Fix Ugly Homepages

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🔥 FRESH IDEA

Most small business websites haven't been updated since the Obama administration. The owners know they look dated. They're just overwhelmed by the prospect of a complete redesign. You offer a faster, cheaper alternative: fix the homepage.

The homepage is where first impressions happen. Google's research on web credibility shows visitors form judgments in milliseconds. Those judgments directly impact whether they stay or leave, trust or doubt, buy or bounce.

Your service is laser-focused. Not a complete website rebuild. Not ongoing monthly retainers. A single-project homepage transformation delivered in one to two weeks for a fixed $1,500 to $2,500 fee.

The deliverables are concrete. New above-the-fold design with clear value proposition. Updated hero imagery and headlines. Restructured visual hierarchy that guides attention. Mobile-optimized layout that works on every device. Trust signals placed where they matter. Figma handles design work with zero upfront cost. Webflow or direct WordPress implementation handles development. The tech stack is accessible to anyone willing to learn the fundamentals.

Prospecting is visual. Browse local business websites. Screenshot the ugly ones. Send personalized outreach showing their current homepage next to examples of better alternatives. The contrast sells the service. Pricing is value-based, not hourly. A $2K homepage refresh that increases conversion by 20% pays for itself within weeks for most businesses. You're selling ROI, not hours of work.

Examples

🪜 MONEY MOVE

Built a great proposal template that wins clients? A client onboarding system that runs smoothly? A project management framework that keeps everything organized? Sell them to other freelancers in your field. Your efficiency becomes their efficiency, and you get paid twice—once when you use the templates, again when others buy them.

The psychology seems counterintuitive at first. Why arm competitors with your best tools? Because the market is bigger than you can serve alone. The freelancer in another city isn't competing with you for the same local clients. They need solutions to the same problems you've already solved. Your templates save them weeks of trial and error.

This isn’t theoretical. Creator Thomas Frank turned two Notion-based project management templates into a serious product line. He told Business Insider those templates generated $1 million in revenue in 2022, and he built the business by giving away free versions first, then selling the “complete system”.

Another example: Jason Chin (Easlo) started by releasing free templates with optional tips, then flipped them into paid products. He describes the switch to paid and notes his first paid template brought in over $3,000 in its first month after he emailed previous free downloaders.

And it’s not just Notion. Webflow designer Zoya Aqib published hard numbers from selling templates: 11 templates, 138 sales, about $4,800 in the first 12 months, then $7,600 over the next 6 months as momentum compounded.

If you want a simple starting point: pick the one template you reuse every week (proposal, kickoff doc, onboarding checklist, scope control email), turn it into a clean “copy-paste system,” and sell it with a 2-minute walkthrough video so buyers can implement it fast.

AI can help you move faster, but real leadership still requires human judgment.

The free resource 5 Traits AI Can’t Replace explains the traits leaders must protect in an AI-driven world and why BELAY Executive Assistants are built to support them.

Download BELAY’s Guide!

✍ FREELANCER BEST PRACTICE

The moment a prospect asks, “Can you send a proposal?”, the clock starts and most freelancers start working for free.

Platforms that track proposals keep landing on the same pattern: fast follow-through wins. Better Proposals says sending within 24 hours can increase your chances of winning by up to 25%, based on its analysis of proposals sent through its platform. Proposify’s follow-up guide also notes that deals rarely close on the first touch and points to its own data that close rates double when more than one stakeholder views a proposal.

That’s the logic behind charging for discovery instead of burying it inside “the proposal.” A short, fixed-fee discovery sprint creates the raw material you need to send quickly without guessing: clear goals, a tight scope of work, and a payment schedule tied to milestones. Wethos frames scope and milestones as the practical guardrails that prevent scope creep and keep you paid as work progresses.

Ramen first step: write a one-paragraph “Discovery Sprint” offer today (price, 7-day timeline, 3 outputs). Then make it the first option you send, followed by a full build quote that only happens after the sprint.

🔼 TREND

Podcast ads are starting to look less like a side bet and more like a real line item in media budgets.

That shift showed up publicly at the IAB Podcast Upfront 2025, where the channel was projected to pass $3B in ad revenue in 2025. The bigger signal is what buyers are asking for now: not just “a host read,” but repeatable inventory they can measure, reuse, and scale across platforms.

This is where video-first podcasts are stealing growth. Advertisers get the same voice and audience, but with more surfaces to buy. The mechanism is multi-format reach. One recording turns into an audio episode, a YouTube upload, several clips, and short-form cuts. That creates more impressions and more ways to target, without booking extra guests or adding more production days. It also matches the broader ad market shift toward video formats tracked in IAB’s 2025 video spend reporting.

Ad revenue reports keeps showing podcast advertising rising year over year, which is why buyers are getting more standardized about measurement.