How to get web design clients: find sites that need a redesign
How to get web design clients: pick one type of business, find sites that are slow, broken on mobile or outdated, and pitch a fixed-price fix.
The most reliable way to get web design clients is to pick one type of business, find the ones whose current website is visibly hurting them, and contact them with that specific problem and a fixed-price offer to fix it. Add referrals from past clients and partners who serve the same businesses, and you have a pipeline that does not depend on job boards.
This guide is for freelance web designers, developers and small studios. It covers how to choose between local businesses and B2B companies, how to spot sites that need a redesign in minutes, how to package your offer and what to write in the first email.
Should web designers target local businesses or B2B?
Target local businesses if you want fast decisions and smaller, simpler projects. Target B2B companies if you want bigger budgets and are happy with longer sales cycles and more people involved.
Both work. Mixing them in the same campaign does not, because the message, price and channel are different.
| Local businesses | B2B companies | |
|---|---|---|
| Examples | Physios, dentists, roofers, salons, restaurants | Software firms, consultancies, manufacturers, agencies |
| Who decides | The owner, often alone | Marketing lead, founder, sometimes a committee |
| Typical project | 5 to 10 pages, bookings or enquiry forms | Larger sites, CMS, integrations, brand work |
| Sales cycle | Days to a few weeks | Weeks to months |
| What they care about | More calls and bookings, looking credible locally | Leads, conversion, brand, ease of editing |
| Best channels | Local networking, referrals, visits, cold email to company addresses | Cold email, LinkedIn, partners, referrals |
| Watch out for | Small budgets, sole traders (see the rules below) | Long approvals, procurement |
A good first niche is narrow enough to say in a sentence: "websites for independent physiotherapy clinics" or "Webflow sites for B2B SaaS companies with 10 to 100 staff". Pick one where you already have a past project, a contact or real interest.
How do you find businesses that need a new website?
Find them by checking real sites against a short list: speed, mobile layout, how old the site looks and whether it is missing basics like bookings or HTTPS. A business with a clear, visible problem is far more likely to reply than one with a fine site.
What to check, and with what
Most of this takes two or three minutes per site with free tools.
| Check | Free tool | What counts as a problem | How to phrase it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed | PageSpeed Insights | Score under 50 (Google calls this poor), or slow Largest Contentful Paint | "Your homepage takes about 6 seconds to show its main image on mobile" |
| Mobile layout | Your phone, or browser dev tools | Text too small, buttons off screen, menu broken | "The booking button is hidden below the fold on a phone" |
| Outdated | Your eyes | Old copyright year, stock photos from a decade ago, no clear call to action | "The site still lists your old address in the footer" |
| Security basics | The browser address bar | No HTTPS, browser warning shown | "Chrome shows a 'Not secure' warning on your contact page" |
| Accessibility | WAVE | Low-contrast text, images without alt text | "Several images have no text description for screen readers" |
| Missing features | Click through it | No online booking, no prices, forms that do not send | "There is no way to book online, only a phone number" |
Some useful benchmarks for the speed and accessibility checks:
- Google's thresholds. Google's Core Web Vitals guidance on web.dev says "LCP should occur within 2.5 seconds of when the page first starts loading", INP should be 200 milliseconds or less and CLS 0.1 or less, measured at the 75th percentile of page loads.
- PageSpeed scores. Google's PageSpeed Insights documentation says a score of 90 or above is good, 50 to 89 needs improvement and below 50 is poor. The score is lab data, so pair it with the field data shown at the top of the report where it exists.
- Mobile matters for search. Google says it "uses the mobile version of a site's content, crawled with the smartphone agent, for indexing and ranking", in its mobile-first indexing docs. A broken mobile site is a search problem, not just a design one.
- Accessibility is widely ignored. The WebAIM Million 2026 found detected WCAG 2 failures on 95.9% of the top million home pages, with low-contrast text on 83.9% and missing alt text on 53.1%.
Be careful with the speed score. It moves between runs, so quote a rough figure and the metric, not a single dramatic number.
Where to find the businesses
For local businesses, search Google Maps for your niche and town, such as "physiotherapist Leeds", and open every listing with a website. Note the problems as you go. Fifty listings is a good morning's work.
For B2B, look for change. Companies that just raised money, hired a head of marketing, launched a new product or rebranded often need a new site soon. Job posts that mention "website" or "Webflow" are a strong hint. These are buying signals, and they give your email a reason to exist.
Also look for businesses with no website at all but a busy Google Business Profile with good reviews. They already have customers and nowhere to send them.
What should a web design offer look like?
A good offer has a fixed scope, a fixed price, a timeline and a named type of client. "Five-page website for physio clinics, with online booking, $3,500, live in three weeks" is easy to say yes to. "Custom websites, contact us for a quote" is not.
Productise the core offer
Write one main offer and two around it:
- Starter fix: a speed and mobile fix for the current site, say $600 to $900. Low risk, fast result, often leads to the full rebuild.
- Core build: the niche website, fixed scope and price.
- Care plan: monthly hosting, updates, small edits and a quarterly report. This is your recurring income, and it keeps you in touch for referrals.
Prices here are examples. Set yours from your costs, your market and what similar studios charge.
Use niche templates to deliver faster
Once you have built two or three sites for the same niche, turn the best parts into a template: page structure, booking integration, service page layout, review sections. That cuts delivery time and makes the fixed price profitable.
