Who this is for
This guide is for you if you're good with computers but not technical, and you'd like a real way to earn from home. Maybe you're the person friends call to fix a printer or run the shop's Instagram.
Here's the deal, plainly: you bring the clients, Ullbek builds the websites. You describe a business in your own words and Ullbek builds a real, custom website around it. Your job is everything around that: knowing the business, judging what looks right, and looking after people once their site is live.
What it takes
A laptop and some evenings, an eye for what looks good, and the nerve to say hello to the café owner, the barber, your cousin with the florist.
What it doesn't
Technical skills, a design degree, money up front, an office or a course. Signing up is free, and sites on a free address are free to host.
If you haven't seen it yet, the agency page shows the kind of sites you'd be selling. Then come back here for the plan.
Week 1: set up your agency
Your first week is about you, not clients. By the end of it you'll have your own agency website on its own domain, a small portfolio to show, and your main workspace ready for client sites.
- Sign up
Create your account at app.ullbek.com. There's no card to enter, and you get starter credit to build with. You're building within minutes.
- Build your agency's own website
Your own site is your shop window and your first proof that you can do this. Tell Ullbek who you help, what you offer, a few examples of your work, and how to reach you. Every site gets a working contact form, and enquiries go to your account's email.
Build a website for my new web design studio, Maya's Studio. I make websites for small local businesses in my town: cafés, salons, bakeries and trades. I'd like a home page that says who I help and what I offer, a short "about me", a page of example sites, and a contact form. Warm and friendly, but professional.Add a Services section with two packages: a website build, which covers getting to know the business, the words and photos, and launching on their own domain; and a monthly care plan, which covers hosting, the domain and changes whenever they need one. No prices on the page, just an "Ask for a quote" button. - Put it on your own domain
Put your site on premium hosting and buy your agency's domain right inside Ullbek. A domain bought here for a premium site is connected for you, certificate included, with no settings to fiddle with. You see both prices before anything is charged: hosting is monthly for that one site, the domain a separate yearly plan. See Domains and Publishing & going live.
It's the only spend before your first client, and the moment a hobby becomes a business.
- Build a portfolio of three to five sample sites
Pick the kinds of businesses near you that you'd like to work with, say a café, a salon and a plumber, and build an invented sample for each. Publish them on free ullbek.site addresses: free sites never expire, so your portfolio is always there to show. They carry a small "Ullbek · Build beautiful websites" badge, which is fine for samples. Then ask Ullbek to add them to a Work page on your agency's site.
- Your main workspace
There's nothing to set up: the workspace you signed up with is already your main workspace. It holds your sites, your people and your billing, and your client sites go here too, right next to your own. If you like, rename it to your studio's name: open Workspace settings… from the workspace name in the top bar, then General. You pay Ullbek from this one workspace and bill your clients yourself. See Organise clients with workspaces.
Your samples are where you learn what to ask for. Try new colours, a new section, bigger photos: each change is a sentence. By your first real client, you'll know how to get to good.
Weeks 2–4: find your first clients
Most businesses that need a website aren't searching for one. They're waiting for someone they trust to just do it. That someone can be you.
Start with people you know
Your family's shop, a friend's salon, the garage you already use. People who know you will give you a fair hearing, honest feedback and, if it goes well, your first recommendation.
Share your studio
Before you knock on a single door, tell the people around you. Send your studio's site to friends and family, and to the WhatsApp groups you're already in: the school parents, the street, the old team. Most first clients come from someone who knows someone. Keep the message warm and honest, with no hype:
That's it. No discount codes, no "limited offer". People pass on a friend's new venture far more readily than an advert.
Walk your street
Then walk your high street, or search a map, and note the businesses that would clearly benefit:
- No website at all. More common than you'd think.
- A Facebook page only. Fine for regulars, hard for new customers to find.
- An outdated site. Old photos, last year's prices, wrong opening hours.
- A site that breaks on phones. If you have to pinch and zoom, so do their customers.
For a business that already has a site, give Ullbek the address of the old one. It reads the pages and pictures and builds a fresh, custom site from them.
Show, don't pitch
This is the heart of the method. Instead of describing what you could do, build a sample of their website first: their name, their story, what they sell. Then send them a draft preview link. In the builder, press Share, then Turn on sharing. Anyone with the link sees the current draft, view-only, with no account needed. It never expires, and you can turn it off any time and the link stops working. More in Previews, approvals & changes.
Nothing persuades like seeing your own business on a real website. You can send the link, or open it on your phone across the counter.
A sample built in a real business's name is for them to see, not the public. Share it with the draft preview link and don't publish it until the owner has agreed. It's the respectful way to work, and it means a "no thanks" costs nothing.
