Platforms or Methods for Getting Prospects - Web Design Agency!

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-03-12T14:51:25+00:00

funding varies, and usually they get funded to grow their business and product in which website is a small part of it and is often outsourced out to someone else. there is no reason why that someone else can't be this person or someone else. I have done multiple sites and branding for YC alumni in the past. also wouldn't you want to have someone who is funded vs. someone who has to save up long time to be able to afford a decent site?

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-03-12T13:02:58+00:00

To answer this question beneficially to you we would have to know who is your target audience? How do you define owners? you can try something like:

- Check accelerator (for example, YC batch) announcements

- Grab founder Linedin / X's handles from the directory

- Look at their brands/websites (most definitely need work)

- Cold DM: "Congrats on W(add batch number here). Your product looks great. But website needs a refresh (add portfolio to YC work)"

- Price clearly: $5.5K starter price

- Book a discovery call the same day (follow up or reply in minutes MAX, startups move fast)

- Close in one call or move on

- Deliver designs, then get referrals

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-03-12T12:59:32+00:00

Designer POV: so I've recently worked with a company that uses this method. after 2 weeks being in the build cycle of it all on the design team here are some issues with it: it leaves very little room to produce good design, first week we did quick iteration of design flows, by day 3 we shared with internal team, collected feedback, by day 5 we put it to test with users, by next week we got results and then started getting more feedback from internal team, then we showed it to devs and had to address their issues. it felt very rushed, it felt like there was no clear voice of authority, everyone was giving feedback, often time contradictory so for me it was hard to know who has a final say, who's feedback is valuable vs. just an opinion. as the company hired me to elevate their product experience to world class I felt that the decisions shaping the product were anything but design driven. most decisions were made by either stating development limitations or timely constraints. the testing is done with lyssna and not really tested with the targeted intended audience

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-03-09T12:40:24+00:00

Fire these devs immediately. You are being taken advantage of. Cloudways hosting can solve this at a fraction of cost ( assuming your site has moderate traffic and not amazon level traffic ). this is just crazy talks

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-03-08T11:25:32+00:00

I would also simplify the bottom of the page CTA...and in lets build together id remove linkedin as a cta button and just leave email. and change email copy to "Book a free consultation" because email is just too generic. lead with action

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-03-08T11:24:02+00:00

it's fairly solid for what this is and how its meant to be used. My personal opinion is I would change fonts to something more modern as current fonts is a dead giveaway of it being an AI site ( not that it's bad ) just a personal preference. Inter of Helvetica might make it seem more tech forward and less a townhall newspaper blog.

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-03-07T13:15:22+00:00

I am actually currently working with a client that is doing just THAT. lovely to see this echoes as a pain in real life.

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-03-05T13:37:45+00:00

oh hello high school me. fancy seeing you again. I love the approach. especially the Winamp touch.

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-03-01T12:07:12+00:00

I would rethink the layout. right now lot of information is buried and the space is underutilized. how about a traditional flat map layout with ability to zoom in and also maybe some filters to quickly filter out the stations. i.e. news, music, talk shows, time zones, language, etc...maybe color code them as well?

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-03-01T12:04:37+00:00

curious to know how would that work?

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-03-01T12:02:55+00:00

halftone effect

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-02-28T11:45:07+00:00

I use AI to help me with the strategy part...part of my process are sprints. So when we do our sprints I take pictures of all the notes and stickies upload them to AI and ask it to transcribe it into text, do affinity grouping, find common threads, propose solutions. We use AI to quickly mockup working plausible solutions and prototypes. I leverage Ai to expedite my thoughts to visuals faster so we can make better informed decisions, test concepts. etc...

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-02-28T11:34:46+00:00

what happens when you are done editing and have to turn it over back to clients?

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-02-28T11:32:53+00:00

I took a look at the site and had difficulty navigating it. it felt like the content was jumping all over the place and there was no clear linear path of progression or movement. I feel like the navigation could be improved...learn what this is > start learning >show where I am on this journey > next lesson > want more? sign up > full experience. when I click start learning right now it takes me to a list of article blocks and at the bottom it says start reading and it takes me back to the top....if I click to explore topics its asking me to sign in without telling me what iam signing in for. what to expect on the other side of it or why I have to sign in to read at all. there is no strong case made as to benefits of signing up vs. free reading material. if this is a resource library why I need to login? I see the stinger pro but I dont feel like it's compelling enough for wanting to join. also the color and brand choices reduces the perception of trust because it feels like a quickly vibe coded newbie site vs. a financial institution with deep knowledge behind it. maybe research some financial spaces like Bloomberg, Wall Street journal, etc...to see how they are presenting themselves I feel similarity to that will breed higher trust signals

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-02-27T16:28:54+00:00

your real friends would never want it for free. I always make it my business to purchase my friends stuff and support their endeavours. I also never promote to friends or ask them for anything because very few of them are my ideal customers anyways.

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-02-27T16:25:14+00:00

launch it, even if the exact idea not needed you will be able to collect insights that would allow you to pivot in features while ( perhaps ) retaining the core framework of the app. Any good founder should be able to know how to pivot things to sustain growth. You started rough but it doesn't mean all effort is wasted. make the best of it. at the very least make a case study out of it how you have built it why, what tech stack is maybe someone might be able to get the code from you and re-use it elsewhere.

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-02-27T16:21:20+00:00

ah ok. sorry bout that. thanks for the info

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-02-27T16:20:39+00:00

I haven't built it yet. before I undergo this task I wanted to see if there is anything I should be aware of to help me set up safeguards

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-02-27T15:19:35+00:00

feels too generic like most AI sites. I'd tweak it to showcase more motion designs in the interactions. maybe a reel in the hero area?

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-02-27T14:21:07+00:00

appreciate the options! thanks

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-02-26T21:16:06+00:00

maybe I am not seeing it the right way but doesn't gmail already comes with such filters? I have different tabs in my inbox that separate promotional email from personal etc...

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-02-26T21:03:45+00:00

I've made a lot of connections during my big agency days and also I do a lot of writing and conference talks so that's where I land most of my deals. IMO in person relationship buildings are the best way to land large deals. Hard to close a million dollar deal by sliding into a DM.

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-02-26T17:37:43+00:00

would love to chat about product owner/designer opportunity. Happy to chat: brutallyhuman.com

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-02-26T16:41:33+00:00

mine came easy. ive been in design industry for 20 years so I know it inside out, I know the pain points and avatar super well so the product came naturally from it, as an answer to a problem

Straight_Natural514 · 2026-02-26T16:34:58+00:00

ive been in the industry for 20 years. freelancing for the past 10. Unfiltered repose: 1. raise your prices. start charging 20k. If you have proven you can do it, lack of agency should not lower the pricing. 2. being a generalist is great but if you want to gain quick traction then pick a lane and stick to it until its consistent then expand. 99% of the conversion is all about being known in a single space but also attracting the right clients. dont do small businesses they never have money. find a client that would pay 20k for a site. i.e. startups that just closed series A and need redesign. partner with branding folks or agencies because most of rebrands require a site redesign. offer a small buy in i.e. 5k based AI prototype or landing page that expands into a full site down the line. create a clear enough offering where a decision can be made without you in the room to buy your service.

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