Start selling sites with no clients yet
Pick a trade, find who needs a site, show them theirs and agree a monthly price.
What this work really is
The idea is plain. Plenty of plumbers, salons and cafes have no website, or one that falls apart on a phone. You find them, show them something better, and charge a monthly fee to keep it running. People call this website as a service.
This page won't tell you what you'll make. Nobody honest can, and Shingle has no customer results to show you yet. It's sales work. Many businesses you contact won't answer, some will say no, and the ones who say yes will want things changed.
What Shingle changes is how much it takes to find out if this suits you. You don't need to learn to code or design first. You do need to be willing to talk to business owners.
Your first pitches
Four steps. The first two cost nothing.
Pick one trade
Choose one you can talk to, in a town you know. The pitch gets easier when each one sounds the same.
Find who needs a site
Search it in Radar, which costs nothing. Each business comes with the reasons it's worth a call.
Build each one a demo
Build demo makes a one-page site from the business's own record. It uses 10 credits.
Send it and ask
Send the link from your own phone or email. You get an alert when they open it, and they can answer there.
Written for you to send
With each demo, Shingle writes a pitch from that business's own record. You get the angle to take, the reasons behind it, a call script, the three objections you're most likely to hear and a voicemail to leave. You can have it rewritten shorter or friendlier.
It also suggests a price to ask, with each figure's source linked, so you aren't guessing in front of an owner. The price you ask is yours to change. Once five pitches have gone out, it shows you which angles have worked.
Setting a monthly price
A monthly price is easier for a small business to say yes to than a large bill up front, and it gives you a reason to keep the site right. Say in one sentence what it covers, such as hosting, changes within reason and someone who answers when they call.
Shingle doesn't bill your clients, so you'll need your own way to take the money, like invoices from a service you choose. You'll want a short written agreement too, and you may need to register a business where you live. Check the rules where you are, because this page can't do that for you.
What it costs to try
This is what you pay Shingle. What you charge clients is separate.
The 7-day trial, $1
- 100 credits, or 10 demos
- 1 live site, your own domain and every feature
- Then the plan, unless you cancel before it ends
The plan, $49 a month
- 1 live site, for your first yes
- 200 credits a month, or 20 demos
- Twice that in your first month, or 40 demos
- $39 a month when you pay yearly
When you have more clients
- $7 a month for each more live site
- 5 live sites are $77 a month, and 10 are $112
- Top-ups from $20 for 200 credits
The rules are yours to keep
You send every pitch, so the law on calls, texts and emails is yours to follow.
Your phone, your email
Shingle never contacts a business for you. It reminds you of the main rules where it knows them.
A no means no
A business can opt out from its demo page. After that, no Shingle team can pitch it again.
Read what you send
Sites are built not to invent facts. You still check each one, because what's published is on you.
Common questions
Can't find your answer? Read Shingle Help or email [email protected].
Pick one trade and one town, search them in Radar, and build a demo for the businesses with no website. Send each one its link from your own phone or email. You don't need to code. You do need to be willing to call strangers, since selling is most of this work.
It's selling a website for a monthly fee, with hosting and changes included, instead of charging a large amount once. The owner pays less up front and you stay responsible for keeping the site right. You set the fee and bill for it yourself, since Shingle doesn't bill your clients.
This page won't guess. Shingle has no customer results to show you yet, and the answer depends on your town, your trade, your price and how many people you contact. Work out your own numbers with the pricing calculator, and count your plan and your time as costs.
You can start around another job. Builds run while you do something else, and you get an alert when a business opens its demo. Owners mostly answer in the working day, though, so someone who can only call in the evening will lean on texts and emails, within the law on each.
$1. The plan starts with a 7-day trial for $1: 100 credits, which is 10 demos you can build and send, and 1 live site. Then it's $49 a month or $39 paid yearly, with 200 credits a month, and each more live site is $7 a month. Cancel from Plan and billing before the trial ends and nothing more is charged.
It finds businesses, and the rest is up to you. Radar reads open map data, checks each website and ranks what it finds, with the reasons. Shingle doesn't contact anyone and can't promise a sale. You decide who hears from you, and you send every message yourself.
Read next
- Sell websites to local businessesFind the lead, show the demo, ask for the sale.
- Website as a serviceWhat it is, the math, who it suits, what goes wrong.
- How much to charge for a websiteYour floor, the client's ceiling and common ranges.
- Web design pricing calculatorThe least to charge, from your hours and costs.
- Website proposal generatorA one-page proposal, ready to send.
- Find businessesA map of who has no website, or a weak one.
Build your first site
Start from a Google listing or a few notes. Demos usually take 5–15 minutes.
7 days for $1, then $49 a month. Cancel any time.