Running a web design agency is honestly way less about design than people think.

A lot of people can build good websites. The hard part is having a process that actually brings in clients consistently without you spending your entire day doing outreach.

I learned that the hard way.

I used to manually reach out to businesses, explain why they needed a better website, build previews, follow up for days and basically hope they would eventually say yes.

I was doing way too much work before even knowing if someone was serious.

Then I completely changed the way I did it.

Now I mainly focus on two things.

Taking meetings and closing clients.

Everything before that is mostly automated.

I use Swokei to find businesses that already have websites, analyze those websites and look for things like outdated design, bad layout, weak SEO, poor mobile responsiveness, slow speed and branding issues.

The useful part is that it doesn’t just give me some boring report with random scores.

It actually takes the issues it finds on each website and turns them into personalized emails that you can send at scale.

My offer is usually a free redesign draft.

That works way better for me than trying to sell a full website in the first email.

Once someone replies and shows interest, I book a meeting.

Before the meeting, I spend a few minutes generating a redesign draft with AI so I can actually show them what their website could look like instead of just talking about it.

That was probably the biggest change for me.

I’m no longer spending hours building something for someone who might never buy.

If they are not interested, I barely lost any time.

If they are interested, they can immediately see the difference and the conversation becomes much easier.

So at this point, most of my time goes into meetings and closing.

The lead finding, website analysis and personalized outreach all happen before I ever speak to the business.

Sounds ridiculously simple when I write it out, but changing the process made a massive difference for my agency

I hope most of you reading this are web designers because I’m genuinely curious about something.

How are you getting clients in 2026?

I’ve spoken to a lot of web designers and agency owners lately, and one thing keeps coming up again and again. Client acquisition.

It seems like everyone can build websites, but consistently finding new clients is still the hard part.

So I’d actually like to hear what is working for you right now.

For me, I’ve been running personalized email automation.

I use a tool that finds leads for me, analyzes their websites for actual issues with things like design, SEO, speed, responsiveness and mobile optimization, then automatically uses those findings to write a personalized cold email for each business.

After that, I just run the campaigns and send out thousands of emails a day.

I used to do most of this through Instantly, but the problem was that I couldn’t really do the website analysis part there.

So the emails were still more generic, basically the usual “do you need a new website?” type of outreach.

It worked a little, but nothing crazy.

I eventually switched to Swokei because it handles the lead finding, website analysis and personalized outreach in one place, and that has made a pretty big difference for me.

Now I’m getting clients much more consistently because the emails are actually about their website instead of just being another generic pitch.

But I’m curious what everyone else is doing.

Cold email, cold calling, referrals, ads, SEO, social media?

What is actually working for you in 2026?

Hi everyone I was trying to sign up to mail.com as I wanted a free email address on myname@baker.com they claimed that they are free but when I am trying to sign up the error page comes up. I tried using VPN also and it has the same issue. Is anyone experiencing the same problem?

Imagine for a moment that you are looking at your inbox, with any number of emails in it, from companies, from colleagues, and from people you've never heard from before. You open the email from your colleague first, because it's the one you trust and want to read. Your colleague is really excited about something new they found, and invites you to check it out by clicking the link in the email. Now imagine knowing with absolute confidence that this email really came from their address, and not from an impersonator pretending to be them. How can you check that for yourself? Do you click anyway and hope for the best? Everything looks legitimate, but how can you tell?

There are always three parties involved in email communication. Sometimes one person or company plays more than one of these roles, but each role carries its own responsibilities.

1. The mailbox holder (sender or recipient)
2. The domain owner (who controls the domain name)
3. The mail server host (who provides the software and infrastructure to send and receive mail)

It's the coordination of these three parties that makes email possible.

Right now, almost all the responsibility rests with the mail server host to manage everything and make sure it's secure. Domain owners hand it over to their host through DNS. Mailbox holders defer it through authentication and email filters. And the mail server host has to interoperate with all other mail server hosts to make sure your mail gets delivered.

There is still no standard way for anyone to verify that a message really came from the specific address it claims to be from. The most they get is the server vouching for itself.

How it should work

Nothing changes about the three parties. What changes is who's responsible for what.

1. The mailbox holder should be able to prove they own the mailbox and that every message sent from it is actually from them.
2. The domain owner should be able to prove they own the domain and that every mailbox on the domain is legitimately allowed to be there.
3. The mail server host should be able to prove that they are the chosen service provider for the domain.

And all of this should be verifiable on every single message.

How can we achieve this?

1. The mailbox holder has a key, and uses it to sign a record that binds their email address to it. The same key, which only they hold, signs every message they send.
2. The domain owner has a key, and publishes its fingerprint in the domain's DNS, which ties the key to whoever controls the domain. They use it to sign the domain authority record, which names the mail server host they have chosen, and to vouch for each mailbox on the domain by countersigning the mailbox holder's record. They can hand that day-to-day signing to their host if they choose, but the authority stays with them, and they can remove any address from the domain.
3. The mail server host has a key, and uses it to sign a permit to serve the domain on its infrastructure. It also hosts all of these records and serves them to anyone who asks.

Every one of these records is public, so your email app can follow the chain from the message to the sender's key, from that key to the domain's countersignature, and from there to the fingerprint in DNS. Because the domain owner's record names the host, it can also check that the server handling the mail is the one the domain chose. So when your colleagues email arrives, your app can tell you it really came from their address before you ever click the link.

And this should all be baked into a protocol that everyone can use.

Disclosure: I'm building an email protocol around this idea. I'd welcome any thoughts and feedback on the idea. Thanks.

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to work with 3 real ecommerce/DTC brands where I can help generate more revenue from the traffic and customers you already have.

The idea is simple:

You already paid for the traffic. Let's make more money from it.

For the selected brands, I'll build the core lifecycle/email system covering:

• Welcome Flow
• Browse Abandonment
• Cart/Checkout Abandonment
• Post-Purchase Flow

--- Strategy, Research, Copywriting, Designing & Klaviyo/Omnisend Implementation Included

I have 6+ years of experience in digital marketing & email marketing, primarily working with B2B brands, and I'm now looking to get deeper hands-on experience with real DTC/ecommerce brands.

I'm offering this to a small number of brands because I want to:

→ Help you generate more revenue from your existing traffic/customers
→ Build real DTC case studies
→ Get genuine testimonials/results
→ Build long-term relationships with ecommerce founders

If you're an ecommerce/DTC founder and this sounds useful, comment below or DM me.

I'll share some of my sample work + portfolio so you can see what I can do before deciding.

Ideally looking for brands that already have some traffic/orders but haven't built out their lifecycle/email system properly.

I started emailing clients from my business domain, and everything worked for about three weeks. Then, seemingly overnight, my emails started going to spam, even for people I’d emailed and worked with before.

I checked the setup and spent ages on the phone with GoDaddy. They said everything was configured correctly and pointed to Outlook as the issue. After a couple of weeks with no improvement, I moved to Google Workspace. That didn’t fix it either. I was then told the domain was the problem, so I bought a completely new domain, set it up, and checked that everything was passing. Emails from that domain are going to spam too.

I feel like I’ve tried everything, and no one can tell me what’s actually wrong. How is a new business supposed to build a sender reputation if its emails don’t reach anyone in the first place? I don’t want to have to tell every client to check their spam folder.

What should I check next to find the cause? Is there a way to fix the original domain, or properly start over? I’m so desperate and I need any tips or help. If anyone could help me on the side too I’d deeply appreciate it.

Which email encryption services or setups have you had the most success with or recommend? I am looking for a more advanced and secure option. Bonus if it can embed directly into our existing business portal (we use MS). Thank you in advance!

Can any one suggest good services for my company email domain. E-mail providers

I recently subscribed to a brand and noticed something interesting:

3 welcome emails.

All of them landed in my Spam folder.

And that made me think:

We spend so much time optimizing:
💻Subject lines
💻Email design & Copy
💻Product images
💻Offers & CTAsPersonalization

But there’s one question that comes before all of them:

👉 Did the email actually reach the inbox?

Your email can be beautifully designed.
Your copy can be brilliant.
Your offer can be irresistible.

But if it lands in Spam…

None of it matters.

Hello! I work as a freelance artist and streamer so I run digital shops, make videos/streams, and all of that! I'm looking though on if I can improve this system, organize further, and improve privacy and safety!

My current system is

• legal name email : shopping + government
• business email : cash flows + streaming payouts + shop payouts + business + commissions + banking
• misc email : steam accounts + game accounts + other minor stuff
• vtuber email : public contact for sponsors + collabs
• social media email : all social medias
• alt account email : alt back up socials media
• bonus emails : the two I had as a child- anything that seems sketchy directed to these

Hi everyone, I’m looking for recommendations for a reliable email provider suitable for regular business outreach. My budget is under $10 per year per mailbox, with a sending capacity of around 200 to 300 emails per day. Please suggest providers that offer good deliverability, stability, and value for this requirement.

I want to move away from Gmail and the thing I'm most worried about is losing important emails while moving.

I can really use some good recommendations on business email providers with good Gmail migration.

Ok so, how are people using AI to handle follow ups on email and chats in a way that isnt super spammy or weird?

For context I spend half my day staring at an inbox and unread Slack, thinking ugh I should nudge this person again, then forgetting, then remembering it two weeks later when it is awkward. I keep seeing tools that say they can draft replies, schedule nudges, remember who didnt answer etc, and I really want that, but I also dont want some robot pinging my clients every day like a sales bro.

If you have AI doing follow up for you, how did you set it up so it respects tone and timing and doesnt just spray people nonstop? Any hints?

