Create a Successful Website Design, Hosting & SEO Business (Udemy.com)
How to Build a Profitable Web Design Business & Web Development Agency with WordPress, Divi, SEO and Maintenance Plans
Created by: Leighton Smith
Last updated June 2024
What you will learn
- Website Design Fundamentals — Coding, Domains, Hosting, Emails, SSL, WordPress, Divi
- How to Build a Website, eCommerce, Mobile-Friendly Sites, One-Page Sites, Multi-Page Websites, Where to Find Design Inspiration, Image Assets, Adobe Software
- How to Create a Web Design Brand — What is a Brand, Building Your Brand, Your Brand's Website, Promoting Your Brand
- Search Engine Optimization — On-Site SEO, Off-Site SEO and Selling SEO Services as a Business
- Website Maintenance Plans — Hosting, Management, Updates and Security Services, as well as how to sell your maintenance plan
- How to Serve Clients — Earning, Interviewing, Quotes, Proposals, Contracts, Onboarding, Designing & Developing, Polishing & Launching Sites, Maintaining Clients
How it compares
Against the other 150 rated Udemy courses in Entrepreneurship on CourseDuck:
- Rating4.5 out of 5higher than 48% of them
- Reviews456#64 of 151 by number of reviews
- Length20.7 hourslonger than 95% of them
- Last updatedJune 2024earlier than 52% of them
Course Description
WELCOME TO THIS MAMMOTH WEB DESIGN BUSINESS COURSE!
I’m Leighton, your webmaster. I’ve devoted over 15 years to designing and developing hundreds of websites for reputable businesses across the globe. Commitment to quality has earned me over 100 5-star reviews.
Now, I’m offering you my secrets. Let me share the tips, tricks and skills I’ve learned while owning a successful web design business.
But why web design? What’s the appeal of this type of business? Are you interested in:
Financial freedom?
Freedom to work from anywhere in the world?
Freedom to set your own schedule?
Freedom to choose whom you work with?
Yes, there are tons of benefits to embracing this industry, and my master class will teach you:
The Fundamentals of Web Design — Coding, Domains, Hosting, Emails, SSLs, WordPress, Divi.
How to Build a Website — Visually Designing & Developing One-Page, Multi-Page, eCommerce and Mobile-Friendly Sites, and where to go for Design Inspiration, Image Assets and the best Design Tools.
How to Create Your Brand — Which includes your professional website, logo, email address, business cards, digital portfolio and how to promote your web design brand.
Search Engine Optimization — Using both on-site and off-site techniques, and how to sell SEO services.
Website Maintenance Plans — How to build value and create passive income by offering to your clients a Maintenance Plan that includes Hosting, Management, Updates and Security Services.
How to Serve Clients — Where I'll walk you through the entire process: Earning & Interviewing Clients, Quoting Their Website, Sending Proposals & Contracts, Invoicing & Taxes, On-Boarding Clients, Designing, Developing, Polishing & Launching Websites and Maintaining Your Clients.
Conclusions and Takeaways — 10 Key takeaways for success, 10 things I wish I knew starting out and 10 things to avoid running a web design business.
Basically, you’ll learn the solid foundation you need to start running a successful web design business. I don’t believe in guarantees. I don’t believe in get-rich-quick schemes. But I do believe in honesty and hard work; with the knowledge from this course, in tandem with a solid work ethic, you can reap the benefits of this wonderful business. I’ve seen the potential first-hand. Let me help you!
I promise to teach you these practical, actionable concepts in a fun and engaging way. Each lesson will have opportunities to “pause and do something,” including applicative homework assignments, where you can put these lessons into action!
Let’s get started!
________________
Featured Reviews:
"This course is Amazing! Everything I learned so far for Web Design is because of Leighton and his ability to teach and explain in a simple yet elegant style. The illustrations allow for a smooth learning experience which makes it fun. If you truly want to learn how to start your own Web Design business, this course is the one!"
- D. Barrett, Freelancer in East Tennessee, USA
”I love this guys energy and real clarity. I wish he could teach me everything about tech! Most courses are so much fluff as they try to stair step you to the meat and potatoes. If anyone out there wants a crash deep dive into all things website building I recommend this course 1000%.”
- L. Hall
"This is one of those rare tutorials that actually lays out a solid business plan for a pretty low risk opportunity. The step-by-step guide laid out in these videos is very valuable."
- M. Schoenbeck
________________________________
Software and Services for Success:
Domain, Web Hosting and Divi are required in this course, since we will be using these when teaching you how to build a website. We recommend building your website while watching this course. You can utilize any domain and hosting services you want, but IONOS and Cloudways are the ones we recommend if you aren't already invested in another provider. We also require WordPress, which is free, but it must be installed on your own paid hosting server.
Adobe Software: www. pioneer .media/adobe
GoDaddy Domains: www. pioneer .media/godaddy
IONOS Web Hosting: www. pioneer .media/ionos
Cloudways Managed Cloud Hosting: www. pioneer .media/cloudways
Moo Business Cards: www. pioneer .media/moo
Divi WordPress Theme: www. pioneer .media/divi
(Please remove spaces when you copy and paste the above)
(The links above take you to the services referenced in various lessons. These are the services we have been using since 2006 and highly recommend in this course. Clicking through our affiliate link is optional. We will receive a small commission, but this is a nice way to be kind to your webmaster! These are the best services we could possibly recommend in their respected fields. Please enjoy!)