What to say
Keep it short, friendly and honest. No hype, no pressure, no claims you can't back up. Something like:
If they reply with changes ("could the photos be bigger, and can you add our opening hours?"), that's a good sign. Make the changes, and the same link shows the new version.
When they ask "how much?"
Have your answer ready before anyone asks. Say it in one breath: a one-off fee to build and launch the site, then a small monthly fee that keeps it live on their own domain and covers changes. Offer to put it in writing, and let them think about it.
Pricing your work
Price for your neighbourhood. The businesses you're talking to, the café, the salon, the plumber, often have no website because a traditional web agency's quote was more than they could justify. That's your opening. People starting out this way typically charge a fraction of what a traditional agency asks, because Ullbek does the building.
Keep it to two parts:
- A one-off build fee to get to know the business, gather the words and photos, build the site and launch it on their domain.
- A small monthly care fee that covers their hosting, their domain and changes whenever they need one, with a margin for you on top. It's also what makes you their person to call.
We won't tell you what to charge, because the right number depends on your town and your clients. Here's how to work it out:
- Start from what local businesses can say yes to
Think about the owners you're talking to, not about what agencies charge. What would feel like a fair, easy yes for a small shop on your street? Set your build fee there, a fraction of a traditional agency's quote.
- Know your costs
Your costs on Ullbek are credit for building, premium hosting for each client site on its own domain (monthly), and the domain itself (yearly). They're all on the pricing page, in your currency. Set your care fee so it covers that client's hosting and domain with a margin. Who pays for what explains how the money flows.
As you grow, your margin does too: once you have more than ten sites on premium hosting, email us at support@ullbek.com and we'll take 25% off premium hosting from your 11th site onwards.
- Keep it simple
One build fee and one care fee, a sentence each, are easier to say yes to than a menu of packages.
And to be clear: nobody can promise you an income from this, and we don't. What you earn depends on the clients you find and how well you look after them.
Delivering the first site
They said yes. Here's how to take the site from sample to live.
- Gather what you need
Their words (what they do, opening hours, prices if they show them), photos and logo. See Working with assets.
- Build and refine
Update your sample with the real details until it's right.
- Preview and agree changes
Send the draft preview link, collect their changes in one message if you can, and make them. The same link shows the new version.
- Send the contact form to their email
Enquiries go to your email by default. Ask Ullbek to send form messages to the client's address, or use Manage → Form → Deliver to. A 6-digit code goes to that address, so ask the client to read it to you. The form works in the preview too, and test messages are tagged [Test]. See Contact forms.
- Credit your studio
Add a small credit line to the footer, like "Website by Maya's Studio", linking to your studio's site. It's how your work finds you the next client: every visitor who likes the site can see who made it. It's a normal agency practice, so agree it with the client up front. There's no setting for it; just ask Ullbek:
Add a small line to the footer on every page: "Website by Maya's Studio", linking to https://mayasstudio.com. Keep it subtle.This is your credit, separate from the Ullbek badge, which only appears on free ullbek.site addresses.
- Put it on their domain and go live
Put the site on premium hosting, then buy their domain in Ullbek or connect the one they already have. Publish, then open the address on your phone and theirs.
- Hand them a short "what you've got" note
A few lines: the web address, where enquiries go, what the care plan covers, how to ask for a change, and when the domain renews. It's what real agencies do, and now you are one.
Some clients want the site to be fully theirs. You can hand it over at any point: files, live address, form messages, hosting and domain all move together, no card needed to accept, and you can stay on as an editor. See Hand a site to a client.
Habits that keep clients
Your care plan is a promise to look after them. These habits keep it visible:
- A monthly check-in. Two lines: "Anything to update this month?"
- Small improvements. A new photo, a clearer button. Little changes keep a site alive.
- Seasonal updates. Holiday hours, a summer menu, a new timetable. Offer them before they ask.
- Ask for referrals. Business owners know other business owners. A happy client's recommendation is the easiest introduction you'll get, so ask for it once the site is live and they're pleased.
- Let the footer do its work. The "Website by" credit on every client site is a quiet advert that never stops. The next owner who admires the bakery's site can click straight through to your studio.
This is real work, not a scheme. There's nothing to buy up front: no course, no starter kit, no recruiting other people. We give you a way to build websites that businesses are proud of, and a method that works. Finding clients and looking after them is yours to do, and we don't promise you an income. Most people who succeed start with someone they already know.
Related
Ullbek for agencies
The whole picture: workspaces, sites, previews, payments and hand-overs.
Organise clients with workspaces
Your main workspace for your clients, and the rare client who needs their own.
Previews, approvals & changes
Send a draft preview, get a yes, and handle change requests.
Who pays for what
You pay from your main workspace and bill clients yourself, plus the exceptions.
Your agency starts with one website
Sign up, describe your new agency, and watch its website come to life. Then build the next one, for someone else.