Hey everyone,
Intro
I decided I'm gonna be more active on the forums and so I'm posting this thread on a method I'm currently using locally. And I AM using this method , it's not some idea I thought of and that I'm posting on here( which completely beats me why people post money making "ideas" but wtv
) I highly suggest you read EVERYTHING instead of bits and pieces.
PS : I DO NOT have much knowledge on SEO so I don't provide SEO services. As for learning flash, I learn it in 1 week. I watched some youtube videos and bam I was fine. I changed the logo , edited some paragraphs , added some links , took some pictures and uploaded them and bam it's done. TRUST me go for flash it makes a HUGE difference.
Summary:
This is a twist on providing SEO or Website design services locally, instead we will be offering hosting. You start off small although the income is very residual , in most cases for years with just 1 client. Eventually you'll have accumulated a good amount of clients and will make an extremely nice pay at the end of the month. We will be giving out QUALITY websites as an incentive for people to sign up to your hosting plan. We will mainly be targeting businesses.
The Method:
1. Hosting
Sign up for hostgator's reseller hosting plan it's actually really good and doesn't have any catches. We will be using this to host our clients websites. You can upgrade your plan easily with them if your hosting too many websites at once.
2. The Website
OK now most people throw up nice wordpress websites as an incentive for clients to use their hosting or SEO services , we on the other hand will have beautiful & sophisticated flash websites.
Head on over to http://www.templatemonster.com/ and look at the templates( don't worry you won't spend a heap of money , maybe even nothing). If you don't know how to use flash, then CMS and Joomla templates are also very nice. Decide what type of business you'd like to advertise your service to( eg: jewelry store , garages , sushi restaurants etc..). Find a template you like and go to www.warez-bb.org to check if someone uploaded it already. If not then maybe look for different templates of your category( they dozens just for 1 category) and check if those are available on warez bb. If that fails to go ahead and buy it.
3.Marketing
So now we have a great looking website , but no clients. The marketing plan I'm about to explain is something I've developed over the past year , maybe you might have a better idea although for the newcomers I suggest you stick with what I'm about to say. ALWAYS PRESENT YOURSELF IN PERSON. It works SO much better than cold calling.
A very good way to find businesses with no websites that actually have money to spend on advertising is in the yellowpages( or white) and local newspaper ads. If they don't have a website address on their ad, chances are they don't have a website.
When approaching yourself to the business don't wear a suit and tie , you'll pass off as a scammer trying to look professional just like the people selling cutco knives( google it. Instead just wear nice jeans and a nice shirt. If you can , find out the full name of the owner and ask for him when you walk in.
Finding out the names of the people that own the store is actually a really big conversion booster because secretaries always tell me to leave my number and tell me the owner will call me after , which doesn't happen often. Instead when I meet face to face with the owner/manager and I show them a few flash templates they seem to be much more interested.
4. The Money!
How much to charge? Ok this is were we make our money. Instead of 10$ per month which is the typical price for businesses to host their website , I charge 25$. Some business are aware of the going rates of creating a website and they know that a flash website can easily be in the hundreds so they think it's a bargain , add to the fact that rarely any of these people know the going rate for hosting.
The Math
Currently I have 48 clients for hosting. I would've had 53 but 5 canceled since last year. Businesses don't cancel much , their website subscription lasts as long as the business is up ( usually ).
48 x 25 = 1300$ is my income every month.( abit more actually but I'll get to that later)
Now for your math...
I'm pushing 4 websites a week , but in the beginning I was getting half the amount every week. Let's suppose you get 2 clients every week since you probably go to school and/or have a job.
2x4 weeks in a month = 8 x 25$/client = 200$ residual you will get EVERY month from now on.
After 5 months( let's say your still getting 2 clients a week and not 4)
5 x 200 = 1000$ every month extra. That's 12 000$ a year.
Now keep in mind , I'm saying 2 per week because that's how many I was getting in the beginning since I didn't have much time. Maybe you have much more time than me and will also learn faster than me, so of course you'll make more money.
IMPORTANT TIPS:
- Have business cards to hand out
- If you having trouble getting the name of the owner either through googling , word of mouth or the yellowpages do the following.
Simply call them up and say that your ordered a certain product and tell the cashier or secretary that the owner said to call him at this time. Eg: Before approaching a flower shop I wanted the name of the owner. I called them up and a girl cashier answered the phone, although I wasn't sure if she was the cashier so I asked
" Hi is this the owner of Rosario Maria(name of the store)?" " No it isn't" " Oh ok because I ordered a bouquet for my girlfriend's 1 year anniversary together and the owner told me to talk to her specifically but I forgot her name.( I guessed it was a her because of the name of the shop) " Ok one moment I'll pass you the phone" Hello? (this is the owner)" " Hi is this Lina Dugard?" " No its Maria Fortugno" " Oh sorry wrong flower shop excuse me" Hung up the phone. BAM you got a name.Went and pitch 2 weeks later but unfortunately she didn't need a website
- If the client is satisfied , tell him that if he has any friends that need a website done you'll give him half the money of whatever he decides to charge them. Either way your making websites for free , extra income on top of your hosting plan is great!
