Offering Web Design But How Much Is To Much

12 years ago

You know how many times business owners scoff at the idea of paying $500 for a website? Not because it is expensive, but because it is cheap and they relate that to low quality.

I think you're going to run into some problems with the $99 package. You're in AZ, there are tons of businesses that pay good money there, I know this because I have them as clients.

I think if you're set on offering a $99 website, then you need a couple other options to let them choose from.

$99 gets you... wordpress installation and a theme with stock photos and you input their content.

$399 gets you... wordpress install, a theme with custom graphics and their content

and so on...

I think I have an option for $499 plan for starter websites, but that is just there to get people interested and calling. Nobody gets the site for $499... they call and they at least spend $800-1000 on the front end.

Don't sell yourself short, and don't work yourself to death. The phone calls and client interaction alone should cost them $99.

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DNChamp

12 years ago

Originally Posted by iAmNameLess

You know how many times business owners scoff at the idea of paying $500 for a website? Not because it is expensive, but because it is cheap and they relate that to low quality.

I think you're going to run into some problems with the $99 package. You're in AZ, there are tons of businesses that pay good money there, I know this because I have them as clients.

I think if you're set on offering a $99 website, then you need a couple other options to let them choose from.

$99 gets you... wordpress installation and a theme with stock photos and you input their content.

$399 gets you... wordpress install, a theme with custom graphics and their content

and so on...

I think I have an option for $499 plan for starter websites, but that is just there to get people interested and calling. Nobody gets the site for $499... they call and they at least spend $800-1000 on the front end.

Don't sell yourself short, and don't work yourself to death. The phone calls and client interaction alone should cost them $99.

Completly understand. My MAIN biz is SEO and this was just to get a foot in the door to those who cant afford the price of SEO. My wife is the actual webmaster with HTML and Dreamweaver.

Im the goto guy for Wordpres and can get very nice FREE themes and put together a site under 20 min. Nice looking sites that "look expensive"

This would be just another step in getting in more visitors and/or sales from those who may need somethign but does not have enough money. It could turn into a headache BUT really if it takes me 20 min to get up a nice looking basic site $99 bucks is $99 bucks and I can turn around and use those funds to bring up more marketing for the SEO (direct mail, etc)

I may upsell more of the smaller things I have acces to and that could turn a $99 site into a few hundred as well.

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Ingenius 12 years ago

I find the post of iAmNameless very appealing, as a designer myself (not web, graphic/cartoonist, though), I often find myself with the strangest e-mails from pretended "customers", in the lines:

"Hey, I got five bucks, could you make me one of those nice mascots?".

Some people even go a step further and just ask you to use some of your stuff in exchange for your name being credited. (Well... if it is Ubisoft who asks... I will probably say yes!!)

When I was starting my own bussiness, I wasn't nearly as good as I am now, and I thought that I should charge little. It turned out to be good because it allowed me to have some creative freedom and my customers often were amazed by the results (as it was pointed above, low prices are associated with low quality, which was not the case, hence the amazement).

Pricing seems to be a blurry thing for people to seize correctly...

Cheers,

Daniel.
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Magnum1

12 years ago

I understand the thought of using a low priced website offer as a way of getting your foot in door. However, a low priced offer should be a minimum of $299 or $399. Don't undervalue yourself. It will pay off in the long run.

For me, the clients you will get at $99 will be the clients you will regret getting later. You gave them something for almost nothing and that is what they will often be expecting on your next service you offer. Just what I have experienced.

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Aussieguy 12 years ago

I was seriously thinking of going down the route of offering free "decent" websites simply for hosting. I'm not 100% convinced either way that it's a good or a bad idea anymore, but it's definitely on the backburner, simply because, well, iAmNameLess pretty much sums it all up. Time is money. A decent website is worth something on its own, hosting aside.
And I can imagine someone picking up a free website (or cheap, $99 website) is going to cost you in time potentially.

Having said all that. There are a lot of businesses (thinking more of those working for themselves from home etc) and non-businesses (clubs of various kinds etc) that maybe wouldn't spend $500+ on a website that would actually welcome a $99 website (or free website, just hosting). And if those people are out there, that's a valid market.

