1. Making Money
Generating cash through the web

2. Two key methods…
 Active income
You build, create or construct web-based material.
 Passive income
Income that is generated with minimal (or no) setup,
creation or supervision.

3. Freelancing
A freelancer is a person
who works for themselves.
Freelancers often charge
by the hour, the day or the
project and are effectively
running a small business
with their skill set as the
product.

4. Joys of Freelancing
 You’re the boss!
 You are free to pick and choose your
clients.
 You can freelance part time.
 You choose your holidays and days off
 You can go to work in your underwear if
you want.
 There’s no commute – extra time in bed
every morning
 No annoying colleagues and
micromanagers looking over your
shoulder. Lots of quiet so you can get
things done!
 Relatively cheap to get going; a computer
and you’re away…

5. Problems with Freelancing
 You’re the boss! It’s all on you!
 Lack of security – ‘sick days’, nightmare clients
you can’t afford to lose.
 Wave goodbye to the water cooler – there’s a lot
of loneliness; can you go for one week without
talking to another soul?
 Motivation can be tricky at times!
 Late nights & long hours during ‘crunch time’
 Work is inconsistent at times
 Working from home you never leave the office.
 The world still works 9 to 5 even if you don’t!
 Tax, accountancy, legal issues & financial
responsibilities.

6. Problems with Clients
 Clients don’t always like to pay up… Factor this into
your financial decisions…
 Clients THINK they know your job better than you
do…
 Not all clients will value your services…
http://youtu.be/R2a8TRSgzZY
 Design by committee is always an issue. Every
department wants their own say…

7. How to start your
business
Beginner’s guide to freelancing

8. Type of Business
 Sole Trader
Register yourself as self-employed with the taxman. Few
requirements for business papers other than an annual ‘self-
assessment’ form (single entry bookkeeping). You’re legally liable
for any problems personally – any financial issues will affect your
credit rating.
 Limited Liability Company (LTD)
If your business fails, or if you’re sued, then your personal assets
will be safe. You also get the prestige of a corporate identity
(which you can always sell on later) and lower tax rates. Setting
up a limited liability company is simple; you can register with
Companies House over the internet! However, you are required
to prepare and file accounts and tax returns and your books are
subject to inspection by the public (double entry bookkeeping).
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/relief-self-emp.htm

9. 
Start off small…
Generate business – friends, family, community projects. Offer free consultations
and encourage referrals.
 Work on your portfolio – show off your best work!
 Offer your services for free (but not for too long!)
 Keep a business card on you at all times… (http://www.moo.com)
 Use social networks to advertise your services.
 Start attending networking events. Create your own if you need to!
 Promote on a budget – put up a flyer in the local library, put your web address on
a t-shirt
 Start a blog – write a regular news column and attract an audience.
 Trawl the job boards – don’t scrape the bottom of the barrel though; leave the £1
an hour work for others.
 Partner up with local businesses – cross promotion is a great way of brining in
the clients for both parties!

10. …and slowly grow
 Raise your rates slowly – you can charge
more as you gain more notoriety within
the web design community.
 Start to offer more services as soon as
you feel comfortable using the tools –
web design can quickly become business
card design, logo design and more.
 Gain online recognition – offer free
materials like templates (with links back
to your website) e.g.
http://tomblr24.tumblr.com
 Diversify wherever possible – show your
flexibility
 Don’t be afraid to wave goodbye to low
paying clients. Try to make the split an
amicable affair…

11. Be your own brand!
 Decide who you want to be…
Fun & wacky? Friendly & professional? The ‘Local’
specialist?
 Think about how you can satisfy your clients
The personal touch? Are you ‘their web guy’?
 Don’t forget the power of testimonials.

12. Joining a Design House
 Team up with other skilled graphic designers, web
workers and illustrators to form a design studio.
 There are a number of advantages and
disadvantages to this.
 You share responsibilities and workloads, lower
start-up costs, attract more clients, sharing
expenses
 However, everyone needs to be paid, you have to
contend with other’s needs, you may be ‘carrying’
members of the group and you don’t necessarily
see the same benefits of working alone.

13. Advertising
Use the popularity and leverage
of your website(s) to generate
cash. Advertising can be a
great money-spinner if you
have a popular website with a
decent level of traffic.

14. Advantages of Advertising
 Make money whilst you sleep (passive income)
 Relatively simple to implement
 Updating and changing adverts can be quick and
easy to do.
 You can control virtually every aspect of how and
where adverts appear on your website.

