Selling Websites As Sales Tools - don't even talk about SEO

Everything you said is great. I think it all comes down to what motivates the owner of the business. Sometimes the motivation is greed, sometimes it's survival, sometimes it's ego. I prefer greed and ego over survival as motivations for business owners.

I've sold websites to companies that couldn't care less about SEO, they wanted to website to assist sales people while talking to the customer on the phone.

I've also sold websites to business owners with the spin that the website is a 24 hour employee. The website works when you don't, it doesn't get sick, it doesn't take vacation days, it works when you're unable to. I compare the cost of a part time employee for 20 hours a week for a year, and that almost always show them the price they will pay for the website is really nothing in comparison.

Some, like you said, want a website in order to show off their portfolio of past work. Others want it to help with the sales process or set expectations for a customer, give them ideas, etc. Others DO want additional traffic from search engines.

And of course.... if a business owner is going to do ANY kind of online marketing in the future, whether it is SEO or social media, or PPC, etc. then the website is going to ultimately be the cornerstone of all their efforts, and it needs to be done properly.

There are those that build websites... I'm not positioned as one of those people. I build a business asset.

Thanks and thanks.

Great contribution.

I'd like to reserve this post as a summary for the ideas everyone shares:

Key points

Don't build a website, build a business asset:

• website as a 24/7/365 Employee - compare cost of parttime employee with the cost of developing a website and the website comes out as the clear winner
• cornerstone for PPC, SEO, Social Media
• portfolio to show off past work
• help sales people during the sales process
• set customer expectations / give them ideas
• want traffic from search engines

What motivates the buyer:

• ego
• greed
• survival

source: iAmNameLess

Can you walk us through a practical example, please? Sounds interesting.

Thanks for the detail and the suggestions

The catalog idea can really be applied in many different ways. I'm going to think on this myself, for sure.

I guess a good way to implement this for some would be to just use post categories and tags. For someone like your printer friend custom fields with a more robust search plugin would probably be needed.

You know I got love for you bro but based on how you described Daniels construction business he already has a job and he isn't really a professional at his trade.

A referral isn't a qualified lead until Daniel spends the time to visit the prospective job site and evaluate what's going on and get an idea for what the prospect want's in comparison to what is needed to get what the prospect "wants".

Here's what I'd do for Daniels job to convert it into a real business.

I'd work with him to develop a remodeling/renovation sales process that can be taught to newly hired sales people.

Then I'd reproduce the same sales process/sales message on Daniels new website as the core message for site visitors.

Why?

Because I learned from personal experience when I was a contractor that my sales presentation in the field MUST match the presentation on my website.

Here's why... I found that prospects that didn't close in the field would often times visit my site to learn more and when the core message of the site matched all the sales points/message in the field it reinforced the message and many times we'd get that call to come do the deal.

Secondly when a lead came from the site and an appointment was set for an estimate/inspection, the field presentation matched the message on the site that the prospect had already read about. So the consistent message helped close more sales.

I knew my strategy was working when I was personally getting comments about it from the people I sold. My salesmen were also
telling me that out of all the contractors they've ever worked for I
provided the single best sales material and message they'd ever been
given and it wasn't their first rodeo either. = )

Anyways, I'll stop rambling about that.

In your section, "Does Daniel Need A Website"

How does one who's got a 100% close ratio have these challenges to begin with? He's supposed to be a professional so he should instantly know basic costs, timelines, etc. Also why would he need to show previous work to a referral, it's a referral for crying out loud!

Moreover:

Sorry but if Daniel is wroth a lick of salt as a remodeling contractor he's going to instantly know these kinds of details on every single job he's ever done! Especially when it comes to "issues" on the project.

Also previous material costs and time lines are always irrelevant because each job presents with unique challenges and goals.

I think a lot of the things you mention aren't things that a business owner could not recall in an instant.

As mentioned at the beginning, Daniel already has a job but thinks he's got a business. lol