
This global pandemic has put the final nail in the coffin of freelance web design. The industry has been slowly fading away over the last few years and now I believe it's totally dead in the sense that it is no longer possible to make a sustainable full-time living if all you're offering to do is build websites for people. It had a good 21-year run.
What was the cause of death?
These three things:
* Global Competition
* Dropping Prices
* Value Shift (this is the big one)
Nov 17, 2020
6 min

People no longer buy “web design” for the prices you probably want to be charging. Many web designers, however, are still trying to generate leads for traditional, old-school web design.
* You are competing against the entire world
(Upwork, Fiverr, crowded Facebook groups, everyone on LinkedIn, etc.)
* Paid ads are prohibitively expensive due to the saturation of the market
(so you primarily – if not entirely – rely on referrals)
* It's almost impossible to differentiate yourself from everyone else offering the same services
* If you do manage to generate a lead, it is usually for low-ticket, one-off projects
* Then you're back looking for more leads
(repeating this sequence of problems)
This sequence is the underlying root cause of the price race to the bottom for web design.
The Price Race To The Bottom
When I first started coaching web designers a few years ago the average price for a WordPress website was about $3,500. Even that was too low to build a reliable 6-figure business. Now it is even worse. Today, people struggle to get over $1,000. Most clients who are “looking for a website” are thinking the price is going to be around $500 to $1,000. If you quote a price much higher than that, the client is just going to go with someone else who (in their mind) will do “the same thing” for less.
So, here are three lead generation tips for modern web design that will enable you to find the type of clients that will enable you to build your own 6-figure web design consulting business.
What Interests Your Clients?
It's super common to want to write about what you know – especially if you've ever tried to blog. The idea is to write about stuff like the latest Google algorithm update, the benefits of making noise on social media, and new trends in web design. In other words, you write about what YOU know, the stuff YOU have been learning, and the topics YOU find cutting edge and interesting.
Stop doing this.
This is a massive waste of time and energy. The content won't be unique. You're just echoing summaries of things people (with more of a following than you) have already said. Furthermore, even if you do create some traffic for yourself the traffic is going to be more web designers – not the business owners you're hoping to work with.
If you want to build a blog, podcast, YouTube channel, etc. talk about what YOUR CLIENTS are interested in, not what YOU are interested in.
How Do You Help People?
Another huge opportunity you have is to tell people how you help them. Very few people are doing this. Most people simply list the services they are able to provide and then leave it up to the client to figure out whether or not those services will be helpful.
If I want to bake an apple pie, you're not helping me by taking me to the grocery store UNLESS you also tell me what to buy. If I don't know what ingredients go into an apple pie, walking around a grocery store is not helpful. It's frustrating and overwhelming. I want you to tell me what I need so that I end up with what I actually want.
I'm not looking for ground cinnamon and nutmeg. If you're blogging about those things you'll never attract me because I'm not searching for that. I'm searching for the RESULT – the apple pie. This is crucially important to understand if you want your content to attract the type of traffic that will turn into leads.
Tell people how you help them, not what things you can do for them.
What's Different About You?
One of the biggest changes in the web design world over the last few years has been the massive explosion of all the low-budget ways to get a website. Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace are out there for people who want to build their own websites. Upwork, Fiver, and Facebook groups are packed with people who wi...
Nov 10, 2020
11 min

When most people start their web design businesses they position themselves as a resource for any business to get a website.
The problem is, you quickly run out of friends and family to build websites for. Then you're basically relying on referrals while you exhaust and devalue yourself sending cold emails and reaching out to random people on LinkedIn.
So, here are three strategic steps you can take to make significantly more money as a web designer while giving yourself more stability and job security at the same time.
Each step will give you some strategic and super practical ways to increase your revenue and upgrade the quality of your clients.
Nov 3, 2020
20 min

