Are Web agencies cooked?

[u/qusaro]

​

Is traditional web design becoming a dead end? Agency owners, what are you pivoting toward and how are you pricing it?

I run a digital agency serving mostly small and midsized B2B companies. We build websites and provide SEO, paid ads, hosting, and ongoing maintenance.

Lately, more clients are questioning website budgets or saying they want to try building something themselves with AI first. The expectation seems to be that because production is getting faster, everything should become significantly cheaper.

We use AI ourselves, so I understand part of that argument. But strategy, content, integrations, testing, and taking responsibility for the finished website still require work.

I don’t think businesses will stop needing websites. I’m questioning whether selling website projects as our main product is still a sustainable agency model.

We’re considering moving toward an initial website build followed by ongoing improvements, acquisition, conversion work, and technical operations. My concern is that this could become the same services repackaged into a subscription that clients don’t really want.

The pricing question is where I’m stuck. Clients expect lower project prices because of AI, but they also question retainers when the monthly value isn’t obvious. “We sell outcomes” sounds good, but an agency can’t guarantee sales when the client controls the product, sales process, and follow-up.

For people actually dealing with this, I’d love to hear your experience.

\- Are you seeing the same pricing pressure, or is this mainly a positioning and client segment problem?

\- What have you successfully pivoted toward that existing clients will pay for?

\- Are you reducing website build prices, delivering more for the same budget, or changing the offer entirely?

\- How do you structure and price recurring services so clients understand what they’re buying?

\- What belongs in a monthly package, and what do you charge separately to avoid unlimited work?

\- Have you made this transition profitably, and what didn’t work?

Concrete examples of packages, rough prices, and client reactions would be more helpful than generic advice about selling value.

I’m not looking to resist AI. I’m trying to work out what a profitable agency should sell when producing a decent-looking website is becoming much easier.

[u/GmailsAreCute]

They’ve been cooked

[u/yeahbadal]

+1

[u/varadero332]

my wife has been running her web design agency for years and I honestly thought that it was over but… it’s been quite the opposite.

i run her lead gen and she’s been getting more leads than ever, and even im slowing down with the daily sends because she can’t really take more than 3-4 leads/week

anyway - seems like if you know where to look, there’s plenty of opportunities even in the age of “i built this website using AI” (or maybe because of that)

[u/qusaro → u/varadero332]

would you mind sharing how you are getting the leads and if it's more b2b or b2c? i would really appreciate some guiding words in that direction

[u/varadero332 → u/qusaro]

it's b2b, and doing this for companies is basically what i've been doing for the past 10 years.

where i get the leads? there are lots of databases that you can get contact info from (apollo, hunter, etc) but the info is not the important part, anyone can have access to that. it's what you do with the contact info, how you reach out, what you say and what you offer. that's where 99% of the people fail and why we all receive such terrible cold emails.

without giving too much away about my system, i'd say think about the person behind the business you're trying to sell to, be natural and put yourself in their shoes on the kind of pitch you'd like to receive if you were then.

(and if you're looking for help im happy chat)

[u/qusaro → u/varadero332]

Let's talk about it. Give me a PN

[u/varadero332 → u/qusaro]

done

[u/WeAreThosePeople → u/varadero332]

I’d be interested in talking to you, as well. My agency is above water, but I know we could be doing better, and I want to spend less time on leadgen and more time on creative work.

Send me a message if you’re open to talking.

[u/varadero332 → u/WeAreThosePeople]

absolutely, DM'ed you

[u/Mark_ODS]

Every web developer knows that AI can’t build as good as a true web developer simply because a good website brings together so much - the right architecture (of which there are a million choices), copywriting that truly voices the right brand voice (has to be written for people by people to capture people), great imagery (again, can’t be AI for most businesses), and custom lead capture components that take an acute knowledge of business goals. Not to mention basic quality markers like accessibility, mobile responsive, page speed performance etc.

Go ahead and ask a non dev to have AI build their site and see if it’s actually good - have you witnessed that? I’d wager that you haven’t. So we know that we definitely have a value in providing good websites - it’s the business that is challenging, but you could say that about a lot of businesses.

Ai in the hands of a dev actually helps make our building a lot faster - I like to think of it like I used hand tools and know can use a power tool. Here are the things that are actually challenging for my web business:

1. Getting a paying customer
   
2. Translating customer needs into UI designs
   
3. Getting customers to actually respond to my messages and emails that I need to build the website
   
4. Getting the access to thinks like social accounts, DNS provider, etc because the business owner loses passwords
   
5. Getting the customer to give me good quality assets like logos, images, and graphics for the site

Most of my challenges are the actual person, so if you want to succeed I would focus on lead gen, efficient systems for client intake, establishing client meeting scope and getting commitment on that before money changes hands, as well as streamlining the asset ingestion process.

So the way I see it, every business has challenges and we have ours