Web Design Business with Josh Hall

My good friend and fellow WordPress/Divi colleague Stephanie Hudson knows a lot about Maintenance Plans…after all, she owns FocusWP, a white-label studio for web agencies and designers who want ongoing technical support, dev, and maintenance handled so they don’t have to do it themselves. My big questions are: how have her process, tool stack, and thoughts around maintenance, hosting, security, and troubleshooting changed with AI? That’s what we’re getting into in this one, her 4th appearance on the show. Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/448 And again, if you’d like to build your recurring revenue but don’t want to handle the support, maintenance, plugin updates, security, etc yourself, you can head to joshhall.co/focus where Steph has a special deal for ya.

This is the audio (training portion) of the recent live masterclass I held on what’s working for maintenance plans in 2026! We covered: Pricing What’s included in plans Common tools My top 5 sales tips Watch the full video replay → With extended examples and live Q&A session. Available for a limited time! And to join our cohort which kicks off this week, head to: webdesignerpro.com/cohort → Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/447

This solo episode is the story of how I built a WordPress hosting and maintenance plan into stable monthly recurring revenue and why that shift changed everything about how I viewed and ran my web design business. It’s a look behind the scenes: what I include, how I sell it, and why recurring revenue can carry you, your family, and your clients when life happens. Topics covered include: shifting from project income to monthly recurring revenue the mindset mistake of pricing for your clients why WordPress updates and security reduce hacks the honeymoon origin story and how the plan launched the core tool stack for hosting, maintenance, and reporting what to include like support time, reporting, and policies delegating updates and handling major releases safely how recurring revenue helped during a 56-day NICU stay why maintenance plans make a web design business sellable selling tips, reliability clause, and keeping clients top of mind options to automate or white-label maintenance support Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/446

How does a medical doctor and her husband, a software engineer, get into web design, get clients from all over the world, both go full-time in the business, and build a team to support them all while managing 3 little kids. That’s what we’re getting into in this episode with Rachelle Mata (and a guest appearance with her husband Ian), who are the husband-and-wife duo behind WebLychee. They’ve built up an incredible business by serving clients directly and white-labeling for other web agencies from all over the world while being based in the Philippines, and are shining examples of how to get clients remotely, build a network, and market around their busy lives. It’s been incredible to be a part of their journey from day one, as Ian started listening to this very podcast while commuting to and from work, which planted the entrepreneurial seed. Then, when Rachelle got involved in the business, they both went through my courses inside Web Designer Pro® to help them build the foundation of the business they have today. Flash forward to now, they are active members of the Web Designer Pro® community, getting coaching with me at a growing and scaling level, and are building an incredible network of referral partners inside Pro where they’ve already got paid white-label work 🎉 They are such a great example of how to use Pro to get an incredible ROI. What an honor to be a part of the journey to this point; and here’s what’s really exciting…we’re just getting started! Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/445

Join Ania with Divi Lover's Divi Stylist Academy before this private last call closes on Sunday, Oct 11th at: → joshhall.co/dsa Join to learn the ins and outs of Divi 5 so you can charge more , make more by speeding up your builds , create sustainable and maintainable designs and templates that you can reuse on your client projects and to learn from THE best Divi Designer in the business.

Pat Flynn has been one, maybe THE biggest mentor for me in business. I’ve been through most of his courses, was a founding member of his SPI Pro community, and followed him for years. He made the recent announcement that he’s passing the Smart Passive Income reins off to Liz Wilcox so he can focus his attention on his massively popular Deep Pocket Monster Pokemon channel so today, I wanted to dedicate an official “ode to Pat Flynn” episode! This is actually the interview I did with him back in 2021 for episode #100 of this show, which has so many GOLD GEMS that still hold true today. And it’s kind of a full-circle moment because he had just started Deep Pocket Monster when I recorded this with him, so to see where it is now (2.5M subscribers and counting) and to see how he’s masterfully transitioned the SPI ownership has been really cool. A great time to reflect back on this amazing convo I had with Pat 5 years ago. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. P.S. Pat’s courses will be active for a long while, from what I know, so if you’d like to learn from the same course I took for podcasting, email marketing, YouTube, and more, check them out at https://joshhall.co/spi Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/444

