Have you ever wondered how you can turn a passion for design and a skill with computers into a profitable and enjoyable business venture? "How to Start a Home-Base Web Design Business" provides readers with helpful advice and practical suggestions to turn their web design talents into a thriving home business. It focuses on the specific issues that affect web design, from content and format of web pages, through obtaining and growing your customer base, to the ever-changing legal and ethical issues. This is an essential volume for anyone who wants to get ahead in this energetic and innovative young industry.

Sample Contract is Worth the Price of the Book
This is a good book for someone who may know more about web design than they know about business. Like others have said, the example web designs aren’t very good and look dated. This book is definetly a business book, and a wordy one at that. I found myself skimming some of the paragraphs for just the major points.

The author relates some of his best practices in his approach to running the business. The sample contract alone is worth the cost of the book and is the reason I gave it 4 stars. The contract seemingly covers all the bases. Because there is no CD, the FAQ in the book gives you the location of the link to download the contract for your own use. The author cautions you to seek an attorney’s help before leveraging the contract for you own use though.

Overall, it is a good business resource with a few technical pointers as well.

Easy to read, good hard facts
The first time I even casually flipped through the book I was pulled in by good hard practical business advice. I was fascinated because it broke my delusion about what having a business would be like and presented me with real world issues I would face. Given today’s competition of automated web building tools and the power of blogs and social sites for the little guys, I don’t see web design as making anyone rich, but if you’re ok with that, this book might point a business in a more realistic direction. Most of the book’s content is relevant to any small start up, not just web design. In fact the only reason this book probably references web design is for marketing value. There are obviously a lot of people thinking they can be home based web designers. The web design tips are too basic, but the business advice is awesome.

Great for ideas to get started with - business minds!
This is an excellent book. I borrowed v2 from the Library and thought it was well written, an easy read, and packed with great ideas. In fact, so much that I purchased v3 from Amazon the day I finished reading it. There were many places I wanted to highlight and obviously could not with the Library’s book! NOTE - This is not a book to learn how to build great sites for people!!! It is to give you good business ideas and for me it definitely has. In fact, I was a little weary about starting a web design business but now that I have read this book (twice!) I definitely plan to!

Some good business advice, Terrible examples of good web design
Of the thousands of people who design websites and run their own business doing it, I simply do not understand why this author, Jim Smith, was asked to write this book.

There is some good business advice here, but most of it can be gotten elsewhere and more completely. I suppose most readers will appreciate his sample contract the most.

But the biggest problem I have with this book is that its subject is Web Design, yet the author is FAR from being the expert. The author’s own website is amateur at best. His portfolio boasts the same, amateur and unprofessional "designs" as his website. His designs are stuck in the late 1980’s and, quite frankly, embarrassing. I am hard pressed to understand how the author could even be running a web design business. His designs are just not very good.

So, does it matter that the author isn’t very good at web design? Well...yes, I think so. The author talks about the elements that make for good design and while he hits on things that are valid (web safe colors, fast loading time) he apparently hasn’t figured out how to accomplish these good design practices in an aesthetically pleasing way.

One design practice the author cautions against is using lots of tables in the layout of a site. Tables were originally designed to display data, but were used excessively for layout in the past. Now, CSS and divs are used and make the code much less bloated. However, most of the web sites in the author’s examples in the book, which are from his portfolio, are table layouts.

This book isn’t really that specific to the web design business. Most business things you need to learn can be gotten elsewhere, like Nolo Press.

I’m sorry, but I DO consider the source of my information. While I realize this isn’t a design book, the author is addressing this toward people who want to have web design businesses.

Thank You For Writing This Book!
I bought this book a few weeks ago. I was in the "how to" section for graphic software. This book stood out. I read a few pages and put all the other books back. This book has so much information for starting a business. I am modeling my home based business with the ideas from Mr. Smith’s book. this book has everything. Now that I know there is an updated version, I will buy that as well. This book is a necessity for anyone starting their business. It is a blessing! Thank you so much and may you continue to have many blessings!!!

Excellent to Lessen the Fear
I have been wanting to start a web-based design business, but some of the details are a bit scary to me. A friend recommended that I get this book, and he was right! It’s packed full of very useful information in a highly understandable manner and language.

The business aspects helped me to clarify some of the confusing aspects of starting a business, and the examples of contracts is worth the price of the book alone.

I’d totally recommend this book to anyone looking into it for the first time. If you’ve already dabbled in a home business before, you may find this a bit too basic.

Down to earth and easy to read: a wonderful guide
The book covers very much everything you need to think of when starting your own business. From project management to accounting, Jim Smith uses clear language and several examples from his own company, in helping you to assess strenghts and weaknesses of this or that option when starting a small web design business.
It is very helpful if you’re thinking to make some money out of web design, even if only as a freelancer. The book gives a full perspective on client relationships, including complete contracts, payment schedules and business plan templates.
The legal details are US-specific, so it might not be so hepful for non-US based businesses. Still, a good buy.

Excellent, Cost Effective Resource
About a year ago, I bought Sitepoint’s Web Design Business Kit, by Brenden Sinclair. At the time, I thought it was a good read. After reading Jim Smith’s book on the same topic, I look back on the Business Kit and find it to be quite superficial. Sinclair focuses more on outsourcing and working on the business as opposed to working in it. Smith presents his information from a "man of many hats" point of view. As it applies to my situation, Smith’s book is more useful.

Although, I would never hire Jim as a designer, I would hire him as a business consultant in a heart beat. I wish I would have read this book a long time ago. Do you know what can happen if you disable someone’s site for non-payment? What if you register a client’s domain name in your name, and then there’s a domain name disupute from another organiztion... want to be in the middle of that? What about those of you who work as subcontracting agents? Do your contracts protect from issues between the original contractor and the stakeholder? This is just a taste of what you’ll learn in this book... not HTML, CSS, PHP, C++, frameworks, etc.

Read The Cover!!!
This book is not to teach you how to design a great looking website!
The book was written to give you some guidance starting a web design business in your home. I found the book does just what it says it will.
If you are thinking of going into this business,part time or full time, the book is a great starting point to give you an idea of what to expect.

I enjoyed the reading and recommend it.

Read The Cover!!!
This book is not to teach you how to design a great looking website!
The book was written to give you some guidance starting a web design business in your home. I found the book does just what it says it will.
If you are thinking of going into this business,part time or full time, the book is a great starting point to give you an idea of what to expect.

I enjoyed the reading and recommend it.

A great resource
This book is a great resource for anyone considering starting up their own web design business. Rather than being written from the point of view of a large design business it is very applicable to the ’one man band’. Written by a man with a lot of experience it contains loads of common sense tips and guidelines. Fantastic.

I’m really glad I purchased this book!
As someone who is just starting up a web development business, I have found this book to be invaluable. The author is honest and thorough in his presentation of what it takes to start and run a successful business. He includes many helpful suggestions such as how to write a client contract, how to develop a business plan, how to market your business, and how to make a successful sales presentation.

Good TIPS on how to RUN your business
I bought this book at Barnes & Noble while looking for a book on how to run a small business, not necesarilly designed for a web design business but for that purpose. I already have enough experience on graphic and web design, and I’ve made a couple of websites friends. I just needed to know on how to turn that into an income.

If you’re interested in running a web design business like I am, Jim Smith will give you all the advice you’ll need; what to expect, what services are recommended to offer, how to attract clients, questions to ask on interviews if you decide to hire a staff, the ups and downs on running a web design company, and more - basically the insight into the web design business that I needed.

Checking into his company, I realized that the design aspect leaves a lot to wish for, but he DOES mention that he targets people who are new on the internet. Don’t buy this book if you’re looking on tips on how to make your website more attractive looking, if that’s a big issue to you. There are pleny of books out there that teach you just that.

But if you’re like me and you’re interested in knowing everything you need to know in starting a web design business, then this book will be your bible. I recommend it.

Word of caution
The 2nd edition of this book is terrible. Look it up and see what other people have said about it. Be sure you can flip through this edition before buying it. Also, look at the author’s website and prepare for the shock of your life (he writes a book about a subject he knows next to nothing about).

Great intro to starting a web Design business
I disagree with the negatives others have given - It was an easy read, authors insights into the mechanics of the business were useful, how to establish yourself in the business and get started, agreements, how to structure your agreements (he includes an example in the appendix), how to calculate your expenses and decide what to charge. I would recommend it highly. ( I stopped googling the topic after I read this book).

Exactly what I was looking for!!
After pondering with the idea for some time regarding starting up on my own as a self-employed web designer, I stumbled across this wonderful title! It’s an absolutely cracking read, filled to the brim with useful hints and ideas, especially the examples of business plans and contracts in the appendices.

Jim Smith, the American author of the book, seems to cover most aspects of what someone in my position would have to take into consideration if planning to start up as a web designer. Considerations such as technical ability, sales experience, etc, are all mentioned to a degree easily understandable by everyone.

After reading through this book several times it just made me want to work for myself even more than ever! As such, i’ve taken the plunge and started up on my own! I simply cannot recommend this title enough! It’s an absolute Belter!!