Selling Websites: How to Build Carrd Sites for Small Businesses and Earn $50–300 Per Project for Small Businesses and Earn $50–300 Per Project
Carrd Website
Building Service
A complete, no-fluff guide to earning real money by building simple, beautiful one-page Carrd websites for small businesses, freelancers, and local shops — no coding required.
● What is this service
Carrd Website Building — In Plain Terms
Carrd is a free tool that lets anyone build a clean, professional one-page website in minutes — no coding, no hosting headaches. But most small business owners have never heard of it, don't have time to learn it, and don't know how to make it look good.
Your job: take their business information — name, services, contact details, photos, reviews — and turn it into a polished, mobile-friendly website that helps them look credible online. You handle the design, layout, and setup. They just give you the content.
Why this works: Millions of small businesses (salons, tutors, photographers, gyms, consultants) have no website at all, or an outdated Facebook page as their only online presence. A simple, good-looking website instantly makes them look more trustworthy — and you can build it fast.
● Target clients
Who Will Pay You For This
Salons & Spas
Need a simple site showing services, prices, and booking contact. Quick win projects.
Photographers
Need a portfolio page to show their best work. Carrd's image galleries are perfect for this.
Tutors & Coaches
Want a professional page to share with students or clients to build trust.
Gyms & Trainers
Need a landing page with class schedules, pricing, and a signup form.
Restaurants & Cafes
Need a menu page, location, hours, and contact — simple but essential.
Local Shops & Sellers
Need an "About + Catalog + Contact" page to look legitimate online.
● Step by step
How to Start From Zero
Create a free Carrd account
Go to Carrd.co and sign up — it's completely free to start. Explore the free templates available. You don't need the paid plan to learn or to build your first few practice sites.
Learn the builder (1–2 days)
Watch 2–3 YouTube tutorials on "Carrd website tutorial for beginners." Carrd is drag-and-drop and very simple — most people learn the basics in a few hours. Focus on sections, image placement, buttons, and forms.
Build 3 demo websites
Pick three business types (e.g. a salon, a photographer, a tutor) and build a sample one-page site for each using placeholder content. These become your portfolio to show real clients what you can do.
Create your own simple Carrd page
Build a one-page site for yourself: "I build simple, affordable websites for small businesses." Show your 3 demo sites as a portfolio gallery. Add a contact form. This is your business card.
Find your first 2–3 clients
Approach local businesses directly — visit in person, message on WhatsApp or Instagram, or post in local Facebook groups. Offer your first website at a discounted "launch price" in exchange for a review or referral.
Deliver, collect feedback, repeat
Deliver the finished site, walk the client through how to update text or images themselves if they want, and ask for a short testimonial. Use that testimonial in your portfolio to win the next client more easily.
Scale with templates and packages
Build reusable templates for common business types (salon template, restaurant template, tutor template). When a new client comes in, duplicate the closest template and customize — cutting build time from 3 hours to under 1 hour.
● Pricing
How to Price Your Websites
Carrd projects are quick to build, so volume matters. The goal is to deliver fast, keep clients happy, and add small monthly maintenance fees for recurring income.
| Package | What's Included | Price | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 1-page site, up to 4 sections, contact form, mobile-friendly | $50–80 | Beginner |
| Standard | 1-page site, custom design, gallery, testimonials, social links | $100–150 | Mid |
| Premium | Custom domain setup, booking/payment links, SEO basics, animations | $180–300 | Advanced |
| Maintenance | Monthly content updates, new photos, small text changes | $15–30/mo | Recurring |
Pro tip: Always offer the monthly maintenance add-on at checkout. Most business owners can't update their own site — even $15/month from 10 clients is $150/month of passive-feeling income.
● Income
Realistic Monthly Income at Each Stage
● Tools
Best Tools to Use (Most Are Free)
Carrd.co (Free/Pro)
The core builder. Free plan is enough for basic sites; Pro ($19/year) unlocks custom domains and forms.
Unsplash & Pexels
Free, high-quality stock photos for clients who don't have professional images yet.
Canva (Free)
Create logos, icons, and graphics for clients who don't have a brand kit.
Google Fonts
Pair fonts thoughtfully for each client's brand — Carrd integrates these directly.
TinyPNG
Compress images before uploading so the site loads fast on mobile.
Namecheap / GoDaddy
Help clients buy a custom domain (e.g. salonname.com) — easy upsell and small commission.
● Client acquisition
Where Exactly to Find Clients
- Walk-in visits: Visit local shops, salons, and clinics near you. Show them your phone with a sample site and ask, "Would something like this help your business?"
- Facebook Marketplace & Groups: Local community groups often have business owners posting — offer your service in the comments or as a post.
- Instagram DMs: Search local business hashtags (e.g. #LahoreSalon, #KarachiCafe) and message owners who have no website link in their bio.
- Fiverr & Upwork: List a gig for "one-page Carrd website for small business" — good for getting your first international clients.
- WhatsApp Business groups: Many local business communities run on WhatsApp — share your portfolio link there.
- Referral chain: After every project, ask: "Do you know another business owner who could use something like this?" One happy client often leads to two more.
The best pitch line: "I noticed your business doesn't have a website yet — I can build you a clean, mobile-friendly one-page site this week for [price]. Want to see a quick example based on your business?"
● Level up
Go Beyond the Website — Extra Services to Sell
Once you're comfortable building Carrd sites quickly, add these extras to increase the value of every project without much extra effort.
Custom Domain Setup
Help connect a .com domain to their Carrd site. Small fee, big perceived value.
Google Business Profile
Set up or optimize their Google listing alongside the website. Bundle as a package.
QR Code Cards
Design a small printed card with a QR code linking to their new site — great for physical shops.
Copywriting Help
Write the "About" and service descriptions for clients who don't know what to say.
Basic SEO Setup
Add meta titles, descriptions, and alt text so the site shows up better in search.
Monthly Updates
Offer to refresh photos, prices, or offers every month — the recurring revenue engine.
● Honest advice
What Most People Get Wrong
Most beginners spend too long trying to make every site "perfect" before showing it to anyone. A clean, simple, working website that looks better than what the client currently has is already a win. Speed and reliability matter more than fancy design at this stage.
Don't only target businesses that already have a website — target the ones that don't. These are the easiest sales because there's nothing to compare against, and the improvement is obvious and immediate to the owner.
Keep a simple process document for yourself: a short questionnaire to send new clients (business name, services, contact info, photos, colors they like). This alone can cut your project time in half because you're not chasing information mid-project.
The honest truth: Even 4 small website projects per month at $100 each is $400/month — a strong side income for a few hours of work each week. Add 10 maintenance clients at $20/month and that's another $200 of recurring income. This is one of the fastest skills to monetize because the value is so visible to the client.
Comments
Post a Comment