How to scale a web design business without stalling

How do you scale a web design business?

You scale a web design business by turning your own way of building into a process, then handing that process to more hands. Growth stalls if every site waits on the owner. For finding new clients, see how to get web design clients.

1. Write the process down. List each stage of a build, from the first call to launch, and what "done" means at each one.
2. Turn stages into tasks. A task is a piece of work one person can finish and hand back, such as a page layout or a contact form.
3. Set review points. Decide where you check the work before the client sees it.
4. Keep the client contact with you. The client talks to your agency, whoever does the build.
5. Add hands. Pick one of the ways in the table below, or mix them.
6. Track the load. Count the builds in progress each week, so you see a crunch before it comes.

Here are four ways to add hands, side by side.

Weigh each way on what it buys, as well as on its figures. For a client site's cost by each route, go to What does one client site cost to deliver, each way, in California?.

How do you build a web design team?

You build a web design team by naming the roles a build needs, then deciding who fills each one: you, people you have, or a partner. Start from the work, and let the titles come later.

The roles that come up on a client site build include:

• The client contact. The one person the client talks to, who carries feedback back and forth.
• The project lead. The person who keeps the stages on track and the tasks moving.
• Design. Layouts and the look of each page, inside the client's brand.
• Development. The build itself, plus forms, plugins and fixes.
• Testing. Someone other than the builder, checking the site before the client sees it.
• Upkeep. Updates, backups and small changes once the site is live.

One person can hold more than one role in a small shop. The aim is that no role depends on the owner alone.

A partner's team can fill several roles at once. Every DeskTeam360 plan puts a team leader and 2 developers on your work, along with 2 designers, 2 technical Virtual Assistants and a North American account manager, and the founder joins 2 weekly group calls.

How does a web design agency team work as it grows?

As it grows, a web design team works best when the same people stay on your work and the process stays written down. New builds then follow a path everyone knows, and you're not explaining it from scratch each time.

• Keep the same people on the work. People who've built your last few sites know your standards.
• Keep one way in for tasks. Every request goes to one place, where the whole team can see it.
• Hold a short weekly check. Look at every build in progress, what's stuck and what's next.
• Record how you want things done. A short video or a written note saves the same explanation later.

DeskTeam360's team works together in one office. There's a team leader on the floor with them, they use new computers, and the office has three internet providers, plus two sources of backup power. You work with the same team every month. For running many projects at once, see agency project management.

Sidekick Marketing had worked with DeskTeam360 for almost two years when it told its story. It markets phone and computer repair stores, among other electronics repair shops, in 11 states, and its work covers website development, digital marketing and design. It heard about DeskTeam360 during a Duct Tape Marketing group call that covered the team's work. It sends the team mainly website and design tasks, and almost anything else once it explains the job in a recorded video. It names the quality of the work and the communication, and says designs need less back and forth.