Building Client Websites

Tool: Offsprout

There are tons of page builders and website builders out there, but only one that is focused solely on freelancers and web design companies looking to build and manage all of their client websites in one central platform: Offsprout.

Sure, I’m biased because I’m the co-founder, but it’s what we used for our web design business before we sold that company (and the new owner is continuing to use Offsprout), and I truly believe that it’s the best option for companies that worry about building a company rather than just building websites.

Why Offsprout is great:

The Site Grower can build a fully designed client site for you in just 5 minutes

All updates, backups, and maintenance is taken care of for you

Duplicate sites in a single click (great if a new client says they want a site similar to one in your portfolio)

Manage users, plugins, DNS, domains, reporting, and build sites all from one central platform

Call Tracking

Tool: CallRail

Call tracking is something that I don’t see getting discussed much when it comes to marketing, but I think it’s essential for a productized web design business. With call tracking from a company like CallRail, you can keep track of where your leads are coming from.

And with the Slack integration, you can even find out where leads are coming from as they call! That means if you’re running a PPC ad and you see a call coming in from that ad, you immediately know the messaging that that caller has responded to and can tailor your sales call accordingly.

Why it’s great:

Easy to use – simply drop a piece of javascript code in your header

Integrates with Offsprout so that you can track visits, form submissions, and calls in one central dashboard

Slack integration provides extra smart caller ID

Invoicing

Tool: Freshbooks/InvoiceNinja

Collecting money is always a pain in the butt. Alas, it has to be done. We tried a couple different platforms before landing on Freshbooks for our web design business (and then subsequently built our own plugin to replace Freshbooks).

Freshbooks isn’t perfect (they require clients to “enroll” in autopay for recurring charges which is a real pain and why we ended up building our own), but they can get the job done.

InvoiceNinja is a newer company. I’ve actually never tried them out, but they seem like they could work better than Freshbooks, especially as a tool for web design businesses, and it’s free!

Sales

Tool: Pipedrive

Holy CRM! There are tons of options when it comes to CRMs, and nobody seems to get it perfect. However, Pipedrive comes pretty darn close for productized web design companies.

Like Trello, they have a nice Kanban style display that allows you to move prospects easily from one stage to another. Also, they have a Slack integration that can keep the whole team updated as to a prospect’s progress through the sales pipeline.

Their reporting could be better, but gets the job done if you’re meticulous about your data entry.

Why it’s great:

Easy to get the hang of – very low learning curve

Pretty much all of the features that you actually need

Slack integration

Support

Tool: Helpscout

Helpscout is simple to set up, simple to use, and simple for clients to use. Just map an email address to your Helpscout account and all emails sent to that address will automatically become tickets. From there, you can address or delegate as appropriate and the support emails the client receives look much like a regular email would (best user experience in my opinion).

Their most glaring weakness is ticket merging, which can be very cumbersome if you have a client sending 20 one-line emails with changes they want made to their website (you know that client!). But that isn’t enough for me to withhold my recommendation.

Why it’s great:

Seamless integration with your email

Low learning curve

Good price

Accounting

Tool: Xero

Anyone enjoy accounting? Yeah, me neither. But with Xero, a lot of the accounting work is done for you. Do yourself a favor and just pay for a Xero account. You’ll thank yourself at tax time.

Why it’s great:

Great in vs. out graph to keep track of your profit

Integrates with Stripe, a payment processor

Keep track of your expenses with the Xero app

Payroll

Tool: Gusto

Once you have employees, you have to deal with the tax rules and regulations that come with having employees. And you probably should pay them as well! Gusto makes the whole process a breeze.

Why it’s great:

All tax forms are taken care of for you

Expense reimbursements are easy

Can handle full-time W2 or contractor 1099 employees

Conclusion

There you have it! That’s the toolset that I recommend for running a successful productized web design business.

And don’t forget to download the Productized Web Design Business Vault: