How to find web design clients among new businesses

Most web designers find clients the same three ways: referrals, an agency they subcontract for, or a slow trickle from their own site. All three are fine. None of them help when it's a quiet month and you'd like two new projects by the end of it.

New companies are the most predictable source of web work there is. They've just started, they almost all need a site, and most of them haven't got round to it yet. The job is finding them before they settle for a template builder or a nephew who's "good with computers".

How many new companies have no website?

Most of them, early on. When we checked a sample of 106 clean new Leeds companies from the week of 21 to 27 September 2026, we found a likely website for only 28. About half of those turned out to be someone else's site with a similar name. So in practice, fewer than one in five had a site of their own in their first weeks.

That gap doesn't stay open long. Within a few months, most trading businesses have something online, even if it's a Facebook page and a Google Business Profile. The window is the first month or two.

Three kinds of lead, and which to call first

1. Domain bought, site "coming soon"

These are the best leads you'll get. They've paid for the name, which means they're thinking about it, and they haven't decided how to build it. A parked page with "coming soon" or the registrar's default holding page is a strong sign they're open to a quote.

2. No site at all, in a sector that lives on local search

Restaurants, cafés, salons, trades, clinics and shops depend on people finding them on Google Maps and local search. They need a site, a Google Business Profile and a way to collect reviews. Many haven't even registered a domain yet.

3. Already live, or building it themselves

Skip these, at least for now. A company with a working site has already made its choice. Software firms and digital agencies build their own. You'll waste your morning on them.

How to check who has a site

For each new company, try the obvious domains: the name without "Ltd" and spaces, then .co.uk, .com and .uk. If one loads, check whether it's actually this business. Does it mention the town, the postcode or the founder's name? Plenty of matches will be an unrelated firm in another country that happens to share the name.

It's tedious by hand, but it's quick once you've done a few. This is also exactly the sort of job that's easy to automate, which is what our web lens does every morning: it checks each new company's likely domains, separates parked domains from live sites, and has AI models confirm the site really belongs to that business.

What to pitch

Generic web design pitches ("responsive, SEO-friendly websites") don't land with new founders. Specific ones do. Lead with the thing their sector actually needs:

• Restaurants and cafés: a menu that's easy to update, table bookings, and a Google Business Profile with opening hours before launch.
• Salons and clinics: online booking, because nobody wants to phone.
• Trades: a simple site with a quote request form, photos of past work and a way to show reviews.
• Shops: click and collect, or at least opening hours and a map.

Put a price on a starter package. New businesses are cautious with money and like knowing what they're getting. "Launch site, local SEO setup and Google Business Profile for a fixed price" is easier to say yes to than "let's have a call".

Reaching them

• Post to the registered office, addressed to the director by name, is personal and still unusual. Every company's directors are on the public register.
• Email to a generic company address is fine for limited companies under PECR if you identify yourself and offer an opt-out. A new company with no website often won't have one yet, which is a nice irony to mention.
• A quick mock-up of their homepage, using their name and sector, is one of the most effective things you can send. It takes twenty minutes and shows rather than tells.

If you'd rather not dig through the Companies House register yourself every week, our web design feed sends you the new companies in your area each morning that have no site or a parked domain, with the directors named and a pitch angle for each one.