59 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
59 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

making websites for local businesses

by IMdude123
48 replies
I was thinking of making websites for some local businesses and charging about £200 per website and £5 p/m for hosting with a free domain name. I am thinking of getting reseller hosting with www.heartinternet.co.uk .

is what I am charging enough or too much?
has anyone had any experience with heart internet?

this would be my first time making websites for other people and my first business, any advice?


thanks.
#businesses #local #making #websites
  • Profile picture of the author MikeKey
    Being in the states you'd have to do some math conversion here. I used to do primarily websites over $2000.00 USD only. I kept passing up smaller money to do quality work.

    But then one day with a calculator and I figured I could spin off local websites of low quality with WordPress and make more money faster.

    I also figured out thru some experimentation the perfect price point most small business owners are willing to pay for a WordPress website customized and delivered to them. Hit, it's about the same for a average run of the mill PC laptop.

    The benefit being I spin websites faster now, and make more money. Orginally I'd be working on for example two websites for $2500.00 USD each. So that's about $5000.00. Problem is I'd get two deposits and I might be working on a website of this type for longer than a month.

    Now I'll spin about 8-10 websites a month and make that same 5K or more in less time.

    Most freelancers don't approach web design and development as a product. Change your thinking from service to product and you'll figure out how to build a cash cow.
    Signature

    Want to be rich? Here's the secret: SPEND LESS THAN YOU EARN.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5101888].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author ry6782010
      Originally Posted by MikeKey View Post

      Being in the states you'd have to do some math conversion here. I used to do primarily websites over $2000.00 USD only. I kept passing up smaller money to do quality work.

      But then one day with a calculator and I figured I could spin off local websites of low quality with WordPress and make more money faster.

      I also figured out thru some experimentation the perfect price point most small business owners are willing to pay for a WordPress website customized and delivered to them. Hit, it's about the same for a average run of the mill PC laptop.

      The benefit being I spin websites faster now, and make more money. Orginally I'd be working on for example two websites for $2500.00 USD each. So that's about $5000.00. Problem is I'd get two deposits and I might be working on a website of this type for longer than a month.

      Now I'll spin about 8-10 websites a month and make that same 5K or more in less time.

      Most freelancers don't approach web design and development as a product. Change your thinking from service to product and you'll figure out how to build a cash cow.
      When you say "spin" websites (8-10), do you mean you use like Reseller hosting to do this with templates, or, do you code them/design them by yourself for businesses and such?..
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5102737].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author MikeKey
        Originally Posted by DavidSimpson View Post

        IMO you are charging too little for your services.
        That really kind of depends. I broke my business up into two successful business models. The average small local business owners in the US are cheap. They want things now and fast. And you spend a ton of time arguing with them to buy a website. So I came up with low cost packages for cheapo's. And most pick my middle package for $599.

        However I still do a number of larger projects that are typically being billed over 2K.

        There are two types of business owners, those who want a website but don't care and don't want to spend money.

        Then there are the business owners who know how important their website is, and want to spend money.

        IMO, service both types.

        Originally Posted by ry6782010 View Post

        When you say "spin" websites (8-10), do you mean you use like Reseller hosting to do this with templates, or, do you code them/design them by yourself for businesses and such?..
        I have a two DV's with MediaTemple (VPS) I do fast install WordPress sites, client gets one Premium WordPress Theme, minor customization, basic configuration, plugins installed, 1 yr web hosting.

        Code/Designing things myself wouldn't be worth my time unless I was charging $1000 min to start.

        Here's the thing, there are a lot of people that are fine with customized templates. And I spent 2 1/2yrs trying to be a designer, improving my talent. And ignore people who just wanted to spend $600 bucks on a fast website.

        There is a whole market of jobs you can get finished in 72hrs. Best part is if you streamline this enough and brand it, you can potentially automate/outsource the whole thing.

        I'm actually about to launch a brand new site under this method come Jan and turn my business portfolio into landing page to call me if you want more.

        It depends on your goals really. You can chase the big jobs, but once you get over that $1000 price point, things get serious. People start having certain expectations, etc. (Unless you enjoy ripping people off and delivering $500 goods for $2000, then by all means)

        I like the idea of people showing up, purchasing a website package, paying up front, and then giving them a website within 72hrs. Bam, done.

        And if you're hosting them, they'll be spending money with you down the road. And they may spend money to upgrade to custom designs later.

        Ok, so hopefully my gibberish makes sense.
        Signature

        Want to be rich? Here's the secret: SPEND LESS THAN YOU EARN.

        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5104445].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author IMdude123
    thanks, I'm just wondering if the hosting is too low because I have seen other people say to offer upto about £30 p/m for hosting.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5102019].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author DavidSimpson
    IMO you are charging too little for your services. If you can build a direct response website for a local business and help them drive traffic to it.....and let's say you get them 1 new customer per week at $1000 per customer........that's 4k per month.....and 48K per year at only 4 new customers per month. Any smart business owner would be willing to pay much more for an ROI like that.

    Even if you are just building the website and not helping them drive traffic. Just call a local website design company and ask them how much they would charge for a basic custom designed website. I think this will be eye opening to you.