In less than 20 days Robyn and Nathan landed over $20,000 worth of new business. Since then they've continued to land high-ticket clients including one immediately before we started recording this conversation! Join in and hear how they did it!
Watch the video above or catch a summarized version below.
The following is a summary of what Robyn and Nathan had to say about how they took their business to the next level and how they are now winning five-figure clients.
We Started By Relabeling Ourselves
The first thing we did was reposition our business. I used to say I was a graphic and web designer and that put me in a little box. Now, when people ask me, “What do you do?” I say we're marketing consultants because we provide a wide variety of services. We really like working with small businesses and entrepreneurs. Our clients are awesome. We work with some non-profits and businesses that have a cause.
Changing The Type Of Clients We Work With
When we started we saw ourselves as professional amateurs. We had skills to offer. We had services that were valuable but we weren't sure how to communicate that to our clients. We would reach out to people starting a new business. Or maybe they had a business for a while but they didn't really know what they were doing with their marketing.
This worked OK for several years. We've always been busy and we were doing fine – but “fine” wasn't good enough. We wanted to push beyond this cap we hit. We knew that even though we were OK we needed to be able to push beyond.
It was really an answer to prayer. Just a week before we learned about DoubleStack Robyn and I were talking. We weren't doing anything wrong but we needed to be doing it better. I know what I'm doing but people are not listening to me.
DoubleStack really helped our proposals and the way we were presenting them. We needed a more effective way and we needed to be more confident. I actually started to turn a few people away because it wouldn't be a good fit. I like to help people and we want to see businesses succeed. DoubleStack helped us fill in the gaps to provide better services.
At First, We Didn't Know If DoubleStack Was For Us
We have three kids and we were doing OK. But we also knew we needed to do something different. Something better. To kick things into overdrive. And it turned out to be well worth it. In 20 days we had made over $20,000. So, yeah. It was more than worth it!
One thing that was said during our initial conversation was that even though we were doing OK we wanted to do business like it was on purpose. We didn't want to stumble into success.
Being honest with ourselves, we didn't know how we got to this point. We were doing everything right but it was just guided along ethical lines. Be honest. Treat people fairly. Do to other business owners what we would want them to do to us. That had kept us afloat and we weren't really struggling. But, to go to that next level we were missing the blueprint. We weren't able to take that extra step.
The Results Were Almost Overnight
DoubleStack provides a lot of good information, but the application is where you succeed or fail. You have to know how to put it all together. A blueprint will make or break any project. What you provided was something that we could immediately apply to our business. The results were almost overnight.
Concepts You Can Immediately Apply
I love how you organize the membership area. The way you laid it out I was able to immediately apply them and then go back and dig deeper.
I really like that because we've invested in stuff before but it was like I had to block out 6-months of my life to learn everything before I could even use it. But with DoubleStack you could immediately apply it. I didn't have to pause my business in order to improve my business.
Oct 27, 2020
20 min

