Custom Kajabi Website Design & Build

A generic web designer who has not built on Kajabi before will usually do one of two things. They will either rebuild the site somewhere they know (Webflow, Squarespace, custom WordPress) and tell you to migrate, which throws away your courses, your offers, your tags, your automations, and your community. Or they will write custom code for Kajabi using the same patterns they use everywhere else: global selectors, generic class names, JavaScript that assumes the site is theirs. That code looks fine on day one and starts breaking Kajabi's checkout, navigation, or community within a few months as Kajabi rolls out platform updates.

I have built on Kajabi specifically for years. I know which custom code injection points exist (page-level, theme-level, blog-post-level), how the theme behaves under updates, where the page builder is the right tool versus where custom code is needed, and how to write CSS and JavaScript that does not collide with anything Kajabi does natively. The result is custom work that holds up over time on the platform you actually have, not custom work that fights the platform until it loses.

The discovery call goes much faster, and the project quote is much more accurate, when you come in with concrete material rather than abstract goals. The single most useful thing you can bring is examples of websites and sections you like, with reasons. Three to five reference URLs, with a short note on what specifically you like about each one (the hero treatment on this site, the way this site does testimonials, this site's curriculum layout), is more useful than a long brief written from scratch. If you have any previously commissioned design work (Figma files, Photoshop mockups, even a brand guidelines PDF), bring it. If you have a Kajabi site already, share the URL.

The second thing that helps a lot is thinking about the page-element structure before the call. For each page in scope, what sections does it have, in what order, and what does each section do? A clear answer looks something like: "the home page should be a hero with a CTA, then a curriculum element, then a comparison element against my competitors, then a founder bio section, then testimonials, then another CTA, then an FAQ." That level of specificity tells me exactly what to scope, even if you change your mind on the visual direction later. If you do not have that mapped out yet, that is fine; the discovery call is partly to work through it. But if you do, the project quote tightens up significantly.

Other useful material if you have it: the brand colors and fonts you already use (or want to use), any logos and brand assets, the rough copy for each page (or notes on what each page needs to say), and a list of any custom code that has already been added to the site by previous freelancers (so I know what to audit before quoting).

Yes, for the edits that should be done in-house, and the documentation file is specifically written to make the safe-edit boundary clear. You can edit text, swap images, change links, add or duplicate items in a grid (more partner cards, more testimonials, more pricing tiers), reorder sections, and use the Kajabi page builder freely on any pages where it is configured. None of that requires touching the custom code.

The edits that should not be done in-house without help are the CSS selectors, the JavaScript blocks, the wrapper IDs, and anything inside the style or script tags. Touching those without understanding the wrapper-scoped pattern is how custom Kajabi sites quietly break. The documentation file marks exactly which lines are safe to edit and which are not. For changes that fall in the "should not edit alone" category, you have a few options: the 30-day post-delivery support window covers small changes at no additional cost, paid retainer or scoped sessions are available afterwards, or any developer who reads the documentation can pick up the work without needing me specifically.

That is the most common situation, and design is included by default in this service for exactly that reason. You don't need a designer on retainer or finished Figma files to hire me. What you do need is a sense of direction: examples of sites and sections you like, the brand colors and fonts you already use, and a rough idea of what each page should do. From those inputs, I work up wireframe sketches that align direction quickly, iterate on them with you, and then build from the agreed wireframes.

What I do not deliver is pixel-perfect Figma files for your team to use as their own design reference. I am a developer who designs as part of the build, not a Figma specialist. The sketches I produce are clear enough to align direction and quick enough to iterate on, but they are working sketches, not deliverable-grade design files. If your team specifically needs polished Figma files for other purposes, you would want to bring a dedicated designer for that piece, and I can quote code-only.

Every custom component is wrapper-scoped from the start. Each component has a unique wrapper ID. Every CSS selector is prefixed with that wrapper ID, which means the styles only apply inside the component and cannot accidentally restyle Kajabi's checkout buttons, navigation links, or community elements. Every JavaScript block runs inside an immediately-invoked function expression (so nothing is left in the global scope), queries elements only within its own wrapper, and exits cleanly if the wrapper is not on the page. There are no global resets, no body or html selectors, no shared function names, and no inline event handlers that could collide with Kajabi's own scripts.

The components are also tested specifically against Kajabi's areas where third-party code most often causes problems: the checkout flow, the login page, the community, assessments, the navigation under different theme states, and Kajabi's built-in forms. The pattern is restrictive enough that even adding new custom components to the same site later (whether by me or someone else) does not introduce conflicts, as long as the same wrapper-scoped pattern is followed.

I work with whatever theme you already have. The wrapper-scoped pattern means the custom components do not depend on a specific theme; they work alongside whichever Kajabi theme is active. If you ever switch themes later, the custom components keep working as long as the page-level custom code blocks are preserved during the switch.

I do not replace your Kajabi theme with a custom one. Kajabi's theme system is not designed for full third-party theme replacement, and the trade-offs of fighting it are not worth the upside for most clients. The custom code injection approach is more flexible, more maintainable, and keeps you on the supported path with Kajabi's platform updates. The result is a site that looks fully custom but stays inside Kajabi's supported architecture.

This service is custom development. I design and build the elements specifically for your brand, your pages, and your audience. You own the source code (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) at the end of the project. You can modify it, you can use it on any number of pages on your domain, you can hand it to another developer if I am not available later, and there is no licensing fee or domain lock involved.

Licensing a pre-built component is a different path. It is not a service; it is a software purchase, similar to buying a Kajabi theme or a UI kit. You get a ready-made element (a comparison table, a partner grid, a testimonials slider, an integrations section) installed on your site via a domain-locked JavaScript bundle. You can edit the HTML inside Kajabi (text, images, items in a grid), but the underlying CSS and JavaScript stay licensed and protected, similar to how a Webflow component or a Tailwind UI module works. The cost is meaningfully lower than a custom build because you are buying access to something I have already built and reused, not paying for new design and development time. The trade-off is that you do not own the source code and changes to the design or behavior require coming back to me.

If you want one specific component fast and at a lower price point, the licensed path can be a good fit. If you want code your team owns and the design tailored to your brand, this service is the right path. If you are not sure which fits, mention it on the discovery call and I will explain how it works against your specific situation.

Every project includes a 30-day post-delivery support window at no additional cost. During that window, small adjustments, questions, and anything that surfaces once the site is live with real traffic are covered. The window is specifically for the kinds of issues that only show up after launch: a section that reads better with one tweak, a small responsive issue that only surfaces on a particular mobile browser, a question about how to add a new testimonial card.

For changes after the 30-day window, or for substantive new work (new pages, new components, full redesigns of an existing section), there are two options. Scoped one-off engagements are quoted per request, which works for clients who want to add or change things occasionally. A retainer arrangement (a fixed monthly allocation of hours) works better for clients who anticipate regular changes and want predictable response times. Either way, the documentation file means any developer can pick up the work; you are never locked into me as the only person who can edit the site.