In 2008 (the last time I did freelance web design) I was able to charge decent money for a custom website. Nowadays people can get that with WordPress and a $60

In 2008 (the last time I did freelance web design) I was able to charge decent money for a custom website. Nowadays people can get that with WordPress and a $60 Themeforest template or something like Wix or Shopify. So you will have to compete with that (or layer value added serves on top). One interesting way I generated a lot of business back in the day was redesigning websites on spec. Basically I found businesses with websites that needed refreshing and I just redesigned them without asking. Then I emailed them a link to a fully functional version of the site. You can recycle the design for multiple prospects and just update the content. I stuck to single verticals like restaurants to make it easy. Here is an example of businesses I would target: http://thechinagarden.com/ http://thechinagarden.com/ or https://www.blujamcafe.com/ https://www.blujamcafe.com/ since they are in my neighborhood (I can work the "we are both local small businesses" angle and maybe get some free food out of the deal.