Industry guru Dave Taylor offers free tech support on a wide variety of technical and business topics, including HTML, Apple iPhone, online advertising, Cascading Style Sheets, Web design, management, Unix, Linux, search engine optimization, online dating, Mac OS X, shell script programming and Microsoft Windows.

How do I start a Web design business?

This isn't the first time I've received this sort of query, but a few days ago I got this message from a loyal reader:

I am starting my own web design business and I could do with some assistance. Do you have any starting out pointers and how are the contract negotiated for service and provisions? Is there a special legal branch I should be contacting or is there already pre-made forms. I appreciate any and all assistance.

Dave's Answer: It's not an easy question to answer, though...

There are many sources of contracts online, including Google, where you could search for web design contract but the quality of what you find varies all over the map, from excellent to worse than no contract at all. Sites like ContractEdge.com look good, but you'll be paying $129 or more per contract and if you want to have one for the design and implementation and another for ongoing maintenance, that's a lot of up-front cost for someone just starting out.

A bit more scrounging about does produce some good options. For example, the WilsonWeb contract could be a good starting point, as could this sample contract at about.com. I'll also recommend that you read The Need for a Written Web Design Contract by prolific lawyer/author Ivan Hoffman too.

Other than that, the best way to get started is to begin building your design portfolio, and to do that, I recommend that you volunteer time to help with non-profit organizations. Whether a church, synagogue, children's club or hospice organization, a few attractive sites is really your best way to get started in this business.

And good luck to you!

Help others find this article at Del.icio.us, Digg, Netscape, Reddit, and Stumble Upon

Categorized: HTML and CSS (Article 3718)
Tagged:
Previous: Yet another nice review of my "Creating Cool Web Sites" book
Next: What's the Right Way to Link To Pages On My Site?

Subscribe!

Never miss another useful Q&A article again! Subscribe to AskDaveTaylor with Google Reader.

Comments

The Canadian New Life Mission is a registered charity seeking a volunteer web designer. Please let us know if you have any volunteers available. Remain blessed. www.bjnewlife.org

Posted by: Princess Wilson at March 26, 2006 12:00 PM

Dave,
You mentioned that the agreements that one could get from ContractEdge.com are $129 (per agreement), which not accurate.

It is possible that your article may have been written before the current price structure, which is the following:

"Pay only once. You own the software and the agreements. Use the IT contracts again and again."

If you could update the article to correct the statement, we would certainly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Cory H

PS - Great website btw!

Posted by: ContractEdge at August 19, 2008 4:36 PM

I have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!