Does it feel like you're only attracting clients with tiny budgets? How do you reach high-paying clients? The answer is very simple. It's not easy, but it isn't complicated. Here's how.
There Are Only Two Types Of Clients
First, it is important to realize that there are only two types of clients. People in the first group of clients fundamentally do not believe their website is going to win clients for them. People in the second group want to grow their business and they view online marketing as the channel that's going to achieve that growth. These are the only two groups. In terms of mindset, there is no middle ground. There are varying degrees of confidence when it comes to success. But when it comes to the mindset people have regarding their budget for their websites, there is no middle ground.
Most Web Designers Accidentally Attract Cheap Clients
By positioning yourself as someone who offers “affordable” web design services, not only are you attracting low-budget clients you are also repelling the good clients who actually want to hire you to grow their businesses.
Stop right now and think about what you're saying about yourself.
* What are you saying on your website?
* What do you say when someone asks what you do?
* What information are you giving people so they understand that you have the expertise, skill, and authority to actually get results for them?
Again, there are only two types of clients. If you're not attracting the results-driven clients you are attracting the people “affordable” websites.
Converting Cheap Projects Into High-Ticket Clients
While there are only two types of clients, it is possible to convert someone out of Group 1 into Group 2. To do that, you have to change their mindset and that's a pretty hard thing to shift. It's possible. But it's like turning a cruise ship. It happens slowly and takes a lot of effort. Most of the time the client is so set on just getting a quick website that they aren't even interested in having their mindset changed.
Have you ever tried to upsell a marketing package, or SEO, or a maintenance plan? They don't want it because they don't believe in it.
The best way to attract high-ticket clients is to start with how you position your business. Put yourself in the path of the types of clients you want to reach. This also means DO NOT put yourself in the path of clients you don't want to work with.
Who Shops At Surf Shops?
Let's walk through a quick analogy. You are at the beach and you want to try surfing. So, you go to one of those surf shops along the main strip. You see the surfboards along the back wall so you go to take a look. There are two boards. One costs $500 the other one is $5,000.
The surf pro comes over to talk to you and asks how she can help. You tell her you're at the beach for the week and you want to try surfing. You point at the $500 board. She then proceeds to tell you how much better the $5,000 board is. She tells you this board was made by a custom shaper and his boards were used to win the Pipeline Masters champion for the last 5 years in a row. The winner of the Pipeline Masters gets $525,000 in prize money and that doesn't even start to count all the sponsorship money you get from being the champion. You're hearing about how this better board could easily bring in well over $1million for you making the $5,000 cost seem like nothing.
You don't care and leave with the $500 board.
See how hard it is to shift the client's mindset when you put your business in the path of the wrong type of client?
How To Get Better Clients
Put yourself in the path of the type of clients you really want. If you don't want cheap clients, don't advertise “affordable” services.
If you want high-ticket clients, align your marketing with the outcome your ideal clients want.
Oct 20, 2020
10 min

Have you ever wondered how to price your work? You want to offer good value but you don't want to undercut your own prices.
What do you do when a client shows up and they have a budget that's way lower than what you want to charge?
One of the most common problems I hear from web designers, especially in the WordPress community, is that their clients are showing up with very low price expectations. For example, you might want to charge at least $2,500 but the client is looking for something under $1,000. So… how do you bridge that gap?
Here are three options…
Option 1: Cave
Unfortunately, most of the time web designers cave to the pressure. They need the work. The client wants a website. So they take the project at whatever price the client will agree to. Now you are rushing through the project, taking shortcuts wherever you can, and hoping for a better project next time.
Option 2: Argue The Value
Sometimes the web designer will dig in and try to “show the client the value” of their work.
They'll mention stuff like:
* Their years of experience
* Their awesome customer support
* How cheaper web developers leave you with a slow and insecure site
* How their sites are faster and have an SSL certificate so they rank better on Google
* How awesome their portfolio as they display a few highlights from past projects
They're trying to build their case for why they are more skilled and more experienced than the low-budget web developers and therefore their work is worth more.
This option tends to be really frustrating because it is true that you are more skilled, have more experience, and deliver higher-quality work. The client may even agree with you but they usually just say they don't have the budget for the rates you want to charge. So, they end up going with the cheaper options anyway.
Option 3: Solve A Bigger Problem
The best way to increase your value is to solve a bigger problem. Why would a client go with a website that they know is of lower quality than what you're offering?
It is not that they don't care. The problem is they aren't trying to solve a very big problem. A small problem only requires a small solution. If you want to charge more and you want to attract clients with larger budgets, solve bigger problems.
The Goal Is To Not Look Stupid
The unfortunate truth is that most business owners do not believe that their website will generate leads for them. Today, getting a website is really just a formality. It's just what you do if you have a business. It's just like getting business cards. They just feel like they need it, but it is not a critical component of their business. They don't expect their website to be a lead generation tool. They view the website as a sunk cost. Therefore they want the cheapest one possible. It just needs to be barely good enough so they don't look stupid.
Most business owners who are looking for a website are thinking, “What's the least I can spend on a website without looking stupid and unprofessional.”
Why Are You Attracting These Low Budget Clients?
Of course, the goal is to work with clients who aren't trying to get by with the bare minimum. You want clients who are looking for results, right? You want to help your clients win customers and grow their business. So, why are you getting these low budget leads?
How have you positioned your business?
Read your own website and ask yourself if you've positioned yourself. Do you describe yourself as someone who builds websites? Or, have you described how you solve the bigger (and more valuable) problem of lead generation and online business development?
If you find yourself attracting low-budget leads, you've probably done two things:
* You've positioned yourself as a technical resource
Sep 29, 2020
17 min