Instructor Details
- 4.5 Rating
456 Reviews
Leighton Smith
My name is Leighton Smith, an enthusiastic resident of East Tennessee. In business, I wear several metaphorical “hats.” I am Pioneer Media’s website designer, web developer and webmaster. Each is a unique role in the process of creating a website. As a “solopreneur” freelancer, I am self-employed and the one-and-only point-of-contact for my clients' websites. I’ve built 100s of websites since learning to code in 2006 and absolutely love what I do. In addition to helping small businesses, I enjoy volunteering, strengthening relationships and traveling the world.
My flagship business course, Create a Successful Website Design, Hosting & SEO Business, has 20 hours of content divided into 7 sections: Fundamentals of Web Design, How to Design & Develop a Website, Building a Brand, Search Engine Optimization, Website Maintenance Plans, How to Serve Clients, and Key Takeaways for Success as a Website Design Business.
My 2nd course, Work Less & Make More Money Through Time Optimization, is designed to help you take back control of your time with 20 tips on improving your personal productivity and optimizing your business to increase profits while decreasing the time spent working.
More Entrepreneurship courses
Freelance Mastery: For Web Developers & Designers (2026)
4.9 (753 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 5.7h
$79.99
Fiverr & ChatGPT & AI Powered Freelancing Mega-Masterclass (2026)
4.9 (328 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 25.4h
$59.99
How to Start a Coffee Shop Successfully (Beginner Course ) (2025)
4.8 (1,002 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 4.4h
$79.99
The Mind Of An Entrepreneur - How To Create Residual Income (2024)
4.8 (207 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 8.7h
$54.99
Passive Income: 10 Online Business Models to Make 6-Figures (2026)
4.8 (178 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 6.5h
$13.99
Reviews
By Emily Norman on 5/16/2026
This is a wonderful course! My only issue is that this covers Divi 4, and Divi 5 is out now. I would love to see an update for this course to Divi 5. Regardless, this course is full of very valuable information for new and aspiring webmasters! Leighton lays out the information in a very clear and easy to understand way.
By Roja Yeleti on 4/18/2026
tutorial is barely audible
By Daniel Servin on 10/7/2025
Very practical and tons of tips to start your own web design business, I would´ve like to have more focus on how to launch the site but overall is very good info
By Curtis Williams on 4/11/2025
I bought this course in 2022 and it's 2025 now it's hands down the best course I've taken. I can just jump into the modules and get what I need. I haven't finished the whole course yet and I'm doing exceptionally well there's so many things to do with this theme and I'm highly satisfied especially with the calm in the instructoes voice he is very patient and explains everything thoroughly
By Beena Meenakshi on 8/30/2023
Definitely leighton has shared his years of experience in website building, management ,hosting ,seo and anything and everthing related to the complexities of websites.This is a course suitable for anyone who wish to learn about website building .I am a small business owner and i wanted to build a website for my small business.Its hard for anybody to acquire such vast knowledge under one roof ( i mean one course). His teaching is simple , clear and anybody can understand.plz update this course . I also request leighton to come out with another course for "marketing tools and ways to market our products coz today marketing is very important.selling our products through website requires continues marketing in various platforms .I think leighton will consider my request. finally, dont hesitiate to enroll .I am not paid for telling this.You will never get dissapointed.I give him 100/100 for this valuble course.Thank you leighton.
By Emily on 3/12/2023
Leighton did a fantastic job, he was very thorough with the content of the course and responded to my question right away. He walks the walk and tells you exactly what to expect based on his experience in the web design industry. I learned a ton here and am more excited and feel this course exceeded my expectations, it is hard to find a course that truly summarizes everything you should know about starting a web design/web development business and he definitely delivered!
By Charles Bailey on 3/25/2022
This course covers a lot of ground on starting a WordPress Website design business. Some items are not covered in depth but on those items the instructor lets you know where to find more info. The homework assignments at the end of each lesson are very helpful (I suggest writing them down). They gave me a step by step plan on moving forward. A lot of material is covered.
By Jeremy Green on 8/18/2021
Very good information. I'd say this course is geared towards beginners and while i'm not one I found plenty of actionable advice to put to use in my new web development business. The checklists and downloadable business documents and templates are invaluable. A bit long winded but I can see how he had to be to make this course beginner friendly. Thanks so much!
By Amy-Claire Cuthbert on 3/30/2021
I have thoroughly enjoyed taking this course; I found it very informative not only about the basics of web design but also about the fundamentals of starting a business. I have learned a lot from it, which I can now apply to my business. Leighton is very enthusiastic and engaging and was quick to reply to a query I had whilst taking the course. In my opinion this course is an absolute must for anyone who is considering starting a Web Design business.
By David Devine on 3/24/2021
I've taken a lot of courses on Udemy, and I've never written a review. I felt compelled to write this review because Leighton's course is, by far, the best I've taken. He is very knowledgeable and goes out of his way to help. When you ask a question, sometimes it takes instructors on Udemy days to respond - Leighton responds in hours - sometimes in as little as 20 minutes! If you are trying to build a Web Design business, do yourself a favor - add this course to your cart. You will thank me.
Quality Score
No CourseDuck member has rated this course yet. Taken it? Give each part a thumbs up or down.
Overall Score : 90 / 100