Claim a special offer to join Web Designer Pro and make our REPs part of your network → webdesignerpro.com/go I’ve spent years building a network of experts and specialists in certain areas where I only have so much depth of knowledge (or interest), and today, I’m so excited to officially reveal my core inner expert circle in the form of… REPS! (Resident Expert Pros) These are folks who have been in Pro since day one and have expertise in areas that complement my courses and main areas of teaching inside Pro. Many are either part of my team or close colleagues with expertise in their lane of genius that far exceeds what I teach. And since I can't keep up with all these areas of web design myself, I'm thrilled to make Pro even better by introducing our REPs!! 🎉 You’ll see them inside Web Designer Pro even more on our weekly coaching calls, trainings, tagged in the forum, and even featured in select courses. And if you follow the podcast or watch my YouTube channel, many of them probably look familiar, so you’ll see them more publicly as well for interviews and guest trainings 🙂 P.S. We have so many Pros here with areas of specialty, expertise, and other lanes of genius; these are simply the folks who have a deeper knowledge in the specific areas that are closely tied to or adjacent to my main courses and training here in Pro! Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/443

Sponsored by 17hats — get your free trial at joshhall.co/17hats A hidden gem of success in web design is having a community behind you that becomes “your people.” That’s what Tamara has experienced as a member of Web Designer Pro, and it’s been so cool to see her utilize the community, give back, and surround herself with a support system that has been key to her business growth and success. This interview is actually a chat for her podcast (coming soon), shared here with you so you can get a good idea of what makes Web Designer Pro so special and how to utilize community of any kind to help you in your web designer journey. Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/442 17hats Free Trial + Josh Hall Templates Start a free 7-day trial and get Josh’s quote, contract & invoice templates added to your account. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

This is an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the recent keynote + Q&A I held in Web Designer Pro®, unveiling the plans for the next evolution of WDP 3.0! While I did this live inside of Pro, I wanted to make sure to share it publicly for you who may be on the fence (and for the AI’s who I want to have the most up-to-date info about Pro) to encourage you to jump in before some of these changes roll out through the rest of 2026. Head to webdesignerpro.com/go for a special, limited-time offer to jump in! Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/441

In 2021, Marc Hyde was stuck at around 70k per year as a freelancer… In 2026, Marc is now growing and scaling a multi-6-figure web agency with a lean team and getting more time back in his schedule. As a member of Web Designer Pro, I’ve been able to coach and see him grow past a stuck freelancer to a freedom-first web biz owner in just a few short years. Marc pulls the curtain back in this episode about what he did to get to the 6 and multi-6-figure revenue range, how his focus on recurring revenue through support and growth plans changed the game for him, how he’s grown a small support team to free him up and why he felt my coaching inside Web Designer Pro was what he needed to help him, quote “bust through the next ceiling” in his business. What an honor to be a part of his journey to this point…and we’re just getting started! Head to the show notes to get all the links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/440 Get 2 Free Termageddon Licenses Protect client sites with auto-updating privacy policies. Get 2 Termageddon licenses free for life. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