Most web designers are stuck in an outdated mindset walking their clients through the same old tired 5-step process everybody else is using.
* Discovery:
Figure out what the client wants
* Strategy:
Put a plan together to achieve the goals that were just discovered
* Development:
Implement the plan
* Review:
Make sure the client likes what was created
* Launch:
Launch the site (and the client) out of your life so you can go do it all again for the next client.
The problem comes down to the difference in how web designers and clients value the problems that are getting solved. Web designers tend to think from the bottom up starting with the technical challenges that need to be overcome. Clients start from the top down with the life and business problems they are facing. This creates the value gap.
If you've ever felt like you just can't get the client to see “the value” even though you know you're capable of great work, it is because you're not bridging the value gap.
In this session, you'll discover the hierarchy of the “pyramid of problems” so you can bridge the value gap between the technical solutions most web designers focus on and the end results clients want to see in their lives and businesses.
This is for web designers who can do great work and they are ready to upgrade the quality (and value) of their clients.
Discover the new approach to high-ticket web design.
Sep 8, 2020
31 min

Most web designers all say the exact same things on their websites. They market themselves by listing the same set of skills that everyone else lists and then they wonder how to stand out from the crowd. Usually, they end up relying almost exclusively on their portfolio to set them apart. So, at the end of the day, most web designers feel stuck when it comes to figuring out how to market their business without sounding exactly like everyone else.
This results in a bevy of bad things:
* You're positioned as a garden-variety web designer
* You're forced to compete on price
* You're attracting random, cheap clients
* You're working on small, one-off projects
* You're stuck doing work you don't really like
The solution is to shift your marketing away from simply listing your services. Instead, use your skills and create something your ideal clients want and then talk about that. Give them something to want.
Let's Talk
If you want some help figuring out how you can combine your skills, your business experience, and your passions into a high-ticket solution that drives results for your clients. Hop over here and schedule a time for us to talk.
Sep 1, 2020
18 min

Are you building a business that will give you the stability and financial freedom you need? Or, are you just job-hopping without benefits?
I'm going to ask you five questions.
Answer these questions honestly and you'll see a clear picture of whether you're building a solid business or if you're just job-hopping but without the stability and benefits that come from getting a “real” job.
Join me to make sure you're on the right path that's going to give you the future you want.
If you're ready to put your business on the fast-track to build the life and financial freedom you want, schedule a time for us to talk.
Aug 25, 2020
29 min

Over the last 18 years in web design, I have recognized that there is one shift that will open the door to a vastly more successful business for you and dramatically better results for your clients.
The shift is to get your clients to hire you for your vision, not just your technical skills.
Once you make that shift, all the other problems that tend to plague garden-variety web designers disappear.
When clients hire you for your vision…
* Scope creep goes away because YOU provide the scope
* You can charge 10X more than everyone else because your selling results (not services)
* You generate recurring revenue because your clients work with you forever
* You break away from the low-budget, frantic competition because you're not selling what they sell anymore
* You don't have to constantly hunt for leads all the time because you keep the clients you already have
I could go on, but I think you get the point. There are a bunch of details that pertain to how to make this shift, but if you're serious about actually helping your clients and you want to build an awesome business for yourself in the process, this shift is my #1 recommendation.
Making this shift doesn't cost you anything and you have everything to gain. I'll even go a step further… if you do NOT make this shift your business is going to dry up. Wix, Squarespace, Upwork, Fiverr, etc. are going to eat your lunch.
It may be a slow and exhausting death as you fight to stay afloat. You will notice that your leads are going to have lower and lower price expectations. You will never reach a 6-figure income if you stay stuck in the crowd where everyone is in the price race to the bottom.
If you want help finding higher-paying clients for your business, schedule a call and let's talk.
Aug 18, 2020
23 min