📱 Best Platforms
Upwork (active WordPress website project listings at all budget levels), Google Maps (find local businesses with no website or a broken one and cold-email), local Facebook community groups (post offering affordable websites and get referrals from neighbors).
📖 The Hustle
Countless barbershops, landscapers, and bakeries either have no website or one from 2012 that is broken on mobile. You set up a clean 5-page WordPress site with their logo, photos, contact form, and Google Maps embed using a pre-built theme. Charge $300-800 flat per site. Offer a $50/month maintenance package for updates and backups as passive recurring income.
🚀 First Step
Install WordPress locally using Local by Flywheel, build a demo site with a free theme, and screenshot it as your portfolio piece.
🔑 Keys to Success
- Use Astra or GeneratePress free themes — they're fast, mobile-responsive, and have enough customization for 90% of small business sites.
- Offer a 'website in a weekend' package at $399 — small biz owners love fixed-price, fixed-timeline offers with no surprises.
- Bundle domain setup and basic SEO plugin configuration as part of every build so clients see you as the all-in-one solution.
🛠 Tools & Resources: WordPress, Local by Flywheel, Elementor (free), Yoast SEO, Namecheap