It also helps you sell. A demo site built for "a physio clinic" shows a physio exactly what they would get. Many designers mock up a single homepage for a strong prospect. That is your call, but do not build a full site for free.
How do you write a cold email for web design?
Write a short email that names one specific, checkable problem on their site, explains what it costs them in plain words and asks a small question. Do not attach a 20-page audit or send a link to your portfolio first.
Hi {first name},
I was looking for a physio near {town} on my phone and found {company}. The "Book now" button sits below three screens of text on mobile, and the page took about 6 seconds to load the main image.
Most of your visitors are probably on a phone, so that is likely costing you bookings.
I build sites for physio clinics only. Want me to send a two-minute video showing what I would change?
{your name}
{studio}, {postal address}
Not useful? Reply "no" and I will not email again.
If there is no reply after four or five days, follow up with something new, such as a screenshot or one quick fix they can do themselves. Our guide to follow-up emails after no response has more, and cold email templates has other first emails to adapt.
Keep it legal
Email business addresses about something relevant to their business, be honest and include an opt-out. In the US, the FTC's CAN-SPAM guide says there is no exception for business email, and you must include a postal address and honour opt-outs within 10 business days. In the UK, the ICO's guidance on electronic mail marketing lets you email limited companies and LLPs, but sole traders and some partnerships are treated as individuals and need consent. Many small local businesses are sole traders, so check before you email, and use networking, referrals or a visit instead where needed.
How many emails do you need?
Hunter's State of Cold Email report puts the average reply rate for sales sequences at 3%, and found small sequences of 21 to 50 recipients got 6.2%. Say you check 25 sites a day and email the 15 with a clear problem. That is 75 a week. At 3% you get two or three replies; with sharper, hand-checked emails you may do better. Two or three replies a week can mean a new project every few weeks, which is a real business for a freelancer.
How do you get web design referrals and repeat work?
Get referrals by asking happy clients at launch and again a few months later, and by partnering with people who meet your clients before they need a site. Care plans keep you in touch, so you are top of mind when they hear of someone who needs help.
Good partners for a web designer:
- SEO freelancers and marketing agencies that do not build sites.
- Copywriters and photographers who work with the same niche.
- Brand designers who hand over a logo and need someone to build.
- Accountants and business advisers for small local firms.
- Platform communities for the tools you build on.
Send each one a short note offering to refer work both ways. On LinkedIn, keep it personal and manual. LinkedIn's invitation limits page says it recommends you "only send invitations to people you know and trust", and free members can add a personal note to five requests a month, so use them on partners and best-fit prospects.
Hi {first name}, saw you do SEO for dental practices. I build sites for the same clinics and often meet ones that need SEO next. Happy to swap referrals if that is useful.
For more channels, see our guides on how to find clients as a freelancer and finding clients on LinkedIn.
What does a weekly routine look like?
A simple weekly routine is one day building the list, three days sending and following up, and one day for partners, referrals and your own site. Keep it small enough that you still do it in a busy delivery week.
| Day | Task | Rough time |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Find and check 50 sites in your niche, note the problem on each | 2 hours |
| Tuesday to Thursday | Send 15 personal emails a day, follow up on earlier ones, reply fast | 1 hour a day |
| Friday | Contact two partners, ask one past client for a referral, update your portfolio | 1 hour |
Track four numbers: sites checked, emails sent, replies and calls. If replies are low, your problems are not visible enough, or your niche is wrong. If calls do not turn into projects, look at your offer and price.
Where Outbind fits
Checking 50 sites and writing 15 personal emails a day by hand is fine, and it teaches you what your niche cares about. Many freelancers should start there.
When you want more time for design work, Outbind can take on the prospecting. It includes local business search as well as people search, scores each business on fit with the reasons shown, researches each lead and writes emails that cite real sources. It sends from your own inbox, follows up and stops when someone replies. For B2B, it watches for signals like hiring and funding so you can write when a company is likely to need a new site.
Plans start at $49 a month, with a 7-day free trial. See pricing for details.
FAQ
How do I get my first web design client?
Start with your own network and one niche. Offer a small, fixed-price project, such as a speed and mobile fix, to a business you can reach through someone you know. Ask for a testimonial and permission to show the work.
Where can I find web design clients online?
Google Maps is the best free source for local businesses, because you can see the site, reviews and contact details in one place. For B2B, use LinkedIn, job boards and funding news to find companies that are growing or rebranding.
Should I do free work to get web design clients?
A short video or a one-page mockup can help with a strong prospect. Building whole sites for free usually attracts people who will not pay. A small paid starter project is a better test for both sides.
How much should I charge for a website as a beginner?
Price by scope and value, not by the hour. A fixed price for a defined scope, such as five pages with booking, is easier to sell and easier to deliver. Look at what similar freelancers in your niche and area charge, and start there.
Is cold emailing businesses about their website legal?
Usually yes, if you email business addresses, are honest and include a working opt-out. In the US you also need a postal address under CAN-SPAM. In the UK you can email companies, but sole traders and some partnerships need consent first.
How do I find websites that need a redesign?
Run the site through PageSpeed Insights, open it on your phone and look for an old copyright year, no HTTPS or no clear way to book. A score under 50, a broken mobile layout or a missing booking button are strong reasons to get in touch.
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