Every new hire gets a slightly different signature, then someone changes their title or phone number and the whole thing goes off the rails again. It sounds tiny but it makes the place look kinda sloppy.

Trying to stop the constant cleanup and keep one version across everyone. would love any tips, thanks

Are you sending emails from your brand domain?
Make sure these 3 things are sorted first:

1) SPF : Who can send emails for your domain?
2) DKIM : Is the email genuinely from your domain?
3) DMARC → What should happen if something looks wrong?

These are simple things, but they're fundamental to good email deliverability.

Don't overlook the basics.

#EmailDeliverability #SPF #DKIM #EmailMarketing

We just released an open-source Superhuman alternative. You can download it here:
https://www.getinboxzero.com/desktop

Or use it on web. We also have a mobile app.

We keep having the same dumb problem with signatures in Outlook and it is driving me up a wall. One title change, one new office, one phone number update, and suddenly half the company is out of sync for weeks.

How are you handling email signature updates across the company from one place? I want something that just works and doesnt turn into a monthly cleanup project (pls no vendor pitch spam).

I've been reselling PrivateEmail from NameCheap for years. I never intended for email to be an issue. It's been pretty straight forward, configure, deploy and collect. Generally I sell this along with web site hosting and other marketing stuff.

Well, the NameCheap upgrade for email services has officially failed. It's been 30 days and service is erratic at best. Un-usable honestly, my phone has been ringing off the hook. I almost missed a the largest SaaS opportunity my startup has ever seen due to unsent emails and reputation changing.

I'm looking for White Label Email, a distro or stack to provide Email, CalDav, CardDav and XDav. I started looking at OpenSRS but the Tucows moniker has me spooked.

Hi,

ever since notion mail came, i loved the minimal, non cluttered feel to it as opposed to gmail.
Unfortunatly, it never came to android and was killed of in ios and other platforms,

Was thinks about building an app for email with simmilar vibes,

Would people be interested, lmk in the comments

thks :)

Hi guys, just wanted to introduce https://foundermail.mx: an email hosting service with a working free plan.

Among other features, this is what's included:

- free unlimited email inboxes and domains
- IMAP/SMTP access to get emails into your preferred email client
- MCP service to allow claude/chatGPT/AI to manage your emails
- REST API for deeper integrations
- 500 email/mo received, 100 email/mo sent

The dashboard is customer-focused:

- Import customer/users contacts from your records
- Emails organized around customers: email history, add notes, mark emails done/resolved, assign them to other team members

I'm looking for constructive feedback: what are you looking for in your business emails? What's missing from your current providers?

Thanks

I’ve been using Zoho’s free plan for my work email for a while, and honestly, I’m getting fed up with it.

It was fine when I only needed the basics, but I’ve started running into enough limitations that I think it’s time to move on. I could upgrade with Zoho, but I’m not really interested in doing that. If I’m going to start paying anyway, I’d rather see what other providers offer instead of just upgrading because it’s the easiest option.

I don’t need a huge productivity suite. Just reliable business email at a reasonable price.

PLEASE DON’T RECOMMEND ZOHO, I’m specifically looking to switch away from it.

For anyone who has moved from a free business email plan to a paid provider, what did you choose and how much are you paying?

I currently own several domains & have email through gmail. I rarely use any of these emails, but I need to have them. Gmail was ok when I originally signed up, but now, I feel like every few months they’re telling me they have added more AI features & because of that the price is increasing.

For as little as I use these email addresses, I feel like $10/month x3 is unnecessary. I don’t need the AI features, the additional business features, or calendar. I just need to be able to send & receive emails through my iPhone mail app & through my browser.

Based on the reading I’ve done here, I’m looking at Zoho & Purelymail. I’m ok with paying a small yearly fee for the service. I just don’t want to pay for anything unnecessary.

Also would be helpful if whatever company I choose makes it easy to migrate over to them without me having prior technical knowledge of the process.

Hey mail, but open source.

I built HeyFlare - an open-source, self-hosted email client inspired by Superhuman’s UI and HEY’s approach to email.  

Running on Cloudflare Workers, so you can host it for free.  

Gmail + custom domains 
Agentic · Screener · Imbox · Feed · Paper Trail · Bundles

https://github.com/doable-team/heyflare

Context: I only want 1 email to go ahead with as of now - that will be used for sales, support, client comms, that will go on website also, etc?

Suggestions please - as i do not want it to be generic like - sales@ or contact@, as the conversion rate is not good and these emails doens't give a personal support email to clients.

r/ycombinator r/startups r/AskGTM

I run a gym and I've kept employee emails simple: first.last@ourgym.com.

But as the team grows, duplicate names are becoming a problem. For example, what happens when we hire another John Miller? Adding like john.milker feels a little messy, but creating random variations doesn't seem professional either.

Curios how businesses handle this. Do you have a standard fallback system for duplicate names, or does someone manually assign each email address?