Clients paying $99 a year for domain, hosting and a free website was as dirt cheap as I was thinking. Passive income from hosting looks nice, at least in theory. But having 1,000 clients is going to cause some headaches somewhere along the lines. I just tend to think at the moment that there are better "markets" to shoot for.

Anyway. Out of those people who will actually pay you the $99, some will end up costing you, some will be just fine, and some will have been willing to have paid 2,3,4,5 times that for the same thing.

A business mentor I worked with once said to me: "margin is everything" and I've never forgotten that. Not that people don't make money from high volume/low margin products and services. Many businesses follow that model. But this guy I worked with was adamant that, in general, the small business person is better off shooting for premium/higher margin. Have to remind myself of that sometimes!
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rbecklund

12 years ago

If you are starting out it understandable to keep prices low - I did it, but I learned that it doesn't work. We won't do a basic site for less than $500 anymore.

You have to be careful about underpricing, I did that with my SEO. I have a nice batch of clients that keep me very busy but I barely make enough money to get by on - it sucks! The people who pay the least are the most challenging to get payment from and to keep happy.

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DNChamp

12 years ago

I have now raised my prices by $200 and broke down more "add ons" so if they im right in the middle...not to cheap, not to high, but just enough to have them bite the bullet and get it done. Love everyones input on this and im working on adding it now to my site.....lets hope the best for everyone in 2012!

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RentItNow

12 years ago

I agree with iamnameless, $99 is way to low. I do have a $199 special just to grab people's attention and it works but rarely do i sell that package.

The thing I upsell them on is a "marketing plan" of which the first step is the website for $199 to $500. Then I tell them we are going to use google adwords credits to test headlines, offers, etc. Once something sticks we adjust all your flyers, signs, website, SEO everything to something that is now proven and likely "moneyball beyond" your competitors. They eat this "marketing plan" concept up even though they only wanted a cheap website. They can see the value (customers) on the backside of it.

Btw, after each step I review that marketing plan with them to get it in their head about spending money makes money...including paying me.

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I have no agenda but to help those in the same situation. This I feel will pay the bills.

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Deidra Renee

12 years ago

You can upsell them on pretty much anything. It doesn't have to be just specifically for that website. When I sell a website, I let them know I also do fanpages and see if they would be interested in that. You could do something similar.

You could charge for extra pages..for example: if your website is $200 for a home, services, and contact us pages..you could charge extra if they want an about us and/or customer testimonial page.

As far as pricing, it sounds crazy when you hear that people actually DON'T like paying a low price for things, but that's true! Of course, you will get some cheap-o's (lol) that don't want to pay for something expensive either, but that's part of the game. Even though it only takes you 20 min to put up the site..they don't know that, so you can still charge more.

When you go to McDonald's they don't tell you that because it only took 45 sec for them to *drop your fries*..they'll give you 4 free..so you don't have to give away your services either

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nepolianbutter

Banned 12 years ago

[DELETED]

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iThinkhard

12 years ago

I have tried a similar strategy and it does not work. I find it more powerful to offer a high price + a money back guarantee.

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gecko1

12 years ago

I think you have to figure out what model you want to do.

for free sites, there is a market but make sure that you control expectations,
let them know what they are getting with the free site. If the want more then
show them the other options like a $299 or $599.

But always think --> Residual! (hosting, seo, etc.)

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seomoney

12 years ago

Business owners believe "you get what you pay for" and they want something really good if not the best and they are willing to pay big bucks.

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marketman007

12 years ago

I am in the same market as you guys. Dmchamp amd I am nameless, having an seo business and doing websites as well.

Had the same train of thought, offer low end $500 websites, to build a client base to offer seo and ppc services too. We have even then set up our hosting to capture that extra income, but man was it a lot of work to get that all set up.

We are now in middle of marketing these $500 websites, so I cant comment on how its going as, we just figuring it our now.

I love how simply rent it now explains the marketing plan, its what we do as well, but I do find it hard work to keep taking the client back thru the same marketing plan. Thus I developed this image to tell/explain this story:

IWhat You Get

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Offering Web Design But How Much Is To Much

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