Starting Offline Web Design/SEO/ORM Business. Tips/advice?

So as the title states I plant to start a business offering web design/GFX, SEO and ORM to local businesses. I could not call myself an expert in the aforementioned fields but I do have a good understanding of them. Me and my partner do have quite good sales skills, but this is still pretty new to us . My plan is to outsource everything and pretty much handle all the customer acquisition and support.

To start I'm going to get a professional website built for my clients to reference, not really for online promotion. As far as the services, I think I have found a good website designer/coder who can make me modern, professional sites for around $100. I have found a good content writer for any articles that a customer may need written for their site or for SEO purposes. I'm still a little confused as to how I should handle the SEO/ORM/Places outsourcing. I'm considering contacting a supplier of SEO services on here for a cheaper package (~$100/month) on a monthly basis for my clients, or purchasing certain fiverr gigs for each of them, but I'm still not sure about what type of SEO Packages or fiverr gigs they would need to rank well. Many of the gigs on fiverr are obviously very cheap and claim to be google friendly for local businesses, while the BHW services are much more expensive and most provide good results. Could anyone recommend me a brief package that a local business's site could use? Meaning whether I should buy social bookmarks, web 2.0 backlinks or blog comments etc etc or even a link to a specific service on BHW or fiverr. I've just read so many different things that I can't seem find an even semi-definitive answer. As far as ORM, I plan to get a mobile friendly website created in order to funnel negative reviews and promote positive reviews and ensure that all review site pages are optimized to the fullest extent for any client that chooses to purchase ORM services. This site would be promoted at the physical location mainly. As far as Places, would it be good to order a gig like this: fiverr DOT com/ricky007/optimize-your-google-places-by-submitting-citation-on-150-websitesbut-3-get-1-free? If not, what else could be done to enhance Places listings?

I already have a few ideas for attracting local business, but my partner will probably be doing a lot of cold-calling and visiting the actual locations as I'm under 18 and may not be taken seriously lol . From my research direct mail seems to work for some and not for others. Has anyone had any definitive success with it? If so, do you like to do the print out of their niches google search and point out their absence or maybe just a letter explaining your services and the necessity of them? Either way I'll mainly be targeting businesses with very limited, bad or no online presence. Also, out of curiosity does anyone email potential clients with this method? It seems to me that it would be ultimately very ineffective, but hey if it works for some people, it's worth a try! Of course, I will include either weekly or monthly reports and a plan of action in the beginning, that would include keyword research and a strategy customized to the services they chose.

I've thought over a rough pricing structure too. For web design $300-$800 one-time and about $30 monthly depending on several factors like size, mobile compatibility etc. SEO packages will be approximately $150 monthly. Places and ORM will be about $150 as well. What do you guys think of this pricing? Lastly, should I create a registered business for this venture? I feel like I should, but it's just extra capital that I might be able to hold off on until i get a client or two. I know I've asked a lot of questions, but I'm really interested in this and from my previous experience, theres no where better to come than here! Thanks a ton in advance!!

First off, I would say register you and your partner as a business, but that is totally up to you. That would make stuff a little more complicated, things such splitting of the profit will need to be finalized and legal. Where as, if you don't register as a business it will all be between you and your partner, and your guys' word. Now that I think about it, don't register as a business until you have a client or two.

Second, your web design prices are a little low, but seeing as how high your profit is, that is a good price just to start off with. Once you get some sales done, you can up the price if you want.

I wouldn't recommend fiverr gigs, unless you know for a fact that they will benefit your client. Instead of fiverr, you should do some research and find a LONG TERM provider. You should do this for all of the services you're providing. Find a provider who has good communication, who will deliver on time, and will deliver great products. Let's face it, your whole business's core is based on the provider you choose.

Tips? I can't think of any now.

I'm actually thinking of doing local services for businesses around my city. Do you think we can chat about this on skype? I have some great ideas and we could potentially help each other through out ventures. Let me know.

appreciate the input man! I did feel that the prices were slightly low, but as you said I have a good margin and I'm just starting out lol. I see what you're saying about fiverr but there are some quite reputable suppliers on fiverr. Also, if I'm able to find a good supplier on fiverr, I would be able to maintain much healthier margins in that aspect as well. Anyways, PM with your skype! It'd be great to have someone to hash out some ideas with lol.

mikeyjordan24 said:

appreciate the input man! I did feel that the prices were slightly low, but as you said I have a good margin and I'm just starting out lol. I see what you're saying about fiverr but there are some quite reputable suppliers on fiverr. Also, if I'm able to find a good supplier on fiverr, I would be able to maintain much healthier margins in that aspect as well. Anyways, PM with your skype! It'd be great to have someone to hash out some ideas with lol.

Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I'm not saying stay away from fiverr, but make just make sure the gigs are of good quality. ~$40-$50 in gigs for $150 from the client is a big profit.

Imagine having 10 clients (Very easy) paying $150+ a month. That's $1k a month. Just from buying stuff online. lol

yea man thats the goal!!

Do you plan to actually do the Web Design/SEO/ORM yourself or are you going to keep it outsourced? I had actually thought of this myself about 2-3 weeks ago, nice to see a thread where someone else who is also thinking of this. I was planning to outsource while I continue to learn SEO and other stuff so that I could start doing it myself.

I plan to continue to outsource it because it would be far more efficient imo

what happens when that fiverr is no longer up and you can't find others to replace it?

good point Jumbo.. I'm currently looking for some other suppliers, but most of the bigger fiverr guys are usually steady.

Do you have any aspirations to become a legitimate SEO provider or is this something you are just doing on the side for some extra money?

More of something on the side

mikeyjordan24 said:

To start I'm going to get a professional website built for my clients to reference, not really for online promotion. As far as the services, I think I have found a good website designer/coder who can make me modern, professional sites for around $100.

Click to expand...

Dafuq?? Modern/professional sites for $100. No man. Shit sites for $100.

Considering you want to offer multiple services to your clients and hopefully retain them for more then one month, you should consider making sure your clients are happy with you and your quality. Stop thinking of using low quality services and pawning them off as top shelf to your clients. Yes there are gigs that are worth using sometimes but your first thought should be will this benefit them, not can I make this sucker pay $xxx for something worth $x. Getting new clients can be hard, so focus on keeping them.

If a client called your company and had a bunch of simple questions, what would you tell them? Let me get back to you? Your on the right path by taking action but you still need a bit more info. Continue learning on the forums and soak it all in.

Cheers

as far as the sites, it is hard to believe the $100 figure but, I promise you they are quality as I'm a perfectionist lol . But when it comes to the services, I hope I didn't come off that way. I want to take a route that obviously ensure quality for the client but I would obviously like to do it for the lowest cost. That's the main reason I'm considering fiverr so much. There seem to be a ton of extremely high quality gigs that are offered for a very low price. Also, the reason im concerned about using a BHW supplier is that I'm not sure if some of them are too much for local businesses. Would you be able to recommend any services you consider HQ?

Thanks for your input, greatly appreciated.

I remember reading some where on this forum that it isn't for you to guess if they can or can not afford it. If they can't afford it then it's not something for you to worry about it, for ever business that can't afford the service there are 10 more that can. You shouldn't sell yourself short because of something you don't know lol. It's normally not a matter of that they can't afford it so much as they don't see the value in what you are providing. And if they can't see that value then it's their lose.

Well put Jumbo. I don't want to start off a some top of the line, exclusive firm. When scoping out the customer, I will make sure to created a customized price point in order to not sell myself short.

I'm doing a similar thing, except I planned on doing most of the work myself with some additional Fiverr gigs. You should understand what you need for SEO and find specific gigs for those necessities if you want to use Fiverr. I think I may try to outsource more of the SEO services now, but still do the web design/ORM myself.

For your website, don't pay someone to do it for you. Just find or purchase a professional WP theme and set it up yourself. Your price does seem a bit low, but at the same time, don't adjust it because of the client's budget. It should be based on your time and what you will be doing. I've seen some companies charge a high set-up fee and then cheap monthly fees for their services (less than $100) - that might look more enticing for some businesses.

I would prefer to do that but as a full-time student with sports and other extra curriculars, I would much rather outsource most of it. It will cost me more, but will still provide a profit. I do agree with you as far as the price point goes. Whatever your prices is, remain firm.

Keep in mind that you are dealing with companies that rely on that income to feed their families and their employees' families. What happens when Google de-indexes your clients for all using the same spammy link model?

What happens to their sales? What will you tell them?

Will you pick the keywords your clients should rank for or will you just let them pick the words they should rank for?

How will you track the leads that you are generating for your clients?

I stated earlier that I will ensure that quality is maintained while keeping healthy margins. Otherwise, you raise some great points. I will most likely do a combination of both, meaning 5 from me and 5 from them or something of that sort. I do plan on using either google analytics or Piwik to track all the data on the site, but besides that I'm not sure how else I can track leads. If you have a suggestion, let me know! thanks a bunch for your input !!

ok so in this point:

1) Anyone do high end web sites where i can sell to businesses you do the web design, + my price?

2) anyone offer acomplete SEO packages (W.H, diversified link building) that i again can sell to businesses?

Thank you