Selling full websites for $200 on CL!

18 replies
I noticed a lot of web companies are doing this on CL.

I'm sure people are biting too.

How much money can be made on these if they are selling them for $200. They are also targeting people that can afford a monthly fee such as SEO, etc.

I'm wondering if this makes my job harder when approaching a small business asking $1,200+ for a site.
#$200 #full #selling #websites
  • Profile picture of the author Chad Heffelfinger
    I think that's where we make our money as being a "consultant" and offer other services to help make them money and not just being a service provider doing websites. You can show them that you will build them a site that will increase their revenue, not just look good to the eyes.

    The biggest thing is not just looking for a client that is trying to find a budget website, but one that wants to grow their business and will pay to get the help they need from you to do other things.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ryan Shaw
    Hey Chad! Hah. I'm downloading your FB WSO right now.

    Yeah, this is true. I'm going to stay away from using CL for business now.

    I do have a decent lead from CL working for a restaurant.

    I'm going to focus in on businesses that do $1,000,000+ in revenue per year.

    Has anyone tried contacting online stores? There's got to be a market for that. Just because they own an online store doesn't make them IM savvy.

    Possible market there?

    For example: I emailed this owner yesterday..


    http://www.bridalexpressonline6.com

    The website isn't great at all, buts there potential!

    I'm looking for ways to work out commissions + monthly flat fees.

    Any ways to build residual income
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  • Profile picture of the author theprofitguru
    I have listed basic websites on cl for $197 and $50 per month for a very basic site for sites that I lease.
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    • Profile picture of the author TimCastleman
      You can sell against those guys easy.

      Tell me Mr business owner, where are they located?

      <insert 3rd world country name>

      So when your website goes down will they be able to come to your store and fix it OR are you going to have to wait 12-24 hours for them to respond and get started?

      I'd hate for Google to see that your site was down during that time and downgrade your ranking or delist you during that time.

      Because if that happens you could be paying 10 times what you pay these people to get it fixed.

      Plus lets not forget you get what you pay for.

      - Someone who is in the same area as you
      - Someone who works the same hours as you
      - Someone who treats you like a friend, not a number
      - Someone who knows the local economy and can help your business adjust

      But of course, the choice is yours.

      Then when they hire you - you hire the $200 person to do the work for you.

      Tim
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      • Profile picture of the author Robert Domino
        Originally Posted by TimCastleman View Post

        You can sell against those guys easy.

        Tell me Mr business owner, where are they located?

        <insert 3rd world country name>

        So when your website goes down will they be able to come to your store and fix it OR are you going to have to wait 12-24 hours for them to respond and get started?
        Sadly, while doing research, I found local people doing websites for even LESS than 200$, advertized on one of Canada's main CL type website.

        Some guy is selling websites for 150$.

        There seems to be a lot of competition. Everyone and their mother want to be web designers or marketing consultants these days, even if they have no clue.

        I looked at multiple of these competitors' websites (from this guy's 150$ all the way up to a professional web design company) and they all have major IM flaws. Very few of them even have email capture.

        I'm still a bit worried about the downward pressure on price from these lowballers. I know that I can offer much, much better quality and general marketing ROI. I'm not so sure potential prospects know that, given these web designers have a long list of clients on their websites.

        In your sales funnel, do you respond to the potential "others do it cheaper" objection, or do you just ignore competitors entirely?
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        • Profile picture of the author GeorgeO7

          Some guy is selling websites for 150$.
          Some guy obviously know what he's worth.

          Don't sell the commodity... sell the results.

          George
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        • Profile picture of the author TimCastleman
          Originally Posted by Robert Domino View Post

          Sadly, while doing research, I found local people doing websites for even LESS than 200$, advertized on one of Canada's main CL type website.

          Some guy is selling websites for 150$.

          There seems to be a lot of competition. Everyone and their mother want to be web designers or marketing consultants these days, even if they have no clue.

          I looked at multiple of these competitors' websites (from this guy's 150$ all the way up to a professional web design company) and they all have major IM flaws. Very few of them even have email capture.

          I'm still a bit worried about the downward pressure on price from these lowballers. I know that I can offer much, much better quality and general marketing ROI. I'm not so sure potential prospects know that, given these web designers have a long list of clients on their websites.

          In your sales funnel, do you respond to the potential "others do it cheaper" objection, or do you just ignore competitors entirely?
          Robert -

          If you're looking for a hooker you go to Craigslist (I know you can't get them there anymore but go with me).

          Let me ask you this - how many of your friends have ever said this:

          'Yeah you know I found my doctor, lawyer, CPA, etc on craigslist"

          It's like comparing what you can buy locally to what you can buy online - apples to oranges.

          Stop wasting your time on Craigslist. Stop making excuses for why it can't be done and start thinking about how it can be done.

          Tim
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  • Profile picture of the author Ryan Shaw
    yes, right now I've never had an issue charging what I do, but it could definitely come up in the future. Maybe we should include a short point like Tim mentioned above.

    They are paying more for our superior skills , knowledge , and the fact that we offer local support, face to face, business owner to business owner and we have their best interests at heart.

    That's why I'm all about being "a partner" in their business and not just a service provider.
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  • Profile picture of the author M_Jones
    I offer websites for free on CL - just pay hosting
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  • Profile picture of the author freudianslip27
    At one point I looked at the model of selling websites cheap on craigslist, with the hope of monthly hosting fees and potential upsells and it led to headaches.