- Actually spend time on the website. If the website is good the word of mouth spreads easily. Throwing up a quick 30 minute wordpress website and just making it look "decent" isn't going to get the word around. I average 3-4 hours of work per website , sometimes more.
- You can download flash cs5 or cs4 off of warez bb also
- If your young , have the excuse that your creating a portfolio of websites so that they can be graded at the end of the school semester. To make it realistic , at the end of everything ask him if he can be put down as a reference
- If your low on money and needed to purchase a template for eg a jewelry store, market yourself to other jewelry stores but use the same template!
Honestly I have very profitable website going and I rarely push the hosting plans anymore. But like I said the last months I was getting 4 clients a week, part time.
EDIT:
Alright so I got a few PMs from people who were confused as to why I don't charge for the website design or have any setup fees. I can understand that 25$ per month isn't a lot in the begining , but let's do some math estimating that the business will hold the website up for only 3 years: ( you guys will see in future threads that I am all about calculations )
1 client = 25$ / month x 12 = 300$/year x 3 years = 900$.
Would you really want to lose out on a 900$ deal for a measly 100$ setup fee or design?( maybe more since the business might keep you for more than 3 years). If you take the time to do a GOOD website, they won't go looking for a better design , they won't pay 1 000$ for a custom design that looks maybe a little better and they won't accept other offers from people offering cheaper hosting in exchange for an ugly website. This is a BUSINESS. The better the quality of work , the more people are happy. You have to explain to them that their website reflects upon their business, a crappy website shows prospective clients that the business doesn't have money to invest in a decent website probably due to the fact that they don't do so well.
Also...
Concerning clients that want to sell things on their website. Once I did a website for a ceramic tile business that wanted to sell their tiles online locally. Personally I don't even feel like up-keeping their website even for a little extra money, I just don't have the time. I simply told the owner that the website should be used to emphasize his ads on the yellowpages and to simply attract customers to the store with a beautiful design, people would be more likely to buy the tiles in his store than on the website. He found it made sence and stopped bothering me with his ideas.
Intro
I decided I'm gonna be more active on the forums and so I'm posting this thread on a method I'm currently using locally. And I AM using this method , it's not some idea I thought of and that I'm posting on here( which completely beats me why people post money making "ideas" but wtv
) I highly suggest you read EVERYTHING instead of bits and pieces.PS : I DO NOT have much knowledge on SEO so I don't provide SEO services. As for learning flash, I learn it in 1 week. I watched some youtube videos and bam I was fine. I changed the logo , edited some paragraphs , added some links , took some pictures and uploaded them and bam it's done. TRUST me go for flash it makes a HUGE difference.
Summary:
This is a twist on providing SEO or Website design services locally, instead we will be offering hosting. You start off small although the income is very residual , in most cases for years with just 1 client. Eventually you'll have accumulated a good amount of clients and will make an extremely nice pay at the end of the month. We will be giving out QUALITY websites as an incentive for people to sign up to your hosting plan. We will mainly be targeting businesses.
The Method:
1. Hosting
Sign up for hostgator's reseller hosting plan it's actually really good and doesn't have any catches. We will be using this to host our clients websites. You can upgrade your plan easily with them if your hosting too many websites at once.
2. The Website
OK now most people throw up nice wordpress websites as an incentive for clients to use their hosting or SEO services , we on the other hand will have beautiful & sophisticated flash websites.
Head on over to http://www.templatemonster.com/ and look at the templates( don't worry you won't spend a heap of money , maybe even nothing). If you don't know how to use flash, then CMS and Joomla templates are also very nice. Decide what type of business you'd like to advertise your service to( eg: jewelry store , garages , sushi restaurants etc..). Find a template you like and go to www.warez-bb.org to check if someone uploaded it already. If not then maybe look for different templates of your category( they dozens just for 1 category) and check if those are available on warez bb. If that fails to go ahead and buy it.
3.Marketing
So now we have a great looking website , but no clients. The marketing plan I'm about to explain is something I've developed over the past year , maybe you might have a better idea although for the newcomers I suggest you stick with what I'm about to say. ALWAYS PRESENT YOURSELF IN PERSON. It works SO much better than cold calling.
A very good way to find businesses with no websites that actually have money to spend on advertising is in the yellowpages( or white) and local newspaper ads. If they don't have a website address on their ad, chances are they don't have a website.
