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Have you been looking for a way to make a good income on the side? Why not become a Squarespace designer?

In this blog, I'm going to show you how you can make five thousand dollars a month (or more) as a freelance web designer building Squarespace websites.

You don't even have to quit your day job or give up the steady income you're currently making. Working as a Squarespace designer is something you can start doing during evenings and on weekends to earn extra money.

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Making $2K, $3K, and Even $5K or More a Month Designing Websites on Squarespace

I'm typically not a big fan of quitting your job out of nowhere. However, I actually did that several years ago, and it ended up working really well for me.

I understand that not everyone can do this, though, so here's my recommendation on how to bring your web design side gig to life without giving up your current job.

The approach I'm recommending in this article can work for all aspiring Squarespace designers, whether you:

Have a full-time job
Are a freelancer

Have one or more part-time jobs
Are a student
Are an at-home parent
Are fulfilling any type of obligations you don't want to (or can't) give up

By the end of the article, you'll have a good idea of how to develop a solid client process and make some good money on the side as a Squarespace web designer.

I was making about $50K a year when I quit my job several years ago. In 2019, I made $250K by doing website design on a contract basis.

I've learned quite a few things along the way. One of the most important is that with a bit of determination, you can make $2K, $3K, or $5K a month on the side building just one or two Squarespace websites for clients per month.

A huge plus of building through the Squarespace platform is that your work will be about 80% to 90% drag and drop, and 10% to 20% code development – and some of that coding is really easy to learn (especially with so many free resources available these days).

Learning the basics of web design might feel a little intimidating when you first begin. However, once you get busy learning, you'll find that it's not that scary and is even pretty fun.

This Isn't Passive Income.

By following a few steps outlined in my method here, you're not making passive income. You're providing a website design service – not templates or anything else that you create once and then sell over and over again.

This method of making a healthy side income involves actively designing and building custom websites for clients for a fee.

When you finish this article, you can start building that side gig today. That way, in one or two years, you can have a significant side income from your web design business that's easy to maintain and manage.

Assign a Value to Each Website You Create

To begin your journey to become a Squarespace designer, you will likely have to do one or two websites for free, perhaps for a family member or friend, or better yet, for a nonprofit organization.

Consider this period your training or internship for becoming a website designer. By building those first couple of websites free of charge, you will:

Create a beautiful Squarespace site for someone
Gain valuable experience
Teach yourself how to design and build Squarespace sites
Build your portfolio

Generate goodwill
Help someone out

When you complete the website, this person or nonprofit might even repay you by serving as a reference or writing a glowing review about your Squarespace design services. They may also become a paying client in the future when they need help creating another website or adding to their existing one.

Even if you're doing work for free initially, you can still assign a value to each website you create.

Perhaps for the first Squarespace site you build, you provide $500 worth of value (even if you don't charge a penny). You now have a $500 site to show your next client, and you can start charging.

First, offer to build a professional website of higher value (say, $1,000) for just $500. When you're done with this second site, you'll have another site that's worth $1,000 to show your next client. Offer to build that client a higher-value site (perhaps valued at $2,000) for a fee of $1,000.

With this approach, you will be giving your clients a bargain on their Squarespace website each time while also building higher and higher-valued websites that you can charge more for in the future.

Even if you're doing work for free or for lower rates to start with, always assign each site the value it's worth when you're meeting and negotiating with your next client. Doing so helps you demonstrate your value and establish yourself as a professional Squarespace designer.

Remember to continually look for opportunities to level up your design skills and your communication with clients, too. Focusing on these tactics will help you establish a solid foundation as you grow your web design business.

Solve Problems For People

In the business world, people are always looking for solutions to their problems.

There are plenty of business owners who are great at what they do but don't have a technical background or time to spare to learn the design fundamentals needed to create a website.

These people will likely be looking for help to create a website for their business. You can fill this gap for them and make them your next clients.

At Launch Happy, we fill gaps for Squarespace designers who need to come up to speed quickly and need to overcome any development or SEO optimization challenges that pop up.

A great place for our audience to start is by signing up for our free industry newsletter, which provides monthly insights that can help with their growth. You may also want to sign up for our newsletter as you start your journey of developing your side business as a website designer.

As a Squarespace website designer, you'll be solving problems for business owners who are too busy or too inexperienced to create websites themselves. A big part of how you'll be solving issues for them is learning how to be an expert Google searcher.

Do Your Own Research

Just about everyone does Google searches (the platform processes over 8.5 billion per day). However, you must learn how to take your search strategy to a whole new level.

As a Squarespace website designer, you'll often find that the people you develop sites for won't know or understand how Google My Business (GMB) works or how to use it. They won't know how to combine GMB with Google Ads, nor will they know how to build their site for organic Squarespace SEO.

By doing your own research on the wealth of information that's out there, you will become the expert these business professionals need. You'll soon become a sought-after resource for all things website design, visual design, social media channels, and more.

Make it a priority to constantly teach yourself new things and continue providing greater value to the clients you serve. Take online courses, join networking groups, read blogs from other designers, etc.

