Day 69: My First (paying) Web Design Project Approved!

I just want to share a recent website design breakthrough.

Apart from my goal to create my first niche site to learn affiliate marketing, I have decided to explore the opportunity to create websites for local small businesses here in Canberra, Australia.

This is for the purpose of making some web related earnings now while I build my niche site, ballersgearntechreview.com.

So last Thursday, 16 Oct, I have closed a deal to re-design a website for a local carpet cleaning business! This is my first paying client for a Web Design project since joining WA!

It's not quite an affiliate site, but I will be applying what I have learnt in WA regarding SEO, keyword search, how to make money online, use of social media, etc.

I have tried to design websites for paying clients a few years ago (I was using Joomla, which is a similar tool like WordPress), but this is the first time I charged for a fee to build the site AND charged a monthly fee to provide ongoing support! By doing this, I am able to create an ongoing income from this project!

Risk

By building sites for other people, there is a real risk of diverting my focus and time away from my own niche site like ballersgearntechreview.com.

Benefit

By taking on a project like this, it will help me to further develop my skill in WP.

It will also give me opportunity to explore various ways to make money online.

I am able to make some earnings now by creating websites for other people/businesses!

The earnings I make help cover the cost of my annual WA premium membership!

Strategy

At this stage, I am only accepting clients that have fairly simple website requirements. For example, since I do not have a lot of knowledge with e-commerce I am not accepting such projects yet.

I am hiring an assistant to help me populate the site. This will help leverage my time in creating this website. I do not intend to work on the website on my own.

Estimated hours on the project: 15-20 hours.

Project fee: I charged my client $950, then for subsequent years, the fee is $249 /year for hosting the site (in WA) and provide support e.g. minor updates to the site.

Note: The $249 /year, has been reduced to $120 /year since my client's requirement is to host his website somewhere else instead of in my WA account.

I just want to share that there are other ways to make some earnings online apart from affiliate marketing, but weigh the risks and benefits before going ahead.

Also, formulate a strategy to only take on website projects that you know you can confidently deliver.

I hope this blog will be of benefit to anyone in the WA community.