Can I build a freelance career using wordpress?

[TheRallymethod]

Enough is enough... I lost my job on Tuesday. And... I do have a few pennies saved up to cover my half of 4 months rent and to provide food and personal things. Still in college.


I have no money to invest. I made $6.00 on iWriter... that site sucks and it is not beneficial unless you're an elite writer on there and I'm not that good yet.


Anyhow; I have to make some bank. I know web designing is compatible because the indians are so skilled and cheap. In which I know outsource would be great for me...but I'm just afraid of hiring someone for the work and they run off with the money and the client sue me and what not... my anxious thinking.


I was thinking of learning wordpress... learn some basic coding and start freelancing.

Now, is possible to sell wordpress websites or would I have to do it from scratch???

Any advice... this is something I plan on doing seriously to support myself at least for a little while.

 

[lord1027]

I recommend going for the method where you are offering free website design and ask clients to register a hosting account through a good paying affiliate hosting network (most people use Hostgator).

 

[Wilson Grant Fisk]

Yes, it is possible to sell wordpress sites but do you have experience in building them?
Do you have an eye for design?

When you are out of work, you will be surprised how fast you can burn through your savings.
If might be worthwhile getting a part time job just while you get started.

 

[SocialMediaManager]

You can Out Source Only when you know Basics of what you are going to out Source
Why dont you start offering PBN's ? learn about them BHW money making forum has lot of threads about it

 

[KHR]

I recommend going for the method where you are offering free website design and ask clients to register a hosting account through a good paying affiliate hosting network (most people use Hostgator).

Yes. This is really a good idea.

 

[Conor]

I was thinking of learning wordpress... learn some basic coding and start freelancing.

Yes. It's my full time job lol.

Here's a tip, always provide GOOD service. You'll see return customers and earn more that way. Rather pay a bit more if you're planning on outsourcing.

If you're comfortable with your HTML/CSS skills, offer them a choice between a custom design or a template, but always tell the client whether they're getting a template or not.

Also, you don't need to learn to code, but it is useful for those clients that want special functionality. And you will meet them eventually.

 

[TheRallymethod]

Yes. It's my full time job lol.

Here's a tip, always provide GOOD service. You'll see return customers and earn more that way. Rather pay a bit more if you're planning on outsourcing.

If you're comfortable with your HTML/CSS skills, offer them a choice between a custom design or a template, but always tell the client whether they're getting a template or not.

Also, you don't need to learn to code, but it is useful for those clients that want special functionality. And you will meet them eventually.

It's your full time job? That just gave me hope to move forward.

So do you think I can learn to code within a months time with everyday of studying and learning with tutorials on youtube???

I just wanted to use wordpress because it already has the templates... I'm looking to start off building sites for business (local) simply because things like FLASH seems impossible... so I'll just stick with the basics.

Plus, I was going to try to partner up with a graphic designer. To help with logos and stuff. Also, I was thinking of investing a nice canyon camera and sell my own stock photos with it

 

[TheRallymethod]

I recommend going for the method where you are offering free website design and ask clients to register a hosting account through a good paying affiliate hosting network (most people use Hostgator).

This actually sound like a plan! Great idea.

 

[ThreadKiller]

So you plan on going from no skills, no income, to reasonably well paid in less than 4 months? You wanna learn coding and take it from there? Do you live in the expensive western world?

Get a job man. Any kind of job. Use your spare time to learn the stuff you need to know and THEN you can move into your own business. Remember, you are competing with people that think $500 is a good monthly wage.

 

[TheRallymethod]

I never said I looked to be well paid in 4 months from freelancing!!

I said I need to make some bank by freelancing at home... I don't even plan to do it FULL TIME right now. I am searching for another job as we speak.. until then-- I don't want to just waste time doing absolutely nothing. I don't know when a job will fall through. However, I would like to make a few pennies to pay my half of the rent which is $650 ... $325 split in half.

 

[Duffers5000]

Have you got hosting ? A few spare domains ?

Download twenty or so wordpress themes from the downloads section and start practising. Every wordpress theme has its own problems and you will only learn by hands on experience.

Realistically unless you are able to learn very fast you are going to be restricted to learning a limited number of themes and offering basic four page websites to very small business for very small money but it will keep you afloat.

You will need a portfolio anyway so might as well start today.

 

[Conor]

So do you think I can learn to code within a months time with everyday of studying and learning with tutorials on youtube???

I think it's possible to build up your knowledge within a month, but I would set aside more time than that, personally.

There are a few good PHP resources I found useful. Here are the links to the official material, but I'm sure you could "acquire" them from other places too:
http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920023487.do
http://www.infiniteskills.com/php/
http://www.lynda.com/PHP-training-tutorials/282-0.html

I just wanted to use wordpress because it already has the templates... I'm looking to start off building sites for business (local)

Good idea. Here's a nice guide for doing exactly that: http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackh...-days-exact-method-z-so-simple-duplicate.html

Plus, I was going to try to partner up with a graphic designer. To help with logos and stuff. Also, I was thinking of investing a nice canyon camera and sell my own stock photos with it

I don't have much experience with selling stock photos, but you could offer to photograph products for local ecommerce sites, as an additional service, or something along those lines.

things like FLASH seems impossible...

Don't EVER use flash. If I catch you doing such things, I'll slap you silly. Flash is not for web design. Ever.

 

[ThreadKiller]

I said I need to make some bank by freelancing at home... I don't even plan to do it FULL TIME right now.

K. Cool. Good luck.

 

[Ancillarium]

I'm actually looking to do this too. I just finished a site for my first client (who I contacted through Craigslist)! I am having problems finding new clients, though - I'm not sure how best to approach it. Does anyone have any recommendations on the most effective way to find/reach out to potential clients? Thanks for this thread!

PS: I recently fell in love with the Omega theme by Oxygenna (I just mentioned this in another thread but I promise I don't work for them!). It has a great deal of functionality, page customization/layouts, and integration with some popular WordPress plugins with minimal coding required. I can also recommend Avada. Both of these can be found on themeforest.

I also have novice-intermediate knowledge in Illustrator and Photoshop which helps with logos and photo editing too - something you also might want to consider learning.

Good luck to you! I'd say we should compare notes over PM but I can't send those just yet .

 

[Duffers5000]

Pull out Yellow Pages(or your countries equivalent)

Go to Google and start searching.

Compile a list of local small businesses that have no website and start hitting them up.

I'm actually looking to do this too. I actually just finished a site for my first client (who I contacted through Craigslist)! I am having problems finding new clients, though - I'm not sure how best to approach it. Does anyone have any recommendations on the most effective way to find/reach out to potential clients? Thanks for this thread!