15. Disadvantages of Advertising
 Advertisers can be demanding.
 The costs of running the website can be lower than
your advertising income.
 The level of administration can be a nightmare for
some clients; they may have their own invoicing
systems which can be difficult to master…
 You could be spreading the message of a company
or organization you don’t necessarily agree with
(e.g. religious groups)

16. CPC / CPM / CPA
 Cost Per Click (CPC)
You are paid a small amount of money each time somebody clicks on your
advert. This is great for websites with targeted traffic in a niche market e.g.
Tropical fish tanks
 Cost Per Mile (CPM)
You are paid a small amount of money for every 1,000 visitors to your website.
This is great for websites that get a lot of traffic coming though the servers
e.g. Daily News or Entertainment sites
 Cost Per Action (CPA)
You are paid a small amount of money for every visitor that performs a
specific action for your advertiser (e.g. Signing up for a free trial, registering at
their forums, etc) This is great for websites with dedicated fans and users e.g.
High-profile bloggers.

17. Banner Adverts
 Banner ads come in various
shapes and sizes and are
typically sized according to their
pixel dimensions. Common
advert sizes include:
 Small Square 200x200
Large Square 300x300
Leaderboard 728 x 90
Banner 468 x 60
Skyscraper 120 x 600
Wide Skyscraper 160 x 600
 Performance can vary
considerably between sizes, so
it’s always worthwhile
experimenting with the various
options on offer.

18. Google AdSense

19. Data Monetisation
 Websites generate a range of
useful data that can be
monetised through various
methods.
 Data can include basic
demographics, email addresses
or even usage patterns. All this
material can be sold to
advertisers to target specific
online campaigns.
 Websites can also generate
additional revenue from
newsletters and on-site signup
programs. These can be
leveraged against future sales
and marketing campaigns.

20. Paid Membership
 Premium content can be hidden behind a ‘paywall’.
This material can only be accessed by purchasing a
membership package.
 Often this will include various levels of service
(bronze, silver and gold membership for example)
for various prices.
 Newspapers are increasingly turning to this model
to fund their businesses.

21. Paid Membership
 There are a number of plug-ins and widgets that will
aid you with adding a paywall.
 http://pigeonpaywall.com/

22. Affiliate Marketing
 An affiliate will give you a percentage of sales
generated through your website.
 Example programs include Amazon and Netflix

23. Sponsorship
 Can you get people interested in sponsoring your
website?
 Don’t be afraid to reach out to companies that may
wish to give you money in exchange for banner ads
and positive press.
 Make sure you’re clear about your terms and
conditions before hand...

24. How to Optimise your
Advertising
Getting more cash for doing less…

25. A-B Testing
A-B Testing – which gives the better results? The
first version of a page (A) or an alternative version
(B)

26. Why is A-B Testing so
important?
 If you have an online store, it is quite common to see visitors
abandoning the purchase process at the time of checkout!
Using A-B testing you can find out what issues users are
having!
 The Official Vancouver 2010 Olympic Store improved sales
by 20+% by taking the checkout down from a 2-page
process to a 1-page process.
 Along with its other A-B tests, CareLogger increased its
conversion rate by 34% simply by changing the color of the
sign-up button from green to red!

27. What are heat maps?
 Heat Maps – tell you where
people are looking and
clicking the most.
 Ideally, you want to
optimise these spaces as
they’re your money making
‘hot spots’.
 Create tests for all your
important promotional tools
(even your CV!)

28. Website Testing Tools
 A/B Testing Tools:
http://www.google.com/websiteoptimizer
http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/
http://unbounce.com/
 Heat map Tools:
http://www.crazyegg.com/
http://www.clicktale.com/product/attention_heatmaps

29. Selling Products
& Services
Other methods of generating money with web
design

30. Virtual Goods
 Selling your skills needn’t necessarily mean
freelancing; you can also use your new talents to
generate plenty of products to sell.
 You can sell these items on your personal website
or use external third parties.

31. Templates
 Sell your web design skills by producing templates.
 Top sellers keep their layouts fairly generic, so individuals can
customise them to suit their needs.
 Use free templates to give potential buyers a sample of your
talents.
 Keep prices low to entice customers. (£3 - £1,000)

32. eBooks
 Write about what you know...
 Quality beats quantity; people are willing to pay
reasonable money for good quality information.
 Think about what sells. ‘How to...’ guides, Hints and
Tips, specialist knowledge.
 iBooks, Kindle, PDFs, etc
 Be conscious of your pricing (99p - £300)

33. Stock Imagery
 Do you like to take photos?
 Can you generate your own pictures or images?
Think about what people commonly use...
 http://www.istockphoto.com/
http://www.shutterstock.com/

34. Web Resources
 Buttons, icons, patterns, shapes, special actions
 Can you create a ‘pack’ for other users? Think
about what people are always after...
 Can you offer a simple tool or service? Consider
your other skills (can you draw, code, design
advanced spreadsheet formulae, create music).
Not only can you make the tool a paid service, but
you can also apply adverts for extra revenue.

35. Web Resources

36. Physical Products
 Unlike virtual products, physical products require
more initial outlay and more preparation.
 However, physical products are often valued more
highly by the consumer than virtual ones.
 Books: http://www.lulu.com/
 T-Shirts: http://www.spreadshirt.co.uk/
 Miscellaneous Items: http://www.cafepress.com/