Websites Made Simple: How to have a successful website design business

Check out my new offer: https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk/sparks-group-mentoring/ It's a supportive group mentoring session for website designers and developers to bring their questions, roadblocks, ideas, and "is it just me?" moments.
If you've ever had a client say yes, pay the deposit, and then go quiet for weeks, it's rarely because you did something wrong. It's usually because they weren't quite ready to work with you.
Welcome to another episode of Websites Made Simple with me, Holly Christie.
In this episode, I'm talking about how to attract the clients who come to you ready to buy, so you can save yourself all that back and forth. I also tell you the story of the time I was the person who wasn't ready, why I was never Hinge's ideal customer, and why it did not go well.
We get into:
Why niching means the right clients find you when they're ready, not just shopping around
The huge gap between "not quite ready" and "sign me up, here's the money"
What happens when a client pays the deposit and then goes quiet
Why I was never Hinge's ideal customer, and what that teaches us about clients who aren't ready
Why long, specific search phrases beat "web design London", and how I found a holiday cottage with ChatGPT
Three questions to ask your past clients about how they found you
How FAQs and blogs answer people's questions so you don't have to
Why you shouldn't hide your prices, and what to say about hosting, licences and renewals
Why case studies reassure the clients who are about to say yes
Why getting clear on your messaging takes patience, and why you shouldn't keep changing it
If you want clients who are ready to say yes and a lot less back and forth, this one's for you.
Come and find out more at https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk or email me at hello@websitesmadesimple.co.uk
Mentioned in this episode: SEO F-ing What with Nikki Pilkington, episode 38, "Your Portfolio Page Title Is KILLING Your SEO": https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/your-portfoilio-page-title-is-killing-your-seo
And here's the link if you want to learn more about Neal and Podknows: https://podknows.co.uk/
Skip to the good bits:
00:00 Why ready-to-buy clients make life easier
02:34 The gap between 'not ready' and 'sign me up'
04:16 My Hinge story: the day I wasn't the ideal customer
07:26 How your ideal clients actually search
11:03 Answer their questions before they ask
12:52 Don't hide your prices (or what's included)
16:24 Case studies that reassure
17:49 Anchor your messaging

If you're busier than ever, marketing harder than ever, and still turning over the same money year after year, it's usually not because you need a new skill.
It's because the thing holding your web design business back is you — the price you drop before the client has even spoken, the £38 jobs you're doing at £150 an hour, and the evenings you're working for free.
My Sparks group is a supportive group mentoring session for website designers and developers to bring their questions, roadblocks, ideas, and “is it just me?” moments.
Welcome to another episode of Websites Made Simple with me, Holly Christie.
In this episode, I'm getting real about money mindset: why so many website designers get stuck at the same figure, how we quietly become the bottleneck in our own business, and what it actually takes to level up without burning out.
We get into:
Why “learn a new skill” is rarely the answer when your income has flatlined
The one thing to do the moment you've said your price: pause
What to say when a client says “that's more than I was expecting”
Why payment plans for hosting and maintenance are the recurring revenue most designers miss
Why £3,000 coming into the business is not £3,000 you've earned
How a £38-an-hour VA frees you up for £150-an-hour work
Just because you can do everything in your business doesn't mean you should
How working every evening quietly halves your hourly rate
Why letting go is how you build a business that runs without you
If you want to charge what you're worth, stop undercutting yourself, and finally get out of your own way, this one's for you.
Come and find out more at https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk or email me at hello@websitesmadesimple.co.uk
Skip to the good bits:
00:58 Inspired by the Sparks and Phoenix mentees
01:25 The money boundary
01:51 It's money mindset, not skillset
02:52 Hands up if this sounds like you
03:13 Dropping your price mid-call
04:29 Put the price out there and pause
05:36 What to say when it's more than they expected
06:27 Earning a bit more vs properly levelling up
07:04 Payment plans: the recurring revenue you're missing
07:47 Big jumps: higher prices, more sites, white labelling
08:07 Quick break
08:15 What's really stopping us is us
09:10 You quoted £3,000. That isn't your salary
10:17 Invest money to make money
10:54 The £38 VA vs the £150 hour
12:21 Just because you can doesn't mean you should
13:00 Working every night halves your hourly rate
14:10 Mentors, VAs and getting out of your own way
14:54 Letting go: a business that runs without you
15:24 Get out of your own way
15:41 Work with Holly

If you've started to fall out of love with web design, it's usually not the design that's the problem.
It's the invoices, the contract wording, the awkward client emails, and all the other bits that crept in and took over your week. Let's fix that.
Check out my new offer: https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk/sparks-group-mentoring/ It's a supportive group mentoring session for website designers and developers to bring their questions, roadblocks, ideas, and “is it just me?” moments.
Welcome to another episode of Websites Made Simple with me, Holly Christie.
In this episode, I'm talking about how to work out which parts of your web design business you actually love, how to hand over the parts you don't, and why that usually costs a lot less than you think.
We get into:
Why getting stuck “in the weeds” makes good designers fall out of love with the work
How to identify the parts of the business you genuinely enjoy
Why not every web designer loves designing, and why that's completely fine
How designers and developers work brilliantly hand in hand
What to do if you're a techie who struggles with the design side
Why outsourcing makes you money rather than costing you money
Whether you're selling the website, or selling you as the person who builds it
How to bring team members onto a project without the client feeling dropped
Why there's a hard ceiling on how many websites you can build in a year
The five income streams I run, and the freelance team behind them
How to map what you love, what you don't, and what you could delegate
If you're busy but no longer enjoying it, this one will help you get the good bits back.
Come and find out more at https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk or email me at hello@websitesmadesimple.co.uk
And here's the link if you want to learn more about Neal and Podknows: https://podknows.co.uk/
Skip to the good bits:
00:00 How to do more of what you love
00:38 When you fall out of love with web design
01:40 Work out which parts you actually love
02:25 Not every designer loves designing
02:53 Why designers and developers need each other
03:44 What to do if design isn't your strength
05:22 Outsourcing is how you make more money
06:28 “But I don't charge enough to outsource”
06:54 Are you selling the website, or selling you?
07:49 Bringing in your team without losing the client
09:40 The ceiling on building websites alone
10:00 Holly's five income streams
10:43 The freelance team behind the business
11:51 Map what you love, delegate the rest
12:29 Where to find Holly