    People that are going to come through those doors are not going to appreciate the value of what you are doing. Trust me, you don't want to be the "walmart" of web design. It is so much easier to be talking to people who already understand how important websites are, and have invested in something already, compared to those who are still on the fence about websites in general, and interested in the lowest price possible.

    Matt
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    • Profile picture of the author pwk2000
      Originally Posted by freudianslip27 View Post

      At one point I looked at the model of selling websites cheap on craigslist, with the hope of monthly hosting fees and potential upsells and it led to headaches.

      People that are going to come through those doors are not going to appreciate the value of what you are doing. Trust me, you don't want to be the "walmart" of web design. It is so much easier to be talking to people who already understand how important websites are, and have invested in something already, compared to those who are still on the fence about websites in general, and interested in the lowest price possible.

      Matt
      Most businesses want it done "right" not just cheaply. A local co-owner of a small biz has been waiting for his "almost free" website for a few months... now he is ready to spend 5k to get it done professionally.
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  • Profile picture of the author nigelchua
    M_Jones is brilliant - that is a brilliant model to use. Webhosting can be a recurring income, though the returns are small through affiliate income, but if we can build a business that automates the building of simple websites that comes with the purchase of webhosting packages through a certain web host package link, outsource the building of the website entirely - it can be very viable.
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  • Profile picture of the author nigelchua
    traffictipsnow, do you only do website creation? From your post name, you seem to also suggest that you can help with building traffic (potential leads and prospects and customers), so perhaps instead of just being the drone worker trying to sell website design, try to reinforce that you are selling them a solution, which is to garner more leads, build credibility, and increase sales.

    I've a friend in FatPixel who sold a single page website to Bosch, and audio company, for a sweet $25 Grand. That's a whopping $25,000.

    Maybe it'd be good if you also took up extra time to learn more on selling and copywriting and marketing, as well as offer better "packed" packages to potential clients?

    Also, why not consider the larger companies? Usually SMEs squeeze you like mad, as far as I know. You can try putting your wares on freelance sites such as elance, freelancer etc and slowly work your profile and portfolio from there too. Why not pitch to larger companies?

    The thing is, the world is getting real flat. With influx from phillipines, china, india, thailand, who can do tech work for real cheap, we must be able to work with these changes, to our advantage.

    What do you think?
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  • Profile picture of the author Jimian
    I found most of the website designers on CL will make your site -- but have little to zero SEO. Check out their portfolio.

    I spoke with one designer from CL in my area and she snickered, "SEO...really, what is S-E-O?"

    She poo-poo'd the whole SEO thing. She kept praising her "artistic abilities"...

    See, most web designers are "artisits" or graphic people.... I tell prospects, "They're great designers but unfortunately they know little about MARKETING (i.e., getting your site in front of people.)

    They get it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
    If you position yourself well and offer a myriad of additional services, a website can serve as a loss leader to get your client on board paying you money.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve1776
    I'm working on a sales letter that I'm going to send to select local businesses. The main point of the letter is you can spend $1,165 a month to advertise in a news paper that has 260K circulation, or you can spend $600 a year (+$200 setup fee) to reach 239 million in the U.S. alone. This is for a very simple (text & pictures only) 5 page website. Then you sell the email capture and marketing, facebook page, twitter, backlinks, local listings, seo, ect. They rent the website for $50 month. I own the site and the domain name. Stay two years and you can buy the site for ? (still trying to decide on that price). Course I'll build you a site with flash, video, what ever you want, but that costs extra!

    3 sites a week @ $600 X 40 weeks = $72,000 set up fee
    3 sites a week X 40 weeks = 120
    120 sites X $50 a month = $6,000 a month rent

    I Googled local dentist in a town of about 20k. The local biz results showed 7 dentists. Only one had a website!

    "The average value of a patient from the the Internet Dental Directory is $3000-$3500 initially, but about 10% have long term (2-year) worth of $15,000-45,0000." Go to Google and type "life time value of a _dentist-chiropractor-ect_ patient to give yourself a selling point. (I love Google!!!!)

    Think you can up sell a website to a dentist at $200 month by showing him how ONE new patient (@the low end of $15,000) will pay for 6 years of web hosting? Then you add all the extras. Should be easy to get $1,000 a month from a very small dental practice.

    Bigger town, bigger practice, bigger price tag.
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  • Profile picture of the author newbie2011
    Originally Posted by traffictipsnow View Post

    I noticed a lot of web companies are doing this on CL.

    I'm sure people are biting too.

    How much money can be made on these if they are selling them for $200. They are also targeting people that can afford a monthly fee such as SEO, etc.

    I'm wondering if this makes my job harder when approaching a small business asking $1,200+ for a site.
    Hey,

    But how much months can be spend in performing seo on one site that will be soled in @200 later.
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  • Profile picture of the author freudianslip27
    Hey Steve,

    Yes, I've been drawn in by this model, but my experience has been that if people already don't have a website at this point in the game, they probably don't want one.

    Now you've got to:

    1) convince them why they should hire you AND
    2) convince them why they need a website in the first place

    That's just my two cents, I've done better targeting people that already have sites,

    Matt
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