    Also check out Hostgator for a reseller account, great pricing and they have excellent tech support which you will probably need at some point. I also know many people that use them and are very happy with them.

    You may want to be careful purchasing domain names for businesses.....it may be easier just to give them your affiliate link to GoDaddy or someplace similar and have them buy it themselves.

    To add to the last person's response - Check out the book Built To Sell by John Warrillow.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5102029].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author bamram145
      Banned
      [DELETED]
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5110081].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author robnoble
        I've just spent a year doing this kind of business.

        I charged £250 for a basic 3 page wordpress website plus £150 a year ( annual is much better than monthly - you don't want to be tracking monthly payments) to include updating wordpress (click the update link!) - anything over 3 pages was £50 a page.

        It's easy to get clients and then to cross sell to things like SEO work for better Google rankings (dentists are great for this - I did videos, press releases and backlinks)

        My main method was looking for businesses just under the first page for Google local search results and then phoning them up saying I knew why they weren't on the first page and that I could get them there. I would convert 1 to 2 businesses for every 10 phone calls. I charged £95 to set up their Google places listing properly and get them a few key citation listings ( there are plenty of products, blog posts and WSO's that can teach you this if you don't already know)
        I would then explain that the Google ranking for their website influenced the local search ranking and was an important lead getter in it's own right. This would most times lead to a new website and then, as I said, SEO work.

        I got a lot of referal business as well from this - one antique centre had 25 dealers and I eventually got 4 other orders from them plus the intitial order for the centre.

        You have to be prepared for a lot of questions, requests for minor changes, a lot of explanation on how to use wordpress and the patience of jobe but it's a living!

        My pricing wass low compared to established web designers but of course once your running fully you should start raising prices and being more picky about your clients but I'm getting out and going back to online marketing for myself which is what I was doing before Google slapped me silly!

        Hope this helps and good luck
        Rob
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5110574].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Peeps66
          Originally Posted by robnoble View Post

          I've just spent a year doing this kind of business.

          I charged £250 for a basic 3 page wordpress website plus £150 a year ( annual is much better than monthly - you don't want to be tracking monthly payments) to include updating wordpress (click the update link!) - anything over 3 pages was £50 a page.

          It's easy to get clients and then to cross sell to things like SEO work for better Google rankings (dentists are great for this - I did videos, press releases and backlinks)

          My main method was looking for businesses just under the first page for Google local search results and then phoning them up saying I knew why they weren't on the first page and that I could get them there. I would convert 1 to 2 businesses for every 10 phone calls. I charged £95 to set up their Google places listing properly and get them a few key citation listings ( there are plenty of products, blog posts and WSO's that can teach you this if you don't already know)
          I would then explain that the Google ranking for their website influenced the local search ranking and was an important lead getter in it's own right. This would most times lead to a new website and then, as I said, SEO work.

          I got a lot of referal business as well from this - one antique centre had 25 dealers and I eventually got 4 other orders from them plus the intitial order for the centre.

          You have to be prepared for a lot of questions, requests for minor changes, a lot of explanation on how to use wordpress and the patience of jobe but it's a living!

          My pricing wass low compared to established web designers but of course once your running fully you should start raising prices and being more picky about your clients but I'm getting out and going back to online marketing for myself which is what I was doing before Google slapped me silly!

          Hope this helps and good luck
          Rob
          Are you saying that this may be less workable now that Google have changed things?
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5120915].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author robnoble
            @peeps66

            No,but where as before you could get a local company ranked pretty easily in the local search results with just a few citations, a couple of reviews and optimising the places page - now the ranking of the website also play a larger part.
            But then ranking the website is important to pick up keywords without a local business results box in anyway.
            Of course this is a lead in to getting more business. As I said I would start with ranking for local search to prove myself and get a foot in the door and then explain to them the need to also get their website ranking better - it's just even more important now than it was then!

            Hope that's clear

            @imdude
            I'm sorry, but that is a rubbish idea, I really wouldn't go down that path, you need to up your game. Giving away free web design just for a couple of dollars a month hosting commision is a route to poverty and you'll just mark yourself out as valueless.
            I'm not saying not to go the offline/web design route, just to be aware that it needs work and at first you have to accept a lower rate (but way higher than free!!)
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5121595].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author ttrance
      cool little thread this is...
      I want to add to the quality:

      I'm doing similar to work except I've been working in 2 totally different areas of the world. I was successful closing a Mega Corporation (o2 Telephonica - German Division) to create a facebook app. I got the job from someone in my community who I guess runs a very high end consultancy company.

      They were easy to deal with, except a big corporation has a huge amount of people fighting for power, so often you get duplicate or contradictory requests. Sometimes there are little wars in the company, with various VP's fighting to have their strategy implemented, so when you are 70% done a project, they suddenly want to review it and possibly completely change the app but remain within budget...

      I mention this only because I never really planned to get into facebook app design for our company, but such an opportunity could not be turned out. We ended up with a good relationship but I'm not targetting that area so we are not pushing for some new type of development. What I learned from this is that the best thing is to start very general, and as you gain clients and perfect certain areas, try to focus on getting more work related to whatever your starting to excel at. Because 1,2,3 years down the road, you want to not just have basic experience level with a lot of stuff, but instead you need to carve yourself as expert in atleast one area to gain that recognition.

