How to get web design clients without cold calling. I went live and took 40 questions from people starting a web design business.
Facebook groups, the first DM, what I charge and how I raised it, learning SEO, what goes in a demo, and getting past the fear of reaching out.
Build It With Me is open. Four weeks, limited seats, $497, application only: https://link.heywillray.com/call-yt
I wrote the whole thing down in Build First: https://link.heywillray.com/book-yt
🌐 START HERE
Not ready? Go here: https://link.heywillray.com/start-yt
The Whole Machine, my entire agency workflow: https://link.heywillray.com/machine-yt
Everything I’m building: https://link.heywillray.com/hub-yt
▶ SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss the next one:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjV0wdH89M-Cq7yO2v2rIvw?sub_confirmation=1
👋 WHO I AM
I’m Will Ray. Most people find me as HeyWillRay, or the Tech Dad. Former criminal turned tech dad. I taught myself to build websites with a felony and no degree, and turned it into a real web design agency for contractors and tradespeople.
This channel is the business side of that. How to sell websites, how to get clients with no portfolio, what to charge, and the demo-first method I use to close local business owners. No theory. It’s the same work I do on real client sites every week.
If you’re teaching yourself to code, freelancing, or trying to start a web design business from nothing, you’re in the right place.
🔗 WORK WITH ME
Build It With Me, 4 weeks: https://link.heywillray.com/call-yt
The tools I actually run: https://link.heywillray.com/tools-yt
Gear I use: https://link.heywillray.com/gear-yt
📲 FIND ME, I’m @heywillray everywhere
Instagram: https://link.heywillray.com/ig
TikTok: https://link.heywillray.com/tt
Facebook: https://link.heywillray.com/fb
X: https://link.heywillray.com/x
Email: will@heywillray.com
CHAPTERS
00:00 No plan, just your questions
00:24 Why I never got hired as a dev
01:46 LLC and banking when you start
03:07 How I keep raising my prices
04:56 Cold calling vs Facebook messages
06:03 A new client, start to finish
07:27 Facebook groups and Nextdoor
08:55 Not ready to apply? Build projects
09:41 What to learn for SEO
10:42 Bad at sales? Quit thinking of it as sales
11:28 Do I do consulting?
12:34 Picking a niche
13:24 Outreach from your personal Facebook
13:51 Stuck on your own website
14:41 Zero clients? Start here
15:41 The roadmap and your Facebook profile
16:51 The automations I run
17:53 What to do with a scrape
19:10 Selling to the US from another country
20:26 Posting in Facebook groups
20:54 Learning n8n
22:02 Build It With Me is open
22:24 Health insurance when you work for yourself
23:12 Selling to people from your own country
24:21 Selling by text message
25:22 Learning SEO from Reddit
27:32 Facebook groups plus referrals
28:11 What to say in your first DM
29:50 Simpler than the gurus?
31:10 Local businesses or anywhere?
32:18 Nine years on the good side
33:06 A website is an investment, not a brochure
34:03 Clients I didn’t take on
35:11 Setting up a new Facebook profile
35:36 Ecommerce and cold email
36:44 How I build each client’s site
37:47 Have I hired help?
39:11 How I started upselling SEO
41:10 Where backlinks come from
42:37 Small clients vs big clients
44:09 What goes in my demo
45:53 The software I use
46:40 Getting over the fear of reaching out
Some links above are affiliate links. If you buy through them I make a small commission at no extra cost to you.
#heywillray #willray #techdad #webdesignbusiness #howtogetclients #sellwebsites #freelancewebdesign #selftaughtdeveloper #webdesignagency #localseo
