Does anyone here make a living knocking out WP theme sites to local businesses

You can.

Make sure you set reasonable expectations with your clients on what you can do (i.e lay out) and time frames. Given that most of them probably won't be digital-savvy. As below, include SEO and SEM as add on optionals. Feel free to rip people off by charging for simple auto updates but don't whinge when it can come back to bite you. Treating one client badly can make you lose 10 future clients if they wise up to you ripping them off.

Also think about how much access to the website you will give them once it is complete and if you will charge for future changes. Be aware that witholding access to do basic things like update text or photos or update a website form will probably sour your future relationship. You never know when one job can lead into 10 jobs.

I work for a head company that has around 15ish sub-companies. My job is simply to keep digital marketing going for all companies. Each company can do as they please, so around half aren't tech-savvy and I imagine if I was a freelancer and not directly employed by their boss, they would be a lot ruder to me rather than politely accepting me telling them no, that is not possible.

I had them problem of certain companies being shitted on by certain website dev companies/freelancers (when I first started it was a mess!), so of course, I got all their websites redone by a freelancer who would just give me full access after completion.

I had soooo many dodgy digital marketing companies to rid of when I started and gave so much business to those who were doing the right thing.

/r/digital_marketing Thread