I got a reply. Need help of offline marketer!!!

[MR.MOE]

Okay so I started taking some action. After reading Maria Gudelis thread about making $1000. I went and found similar type sites or even blogs and messaged the owners. I check my inbox and I open a message and guess what its said?????

hey yeah im intersted. please respond, thanks!

Yea it was pretty exciting. Basically I told him "Hey bro you have a really cool blog going on. I was wondering if you wanted to expand it in to a website that way you can have more control. I could also help you get more exposure and higher google ranking. Let me know if your interested" Should I reply by asking him what his budget is or what? This is my first time as you can see so any help would be AWESOME.

Thanks
Moe

PS: Its informal because its a forum that I participate on so I didn't wanna some of as an advertisement, but as a friend.

[Jericho]

Great work Moe!

It's cool to see that you're excited, but I'd probably try and sit back to see what he comes back and says.

It's like any sale, get him wanting the product/service first, and once he's already committed mentally to the idea and decided that he wants it, then you bring the price into it and offer some free extras and complimentary services etc.

That's my 2 cents anyways. Good Luck!

[MR.MOE]

So what should my first reply be?

[Srikanth D]

Congrats!
Reply by giving him options.
a) His own domain, his own hosting account(through ur affiliate link ofcourse ), complete transfer of the site to his domain, seo plugins and initial seo. Tell him its going to cost him $1000 initially(inclusive of domain and first month hosting) and from there on, hosting alone monthly.
b) You buy domain of his choice, you allow his blog to be on your hosting account, you transfer the site, give him just the wp admin username and password. Tell him it will cost him $500/month where you do all the above and continuous seo till he stays as a subscriber. You will basically do all seo services to his site.

Easy!

[JeffLam]

Ask him exactly how he wants the direction of the development of his 'future' site that you are gonna build for him.

Then keep telling him the benefits to pull his mental triggers!

[MR.MOE]

Originally Posted by Srikanth D

Congrats!
Reply by giving him options.
a) His own domain, his own hosting account(through ur affiliate link ofcourse ), complete transfer of the site to his domain, seo plugins and initial seo. Tell him its going to cost him $1000 initially(inclusive of domain and first month hosting) and from there on, hosting alone monthly.
b) You buy domain of his choice, you allow his blog to be on your hosting account, you transfer the site, give him just the wp admin username and password. Tell him it will cost him $500/month where you do all the above and continuous seo till he stays as a subscriber. You will basically do all seo services to his site.

Easy!

Wouldn't $500 be kind of a rip off. I mean the people on this forum are awesome and I think I can get some really good business so I wanna give them some great prices. I like you affiliate link idea though lol

[MR.MOE]

Originally Posted by JeffLam

Ask him exactly how he wants the direction of the development of his 'future' site that you are gonna build for him.

Then keep telling him the benefits to pull his mental triggers!

Thanks Jeff
Thats awesome I think I just have to find the right questions to ask.

[JeffLam]

No problem!

Just don't forget to share your success stories and if possible, your responses with the person (unless confidential) so everyone can learn more!

[TimCastleman]

Figure out what you want to offer him. More importantly find out what he wants

Then figure out two prices.

1. What you want
2. What you are willing to accept

Start with one and go down slowly to 2 while taking things away with every reduction.

Good luck

[MR.MOE]

Originally Posted by TimCastleman

Figure out what you want to offer him. More importantly find out what he wants

Then figure out two prices.

1. What you want
2. What you are willing to accept

Start with one and go down slowly to 2 while taking things away with every reduction.

Good luck

Thanks alot Tim. I just sent him a reply to schedule a time we can discuss it. Will let everyone know further details. How much would it cost for to move his blog on to the website plus cool design on website?

[TimCastleman]

Wrong question Moe - right question ... how much do you want to charge.

Here is my advice .... go to the meeting and find out what he is looking for and what he wants, then tell him you'll get back to him with a price in 24 hrs. That way there is no sales pressure.

Just find out what he wants then give him a few choices on what he can do and the prices of each one.

