14 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
14 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Offliners : Website critiques, do you do them? Need some help.

by jrod014
12 replies
Hey everyone,

I was planning to do some free website critiques for some local businesses BUT I started thinking. What if they took the information and told their "other web guy" what I said and don't end up going with my services.

Has anyone else had this issue? Am I just paranoid?

I look forward to your replies.

Jerry
#critiques #offliners #website
  • Profile picture of the author Mary Green
    They might just do it themselves after getting a few of your ideas. It's a chance we all take when offering free consultations and such. I have thought of it myself before and what I do is give them some of the information, like what I would do with their design. If they are interested after I choose a couple of things I offer more information until I have the sale.

    Hope this helps.

    Mary
    Signature
    Free Guide- 52 Time Saving Social Media Tools on Social Media Fuze
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2228348].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author RockstarBen
      The key is overload. Don't hold back. It has been our policy to basically give away the farm, the formula, and everything between. Guess what? Those who decide to attempt it themselves are going to do it anyway, no matter what you do... Those who hire you will hire you because they see you as a trusted advisor and because they understand the value of outsourcing it to you. Trust me, this works wonders. I know how to mow my lawn, but I'd rather have someone else, who is an expert, do it for me - and I'll happily pay for it - same for your clients - they will pay you to do what you do best!

      People spend a lot of energy trying to sell everyone. Do you know what the size of your prospect list really is? One! What I mean by that is this, if you really know your one perfect, qualified client, your energy will be spent on getting them to buy into you. By overwhelming them with all the great things they can do, you will simply create the impression that "this is a lot of f-ing work! Perhaps I am better off just paying you to do it..."

      On another note, we do website critiques in Austin, Houston, and San Antonio - they are phenomenal in attracting new business. The key is, we never try to sell, ever. We are there to help and the result is - the business owners (our "one's") call us.

      All the best!
      --Ben
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2228398].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author jrod014
        Originally Posted by SheriffBen View Post

        The key is overload. Don't hold back. It has been our policy to basically give away the farm, the formula, and everything between. Guess what? Those who decide to attempt it themselves are going to do it anyway, no matter what you do... Those who hire you will hire you because they see you as a trusted advisor and because they understand the value of outsourcing it to you. Trust me, this works wonders. I know how to mow my lawn, but I'd rather have someone else, who is an expert, do it for me - and I'll happily pay for it - same for your clients - they will pay you to do what you do best!

        People spend a lot of energy trying to sell everyone. Do you know what the size of your prospect list really is? One! What I mean by that is this, if you really know your one perfect, qualified client, your energy will be spent on getting them to buy into you. By overwhelming them with all the great things they can do, you will simply create the impression that "this is a lot of f-ing work! Perhaps I am better off just paying you to do it..."

        On another note, we do website critiques in Austin, Houston, and San Antonio - they are phenomenal in attracting new business. The key is, we never try to sell, ever. We are there to help and the result is - the business owners (our "one's") call us.

        All the best!
        --Ben
        Thanks Ben! That's some good advice. Right now I'm getting clients on a word of mouth basis. I've been showing them my SEO success based on my affiliate websites and the small business owners see the income and traffic I'm receiving and relate it toward their own business and see the potential. So far, so good. My clients are happy.

        Now I want to branch out and gain more clients and I feel the website critique would be ideal for pulling in more clients. I'll put what you said into practice.

        Thanks again,

        Jerry
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2228520].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author MarkAndrews IMCopywriting
    [DELETED]
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2228776].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author netkid
      Jerry, I am doing several website critiques per week AND I don't give the complete list that I generated that they need done. I tell them here is at least "x" things that need work, if you are interested in letting me help you, I can hand you my complete list along with what I will be doing to help you....

      They would need to sign my contract first before I will start the work.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2228797].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author RockstarBen
        My pleasure to help! When we do ours, we do it seminar style with about 10-20 business owners and charge $20 per head. Remember, when they pay, they "pay attention!" We will put their website up on the projector and mastermind with the rest of the business owners, adding in our technical expertise and educate them on best practices and "room for improvement..."

        This stuff is easy - have fun with it!
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2228805].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author ryanmberg
          I don't think the risk of them taking your advice and implementing it themselves is very high. Not only do most people have no clue how to implement it, a business owner is already working a ton of hours a week just running their business. They don't have the time.

          And I think them taking your analysis to their existing web guy isn't something you should worry about either. If that person or company was offering the same services, they'd probably already have tried to sell the business owner on them.

          I think the biggest thing is making sure you're communicating what everything in your analysis means to their bottom line in terms of new people coming in, increased sales, increased profits, etc.

          I'm just getting started with some offline consulting stuff. Getting some social media pages pre-ranked for a few different local markets now. That way I can go in with a lot more leverage and proof, and give them instant gratification when they sign up by promoting their biz from the pre-ranked social media site. I think the positioning is much better and the sales will be a lot easier to close. But it takes time to get the sites ranked which is frustrating because I'm pretty new to SEO and want things to happen over night =)

          Ryan
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2228919].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author jrod014
        Originally Posted by netkid View Post

        Jerry, I am doing several website critiques per week AND I don't give the complete list that I generated that they need done. I tell them here is at least "x" things that need work, if you are interested in letting me help you, I can hand you my complete list along with what I will be doing to help you....

        They would need to sign my contract first before I will start the work.

        PM sent. I look forward to your reply.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2228875].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author jrod014
      Originally Posted by MarkAndrews IMCopywriting View Post

      Hello Jerry

      I have this feeling that Kevin Lam's WSO and more importantly the videos on his WSO, might really help your business.

      He has a quite unique methodology in closing sales, one which I think you could take great advantage of.

      Have a look at it and let me know please what you think...

      http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...or-closed.html

      Okay so the WSO is closed now, however, the videos still have great relevance to your personal situation.

      Although closed (this WSO), you can still find out more about this software here...

      SEO Analysis Generator

      I hope this helps you out Jerry.

      All the best!


      Mark Andrews...
      Thanks Mark for the suggestion. The tool looks awesome. I might just add it to my arsenal.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2228870].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author MichaelHiles
    Well do what Eric Graham does and charge people for a website critique. That's his entire service as the "Conversion Doctor".

    Knowing what needs to be done is the premium experience/service.

    Web design is a commodity service that can be done by very cheap people.

    Giving away a premium service/knowledge as a vehicle to sell low margin commodity service doesn't seem like all that great of a strategy.

    But what do I know.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2228793].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author n00b
    The biggest benefit of doing critiques is setting yourself up as an expert. I wouldn't worry about them taking the information to their existing "web guy", if that guy is so great why did he create a site that has problems? That may be an issue if the site really is good and you just have a different take on things, but most local business sites that I've seen are so bad that it's clear whoever built it had no idea what they were doing.

    Don't worry about what they might do, just take action and then adjust as needed. Don't approach your business from a fear based mindset or you'll end up paralyzed. Besides, critiques are fun
    Signature

    Please checkout my 2 favorite non-profits:
    Help a third world entrepreneur through Kiva.org
    Give a kid the world at laptop.org

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2230015].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author jrod014
    What about video critiques? Has anyone had any success with them?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2244178].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author MarkR
      (For me) video is great, has a high close rate (when watched), but takes too much time to produce/distribute and is hard to get clients to watch it.

      I think the key here is to tell them 1) what's wrong with their site (generic like rankings, traffic, interface, etc.) and 2) what the impact will be if those problems are fixed (like more traffic, more leads, better user experience, etc.), but don't tell them HOW to fix them. 'nuff said.
      Signature
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2244683].message }}

Trending Topics