My new $$$ excursion.

So, I've been in this game for far too long, I'm good at SEO (my main business site is skyrocketing in the rankings for very legitimate terms, although it's not really enough to bring any cash), good at design, adept at writing, and know a decent amount of programming. All these things combined, and I still can't make consistent money. Why? Because I don't try to. I'm a marketer who doesn't market himself. I spend huge amounts of time "preparing" for things, which is utterly foolish.

I happen to live in an area that's pretty impoverished, but there are areas right by it that are among the richest in the U.S. So, my plan is to find businesses with crappy websites, redesign them for them, and sell them for $75-200.

To me it seems fairly foolproof, as I'm only redoing sites that are utter garbage, have wonky functionality, etc. I'm also doing it next to dirt cheap, as the money is fine by me if I'm cranking out enough of these sites, plus I'll take the hit to have more of these business owners respect me, as the upsell potential later is obviously enormous.

Anyone else tried this? I'll be sharing my method of finding businesses with crappy websites later, as I think my methodology is pretty good/fast/intuitive.

I was in the same boat as you (always prepping for projects and never following through), and taking the path you laid out is definitely moving in the right direction. I went from 0 to 5 high-paying clients in a short time for web design and SEO work, and the money I'm making from them is enough to work from home where I can focus on my true passion--writing and selling software that will help others make more money.

Point is, pick a plan (which you have) and stick with it. It will pay off, but not if you jump ship before you hit it big.

phr0zt said:

I was in the same boat as you (always prepping for projects and never following through), and taking the path you laid out is definitely moving in the right direction. I went from 0 to 5 high-paying clients in a short time for web design and SEO work, and the money I'm making from them is enough to work from home where I can focus on my true passion--writing and selling software that will help others make more money.

Point is, pick a plan (which you have) and stick with it. It will pay off, but not if you jump ship before you hit it big.

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Thanks man. That's exactly it. I mean I know I have the skills to sell my design/time for more than this, but the point is I'm not currently making it, so I can't focus on what should be, but rather what I could realistically make happen tomorrow.

I've been living off shit like Craigslist prospecting for the last few months, IE I have an RSS feeder with every city/area in the U.S's gig feed coming through it, so I just watch for jobs. Really though, it's garbage, every email you send is a sweepstakes because literally 100+ people respond. It's nice because the people are already aware of what they want, but of course that's a huge downfall too, because if you can make a person who wasn't already aware of the benefits of online marketing (IE someone you cold call, or cold email, or somehow generate through some prospecting method), or a CMS based website, they respect you for being the person who "broke through" to them about it, and thus will only logically give you their business - and likely for a much better price than someone who is getting 100 lowballs on Craigslist.

I'll also be cold calling for sites as a way of split testing. The businesses without websites can be straight cold called for them, so I'm going to test my conversion/time investment rates on both methodologies.

lol the first thread that doesnt use the word journey CHEERS ,


Good Luck! I wish I had alll thosee grate skills. I think ima try to learn programming and stuff so i can really start.

I'm back from a meeting with a client regarding his new website (his old one was made in like '99) and if I can tell you something, MAKE SURE you are truly satisfied charging this price for the amount of work you'll have to do. I charged $500 for this particular client, and he's really a pain in the ass right now and I wish I charged him at least $1k. What he's asking me is not that much, but it's enough to irritate me and make me re-think my pricing plans for new clients. Meanwhile I got someone paying me $2k to re-design their site and they're always happy, pay on time, etc.

Also, make sure you tell them your hourly rate if they want modifications on their website.

Good luck!

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm integrating their content into my new site, and then once I think it's done satisfactorily to display to them, I stop. If they want the site, I'll finish/polish it off, but for any further edits beyond what I think needs to be done to make it a modern version of their last site, hourly rate.

How good are you at designing websites? might have some work for you. Send me some examples

Wings[SENSE];4497998 said:

I'm back from a meeting with a client regarding his new website (his old one was made in like '99) and if I can tell you something, MAKE SURE you are truly satisfied charging this price for the amount of work you'll have to do. I charged $500 for this particular client, and he's really a pain in the ass right now and I wish I charged him at least $1k. What he's asking me is not that much, but it's enough to irritate me and make me re-think my pricing plans for new clients. Meanwhile I got someone paying me $2k to re-design their site and they're always happy, pay on time, etc.

Click to expand...

You nailed it on the head Wings. While it's great to help local businesses out, you have to be prepared for that hand-holding. Most don't have as much money allocated for their marketing budget, so every "penny counts" which is why they want to talk with you everyday lol. The more you charged and they have vested interest, the more they'll let you do your thing without riding you every part.

Lykathe - one thing to note though, small budget clients are a nice foot in the door, but remember the mentality they may have. People associate free and cheap with less quality, so even if you priced yourself at $1,000 you'd make sales (less sales) still since some people look for quality. Others can wonder what's wrong with this if it's $100 while others calling me up are offering it for $3,000.

Also, I've noticed with clients that have OLD, aged websites ... be careful and EXTREMELY delicate how you word it. Most of these types of business owners really like their website for some reason and don't realize how terrible it is 2012 and how much $$ it's costing them in lost revenue. Just broach it carefully, or you could piss them off / offend them if they had a family member make it, or they did it years ago. Just give nice, free simple tips to whet their whistle .

Good luck with the sales!