Tim

[Srikanth D]

Originally Posted by MR.MOE

Wouldn't $500 be kind of a rip off. I mean the people on this forum are awesome and I think I can get some really good business so I wanna give them some great prices. I like you affiliate link idea though lol

Well, if you don't believe you can offer services worth $500, then don't offer. As you mentioned, there are awesome people in this very forum who can do this services. You just have to get hold of right people and offer high quality service to your customer. Charge him/her based on what you believe is the value of your service. No ripoff mate!

[Nelson Guedes]

Originally Posted by MR.MOE

Okay so I started taking some action. After reading Maria Gudelis thread about making $1000. I went and found similar type sites or even blogs and messaged the owners. I check my inbox and I open a message and guess what its said?????

hey yeah im intersted. please respond, thanks!

Yea it was pretty exciting. Basically I told him "Hey bro you have a really cool blog going on. I was wondering if you wanted to expand it in to a website that way you can have more control. I could also help you get more exposure and higher google ranking. Let me know if your interested" Should I reply by asking him what his budget is or what? This is my first time as you can see so any help would be AWESOME.

Thanks
Moe

PS: Its informal because its a forum that I participate on so I didn't wanna some of as an advertisement, but as a friend.

Congratulations!

Now you need a process. It sounds like you are trying to do some consulting. I have done a lot of consulting in the past. Here's some advice that just comes out of the top of my head.


Step 1 - Determine Customer's Expectations
What does he or she want to get from your consulting? Obviosuly they saw some value on what you said. So simply ask them what are their plans for their site. Do they have written plans? How open are they to suggestions? What are their goals? Do they have any concerns about their current situation? What is their budget? What are their expectations of you and your work? (Of course, make the questions sound good.)

It is also good to develop a form that you can go through with your customers every time you get a new one.

Step 2 - Gather information
Examine their website. How good is their copy? How is it laid out? How good are the graphics? Focus first on analyzing all factors that can affect conversion. Then go through all factors that affect traffic. What is their page ranking? What are their SEO techniques? How many sites link to them? How big is their digital footprint?

Step 3 - Brainstorm and Analyze Alternatives
What would you change if you were the owner of the website? Think about several alternatives based on your knowledge. Then use certain criteria to determine which alternatives would be the best. This is a good time to bring the data gathered in that initial consultation to mind. For instance, if you figure out an alternative that would greatly increase profits but would cost $5,000 to implement and your client has a total budget constraint of $1,000, no matter how good that strategy is, you can't use it! Go through a few alternatives for each factor that can be improved and lay out all the changes that are needed.

Step 4 - Develop an Implementation Plan
After you figure out what nbeeds to be done, work out a detailed plan to implement it, then present it to your client. Keep in mind that your client needs to know why your solution is the best, everything that needs to be done, how mcuh everything will cost and when money will need to be spent (not just how much, when can be crucial!)

Step 5 - Implement it (Optional)
Some clients may want to implement it on their own. Others will find someone else to implement. But sometimes they will ask you to implement.


2 KEY Points
- If you don't know something, don't pretend you do!
- How are you going to price your services? I'm not talking just the price itself. How is the price be structured and how will you convince the client that the price is appropriate compared to the value you are giving.


TOP SECRET
Create JVs with product and service providers. For instance, if your customer needs a graphic designer, make a deal with a graphic designer so you can get them some business and you can take a portion of their profits. Affiliate programs also work, as they are a type of JV. This will make you tons of passive money on the side.


Have any questions? PM me or befriend me on Facebook or Twitter! I would be happy to provide further consulting consulting!

[Curleyjohn]

Two things come to mind right away.

1. How much business will the client gain from being able to rank better or gain more traffic? What is their per customer value? If they sell something that makes them $100 and you feel confident that you can increase their sales by just 1 sale a month then that would be $1200 a year with an ROI of about $$700, based on you charging $500. Now does that seem like a rip off? No, smart business right?

2. Use a take away method. Imply that because of time constraints, response by other website owners or even if they're business will qualify, because of that business' ability or inability to expand, that you won't be able to promise if you could do the job but that you will examine their site in more depth to see. Build value in your services and make the customer qualify themselves.(Customer begins to feel that they really need your services, but what if they can't get them? It helps take the focus off of the price you charge.) If you build this value than the customer's thought process about what they can afford or are willing to spend is increased.

