Selling your services in your local town?

pxoxrxn · May 31, 2012

Hello to all black hatters, I have had an idea recently that I want to follow up on. So my girlfriend showed me the website of the accounting firm she works for, to put it nicely, it was shit house. The layout was boring the graphics were dodgy and she said can you make a better one. I said "no doubt". So i knocked up a simple wordpress website is it was 200 times better than the one before.

So here is my question, does anyone do this for local businesses for money? There are a tone of cafes on my street and I checked to see if any have websites, most do not. What would one charge for putting together a simple website and what is the most professional way to approach them? I don't want to seem like a kid with a laptop and a heap of dodgy wordpress themes (even though I am)...

If anyone else has done this please let me know about your secrets. Also if they want graphics on the website, who supplies them? I can crop an put them on the website but I'm no photographer.

gritts · May 31, 2012

As far as the graphics go, if you're not good at graphic design you can maybe outsource it to someone on here, another site, or even locally (probably will have to hire a high school/college student though as they're likely to be more affordable).

Chupin · May 31, 2012

To me a website falls under the category of "perceived value", meaning a website is worth what the owner *thinks* it's worth. You are going to find some people who view it to be worth next to nothing, while others view it to be worth quite a bit.

I'd follow some of the various methods posted here in the offline forum and just alter it to reflect a strict website creation gig instead of an SEO/RM gig. Do your research, create a packet showing them how outdate their website is (or the value of having a website) and follow the packet up with a phone call and a personal meet up.

If it were me doing it, I'd price the website low and package it with a Google Places management or a RM management deal that brings in a monthly fee. If it were just creating a website, I'd ask for somewhere in the ballpark of $500 simply because that is the price where it would be worth me taking the time to create the website, along with a few hours explaining hosting, domain registration, etc to the client.

Your price might be higher, might be lower. It also matters what business the client is in. Neighborhood coffee shops aren't dealing with an insane amount of profit per customer. Percentage of profit, sure, but 100 people through the door buying a $5.00 coffee doesn't leave much in your pocket at the end of the day.

codo3500 · May 31, 2012

Chupin said:
To me a website falls under the category of "perceived value", meaning a website is worth what the owner *thinks* it's worth. You are going to find some people who view it to be worth next to nothing, while others view it to be worth quite a bit.

I'd follow some of the various methods posted here in the offline forum and just alter it to reflect a strict website creation gig instead of an SEO/RM gig. Do your research, create a packet showing them how outdate their website is (or the value of having a website) and follow the packet up with a phone call and a personal meet up.

If it were me doing it, I'd price the website low and package it with a Google Places management or a RM management deal that brings in a monthly fee. If it were just creating a website, I'd ask for somewhere in the ballpark of $500 simply because that is the price where it would be worth me taking the time to create the website, along with a few hours explaining hosting, domain registration, etc to the client.

Your price might be higher, might be lower. It also matters what business the client is in. Neighborhood coffee shops aren't dealing with an insane amount of profit per customer. Percentage of profit, sure, but 100 people through the door buying a $5.00 coffee doesn't leave much in your pocket at the end of the day.

You've got some great insight there; I own a webdesign and SEO company, and we also factor in opportunity cost. What this means is, lets say only 1 in 3 quotes you do for potential clients actually converts - how much time did you just spend on that guy who didn't end up using you? You need to factor that in and account for it in the ones that do convert.

This can be subsidized by using a referral method, where you get better converting leads and have someone refer them to you (I pay 15%). You then have a good indication of what you're in for as far as cost, and can easily drop an extra 20% on the quote.

I do some pretty high-end stuff though, like real-estate websites with third-party integrations, so you're looking at a 5k minimum, but generally 12-15k sites. A small wordpress site though, because I know how much of a headache a client can be, I wouldn't touch it for under 2k. You're only worth what you price yourself at.

pxoxrxn · May 31, 2012

Cheers for the replies! Codo your post got me a little excited (In a sexual way) because I was thinking $500 for a website is too much and I don't understand why people charge that an why people pay. However, dealing with people that generally don't know about the industry will be difficult and this pushes prices up.

I think I am going to setup a local directory as well and offer the clients a spot on the directory with a no-follow link and when I create their website, put a do-follow link to my directory at the bottom of their site

sneeky sneeky

Catt Mutts · May 31, 2012

The biggest issue might be the one that you can't provide any invoice (i assume, since you're "kid with a laptop").

pxoxrxn · May 31, 2012

I can write an invoice on a peice of paper, I mean I can get a book with blank invoices in it. However, my girlfriend is an accountant and can provide me with the best method of getting an ABN (Australian business number) and a business name. I don't think that is too expensive anyway for a sole-trader.

darkfury · May 31, 2012

You can outsource the lot, be it design or seo - and still double up ... easily! The only issue with local services is the support can be a pain, try not to give "too much" at the start or you'll lower the value of your services and its a hard rut to get out of. Sell quality not budget, if you can.

Four Seasons · May 31, 2012

This thread might help you:

http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackhat-seo/making-money/18851-make-2k-month.html

insanebeeftw · Jun 1, 2012

codo3500 said:
You've got some great insight there; I own a webdesign and SEO company, and we also factor in opportunity cost. What this means is, lets say only 1 in 3 quotes you do for potential clients actually converts - how much time did you just spend on that guy who didn't end up using you? You need to factor that in and account for it in the ones that do convert.

This can be subsidized by using a referral method, where you get better converting leads and have someone refer them to you (I pay 15%). You then have a good indication of what you're in for as far as cost, and can easily drop an extra 20% on the quote.

I do some pretty high-end stuff though, like real-estate websites with third-party integrations, so you're looking at a 5k minimum, but generally 12-15k sites. A small wordpress site though, because I know how much of a headache a client can be, I wouldn't touch it for under 2k. You're only worth what you price yourself at.

This is great advice for approaching website creation services with the right business mindset. The explanation of how opportunity cost applies here is free on the forum, and the exact same thing is taught in B-school classes that charge sky-high college tuition prices. Keys to success include more quotes that increase the chances of conversion rates for sales to different local business owners. Before anyone tries this kind of offline venture, I would say that a minimum couple of years of experience are mandatory at creating WP sites from the ground up. A good track record with basic on-page SEO is also highly recommended.

Selling your services in your local town?

pxoxrxn

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gritts

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Chupin

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codo3500

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pxoxrxn

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Catt Mutts

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pxoxrxn

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darkfury

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Four Seasons

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insanebeeftw

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