If accessibility has never really come up in your work, it isn’t because you’re careless — it’s because almost nobody teaches it. Not the courses, not the diplomas, and definitely not the platforms we all build on.
Check out my group offer: https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk/sparks-group-mentoring/ It’s a supportive group mentoring session for website designers and developers to bring their questions, roadblocks, ideas, and “is it just me?” moments.Welcome to another episode of Websites Made Simple with me, Holly Christie.
In this episode of Websites Made Simple, I'm joined by Rachel Mess of The Inclusive Design Company, a website designer and trainer who specialises in accessible websites. Rachel got into accessibility because her sister is visually impaired — and was mortified to realise that in years of web design training, not one course had mentioned it.
Together we cover the single biggest accessibility failure on the internet, why the drag-and-drop components you trust might be unreadable to both screen readers and Google, why “let the website breathe” is an accessibility decision, the argument that finally brings a reluctant client round, why “click here” hurts you twice over, and the free tools you should be running on every site before you hand it over.
🔗 Rachel Mess — The Inclusive Design Company: https://inclusivedesigncompany.co.uk
🔗 Sparks group mentoring: https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk/sparks-group-mentoring/
🌐 More from Holly: https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk
✉️ Email Holly: hello@websitesmadesimple.co.uk
🎙️ Podcast produced by Podknows Podcasting: https://podknows.co.uk/
Connect with Holly on LinkedIn: Holly Christie.
Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn: Rachel Mess
Chapters:
00:00 Meet Rachel Meess, accessible web design specialist
01:08 How Rachel got into accessibility
01:50 Why accessibility never came up in her training
02:46 “I can’t charge for a website somebody can’t access”
03:09 Web design is a self-taught industry
03:40 Why the platforms are part of the problem
05:21 Accessibility has to be front of mind as you design
05:39 Colour contrast is the biggest issue on the internet
06:14 Dropdowns, div blocks and what a screen reader hears
07:03 If Google can’t read it, nobody sees your content
07:45 Holly’s pet hate: emojis as bullet points
09:07 When industry experts quietly ignore best practice
10:57 Lived experience is good for business
12:49 Consulting with Diversity Scotland
13:38 DEI, blog images and seeing yourself on a website
14:44 Accessibility is the infrastructure inclusion sits on
17:32 Accessibility in your blog posts
17:58 Let the website breathe
20:46 How to bring a reluctant client round
21:32 Why Shopify sites keep coming up
22:42 The contrast checker every platform should build in
24:06 Why “click here” is a problem
25:30 Stop stuffing keywords into alt tags
26:29 Test with Lighthouse and WAVE
27:36 Graphic designers are not website designers
29:04 Where to find Rachel

If your clients keep coming back with “How do I log in?” and “How do I change an image?”, it isn’t because they’re difficult.
It’s because nobody ever handed them a manual for the thing you just built them.
Check out my group offer: https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk/sparks-group-mentoring/ It’s a supportive group mentoring session for website designers and developers to bring their questions, roadblocks, ideas, and “is it just me?” moments.
Welcome to another episode of Websites Made Simple with me, Holly Christie.
In this episode, I’m walking you through exactly how I create a website user manual for every single client: what goes in it, how it’s built, and how it went from a job that ate my time to a template I barely have to touch.
There’s a free template to go with this episode, so you can start your own straight away: https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk/website-manual
We get into:
Why a user manual is the difference between a delighted client and endless “how do I…” emails
How to build yours in Canva and send it as a PDF, and why I never host it on my own site
What to tell clients about themes, plug-ins and premium licences before they’re your problem
The front page details that protect you months down the line
The five minute “Welcome to Your Website” screen recording that shows them the back end
Why a page speed screenshot on handover day saves you an argument with an SEO later
The dedicated log-in page that kills half your support emails
How to record your tutorial videos once and reuse them on every single website
The troubleshooting page that says “clear your cache” in ten different ways
Where to point clients for extra help, and how you want them to contact you afterwards
If you want fewer support emails, happier clients, and a handover you can repeat without thinking about it, this one will sort you out.
Come and find out more at https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk or email me at hello@websitesmadesimple.co.uk

Skip to the good bits:
00:00 How to create a website user manual
00:46 My confession about website handovers
01:33 Why user manuals became my biggest win
02:16 How web designers actually hand over websites
02:58 Why video and written content work best together
03:25 Build it in Canva, send it as a PDF
04:22 Themes, plug-ins and licensing
05:05 What clients need to know about premium licences
06:21 The front page: logo, date and screenshot
07:32 The table of contents
07:57 The “Welcome to Your Website” video
09:01 Page speed screenshots that protect you later
10:06 The log-in page everyone forgets
11:07 Keeping the site updated, and key things to remember
12:01 Record once, use everywhere
14:03 The troubleshooting page
14:53 Additional resources and knowledge centres
15:37 How clients get in touch after handover
16:21 Grab the free template

Mentioned in this episode:
Join my Sparks Group Mentoring Programme