As you continue learning and keep up with the latest information for Squarespace designers, you'll build your portfolio and become unstoppable!

Create Your Own Website

You can't build Squarespace sites for other people if you don't first have your own. After all, you need your own site to clarify what your web design services are, list your pricing, share testimonials, showcase your portfolio, and more.

Remember that when you show your pricing upfront, you address one of the biggest questions potential clients have. You'll also avoid wasting their time and yours.

Over time, you'll add to your site, but you don't have to do everything at once. To start with, make sure it includes the following:

Pricing on your packages (based on the number of pages built)
List of deliverables per project

Clarity about each deliverable
A way to contact you to get started

Aim to get your site up and running within two weeks. Don't stall or overthink the process. You will be revising your site as you go anyway.

For now, it's important to just start building sites and familiarizing yourself with the Squarespace platform. Keep it simple; show who you are, what you offer, your prices, and information on how a potential client can reach you.

Find the Tools You Need

Make sure you have a toolbox featuring all the web design solutions you need to build beautiful Squarespace sites efficiently.

Some examples of tools in your toolbox might include information on design elements, a guide to graphic design best practices, samples from other designers, templates for specific types of businesses, etc.

You may also want to join Squarespace Circle. Squarespace Circle is an online community that offers exclusive discounts, extended trials, and personalized support for your projects.

These tools can help you:

Understand and overcome the limitations of the platform

Determine what works and what doesn't
Design and build faster
Add special features and custom code with little effort
Simplify the whole design process
Build Squarespace SEO power into every site you create for your clients

Some of these results will come with time as you gain experience as a Squarespace designer. However, if you're looking for quick tips and shortcuts, we can serve as your toolbox, both when you're getting started and as you level up to bigger and better web design projects.

Learn to Talk to Clients Confidently

You might not have much experience right now talking to potential clients and negotiating contracts. Don't let this stop you from pursuing a new business opportunity, though.

Like anything, the ability to communicate effectively is a skill you can develop over time. As you continue practicing, eventually, you'll be able to speak with current and prospective clients with confidence.

Need help getting started? A great free resource to help you with handling phone consultations is The Futur.

Chris and his team do an excellent job of teaching you how to talk with clients, especially about pricing and what budget they have in mind, while also displaying calm confidence. Check out Chris' great YouTube videos for help in this area.

Stay Relatively Focused

As you move forward, you'll figure out what you do best as a Squarespace designer, how to best position yourself to be of service, and how to maximize your revenue while building each client's brand.

To begin with, though, stay focused on one area: Building websites. This will help you avoid feeling scattered or spreading yourself too thin.

Keeping your deliverables clear and specific on your website will help you clarify the services you can and can't offer each client.

It's not worth your time (at least at the beginning of your journey) to build a site for a client, run their social media, run their Google ads campaigns, write every blog post, and so forth.

You might be tempted to take on these additional tasks alongside your web design services because it seems like a good way to attract many clients. However, they will ultimately be a waste of your valuable time, especially as you're just starting your business.

Offer one specific service at a fixed price and focus on that. You have plenty of time and can always offer more options for your clients in the future, so don't try to do everything at once.

Building 10 Websites Gives You Enough Experience

Once you've got your Squarespace website up and running, your first major goal should be to follow the Rule of Ten:

Build 10 Squarespace sites before you start thinking about changing your design and client process
During this phase, focus on building rapport with the community you're serving (small businesses, yoga studios, restaurants, entrepreneurs, etc.)
Don't implement new pricing structures yet

Focus on getting really good at the process of building beautiful Squarespace sites

After you've built ten Squarespace websites, you'll have enough experience and skills to start tweaking your business model, pricing structure, and process to grow your business or shift your service offerings in a new direction.

With ten sites completed, clients will start to see you as a reputable designer. As a result, they'll be more willing to pay higher prices for new websites or redesign projects.

Tell Everybody You Build Websites

Don't forget about marketing your Squarespace design skills.

You've used your technical skills to build your own Squarespace website, created a list of services, and have a sense of where you're headed as a designer. Now, it's time to start telling everyone you know about your business, including:

Friends & Family
Classmates

People at your house of worship
Neighbors
People in your community
Your Facebook connections and groups
Your Instagram story

LinkedIn
Other social media channels
Everybody everywhere (you never know when you might meet a potential client!)

Don't be shy about communicating what you do and promoting yourself as a professional who can design quality Squarespace websites.

You don't have to do it all at once; update people incrementally and send periodic reminders. Regularly ask, “Does anyone you know need a website?” You might be surprised at who reaches out for assistance.

To Learn More

We hope this information helps you get started on an exciting side gig that could one day turn into a full-time career as a Squarespace designer.

If you need any help along the way, the Launch Happy team is here for you. We've worked with hundreds of clients and are excited to share what we've learned to help you improve your sites.

Reach out and let us know how we can assist you on your website design journey.

Make An Extra $5K Per Month As A Squarespace Designer