[pryelluw]

Ive had great luck selling squarespace websites for around $3k to small businesses. Look into that.

You need to partner with a copy writer. A business website lives and dies by its copy.

Good luck. There is good money out there. You just need to stand out. :)

[detritus]

Do your clients know from the off you will be using SquareSpace — and, more importantly — do they know what SquareSpace IS?

Kudos to you, I'm just amazed people will pay that for what I tend to view as a DIY service!

[SnowingXIV]

I have some experience here, I had a client who came to me saying they wanted to use Squarespace but would pay me to setup and maintain it. I was a bit confused because I felt the platform was made for that audience - so they didn't need to come to me and pay my rate.

I went a bit further and setup a dev environment so I could do custom tweaks if required but almost all of it was pretty simple and could be done from the UI. (There were some wonky responsive things that I had to take care of manually but that was more a personal issue since I hate leaving something I touch looking a little off).

I handed back the keys and said you're good to go. Weeks later the client attempted to do some updates and the contact form wasn't working and some weird other issues propped up from their changes. I quickly went back and fixed it.

Many people haven't put in the time nor do they have time (they are likely focused 100% on the literal business!) so this saves them headaches and maybe allows them the comfort to hang out with their family instead of tinkering with a website.

[davidscolgan]

There are many business owners who would look at the SquareSpace interface and be completely lost. We as technical people have thousands of hours put into understanding how the web works, but many people just haven't, and don't have the desire to learn (because they are doing something else). That, or they don't have time to it, and it makes sense to delegate. You can make a good living using tech for other people.

[pryelluw]

Yes, it's one of the benefits they get. Squarespace allows me to provide a turn key product that does not require much maintenance or upkeep. Some know about it but I bring them up to speed quickly with one line: It's like dropbox for your website.

I tend to go for niche markets and own them through a combination of exceptional service and value. Squarespace allows is one of the services that allow for that. Do know that Im not affiliated in any way. They just make me money.

[ams6110]

People will pay for what they don't want to do, even if they know they could do it.

A business client will be focused on their business. Their website, while important, is likely not their core competency. So it makes perfect sense to outsource that and they won't care what the underlying platform is.

[detritus]

Sure, I get that - it's probably just me, but I'd expect a site I'd commissioned to be built 'for me' and become 'my property', not merely a fulfillment service that locks me in to two external suppliers.

I just find it odd, is all.

[jajern]

You're on HN though. When I used to do websites I would give options with tiered prices. Something on SquareSpace (or similar) would be a cheaper option but I would let them know why. A custom, scratch built site would be 3-4x more money so they would usually go with the cheaper option. Very few clients truly cared about the website. They just knew they needed one and didn't really care about the method used to achieve it.

[detritus]

Your last point is very true! it's been a few years since I was a full-time web designer, but I always had my own range of starting templates from which I'd work from - the equivalent these days of which would be the likes of Bootstrap or something. THAT I can get my head around.

Perhaps I should poke my head back into the space then, help to pay for the occasional holiday here and there!

[supersarkar]

Wow! That's awesome! Reading this is so encouraging to me. Thanks a lot for sharing your experience :)

Also, any tips on how to stand out?

[pryelluw]

There is a whole industry built around standing out. :)

I go by one rule:

Focus on their success not yours. No one cares about a website. They care about more leads and sales. Dont sell them a website. Sell them thr money they will make from it.