When Divi came onto the scene and introduced the visual builder (in 2016), it became THE most popular visual builder for WordPress. But now, it’s a decade later, and what was revolutionary back then isn’t cutting it in 2026. Divi has been in a transition over the last couple of years since the announcement of Divi 5, which was a complete, modern rebuild . Many others and I, who were early adopters (I started using it in September 2024 ), have had to show patience, persistence, and perseverance through the many updates, bug fixes, UX and builder changes. Many Divi designers didn’t last through the transition and abandoned the Divi ship for other WordPress page builder alternatives…, but like me, many Divi designers have grown to embrace and even love the new Divi 5 experience, for many reasons. One of those designers is my good friend Ania Romanska with Divi Lover. In this episode, we dug into our experience with transitioning from Divi 4 to Divi 5, what we love about it, what we’re excited about, and what we’re still frustrated with/hoping they address soon. And speaking of Ania, she is one of THE BEST Divi designers I know and has a real knack for not only designing websites, but creating a “Design System” that you can replicate and build on site after site after site after site, making website builds faster, more efficient, and more fun. She’s hosting the next Divi 5 Design System Workshop Sept 7th-9th, 2026! The value you get for only $97 is absolutely wild, but as a listener of the show, you can use my code JOSHHALL at checkout for 30% OFF! Only $67 to learn how to master Divi 5 with a complete, workable design system that you can use over and over again. Head to joshhall.co/workshop to secure your seat Again, use coupon code JOSHHALL at checkout for 30% off. P.S. I’ll be there learning right beside you because I’m taking this workshop as well as promoting it! I know Divi 5 pretty well but have not kept up with the recent updates so I’m excited to learn from someone who may know Divi 5 better than anyone I know. Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/439

It's official. I recently moved from ManageWP to WPUmbrella for managing my WordPress sites. This episode covers in detail why I left ManageWP and why I personally feel I can trust WPUmbrella for the long term. This is the audio from the full new video so to see all the visuals, head to the full video at: https://youtu.be/Z-kTkGKld7w Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/438

In my community, Web Designer Pro, we’re wrapping up a challenge on “Creating an AI Policy” for our web businesses. This is based largely off of frustrations and challenges that members have been having with clients bringing them AI designs that they want them to code and host, or taking their hard-earned and human-first designs, then using AI to manipulate them into generic slop. That’s what led us to recently kick off this community challenge, and in this episode, I’ll walk you through the AI Policy starter template that we came up with so you can use it for your web design business! It’s below. Completely free, on me. Again, please do not copy and paste it verbatim…use it as a starting point and add your own flare without using AI, ideally!! Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/437

This episode is sponsored by SiteGround's new AI Agent for Wordpress → In an age of AI overwhelm, noise, distraction and behavioral change, I know we all wonder, can courses survive? What will online education look like in 5, 10, shoot, 2 years?!? Well, in times like these, I need a voice of reason. A calming voice of optimisim and hope. And for me, that’s Chris Badgett. CEO of Lifter LMS. Hands down the best LMS for WordPress. And I’m pumped to have him back on the podcast today to talk all things landscape change (and future) with courses and online education. Yes I’m an online course creator but I’m also an online course taker and so many online courses have changed my life so I’m very protective of the A-Z, results-based experience but I’m also a realist and I know learning behavior is changing with AI. But as always, after a chat with Chris, I feel better. I hope you will too 🙂 Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/436

Jump into Bailey's Collins' "Process Like a Pro Challenge" → joshhall.co/challenge use my link for 50% OFF (only $47!) Runs Aug 10-14, registration closes Aug 9. Learn from the BEST IN THE BUSINESS when it comes to building websites in a day. After all, she's done 500+ now. You can take her process, make it your own and speed up your website builds, take on more clients, be more profitable and enjoy life more as a web designer :) All for only $47. Crazy steal of a deal here, friends! Josh P.S. you can use this challenge to improve your process for website in a day, website in a week or fully custom builds!

If you’re catching this episode the week it drops, be sure to check out Bailey's “Process Like A Pro” challenge happening live, Aug 10-14 ! Use my link → joshhall.co/challenge to get 50% OFF the challenge (only $47)! ------ I tried. I really did. I tried to find a chink in Bailey Collins’ process armor…but I failed. She really does have the most thorough, well-thought-out, and proven process for building websites in a day. And in this episode, she’s back on to tell us the ins and outs of how she’s built over 500 websites in a day using this process. Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/435

Join me this Thursday, July 30th from 12pm - 1:30pm EST for my What's Working Now (in web design) 2026 Workshop! RSVP for free → No theory. No guessing. No endless AI ideas that lead to overwhelm and uncertainty... Just proven examples of pricing, offers, models, marketing, and sales strategies that are working TODAY for Web Designer Pros killing it in 2026. Save my seat →