[-Jericho-]

Don't act too hungry. I would start with a needs analysis. Create a questionnaire and make it seem like the person needs to qualify for your service.

[Russell Hall]

Originally Posted by Nelson Guedes

Congratulations!

Now you need a process. It sounds like you are trying to do some consulting. I have done a lot of consulting in the past. Here's some advice that just comes out of the top of my head.


Step 1 - Determine Customer's Expectations
What does he or she want to get from your consulting? Obviosuly they saw some value on what you said. So simply ask them what are their plans for their site. Do they have written plans? How open are they to suggestions? What are their goals? Do they have any concerns about their current situation? What is their budget? What are their expectations of you and your work? (Of course, make the questions sound good.)

It is also good to develop a form that you can go through with your customers every time you get a new one.

Step 2 - Gather information
Examine their website. How good is their copy? How is it laid out? How good are the graphics? Focus first on analyzing all factors that can affect conversion. Then go through all factors that affect traffic. What is their page ranking? What are their SEO techniques? How many sites link to them? How big is their digital footprint?

Step 3 - Brainstorm and Analyze Alternatives
What would you change if you were the owner of the website? Think about several alternatives based on your knowledge. Then use certain criteria to determine which alternatives would be the best. This is a good time to bring the data gathered in that initial consultation to mind. For instance, if you figure out an alternative that would greatly increase profits but would cost $5,000 to implement and your client has a total budget constraint of $1,000, no matter how good that strategy is, you can't use it! Go through a few alternatives for each factor that can be improved and lay out all the changes that are needed.

Step 4 - Develop an Implementation Plan
After you figure out what nbeeds to be done, work out a detailed plan to implement it, then present it to your client. Keep in mind that your client needs to know why your solution is the best, everything that needs to be done, how mcuh everything will cost and when money will need to be spent (not just how much, when can be crucial!)

Step 5 - Implement it (Optional)
Some clients may want to implement it on their own. Others will find someone else to implement. But sometimes they will ask you to implement.


2 KEY Points
- If you don't know something, don't pretend you do!
- How are you going to price your services? I'm not talking just the price itself. How is the price be structured and how will you convince the client that the price is appropriate compared to the value you are giving.


TOP SECRET
Create JVs with product and service providers. For instance, if your customer needs a graphic designer, make a deal with a graphic designer so you can get them some business and you can take a portion of their profits. Affiliate programs also work, as they are a type of JV. This will make you tons of passive money on the side.


Have any questions? PM me or befriend me on Facebook or Twitter! I would be happy to provide further consulting consulting!

Great offering of a well structured and well thought out business strategy from Nelson here.

Even if you didn't include all of the points Nelson has made,.. I think the first 4 are mandatory.

If you get hung up on "price" you'll miss the opportunity of giving "value". If your price is too low then you can't realistically give the service and support that the client needs,..and if your price is too high then you'll either miss out or be constantly justifying your expenses to your client.
Why not determine what the client needs as a bare minimum or starting point (to success) outcome and then calculate how many hours you think it will take you to implement and then add say 25% for contingencies (unexpected problems) and then submit it to him/her. Don't get hooked or trapped into actually quoting for "X" number of hours.. just do the calculation for your own benefit. Then if necessary, later on as the project develops or concludes, you can justify your quotation with the facts based on how many hours you realistically estimated (hint... whatever time you think it will take you will probably only be half of the time that it takes,.. i.e.... if you think "I reckon that'll take me 40 hours"... it'll probably take you 80!),- I can tell you this from years and years of experience offline and some online.
I agree with the Srikanth D that $500 is not a ripp off at all,... you need to ratify out all the parameters before deciding a price... it could be worth $2000 or more...and what's more,- if the client starts really believing in you and you gain his trust and confidence he'll probably gladly pay it!
Best wishes to you with this project. Let us know how it develops!
Cheers,.. Russ