Boom! You just landed an awesome web design gig. You complete the job and get a nice fat check. However next month comes along and you have to hustle to bring in another job. If you don’t there will be no money coming in. One of the biggest issues that a web designer can come across is lack of recurring income.
Recurring income is amazing. It is income that comes in automatically month after month. Websites are a one time payment, so how can we get recurring income coming in? Here are two different ways you can make sure you have some consistent money flowing.
Re-Seller Hosting and Maintenance:
One of the best things you can do is get them on a hosting and maintenance plan. Setup a re-seller account with a reputable hosting company. Such as NameHero. With these re-seller accounts each website will have their own cpanel and FTP. You can also change the nameservers to be a brandable name.
On top of hosting the website, you want to make it more desirable. What you do is offer maintenance and security of the website for free. Break it down showing your client by doing a monthly plan they save in the long run. In the plan include minor things such as changing photos, adding a page, updating a logo etc… You can call these monthly care packages.
For this we recommend you charge somewhere between $150/month-$300/month. It can depend on what type of business is working with you. Say you got 10 websites at $150/month. That’s $1,500/month coming in on auto-pilot!
You might think this is a lot of money. Especially if your client happens to google hosting and finds some plans for $7/month. All you have to do is change their mindset. By using a care package, they are completely hands off with their business. They never have to worry about anything crashing, people hacking in or making updates to the site. You’d be surprised at how many business owners would be willing to pay the extra premium for this peace of mind. It only makes sense for their business!
Adding Monthly Services:
On top of care plans you can add services that require a monthly charge. Such as SEO, PPC or social media management. You may be thinking “I have no idea how to do any of those thing”. No problem. Just do a Joint Venture with a company. They handle the work and you take a percentage of the profits. This can also work out well for you if they don’t offer web design. They could always send that work your way. A win-win situation for both parties. Alternatively you could always outsource a lot of these services as well.
By adding some recurring income streams to your business, you will have more peace of mind that you always have money coming in. This will allow you to focus more on growing the business and getting those creative juices flowing.
If you have any questions at all about setting up these new streams of income, companies to partner with or anything shoot us a message! We would be glad to point you in the right direction. You are, after all, part of the Monkey Marketers Tribe.