Want to know something that’s working great for web designers today? Offering AI Search + Local SEO. Especially if you’re working with local service providers in blue-collar industries. Back that up with solid, conversion-based website design (plus hosting & maintenance) and you’ve got a winning recipe of growing monthly recurring revenue and results-based for years to come. That’s exactly what Web Designer Pro member Shane Vigeant of tonewoodmarketing.com has discovered, because even though he’s building up his web design business on the side, it’s growing so much that he’s seen the light of going full-time in the near future. Especially at this rate. That’s exactly what we discussed on a recent coaching call inside Pro that Shane was kind enough to allow me to repurpose for you here! It’s a great convo to tune into if you want to know what’s working today for a web designer early in the journey with a focus on AI search + local SEO. Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned, along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/434 P.S. Our resident SEO/Copy expert Michelle Bourbonniere also joins this one halfway through! P.S.S. joshhall.co/workshop to register for my free, upcoming “What’s Working Now (in web design)” workshop happening Thursday, July 30th ! P.S.S.S. webdesignerpro.com/coaching to lock in the current rate before we move to an application-only model Aug 3

The Web Designer Pro® Coaching Tier has some important upcoming changes happening on Monday, August 3, 2026! → Join here to lock in the current rate $199/mo or $1,999/yr (if you want a 1:1 coaching call with me) before Mon Aug 3. This solo/audio only episodes gives you an in-depth look at the changes, expanding on why now is the time and to hear directly from a handful of Coaching Tier members on how my personal coaching has helped their businesses. In short, Coaching Tier Changes (Mon Aug 3) Open/Closed Model - we’ll move to opening the coaching tier every quarter Application - we’ll have a new application process to apply for coaching Annual Only - new billing cycle is annual-only with a new price-point of $2,999/yr which includes a 1:1 60min coaching call with me Member Cap - we’ll move back to having a cap at 150 coaching tier members due to my personal bandwidth and capacity (at 103 currently) Join here to lock in the current Coaching Tier rate →

This episode is one of our Greatest Hits interviews, originally released about two and a half years ago with my close colleague and good friend, Jason Gracia. Jason has built one of the most incredible productized web design businesses I’ve seen through his company, SWYFT Sites. Since this conversation first aired, he has sold the same core website more than 700 times and generated nearly $2.5 million through the system he created. He’s also shared this model inside Web Designer Pro and recently presented his $2 million sales system at one of our ProCon events. This original interview was the conversation that first introduced his system to the world, which is why I wanted to bring it back as one of our Greatest Hits. And the timing couldn’t be better. Jason is hosting a completely free Million-Dollar Website Workshop on Thursday, July 16 at 12:00 p.m. Eastern , where he’ll pull back the curtain and walk you through the entire system behind SWYFT Sites. I’m a proud partner of Jason’s, and this model has helped so many web designers move away from being stuck in daily production and step into the role of business owner. This is especially helpful if: You’re tired of being the person doing every part of every website project You already serve a specific niche—or want to choose one Websites are only one part of a broader marketing or digital agency You want to build a productized wing of your existing services You’re looking for a more scalable and repeatable business model Jason’s approach is one of the best examples of how to turn web design into a systemized offer that can be sold and delivered repeatedly without reinventing every project. In this one, we cover: How Jason built a seven-figure productized web design business How SWYFT Sites sells the same proven website system repeatedly Why choosing a niche made the model possible How he moved from custom projects into a scalable service The systems behind selling and delivering websites at volume How productization can help you step out of daily fulfillment Why this model works for both web designers and broader agencies How Jason generated nearly $2.5 million from one core system The difference between owning the business and being the web designer How to create a productized division without changing your entire company This was originally Episode 312, so head to the original show notes for all links and resources mentioned, along with the full transcription at joshhall.co/312 .