got my first potential web design client

T

theseodude

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hi guys
I sent out a bunch of emails today. I did not mass email, I went to different local business websites, and wrote an email to the owner, making it real personal by addressing them by name, and saying something about their website.
Anyway, I found this dentist who had a very very outdated site, it looks like it was made in 1995!
So i told him my honest opinion, i said "your website looks so outdated, I would be kind of embarrassed to show this site to my clients. I will help you look more modern" and within 15 minutes, the dentist responds "can you meet me in my office next Wednesday"
Now one thing that I learned on this forum that I applied: you have to compare them to their competitors! it really works, you have to say "look at www.competitor.com, they have this, you dont. they have that, you dont."

anyway, so apart from dressing up professionally, do you have any suggestions for me? I am meeting next Wednesday.
what about pricing? one mistake that i made is i said in my first email "I will make a similar site to your competitor's site for $500." but i am thinking $500 is too low? so maybe I could offer him google places and yelp listing for another $200?
 
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first webdesign client and you think $500 is too low?
There are bunch of people doing that for half of that price just for their portfolio.
and it's just a dentist website, there can't be too many pages or complications, so I'd say $500 is a good price.
of course you can upsell them seo services or social media management etc.
 
its easy, talk to the guy, the less he knows the - the higher you can set the price
while talking & explaining the importance of a good site, seo etc... : if he does care about more clients you can set price higher

if he doesn't care then don't set high price

that way u wont lose clients
 
If you want to get out of the $500 price you mentioned, use something like Wordpress and try to up sell newsletters, forms, customer support forum, galleries, etc. Make it sound like he's getting more than his monies worth of cutting edge technoligification and he'll be begging to write the check regardless of how much it is.
 
I'm sure he can afford a higher price, but yes, add some incentives to sweeten the deal. Instead of going in empty-handed, you can bring in something to show him. Maybe some other services you can offer and what they can do for his business.
 
Great job on taking action. just curious, how many emails did you send to land the dentist?
 
bwman said:
Great job on taking action. just curious, how many emails did you send to land the dentist?
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about 100
1% success rate, not bad. but that's assuming the deal with the dentist will be closed.
 
mrsix said:
If you want to get out of the $500 price you mentioned, use something like Wordpress and try to up sell newsletters, forms, customer support forum, galleries, etc. Make it sound like he's getting more than his monies worth of cutting edge technoligification and he'll be begging to write the check regardless of how much it is.
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I know this sounds stupid, but i dont know wordpress at all. I have tried to use it a couple of times, but I find it very counterintuititive. usually, I just download a css template and edit the html. but it seems that wordpress takes a lot less time. the thing is, I dont get how to use it? as soon as i get to the dashboard, i get lost.
 
theseodude said:
I know this sounds stupid, but i dont know wordpress at all. I have tried to use it a couple of times, but I find it very counterintuititive. usually, I just download a css template and edit the html. but it seems that wordpress takes a lot less time. the thing is, I dont get how to use it? as soon as i get to the dashboard, i get lost.
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Your charging 500 for editing the html from an css template? lol what!
Buddy! you need to learn how to use wordpress, or joomla, or any of the popular CMS, its a must in Internet Marketing. You won't get far by just editing the html in CSS templates, get some real skills and learn how to use wordpress(plugins, templates etc)
 
YouFeelMeDawg? said:
Your charging 500 for editing the html from an css template? lol what!
Buddy! you need to learn how to use wordpress, or joomla, or any of the popular CMS, its a must in Internet Marketing. You won't get far by just editing the html in CSS templates, get some real skills and learn how to use wordpress(plugins, templates etc)
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yes sir, youtubing that as we speak.
 
Yeah, wordpress is quite user friendly in my opinion. just find a CMS that you are comfortable with, try different ones. Also, $500 is a pretty decent price if its your first one, I would roll with that, but as someone said, upsell.. offer a starter marketing campaign where you create a facebook page and twitter account + some link building for $200 (instead of $400.. right? :D)

good luck, nail it
 
Since it 's your first client, I think it 's important for you not to get stuck with the "what 's the biggest amount of $$ I can earn" mentality. Decide on a reasonable amount that will make you happy and go for it. Also, make sure to provide added value as it 's already been mentioned.

