Building websites for people

tcawley29

Hi,
I am a second year student studying software development in IT Sligo. I want to start developing ASP.NET websites for people to make some money on the side and also because I enjoy coding with ASP.NET. It was also my strongest subject from my first year exams (80%). Does anyone know how I could go about getting word out that I am willing to develop websites for people. I suppose making my own website would be a help (which I plan to do soon) but is there anything else I could do. I have a car so I can travel on fridays, saturdays and sundays.
Cheers guys

maxmarmalade

When we were starting out we delved into big open source projects like wordpress and elgg and started releasing free plugins. Then, the work came to us. Takes at least 6 months though between learning the frameworks and building useful plugins. Building a nice responsive website for yourself is a must too.

tcawley29

maxmarmalade wrote: »

When we were starting out we delved into big open source projects like wordpress and elgg and started releasing free plugins. Then, the work came to us. Takes at least 6 months though between learning the frameworks and building useful plugins. Building a nice responsive website for yourself is a must too.

Thanks, I may try and scout out local businesses and ask their managers if they want a new website done (at a cost) and us my website to advertise free websites for a while until I build up a reputation for myself.
I have already purchased a domain and hosting. Now I just have to build the site.
Thanks a million.

KonFusion

Just some advice on your website/domain.

I'd advise you not to do at under the guise of a web dev company (ie YellowSky Web Design or the like) and rather do it as your own personal site (JohnsWebDesign.ie or whatever).

IMO it comes off a more professional/genuine, and less like you're a cowboy. Unless you've indeed set up the company and registered for tax etc.

tcawley29

KonFusion wrote: »

Just some advice on your website/domain.

I'd advise you not to do at under the guise of a web dev company (ie YellowSky Web Design or the like) and rather do it as your own personal site (JohnsWebDesign.ie or whatever).

IMO it comes off a more professional/genuine, and less like you're a cowboy. Unless you've indeed set up the company and registered for tax etc.

Good advice.
i had already set it up as www.cawleywebdesign.com :pac:

Is this like sales where you have a certain threshold of income before you have to start paying vat or is it different for services. I have a feeling I may need to go to citizens information to find out about that

Moonstar

tcawley29 wrote: »

Is this like sales where you have a certain threshold of income before you have to start paying vat or is it different for services. I have a feeling I may need to go to citizens information to find out about that

It's similar but the compulsory VAT registration threshold is lower, about 37k of revenue or something like that for services. You can of course register before that if you think it would be beneficial and/or look more professional to clients, but I don't believe you're obliged to.

tcawley29

Moonstar wrote: »

It's similar but the compulsory VAT registration threshold is lower, about 37k of revenue or something like that for services. You can of course register before that if you think it would be beneficial and/or look more professional to clients, but I don't believe you're obliged to.

Cool. I'm still currently in college so I'll only be doing this in my spare time. If I made 37k a year I'd be delighted Nah not gonna bother with VAT. Can't wait to get my site up and running and get my first client
Thanks so much for your help.