How to Start a Web Development Business

So, you’re interested in getting into the Web Development Business? First of all, congratulations. You’ve made a great choice.

Although it’s easier than ever to build a website from templates and content management platforms, such as WordPress, many businesses still prefer to hire Web Development Business to build and manage their websites. As a result, many web design jobs are and will continue to be available.

One of the first things we recommend doing when starting out learning web development is to decide upon a clear end goal and keep it in mind.

Maybe you want to make a career change. Maybe you have a wicked idea for an app. Or maybe you just want to learn for fun.

Whatever your goal, it’s important to understand why you are doing this. This understanding will help you be more productive with your learning time. It will also help encourage you through those times when you feel like giving up.

Assuming you have no previous experience, it’s a good idea, in the beginning, to also decide if your interest lies in the back-end or front-end development. Let us briefly explain the difference.

Types of Web Development Services

Frontend: This is what the end user sees and interacts with on the page. It’s all the design, fancy effects, layout, and imagery that create the user experience.

Generally, front-end developers will be visual creatives with excellent design skills and a passion for accessibility and user experience.

Backend: This is the part that typically processes, stores, and manipulates data. It’s how the website or application works. Back-end developers are generally good problem solvers and logical thinkers who are interested in the functionality of a website or application. Back-end development is usually associated with server-side languages such as PHP, Python, and Ruby.

Starting a Web Development Business doesn’t require having any specific training or certification as long as they have the skills to design a site. Although it’s not necessarily a requirement, a knowledge of coding and programming can increase opportunities and income.

Here are the 10 Steps to Start a Web Development Company

1. Learning The Basics

A front-end developer uses three “languages” in a browser. These languages are used everywhere on the Internet.
We would highly recommend learning what is called the “Trinity of the Web”:

• HTML (HyperText Markup Language…what the web is entirely comprised of)
• JavaScript (not Java, JavaScript…they are two different languages)
• CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)

These are the basic building blocks of creating a web page. If you want to advance your career as a developer, this is the new hotness right now along with JavaScript MVC frameworks which include AngularJS, EmberJS, Aurelia, and Meteor.

Once you understand those three languages (and trust us, it will take you a while) and one of the JavaScript MVC frameworks listed above, you will be considered a front-end developer

2. Master Server-Side Skills

Once you have the basics, We recommend looking into one of the following server-side languages:

• C#
• VB.NET
• F#

Anyone of these three languages can be applied to a website. C# is, by far, the most popular of the three.

Once you understand and master the language of your choice, you can move towards a Microsoft-specific web technology.

• WebForms
• MVC (Model-View-Controller)

WebForms has been around since 2002 while MVC is the new kid on the block (ok, since 2008), but it’s gaining a lot of traction.

If you are new to the Web Development Business, we would definitely recommend MVC.

There are other technologies that are Microsoft-specific and truly assist with your development like SignalR which is a real-time communication library for web applications. You could even become a specialist with SignalR and other web technologies.

3. Learn to Learn More

One of the key requirements you need to focus on is the ability to continue to learn. If you lose focus for six months, your technology stack may be obsolete so stay on top of your primary technologies and always keep learning more.

It is definitely an absolute must when in the Internet industry. Too many changes too fast and it’s hard enough to keep up with everything.

4. Create a Business Plan

The first step toward starting a web development business is to develop a business plan. If you are starting small, a small plan document will do. However, for a large-scale operation, it is essential to create a long complete business plan document with a complete organizational, operational, financial, and marketing plan. Furthermore, if you are looking for funds it is advised to hire a professional lawyer and a plan writer to do the job.

5. Select a Catchy Business Name

When it comes to choosing a name for your Web Development Business, there are no hard and fast rules to follow. This is so because web design companies are not like other business that hopes that their names can help them attract passers-by who may just walk in to want to do business with them; there is no rule of thumb. You will also need a logo, you can go through this article of ours to get to know which logo would be apt for you.

6. Register your Web Development Company

It is essential to register your business if planning to run a hassle-free company. There are various forms of organization you can choose based on the size and scale of operation. Select the one that suits you best. For example, if you are looking for funds, forming a private limited company is a better option.

7. Get Licenses and Permits

Talk to local competent authorities and procure the licenses as instructed by them. Some of the basic licenses that will be needed are shop and establishment licenses, GST registration numbers, etc.

8. Build your Network

A strong network to access possible referrals for your Web Development Business. This network can include people you’ve designed for before, but also other professionals that work with businesses that can use designers. For example, you should have a network of copywriters, graphic designers, and others involved in developing websites.

It’s possible you’ll have a client that wants a website, but doesn’t already have text and graphics. With your network, you have other businesses you can refer your client to, as well as the other businesses that can refer their clients back to you for web design.

9. Cost of Staring a Web Development Company

There are several expenses that you would have to make before successfully launching your own web design company. It is important to state that the location you choose to launch your business will definitely impact the overall cost of starting the business which is why it is very important to have concluded and analyzed your feasibility studies and market survey before drawing up a budget and sourcing for funding for your business.

On average, you would need over 50,000 US dollars to start a medium-scale Web Development Business in the United States of America. If you choose to start a large Web Development Business, then you should look towards budgeting about $500,000 US dollars and above. This money includes paying experts that will be on your employee/payroll.

10. The Marketing Plan

A web design firm is not a business where you have to retail products which is why you must do all you can to maximize any opportunity that comes your way.

So when you are drafting your marketing ideas and strategies for your outfit, make sure that you create a compelling personal and company profile which must include the profile of your board of directors and management team.

Here are some of the platforms you can utilize to market your web design company;

•  Advertise your business in relevant business magazines, TV and radio station, and also make yourself available for web design-related talk shows and interactive sessions on TV and Radios)
• List your business on local directories / yellow pages (both online and offline)
• Attend web design-related expos, seminars, and business fairs.
• Leverage the internet to promote your business
• Introduce your business by sending introductory letters alongside your brochure to all the corporate organizations, community leaders, schools, hospitals, hotels, and government offices in your target area.
• Promptness in bidding for contracts
• Create different packages for different categories of clients in order to work with their budgets.
• Engage in direct marketing, referral marketing, and also email marketing.
• Create a Website for your Web Development Company

Conclusion

Once you master steps 1-3, you graduate up to what is called a full-stack developer.

The reason it’s called a full-stack developer is that you now know how to create a website from “soup-to-nuts”; from the HTML screens, all the way back to the database and you don’t need anyone to assist you with it.

Find someone with some amount of web programming experience to guide you; it’s always easy to learn from experienced programmers.

In the last, we would like to say that this is an era of tough competition, so you would need to keep patience and show perseverance regardless of how many hardships you face to get started.

And once you have an effective and thoughtful foundation in place, success will come your way on its own.