Re-Design Business Sites Case Study

[Jon0]

 

[seanjohn]

Cool idea. Do you just use one template for all the plumbers?

 

[Jon0]

Cool idea. Do you just use one template for all the plumbers?

There's some decent Free Themes if you search on Google, Which i'll probably use and just mix them up a little. So they're not all the same. Same with Electricians, Builders and so on! I'll post up a sample of the old and new site in a little while.

 

[iiaok]

One thing you might want to try...if the company has an email address, try to add them on Facebook.

Once added on FB, share them the image of the new site you "designed especially for them" and offer it to them there. Speed up the process just a tad. Also, throw in a free FB fanpage or something like that if you need to increase conversions.

 

[Jon0]

Cheers. Can you reccommend a few essential Plugins for something like this?

 

[singingsleep]

I've been doing the same about a week, adding them on facebook. I've redone at least 20 sites and no ones even writing back-- going to cold call today...

 

[Jon0]

I've been doing the same about a week, adding them on facebook. I've redone at least 20 sites and no ones even writing back-- going to cold call today...

To be fair, do half of these Companies even bother with Facebook? Try direct Mail. You may get a better responce.

 

[theag]

 

[boom1]

this should be interesting, have a ton of shabby sites in my area so be good data to see what converts

 

[Jon0]

I'm thinking about this as well. do you just design a front homepage to show them or do you transfer all the contents from their old site so they can look at a full working demo?

Obviously you'd copy their business details and put it on the new site. Just print screenshots of each page on their site. Make it look as good as possible with relevant plugins. Show them an Old site/New Site comparison with a list of all it's new features & mail it them, via Post. If you get 2 out of 10 clients, You've done a very good job.

 

[Jon0]

Need a hand with what Plugins you'd use for this venture. First go at Wordpress so a few heads up would go a long way Cheers!

 

[krzysiekz]

If you ask me, you are selling yourself far short by designing sites upfront and then saying "hey look I redesigned your website" - hoping that they will even notice.

If you must follow that path, set up one website as a subdomain/URL of your own website, where you have a general plumbing site set up. Give them that link rather than making a unique one for each client.

 

[Jon0]

If you ask me, you are selling yourself far short by designing sites upfront and then saying "hey look I redesigned your website" - hoping that they will even notice.

If you must follow that path, set up one website as a subdomain/URL of your own website, where you have a general plumbing site set up. Give them that link rather than making a unique one for each client.

You mean, Design a new site around Plumbing & then ask if they'd be interested in a similar design or that design.

 

[theag]

You mean, Design a new site around Plumbing & then ask if they'd be interested in a similar design or that design.

I got the same impressiom of you selling yourself short. thats why I asked if you just design a front page or the complete thing. because you could just set up a general template for each niche and edit the business name etc like krzysiekz suggested and show them a screenshot of that compared with their old site and a comment like "your new site could look like this" and then when you signed the client you overdeliver and create him an even nicer design which will make him happy and ready for upsells like SEO.

 

[Jon0]

I got the same impressiom of you selling yourself short. thats why I asked if you just design a front page or the complete thing. because you could just set up a general template for each niche and edit the business name etc like krzysiekz suggested and show them a screenshot of that compared with their old site and a comment like "your new site could look like this" and then when you signed the client you overdeliver and create him an even nicer design which will make him happy and ready for upsells like SEO.

Would this increase conversions though? Is there really too much a difference re designing their site and sending them a screenshot in the post to showing them a screenshot of a template and saying 'Your new site could look like this'?

 

[skillz]

I don't think they're talking about increasing conversions. They're saying you're selling yourself short by wasting time designing a unique site for each prospect that you may not even close. So use one design as an example as opposed to making a new one for each prospect.

 

[mark27]

This would probably work better if you selected a niche with more tech savy people, and I don' think plumbers really care about aesthetics. See - Plumber's Crack.

 

[Jon0]

This would probably work better if you selected a niche with more tech savy people, and I don' think plumbers really care about aesthetics. See - Plumber's Crack.

Worth a go. You'll never know unless you give it a pop. Obviously, i'll be exploring dozens more niches!

I don't think they're talking about increasing conversions. They're saying you're selling yourself short by wasting time designing a unique site for each prospect that you may not even close. So use one design as an example as opposed to making a new one for each prospect.

Thanks for explaining. This'd be the best Option.

 

[theag]

I don't think they're talking about increasing conversions. They're saying you're selling yourself short by wasting time designing a unique site for each prospect that you may not even close. So use one design as an example as opposed to making a new one for each prospect.

Exactly!

 

[Jon0]

Anyone able to point me to a half decent Plumbing theme? Free if possible. The two i've come across are pretty common, and pretty dire/Not attractive.

Tried attaching a screenshot. Upload problems.