When approaching yourself to the business don't wear a suit and tie , you'll pass off as a scammer trying to look professional just like the people selling cutco knives( google it
. Instead just wear nice jeans and a nice shirt. If you can , find out the full name of the owner and ask for him when you walk in.Finding out the names of the people that own the store is actually a really big conversion booster because secretaries always tell me to leave my number and tell me the owner will call me after , which doesn't happen often. Instead when I meet face to face with the owner/manager and I show them a few flash templates they seem to be much more interested.
4. The Money!
How much to charge? Ok this is were we make our money. Instead of 10$ per month which is the typical price for businesses to host their website , I charge 25$. Some business are aware of the going rates of creating a website and they know that a flash website can easily be in the hundreds so they think it's a bargain , add to the fact that rarely any of these people know the going rate for hosting.
The Math
Currently I have 48 clients for hosting. I would've had 53 but 5 canceled since last year. Businesses don't cancel much , their website subscription lasts as long as the business is up ( usually ).
48 x 25 = 1300$ is my income every month.( abit more actually but I'll get to that later)
Now for your math...
I'm pushing 4 websites a week , but in the beginning I was getting half the amount every week. Let's suppose you get 2 clients every week since you probably go to school and/or have a job.
2x4 weeks in a month = 8 x 25$/client = 200$ residual you will get EVERY month from now on.
After 5 months( let's say your still getting 2 clients a week and not 4)
5 x 200 = 1000$ every month extra. That's 12 000$ a year.
Now keep in mind , I'm saying 2 per week because that's how many I was getting in the beginning since I didn't have much time. Maybe you have much more time than me and will also learn faster than me, so of course you'll make more money.
IMPORTANT TIPS:
- Have business cards to hand out
- If you having trouble getting the name of the owner either through googling , word of mouth or the yellowpages do the following.
Simply call them up and say that your ordered a certain product and tell the cashier or secretary that the owner said to call him at this time. Eg: Before approaching a flower shop I wanted the name of the owner. I called them up and a girl cashier answered the phone, although I wasn't sure if she was the cashier so I asked
" Hi is this the owner of Rosario Maria(name of the store)?" " No it isn't" " Oh ok because I ordered a bouquet for my girlfriend's 1 year anniversary together and the owner told me to talk to her specifically but I forgot her name.( I guessed it was a her because of the name of the shop) " Ok one moment I'll pass you the phone" Hello? (this is the owner)" " Hi is this Lina Dugard?" " No its Maria Fortugno" " Oh sorry wrong flower shop excuse me" Hung up the phone. BAM you got a name.Went and pitch 2 weeks later but unfortunately she didn't need a website
- If the client is satisfied , tell him that if he has any friends that need a website done you'll give him half the money of whatever he decides to charge them. Either way your making websites for free , extra income on top of your hosting plan is great!
- Actually spend time on the website. If the website is good the word of mouth spreads easily. Throwing up a quick 30 minute wordpress website and just making it look "decent" isn't going to get the word around. I average 3-4 hours of work per website , sometimes more.
- You can download flash cs5 or cs4 off of warez bb also
- If your young , have the excuse that your creating a portfolio of websites so that they can be graded at the end of the school semester. To make it realistic , at the end of everything ask him if he can be put down as a reference
- If your low on money and needed to purchase a template for eg a jewelry store, market yourself to other jewelry stores but use the same template!
Honestly I have very profitable website going and I rarely push the hosting plans anymore. But like I said the last months I was getting 4 clients a week, part time.
EDIT:
Alright so I got a few PMs from people who were confused as to why I don't charge for the website design or have any setup fees. I can understand that 25$ per month isn't a lot in the begining , but let's do some math estimating that the business will hold the website up for only 3 years: ( you guys will see in future threads that I am all about calculations
)1 client = 25$ / month x 12 = 300$/year x 3 years = 900$.
Would you really want to lose out on a 900$ deal for a measly 100$ setup fee or design?( maybe more since the business might keep you for more than 3 years). If you take the time to do a GOOD website, they won't go looking for a better design , they won't pay 1 000$ for a custom design that looks maybe a little better and they won't accept other offers from people offering cheaper hosting in exchange for an ugly website. This is a BUSINESS. The better the quality of work , the more people are happy. You have to explain to them that their website reflects upon their business, a crappy website shows prospective clients that the business doesn't have money to invest in a decent website probably due to the fact that they don't do so well.
Also...
Concerning clients that want to sell things on their website. Once I did a website for a ceramic tile business that wanted to sell their tiles online locally. Personally I don't even feel like up-keeping their website even for a little extra money, I just don't have the time. I simply told the owner that the website should be used to emphasize his ads on the yellowpages and to simply attract customers to the store with a beautiful design, people would be more likely to buy the tiles in his store than on the website. He found it made sence and stopped bothering me with his ideas.
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