So you know some HTML/CSS and perhaps some JS… maybe WordPress or another CMS. How can you monetize it? That’s the golden ticket, right? How to make money as a freelance web developer. Go to the coffee shop in the morning, browse your email sipping coffee and only taking on work that interests you. That’s the life. And if you can learn how to sell and market yourself, that leads to making money with web design. In this walkthrough, I’ll show you how to increase your revenues and how to qualify the companies you talk to.
MAKING MONEY AS A WEB DEVELOPER
Yes, it’s possible to make money this way. It’s been done and will continue to be done. There’s a few key points here though; you have to know how to market yourself, how to sell, how to handle prospect’s during a presentation, handle a sales cycle and close. A big part of that is knowing what companies to work with… in other words prospecting. What companies can afford your services and what companies can you bring great results to. What companies are going to be great to work with? It’s been my experience from advertising sales/freelance now agency work that usually the well performing companies want that extra push… they want their website tweaked to increase conversions to make them an extra 5% sales. The great ones want to be better. They’re tough to find but gold when you do. Everything comes down to prospecting and the raw numbers. Know this: your output equals your input. Meaning that if you only send 5 emails in a week, don’t expect any results the next week. You should be sending 500 cold emails in a 2 day span to see any real results or booked appointments. How to make money with web design? When starting out, it’s a numbers game – have as many touch points as possible from every direction. Friends, family, former colleagues, Facebook friends, your circle, outside circle and everything in between. Keep your eyes open because guess who needs web design? Almost everybody and almost every company you can think of. You just have to get ‘in’.
HOW MUCH CAN FREELANCE WEB DEVELOPERS MAKE?
So this is the big question. Answer… a lot. Let’s say you’re a freelance web developer that got started because you wanted to make money coding. You were asked by a friend to set up a website then another friend and so on. You refined your process and workflow to the point where you’re making 2 websites a month and are charging $10,000 per website. That’s good money not a lot of admin with those 2 websites. Because remember, you have to play project manager too. You have to present the site, you have to make revisions and keep everything in the scope of the project. I get asked the questions ‘how do developers make money?’ answer… by solving problems. When you get good at solving problems, the $$ follows. Freelance web developers should always keep that in mind; you aren’t just making a website. You’re solving a problem for a business owner. It’s an exchange of value. When your expertise goes up then you can (generally) charge more and thus ‘live the life’. I see so often that the average freelance web developer rates in the $20/hour USD range. You work 40 hours a week (should be more but just for the sake of this piece and standard ‘corporate hours’) that’s only $41,600 USD a year. Nope. You should be making at least double that. Again, this falls on prospecting and upping your output of touch points. So the question shouldn’t be ‘how much do freelance web developers make’ it should be ‘what problems can I solve with web design’.
HOW TO MAKE MONEY AS A WEB DESIGNER
So you’re updating an old website for a new client. Nice. Use your workflow (I hear some developers using themes… so if that’s your process, stick with it) and adhere to that as much as possible. The end goal by doing this is to have a repeatable process that yields the same results – those being good results. At that point you can predict most outcomes, give good lead times and take on more projects. You can also hire other developers to take the projects for you. So you close the deals then have the devs handle the deliverables. But have your prospecting on the front end handle outreach, vet the companies you’re talking to refine your workflow. That’s how to make money as a developer. You have the technical skills to fulfill but need automated outreach and be able to close the deal with enough margin to have a healthy living situation.
Also, understand that developers often times think too much on the technology and not the outcome – they think I’ll use the latest JS framework and that will impress the client so much that they’ll hire me. Nope. What that client wants is results. More conversions from the website and more traffic. You’re a freelance front end web developer… not a business strategist. Now, you should bring more to the table than just coding but keep it in scope of the website. This is where niching down comes into play. Know the industry, be able to hold the conversation with the business owner and bring more than just coding. Have specific insights, have relevant knowledge about tradeshows and events (especially as they start to open back up) and ask good questions. The key is to stand out amongst a crowd as you have two fold the value to the business owner. The development skills for a website AND industry knowledge why your ideas would be good. Make everything about the client. Being a freelance front end web developer isn’t just about coding; it’s about making the lives easier on the companies you work with.
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