Do I outsource this gig? What to quote?

[Sebastion]

Hi all.

I posted my resume looking for an internship opportunity at an established marketing company. A woman emailed me with a message stating only, "Can you make my website." So I reply, "What is your website?" She phones me at home on Saturday morning which is a little odd since I didn't ask her to call, but she sounds normal enough.

She asks me if I can make her website, 8 pages, to sell her product which is promoting a product similar to a product called Oxy Silver, an oxygenated beverage of some sort.

So I told her I'm looking for an internship that will look good on my resume and mentor me, and that this is a job. She has no website.

She asked me to send her writing samples and a quote to make her an 8 page website with well researched articles. I'm no webdesigner. So I figured I could outsource this. So I would need a wordpress person to do this. How much would that cost?

Do most of you have a wordpress person or do you do it yourself? What would be a good quote? I've only made a few websites for myself. I'm just a writer. I'm fast once I'm researched, but don't know what to quote her.

Obviously I would find someone on Elance, or Here, that would allow me to quote a lower price and be the middle man. I will just write the content. But I'm also aware I don't have a long resume for this sort of thing and there a lots of people looking for free/cheap webdesign.

I'm sure she doesn't even have hosting. You get it? Nothing.

[Loren Woirhaye]

She's probably doing network marketing and is clueless about
internet stuff.

Find out if she needs lead generation, autoresponders, follow-up -
and so forth. If she's promoting the bizop, she probably does.

There's a lot to dragging the scope of what the job needs out
of an inexperienced client, but doing so will lead to a bigger
fee for you, more value for the client and probably a more
satisfied client as well.

[Sebastion]

Of course. I would need a long list of questions. So this would be a good learning experience. But I need to know exactly what to say to her, and tell her what she is expected to pay for the entire thing.

[Loren Woirhaye]

Um - get a book on how to be a consultant and read it.

"Flawless Consulting" is good.

You could also hire a coach to help you develop your sales
questions and presentation.

Don't quote a fee until the scope of the job is clear. Some
clients will walk away because they aren't really serious
during the process. Losing them is painful, but they would
probably be problem clients anyway. Any client who stonewalls
you in developing a dialog to better his/her condition is
trouble. There are lots of them out there.

You've already given away your power by admitting you're
a student. She may or may not try to beat you up on
the price of the work, but you must have done something
that encouraged her to think you're capable of helping her.

A good way to figure out what to charge is to ask the client
how much money she expects to make in the next year
due to having a website or her own to sell her product.
This establishes the value of the website as a money-making
asset that, if done properly, can be expect to create X
revenue in the next 5 years or whatever. Then you charge
a fraction of the projected revenue, up front of course.

Website design is a badly commoditized business to be in. The
trick is to create a package of massive perceived value that
includes the website set up. There's no established industry
price for an 8-page website. They can be got for free, actually.

[Rezbi]

It's funny. I've had people asking me for internships.

Unfortunately, I'm not a big enough company to offer such a program.

Maybe she's the same. It's difficult to tell on the web.

Or am I talking rubbish and completely off the track?

[Sebastion]

Good point. Thank you. Would this type of site be considered, "Ecommerce?" I was researching quotes on elance and some people ask for Websites at under $500, and others ask for Ecommerce sites at $1000-$5000

[Sebastion]

Well I'm looking locally for a company I can help out in exchange for learning the trade. Right now I'm still undecided about whether to write content, blog, or direct response. So I wanted to sit down with experts and help them out, as I'm a good writer and they would benefit by having me.

However, I'm not about to turn down real, paying work. Ultimately I want a job that is steady, where I can earn a few thousand a month. So if anyone has a job opportunity!?

[travlinguy]

Okay, resume building comes up often here. I know you're asking about a specific situation in the OP but consider this for your resume. Create your own product and write the copy. Once you've done that and can prove a respectible conversion rate you've got traction. Build on that by taking on clients. Next thing you know, you're getting good at knowing what works as a copywriter and you're starting to break into decent money. Good luck.