with local clients:
Starting a WordPress Web Design business locally has various advantages for beginners. While you will get more clients and business online than offline. But at the beginning with a tight marketing budget, it’s very challenging to compete online for web design clients.
But if you start providing WordPress services in your local area and city then you can easily beat the competition. Actually, local clients in the small cities depend for their online business growth on the person they actually contact and trust.
You will get not many business owners who are skilled and understand technologies as well. But they are interested to invest in internet marketing, websites, and lead generation.
To get more WordPress clients, regular business, and revenue you have to educate local clients. Along with education you also have to show them strategies to grow their business.
And you have to set your prices low if some of them already have websites or as per their current business needs and plans.
Once you build 5 to 10 websites for businesses in your local city then you become experienced and more knowledgeable, and your portfolio starts shining. Then your next move is to hire a WordPress helper to manage local clients. And your focus should be to get clients online. To get clients online the 1st strategy you can use is to use a freelance platform and bid on projects.
5. Start bidding on Freelance Websites for WordPress projects:
On a freelance website, you will get a wide variety of WordPress clients. Some of them are internet marketing companies, publishers, online store owners, bloggers, and large or even small web design agencies.
They will have specific needs and goals. Some want you to customize their WordPress website. Many want to migrate website from one hosting to another, many want to create plugins, and some wants to create themes. You will get an unlimited variety of WordPress works and projects.
Not only does that helps you to earn more money, but also helps you to improve your WordPress skills.
But it will be more challenging because you will get good competition here. To get WordPress on freelance websites you have to use various strategies. And for that, you need to learn and improve your selling, communication, writing, and marketing skills.
If you want to improve your freelance skills and get more WordPress projects please read the below guide:
How can new freelancers establish themselves in between many experts?
How to expand your freelance business to get more clients
14 tips that will help you get your first client on Upwork Quickly
7. Select the two or three main WordPress services that you can provide best:
It’s important to select and provide only 2 to 3 main WordPress services in which you’re best. It’s important to get more projects regularly and also to become experts and speed up the services.
Local clients need a full website. You have to design a logo, you have to write website content, you can edit images, you host, and you have to index on Google and Bing. And you have to do various or almost all types of marketing work for local clients.
But it’s not the same and good strategy when you want to promote your web design business online. Most of the clients looking for freelancers and agencies who are experts in specific areas and skills. Many of them know how to host and install WordPress and many other small tasks. But now they need experts in those things that they can’t do on their own or when they are not able to find tutorials online to solve a specific problem or to customize.
You can select any type of WordPress service but some of the most demanding WordPress services are the following:
- WordPress Website hosting migration
- WordPress Woo Commerce customization
- Landing Page Creation Services
- WordPress Blog setup services
- WordPress themes and plugin development service
- Custom WordPress Website Design service
- Website builder to WordPress migration service
- SSL installation services
- Website maintenance and error fixing services
- Migration of WordPress website to the new domain
- Conversion of HTML website into WordPress service
- Optimization of WordPress website for speed
- and many others.
But I am not saying will not get a $1000 to $2000 WordPress Project at the beginning or a project to build a complete website from zero. You will get those as well. But as beginners, you have to build your WordPress services market online.
But as beginners, you have to build your WordPress services market online. If you start with small projects and tasks, it will improve your ratings, working hours, and status. And you will become the best candidate to handle larger WordPress projects. You can do it for one month or it will take 3 to 6 months. But once you are able to establish yourself then you will start getting regular work from old and new clients.
But to get continued success and growth in your WordPress business and income you have to take the next step.
The next step you can use it build a team of specific experts. In your WordPress team, you can hire a developer or WordPress Admin, and an expert bidder or marketer to promote your WordPress agency business locally and also bid on freelance websites.
But to do that it’s important that you’re making at least $1000 to $5000 monthly. You can build a team one by one. No need to hire everyone at once. And your next goal is to automate and manage freelance clients.
8. Start generating WordPress leads through your own agency website:
Getting WordPress clients locally and through freelance, websites are not enough. You now need to target and get clients from Google and Bing. For example, 1K to 10K is searching for WordPress services. You can target such terms as per your WordPress services and the needs of clients.
The point is to get WordPress clients directly to your agency website. You can use SEO, Social Media Email Marketing or Paid Advertising. But the target is that you should start getting 100 to 500 visitors per day related to WordPress on your website.
You will be able to get more and larger clients. In this, you can hire people for all kinds of daily operations. And in this point of business, your target should be to lead the business. To become a good leader you have to improve and learn business leadership skills.
But remember, I mean a leader, not a boss.
So, 1st achieve this level and automate your WordPress agency business. Start saving $1000 to $10000 per month for the next 6 months. Just create a system and process so that your WordPress agency can work on its own and generate passive income.
But it’s not enough, you have to move to the next level and bigger challenge.
If you want to learn about the next move to make WordPress agency nationally and internationally recognized and popular then let me know in the comments or contact me. I will write the next move here soon.
But 1st try to reach this level. Then it’s good for you to understand the next move.
9. Learn and improve your WordPress skills to become a leading WordPress agency:
I know and have seen many who started providing WordPress services when even they don’t know at that time how to configure SSL or migrate hosting services. Everyone starts from zero and then learns all the way.
But not all become leaders in Business, whether it’s a WordPress service business, Web development institute, YouTube channel or a blog.
Those who come from small cities, and villages in Technology Industry have limited dreams, thinking, goals, and needs. Most of them become comfortable after 1st and 2nd success. Many take 10 to 15 or even 30 years to achieve the basic goals.
I know everyone’s learning and execution speed is different. But not starting after 1st or even 100’s failure is not a sign of a leader.
Actually starting a WordPress business, getting clients, and earning money is not a big deal. Thousands of people already doing it and you can do it as well. But some WordPress service providers are in comfort and many are uncertain about the future of their web development career and business.
If you can’t set a goal of becoming a leader and do not passionate about WordPress, or Web Development then it’s better that you do not start a WordPress business.
If you work in the Web and Software Development industry without passion, interest, and goals then it’s very challenging for you to manage the business in uncertain situations, and remain confident, calm, and profitable.
And the only thing that will help you is to learn and improve your WordPress skills. Read More: How to learn WordPress to work as a freelancer
Once you learned the basics of WordPress website building then start learning PHP, MY SQL, JavaScript, Ajax, CSS, and HTML more deeply, and enthusiastically.
Once that is done, start learning WordPress Theme and plugin development. The point is simple, never stop learning and executing your ideas if you want to continue success in WordPress Business.
I think I have written a lot that is enough for anyone to understand how to start and run a WordPress business successfully. But only reading and understanding tips is not enough and good, you also have to implement them. It’s in your hand. That’s why we say success and failure is in our own hand. If we decide to become successful then we become. And you have to do that.
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