r/agency

AI can build a working website pretty quickly but getting it to look like something a business would actually pay for took me longer.

My first attempts all looked related. Same cards, same spacing, same modern layout regardless of the business. Asking for something less generic wasn’t getting me very far and everything looked like AI slop.

What helped was using actual references. I started using UXKIN and other similar sites that have web and mobile UI examples, design systems, and DESIGN md files, plus an MCP connection for tools like Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex. You can bring those references into the coding workflow instead of trying to describe a design from memory.

I use them to give the agent a direction for typography, layout, and individual sections, then adapt everything to the business.

Still plenty of work with copy, photos, mobile checks, and revisions. But I spend much less time fixing the default AI look now.

Closed 8 deals in the last two weeks. For anyone doing similar work, what takes longer: finding clients or getting their sites ready to ship?

Hey r/agency. I’m wondering for larger local SEO agencies, how do you handle a local link building budget when there is a direct cost for the link?

Take local sponsorships as an example, one of the more commonly “recommended” local link building strategies.

Let’s say the client has not historically sponsored a local nonprofit/event etc.

You do outreach to local organizations to see what their sponsorship options are - there is of course operational cost to that, baked into your retainer.

You coordinate/negotiate with any positive replies to understand the pricing, link placement (ie logo on sponsor page, etc), and then you get a price.

Are you then taking that to the client and saying “we recommend you sponsor this org for (x dollar amount) so you can get a link?” - I’ve tried this and historically its gone nowhere with the client.

The other alternative is baking in the sponsorship costs into your retainers, so you pre-allocate a certain amount of spend for links. But then what happens if a link opportunity exceeds the spend? Or alternatively, if you don’t have the opportunity to spend that earmarked dollar amount that month, do you roll it into the next month and possibly go for a more expensive link?

Also, how are you assessing/calculating the ROI on that link? There’s a chance IMO that even with “real links” that they don’t ultimately move the needle in a way that results in business outcomes.

Everyone always throws around local sponsorships as a great link local link building method, but to date, I have never actually seen a breakdown of how larger agencies handle this type of thing at scale.

I'd be very curious what folks like Darren Shaw and Joy Hawkins have to say (if either of you read this and can share your insights, that would be amazing!)

For agencies generating meaningful pipeline through inbound (content marketing), what’s working best right now?

Is LinkedIn your primary channel?

What‘s the hardest part of the process?

What would you say is NOT worth your time?

thanks

TLDR: ads work better with good positioning and a great offer

I’ve run ads for hundreds of accounts, literally - and I used to be the young & hungry media buying freelancer who thought I could get leads for anyone.

And while this is true - that doesn’t mean it’s worth it.

I’ve since rediscovered the easiest way to make ads work.

Pick better clients.

Easier said than done I know because it requires saying “no” to money but I can’t ignore the evidence anymore.

I’m going to just say it - ads are so easy. Being a media buyer might be one of the easiest jobs out there. Clicking a few buttons in google or meta and letting some of the largest companies ever with their advanced ai find you customers is awesome.

Here’s the problem though. I know you’ve experienced it: You do everything right. Keywords are tight, no wasted money on search terms, ad copy is benefit driven, there’s scarcity, urgency, relevance, you put in utm codes, you added the phone number and the GMB. If you’re on meta you removed audience network, turned off all the AI etc etc

And yet your client still complains about the results, you rip your hair out trying to figure it out. You offer to do more for them, you’ll take the sales calls, you’ll redesign their landing page, you’ll write them an email sequence and none of it works.

They eventually cancel because they can’t pay the retainer.

So what happened?

Honestly - probably nothing to do with you. Ads were fine.

In these situations it’s almost always vague offer & positioning on their part or lack of skill in some other department like sales.

If you get someone 30 qualified leads and they can only close 2 of them - that’s not on you. But you will still get fired.

So we have to change how we do this.

Now I start with the offer & the positioning. What makes this client different from their competition? And why would I want their offer?

If you get these right the ads will work wonders.

All ads do is get attention.

And yes this sounds cliche but still almost nobody does it. And even fewer media buyers and agencies do it. Oftentimes I think they’re so excited to get a client they just say yes to whatever

But if you want to grow from 5 clients all doing different stuff to 25 clients who get great results - you can’t promise you will fix their business with ads - because you will fail. 

So how do you actually do this?