What 's important in your case is to get our first job successfully completed, because then you 'll have two things:

  • Portfolio which you can use to sell your services to other clients

  • Experience

Plus, you can always upsell to this client in the future ;)
 
jazzc said:
Since it 's your first client, I think it 's important for you not to get stuck with the "what 's the biggest amount of $$ I can earn" mentality. Decide on a reasonable amount that will make you happy and go for it. Also, make sure to provide added value as it 's already been mentioned.

What 's important in your case is to get our first job successfully completed, because then you 'll have two things:

  • Portfolio which you can use to sell your services to other clients

  • Experience

Plus, you can always upsell to this client in the future ;)
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What does providing added value mean? do you mean like offering to do things for free? If that's what you mean, I dont want to do that because when you offer something for free, clients will think you are their bitch and they try to take advantage of you. I think I should go with the attitude "everything I do needs to be paid for, I won't lift a finger until I am paid." but maybe this is wrong.
 
theseodude said:
What does providing added value mean? do you mean like offering to do things for free?
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It means to provide things your client was not originally looking for for free. For example, he wants a new site - he does not know he wants his blog posts to be automatically posted to his facebook & twitter accounts. You offer that for free.

If that's what you mean, I dont want to do that because when you offer something for free, clients will think you are their bitch and they try to take advantage of you.
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No one can take advantage of you unless you allow it. We are not talking about slaving for nothing here. If your "client" wants an ecommerce store for free along with his new site and you say yes, that 's your problem.

I think I should go with the attitude "everything I do needs to be paid for, I won't lift a finger until I am paid." but maybe this is wrong.
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I 've never done that, I 've always over-delivered and that always turned out great for me. The surest way to know of course is to try for yourself.

In my view, a happy customer has a much better life-time value. That doesn't mean that you should work with just anyone - you 'll learn to fire customers too.
 
Learn how to use Wordpress, or outsource it to someone who knows it better. $500 for a Pre-made Template is a big no-no, soon you're clients will know about this and everything will turn grey.
As far as the upsell, be careful. Client might get overwhelmed with the information that you are giving / offering to them. Over-deliver always. Good luck mate!
 
ice41 said:
Learn how to use Wordpress, or outsource it to someone who knows it better. $500 for a Pre-made Template is a big no-no, soon you're clients will know about this and everything will turn grey.
As far as the upsell, be careful. Client might get overwhelmed with the information that you are giving / offering to them. Over-deliver always. Good luck mate!
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so how do you make sure client doesn't find out you are using premade templates? when you first meet, dont you have to show client some templates so he gets an idea of what the site will look like?
 
Tell him you would like to fit into his budget. Find out how much he's willing to spend and give him an example of how much most clients pay "Some clients pay as much as $1500 for web design. I am trying to build my portfolio right now and would love to make you my shining example." Establish value and get a proposal ready with a contract for him to sign at the bottom. %50 of the total project fee due on signing to get things rolling (so you don't end up working for ever on it for free) Also always have an invoice on hand just in case he wants to get going right away. I always say "I can get started on this tonight if you would like to get the deposit taken care of." %75 of the time I walk out with it right there. Good luck man!
 
500 for a already made template is fair enough but yes I would say like others here - you can cash more with a plugins, banners, seo work, fb - twitter page, adwords and so.. :)
Good luck mate :)
 
I don't get why anyone would offer a service they are fully aware is sub par, $500 for a premade template with some CSS changes and you are thinking of charging more?

I would happily design and code a website from scratch for that amount if it was my first customer!
 
theseodude said:
so how do you make sure client doesn't find out you are using premade templates? when you first meet, dont you have to show client some templates so he gets an idea of what the site will look like?
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This job is another accident waiting to happen. In the other thread you were ready to leave IM because a customer was mad and threatened to report you. You had better watch it before the cops end up at your door. If they get enough complaints that you didn't refund for sub par work, you are going to be labeled a fraud. You have no idea what you are doing, and should not be taking people's money until you know the work you offering inside and out.
 
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