Field notes from running cold outbound at scale.
Everything we've learned sending millions of emails on behalf of freelancers and agencies targeting local SMBs. No fluff, no "hope this email finds you well." Real templates, real data, real rules.
How to start a web design agency in 2026 (no fluff guide)
The real path from zero to a $5K/mo agency: pick a niche, find businesses with no website, write a 4-line cold email, send 50 a week.
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- May 3, 202611 min
Where to find web design clients: 11 channels ranked by ROI
An honest ranking of 11 channels for finding web design clients in 2026, from cold email to referrals, with the math behind each one.
Read article - May 3, 20268 min
How to find local businesses without a website (free method + free tool)
A five-minute method for finding local businesses with no website, plus a free tool that checks the first page of Google Maps for any city and niche.
Read article - May 3, 20269 min
Web design for dentists: a 2026 niche teardown
Why dentists are the highest-LTV niche for a new web agency, what their sites get wrong, and the 4-line cold email that books practice owners.
Read article - May 3, 20268 min
Web design for plumbers and trades: a 2026 niche teardown
Why trades have the highest no-website rates of any local SMB segment, and how to win your first 5 clients in 60 days.
Read article - May 3, 20269 min
Web design for restaurants: a 2026 niche teardown
Restaurants pay 30% to delivery apps and almost nothing to their own sites. The angle that wins them, and the metrics that close the deal.
Read article - May 3, 20269 min
Web design for law firms: a 2026 niche teardown
Law firms have the highest deal value and longest cycles in local SMB. The intake-form fix that pays for the rebuild in month one.
Read article - May 3, 20268 min
Web design for real estate agencies: a 2026 niche teardown
Estate agencies lean on the portals and lose buyer leads to commissions. The neighborhood-page play that breaks the pattern.
Read article - May 4, 20267 min
The 8-step weekend prospecting routine for new web designers
A 4-hour Saturday routine that fills your cold-email queue for the entire week. Eight concrete steps, all using free tools, repeatable forever.
Read article - May 4, 20266 min
How to audit a prospect's website in 60 seconds
The 6-checkpoint audit you can run on any local business website in under a minute. Use it as the personalized opener in your cold email.
Read article - May 4, 20267 min
The redesign-mockup cold email that gets 30% replies
Mockup-led cold emails reply at 25-35% vs 5-10% for plain text. How to scaffold a usable preview in 5 minutes and make it your best opener.
Read article - May 4, 20269 min
From 0 to 5 retainer clients: a 90-day plan
A week-by-week plan from no clients to $2,500/mo in retainer revenue, with realistic conversion rates and the mistakes that double the timeline.
Read article - May 4, 20267 min
Why your first 10 cold emails will fail (and how to fix them)
The five reasons new web designers' cold emails get ignored, with the exact corrections to lift reply rates from 1% to 12% on email 11.
Read article - May 4, 20268 min
Best CRMs for web design freelancers in 2026
An honest review of 6 CRMs for solo web designers: what to use at 5, 20 and 50 clients, and the automation rules that actually matter.
Read article - May 4, 20267 min
How to build a web design portfolio with no clients
Three ways to build a credible portfolio before your first paying client: speculative redesigns, half-price projects and pro bono work.
Read article - May 4, 20268 min
Should you offer SEO too? (How to price the upsell)
Clients always ask 'can you do my SEO too?'. The framework for deciding, plus three pricing models that work for solo agencies.
Read article - May 4, 20268 min
White-label web design vs building it yourself: when to choose what
White-label saves time but kills margin; building from scratch eats your weekends. The break-even math, and the hybrid most solo agencies use.
Read article - May 4, 20269 min
GDPR cheat sheet for web designers (English edition)
What GDPR requires when you build a site for an EU client: the 8 things every site needs to handle, and the 4 you can safely ignore.
Read article - May 4, 20268 min
Cold call vs cold email vs LinkedIn DM: which works best for web designers
Reply rate, hours per booking and emotional cost across 12 months of customer data, plus the 3-touch sequence that beats any single channel.
Read article - Jan 14, 20269 min
The local B2B cold email playbook that replaced our sales team
How to run cold outbound to local businesses: pick an ICP, find verified contacts, write a first email worth replying to, keep deliverability.
Read article - Jan 8, 20266 min
How to find any decision-maker's email in under 90 seconds
How to find verified work emails for owners and decision-makers at small local businesses, using public signals, patterns and a free verifier.
Read article - Dec 19, 20258 min
GDPR and cold outreach in France: what is actually allowed
What GDPR and CNIL really require for B2B cold email in France, what regulators enforce, and how to stay safe without killing your pipeline.
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