In short5 min read
- The agency targets businesses that already have websites, since they already value one.
- AI audits flag design, SEO, speed, and mobile issues to personalize cold emails.
- An AI-generated draft, built in about 2 minutes, is shown live during the sales meeting.
- In the thread, pricing was described as usually $5-10k, depending on the client's revenue.
In this article
Why This Case Is Worth Your Attention
Most web design side hustles die in the same place: you can build a site, but you can’t find people who will pay for one. A web design agency owner on Reddit’s r/EntrepreneurRideAlong says his team sold 253 websites in a single year, and his explanation is refreshingly unglamorous. No 15-channel marketing plan, no complex funnel, no big team.
By the end of this article, you’ll understand the exact seven-stage loop he describes, where AI does the heavy lifting, where it doesn’t, and a checklist you can start working through this week. The window here is practical rather than hype-driven: AI audit and design tools now make it possible for a solo operator to show a prospect a redesigned concept before the first call, something that used to take days of unpaid spec work.
The Core Insight: Sell to People Who Already Bought
The founder’s first decision is counterintuitive. Instead of chasing businesses with no website, he targets businesses that already have one.
His reasoning:
- They already understand the value of a website.
- They’ve already spent money on one.
- There’s a good chance the current site has fixable problems.
This flips the sales conversation. You’re not convincing someone that websites matter. You’re showing them that the one they paid for is underperforming, and that’s a much shorter path to a yes.
The 7-Stage Pipeline, Explained
According to the author, the full flow is: find businesses, analyze websites, send personalized emails, book meetings, present a draft, close the deal, build and launch.
Stage 1-3: Automated prospecting and outreach
The author says he automates most of the prospecting with a tool called Swokei. As he describes it, it finds businesses with existing websites, analyzes thousands of them at once, and flags issues with design, SEO, loading speed, and mobile optimization. It then turns those findings into personalized cold emails at scale.
The point isn’t the specific tool. It’s the message quality. Instead of “I build websites, want one?”, every email gives a concrete reason the prospect’s current site could be better. If you evaluate this or any similar tool, check the official site for current pricing and capabilities before committing.
Stage 4: The email only sells the conversation
The founder is explicit that email is not where the website gets sold. The only goal is a reply. When a prospect responds and wants to see how the flagged issues could be fixed, they move to a meeting.
Stage 5: Book a Google Meet
He books a video call. But he doesn’t use it to talk about how great his services are.
Stage 6: Show, don’t tell, with an AI draft
Before the meeting, he uses AI to generate an updated concept of the prospect’s website. He says the first draft takes around 2 minutes. It’s not the finished product, just a visual example of what their existing site could become. He didn’t name the AI design tool he uses.
The community response highlighted this as the real differentiator. One commenter called Step 4 “the real cheat code,” noting that walking in with something visible changes the whole conversation, and that many developers skip it and end up stuck on discovery calls that go nowhere. Another pointed out that clients react much faster when they can point at something and say “make that smaller” or “change this section” instead of trying to picture it.
Stage 7: Close on the call, then build
This is where the author is most emphatic: you need to learn sales. Ask questions, understand what the business needs, walk through the draft, explain your improvements, and present the offer. The goal is to close during the meeting, either with payment or a signed contract.
“Don’t expect a beautiful website draft to sell itself,” he writes. After signing, you collect assets from the client, build the real site, make adjustments, get approval, and launch.
Where the Money Comes From
When someone in the thread asked about pricing, the reply was that it “really depends” and that the business’s revenue is checked before the meeting, but that projects usually run from $5-10k. How that revenue check is done wasn’t explained; another commenter asked and no answer was shared.
The author also didn’t break down how the 253 sales split across team members, average deal size, reply rates, or close rates. So treat the headline number as context, not a benchmark you should expect to hit.
| Stage | What AI/automation handles | What you handle |
|---|---|---|
| Prospecting | Finding businesses with existing sites | Choosing a niche and location |
| Site analysis | Flagging design, SEO, speed, mobile issues | Sanity-checking findings |
| Outreach | Personalized cold emails at scale | Deliverability and follow-up |
| Meeting prep | ~2-minute AI website draft | Tailoring the draft to the business |
| Sales call | Nothing | Discovery, pitching, closing |
| Delivery | Can speed up design | Build, revisions, launch |
Monetization Difficulty: Medium
The tooling side is now fairly accessible. The hard parts are human:
- Sales skill. The author’s own warning. If you freeze on calls or can’t handle objections, the draft won’t save you.
- Cold email execution. Personalized messages help, but you still need clean sending setup and consistent volume.
- Delivery. At $5-10k price points, clients expect a polished, working site, not just the AI concept.
- Pricing judgment. Knowing when to quote higher or lower takes reps.
Realistic Adjustments If You’re Starting Today
- You’re not an agency yet. Start with a narrow niche (dentists, contractors, restaurants in one metro) so your audits and pitch get sharper fast.
- Price for your proof. The $5-10k range was described by an established operator. With no portfolio, you may need to start lower and raise rates as you collect case studies.
- Don’t over-rely on one vendor. The author recommends a specific prospecting tool. Compare options, test small, and make sure the audit findings are accurate before they go out under your name.
- Treat the draft as a conversation starter. Commenters stressed that a rough draft is valuable because clients can react to it. It doesn’t need to be perfect.
- Expect a ramp. Results depend heavily on your niche, outreach volume, and closing ability.
How to Do It: Your Step-by-Step Checklist
- Pick one niche and one geography. Write down why businesses in that niche lose money with a weak website.
- Build a prospect list of businesses that already have websites. Use an audit/prospecting tool or manual research to start.
- Audit each site for design, SEO, loading speed, and mobile issues. Pick the two or three most obvious problems.
- Write a short cold email that names those specific problems and asks one question: would they like to see how it could be fixed?
- Book a video call with anyone who replies. Keep the scheduling friction low.
- Generate an AI draft of their improved site before the call. Spend minutes, not hours.
- Run a structured sales call: ask about goals, walk through the draft, explain improvements, present a clear price, and ask for the signature or payment on the call.
- Collect assets, build, revise, and launch. Get written approval before going live.
- Track every stage (emails sent, replies, meetings, closes) so you know whether your bottleneck is outreach, sales, or delivery.
- Practice sales weekly. Role-play calls or review recordings. The founder calls this probably the most important part of the whole process.
Want to copy this setup for your own web design side hustle?
Today, pick one local niche and audit five businesses that already have websites. Write down two specific problems for each, then draft one short cold email offering to show how you'd fix them.
Source: How We Managed to Sell 253 Websites in Just One Year
Leave a Reply