How to get web design clients: start with businesses that need a site
The easiest web design client is a local business whose website is missing, broken on a phone or ten years old, and whose owner already feels it. LeadsIt lists the businesses of any type in your city, flags the ones with no website or an outdated one, and gives you the phone numbers and emails they publish, so you can pitch a site to people who visibly need one.
Who buys from web designers locally
Local businesses buy a website when it starts costing them customers. These are the ones that feel it most, and what they actually want from a site:
Trades and home services
Plumbers, electricians, roofers and landscapers get calls from people searching on a phone, often in a hurry. They want a fast mobile site with a click-to-call button, their service area and a quote form. Many still run on a free directory page or no site at all.
Restaurants and cafés
Their menu is a blurry PDF or a photo from three years ago, and booking goes through a third-party platform that takes a cut. A clean mobile menu, opening hours that are right, and direct booking or ordering are easy wins to show.
Clinics and practices
Dentists, physios, vets and opticians compete on trust. Patients check the site before they book: team photos, treatments, prices where allowed, and online appointments. An outdated site makes a good practice look worse than it is.
Newly opened businesses
A business in its first months often has a logo and a social profile but no site yet. It needs one quickly, the budget is set aside for launch, and nobody is in place to defend an old supplier.
Professional services
Law firms, accountants, architects and real estate agencies need a site that looks as serious as their fees. They pay for quality, value ongoing maintenance, and refer each other.
Business types to search, and why
Customers search on a phone and call the first site that loads.
Menus, hours and booking that customers check before every visit.
Trust and online booking decide where patients go.
Booking, prices and a gallery of their work.
Often no site at all; quotes come in by phone only.
Services, prices and reviews in one place win the job.
Searches to run first
Signals that a business is ready to buy
- No website listed at all: the most direct reason to call, especially with a decent rating that shows the business is real and busy.
- An outdated website: old design, no HTTPS, a copyright year from years ago, or a page that is not usable on a phone.
- No online booking or ordering where customers expect it: salons, clinics and restaurants that still take everything by phone.
- A website that is only a social profile or a directory page: the owner knows they need more but never got round to it.
- Very few reviews and a fresh listing: a new business that will need a site soon, if it does not have one already.
- A good rating and many reviews with a weak site: the business is doing well and can afford to look the part.
A prospecting playbook you can run this week
- Pick one business type you can build for quickly, for example trades or restaurants, and reuse the same structure for every client.
- Search it in your city and nearby towns, and sort out the businesses with no website or an outdated one.
- Before calling, open their current site on your phone and note two concrete problems: a broken menu, no call button, a form that fails.
- Call, describe what you saw, and offer to send a free one-page mock-up of their homepage.
- Send the mock-up within two days, with a fixed price and a timeline, then follow up by phone.
Opening line for the first call
Follow-up email
Subject: A homepage mock-up for [business name]
Hi [name], Thanks for your time on the phone. As promised, here is a mock-up of a new homepage for [business name]: [link]. What changes for your customers: - It loads fast on a phone, with a call button at the top - Your services and service area are clear in five seconds - Quote requests land straight in your inbox A site like this costs [price], ready in [timeline], with hosting and updates at [monthly price] if you want them. Happy to walk you through it in 10 minutes. [name], [studio], [postal address] If you’d rather not hear from me again, just reply “no thanks”.
Follow-up cadence
- Day 0: call, then send the mock-up within two days.
- Day 3: a short call to check they have seen it.
- Day 10: an email showing a site you built for a similar business.
- Day 30: a last call. Then stop and move on to the next niche.
Staying within the rules
In the US, CAN-SPAM allows business emails without prior consent if your sender details are accurate, the subject is not misleading, you include a postal address and you honour opt-outs within 10 business days. In the UK, PECR lets you email limited companies and LLPs without consent if you offer an opt-out, but sole traders and partnerships, common among trades, count as individuals and need consent: call them instead, after checking the TPS and Corporate TPS. In Canada, CASL allows emails to an address a business publishes when the message relates to its business and it has not said it refuses unsolicited messages.
Never send a mock-up that uses a business’s logo or photos in a way that suggests they already approved it, and never point out problems publicly. Keep the critique between you and the owner.
More on the rules: B2B prospecting and data rules · cold emails to local businesses
How LeadsIt does step one
Building the list is the slow part. LeadsIt does it in one search, from public business listings and the businesses’ own websites:
- Type a business type and a place, for example “roofers” in Phoenix. A whole region or a country works too.
- LeadsIt searches public business listings live, then visits each business’s own website to collect the emails, phone numbers and social links it publishes.
- You get each business’s name, address, phone, website, published emails, rating and review count, with signals such as no website, an outdated website or few reviews.
- Paste your own website and the AI ranks the businesses by how well they fit what you sell, with the reasons.
- Export to CSV, or work the list in the built-in CRM: stages, tasks and notes (CRM from the 10-credit pack).
What it costs
Your first search is included, with no card. After that, credit packs start at $6.90 for 5 credits, with no subscription, and credits never expire. One credit searches one business type in one city; a whole region costs 13 credits.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find clients for web design with no portfolio?
Build two or three sites for one business type, even at a low price, then pitch that same type in your area. A plumber cares more about seeing a good plumber’s site than about a varied portfolio.
Which businesses need a website the most?
Businesses whose customers search on a phone before buying: trades, restaurants, clinics, salons and auto repair. The ones with good reviews and no site, or a site that breaks on mobile, are the strongest leads.
Does LeadsIt show which businesses have no website?
Yes. Each business found shows its website if it has one, and signals such as no website, an outdated website or no online booking, so you can filter the list before you call.
Should I email or call first?
Call first when you can: a short, specific observation about their site lands better by voice. Use email for the mock-up and the follow-up.
Do I need a subscription?
No. The first search is included, then one-time credit packs from $6.90. Credits never expire, so you can search a new town whenever you have room for a project.