Well the offer is easy: more, better, faster. Focus on one of those your client can deliver on.

I think Hormozi broke it down best: increase the dream outcome, increase the perceived likelihood of achievement, decrease effort, sacrifice & time delay.

Basically bigger outcomes, more proof, and make it faster & easier on the customers.

You get leads for contractors? Get them to deliver in half the time. Pretty easy offer. And they can charge more for it; they don't have to cut their price. That's not part of this.

Positioning is the hard one. How do you sound different?

Everyone has their take. My favourite way is, look at all the competition, what are they saying? What aren’t they saying? Your client is an expert so they should be able to see the space in between and fill it with a unique way of accomplishing the same result. 

I had a client who used all onshore talent while their competition used overseas talent.

I had another one who only helped consultants and freelancers when everyone else went for shops with employees.

I’ve had clients who do appointments over zoom within 24 hours instead of you having to drive to their office.

If you nail the offer and positioning you’ll look like a media buying genius.

Hey guys, wanted to know your opinion about this

Over the last couple of weeks & months we noticed a shift in our outreach.

Every Email where we position ourself as an agency, we didnt got any replies. We never used the word AGENCY in outreach, I rather mean the whole copy, talking about "we did this for brand X","we can increase X about X%", basically a sales Email.

As soon as we shifted to "We are an 2 person senior X team helping you with X, taking responsibility for X" more replies than ever flew in.

Until now, no deal was closed because the campaign is very fresh but its still interesting to me.

Do you see something similar in your space?

How do agencies that deliver design and development continue in a world where a $100k development project can now be done for $20k?

Clients can now generate multiple design directions themselves without getting a human involved at all. What does this all do to revenue and margins?

Do agencies have a future at all?

There are two fundamental truths I fall back on which say design agencies will exist and dev shops will be valuable.

They just need to focus on where their value will lie.

The first area is speed combined with quality. If you've tried to get something of high quality out the door fast with the support of AI, you'll realise it's actually really hard.

Caveat: If you have designed a one-shot prompt that can deliver work your clients pay for, then that's great, I'm not knocking you.

But we aren't talking about the same quality bar or sophistication of client.

There are many different playing fields in the agency space, and if you can win on yours with a one-shot prompt, then fair play.

The playing field I'm talking about is where the refinement we need requires a combination of different prompts, human judgment, manual edits and feedback loops.

It’s the type of design you have to steer and the type of development where you are still reviewing the code.

Making processes more efficient while keeping the quality of the outcome high is valuable because you have the knowledge of the existing process and an instinct for what good looks like.

Clients will say, "Can't we do this faster with AI?"

You say, "I can, you can't, and that's why you're my client"

Speed could be commoditised with the introduction of a tool that holds that process but I doubt it. Fundamentally design quality isn’t decided by the tools. You process is your value.

Expect downward pressure on the amount you can charge, but you don't need to accept reduced margins because you're still doing something the client can't.

Your margins can even go up if you can provide that process which delivers not just quickly but to the quality they need.

The second truth is that no matter how efficient and fast you are in achieving a super high-quality outcome, it still needs to be the right outcome.

We need to point that outcome in the right direction by leveraging our experience and knowledge of what works.

Clients want agencies with calluses on their hands with first hand war stories. AI cannot give them that.

Remember AI is just “intelligence”, and that’s only part of the picture - there is no artificial taste, courage, experience or accountability.

Being more strategic is not a new idea. The strategic advisor and partner have been in the agency growth playbook forever.

The way to play the game has shifted, but there's still a game to be played.

An agency with its broad experience, mix of people, and technology is well-positioned to deliver. It's just moving from a growth strategy to table stakes.

There's still plenty of room for us. More than that, there's room to grow into.

You just need to take this thing you've created, add some AI and create the next version of it focussed on the value that only you can deliver.

Good luck!

I have received a message from my client this morning that he is going on holiday tonight and won't be back for 9 days and he has told me to pause the ads until he gets back.

This is a client that is happy with what I have done so far with him and this is my first time running into this situation. What should I do as I know pausing the ads will reset the learning phase? But also if I keep them running what happens with the leads that come in if he’s away?

I run ads for roofing businesses and the budget so far has been £30 a day for Meta ads and we're coming to the end of the trial period for this client. He has said he is happy and wants to sign with me on a retainer deal for a higher fee.