      So fast forward since that one client now I'm focusing on my main client who runs a bunch of businesses and has done virtually no Internet Marketing. We are building out some serious campaigns and even had a competitor call to threaten her practice because we used the word "best" in some adwords copy. So I removed it. Focusing on the elements you are best at, allows you to really impress the client and open the doors to try new things...

      Now we are looking to get into some videos. Possibly start small, but eventually this client does TV ads and we would be able to maybe test out our ads and see if they are well received... A new opportunity I never would of thought of! But does it fit with the overall theme of IM? Yes. Video is natural, because TV is part of everyones lives, so naturally as we can figure out the most 'comfortable' way to do it - Video is going to become much more effective at creating a good message than some text.

      Get out there and do.

      About finding new clients, well thats a tough one for everyone at first. You need to tell your friends everyone you know, that you are doing this awesome thing and it really gives value to people and their companies, eventually someone will throw you a bone, and without knowing - others will watch. You must perform well. Then others will give u a try as well... Thus it goes.

      Right now I'm in Toronto Canada, working with a well known company here, but not many other bites... Once we have the new websites up, and our ads are everywhere and this company gets the results we are aiming for... The company will speak about how we came in and successfully did what we said, people will see the site.. The community will hear about her successful little endevour and want it for themselves...

      This is how it goes
      Signature

      Proudly free of signature promotions since 2001!

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5114134].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author IMdude123
    I just think getting other people to host with me would 1 be easier for the customer (they get their website live without having to sign up and get confused about all the different plans) and 2 it will give me money monthly instead of a 1 off payment for referring them to a website like hostgator. I also think it would be better because I do all the work and they just have to sit back and have their website without them having to go an a pc.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5102079].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author DavidSimpson
    That is what I was referring to with a "reseller" hosting account with them.

    I was only referring to "domain names" for getting them to purchase themselves.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5102088].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author IMdude123
    oh ok, the only problem I have is that the hostgator reseller is Disk Space: 120 GB
    Bandwidth: 1000 GB and for the same price on heart internet it is all unlimited. how many website do you think I would be able to host on that hostgator plan (silver) without going over the limit? thats my only concern.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5102110].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author DavidSimpson
    Much more than you probably think.....you may want to go to hostgator and click on their chat support and talk to them about it.....and compare the two.

    Unless your hosting websites that get tons of traffic you should be ok.......I would imagine this would be the same for any hosting in that price range.

    I can't comment on the other company as I have never used them before.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5102356].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author rooze
    There are big differences between working with local clients and getting design orders over the web.
    You'll spend a lot more time educating your local companies on Internet commerce and protocol. They won't have the same level of understanding as those companies who go online for services.
    You'll be hitting up smaller mom and pop stores and trying to convince them it's the right thing to do, then, when they buy into it, they'll have questions, lots of questions.

    Personally I'd charge $499 and throw in a years pre-paid hosting. You can get a LOT of these small sites in a Hostgator account so I wouldn't worry about that.
    Then have a few service add-ons to try and get residual income. SEO, eCommerce setup and management services, etc.

    200GBP is too low for a face-to-face service IMHO
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5102393].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Global Warrior
      Hi

      Might be better to give the customers a list of services to with pricing for "modules"

      A) Website: Fixed cost
      B) Facebook page: Per month
      C) Driving local traffic Per Month

      Etc etc and then let the owner decide what modules they want

      Just a thought. Local is going to be really big.

      Good Luck

      GW
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5102467].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author IMdude123
    ok thanks for all the advice so far everyone it is really appreciated. anyone have any opinions on how much I should charge for hosting?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5102461].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author IMdude123
    ahhh, good idea. I never thought about making them facebook pages, thanks.

    I remember hearing somewhere the person who runs the facebook page for the british government gets like £40k a year (i doubt I would be able to make that much for making facebook pages lol)
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5102493].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Nathan2525
    Originally Posted by IMdude123 View Post

    I was thinking of making websites for some local businesses and charging about £200 per website and £5 p/m for hosting with a free domain name. I am thinking of getting reseller hosting with Reseller Hosting, Web Hosting, VPS & Dedicated Servers | Heart Internet .

    is what I am charging enough or too much?
    has anyone had any experience with heart internet?

    this would be my first time making websites for other people and my first business, any advice?


    thanks.
    Hey,

    My tip would be not to become a web designer.

    You will find it hard to build wealth selling your time for
    money.

    It would be a better strategy to focus on reseller SEO to businesses.
    That way you can get recurring commissions and it's not different
    to selling websites, however it's much more profitable.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5102620].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author MattVit
      Originally Posted by Nathan2525 View Post

      Hey,

      My tip would be not to become a web designer.

      You will find it hard to build wealth selling your time for
      money.

      It would be a better strategy to focus on reseller SEO to businesses.
      That way you can get recurring commissions and it's not different
      to selling websites, however it's much more profitable.
      And why couldn't he resell Websites? You're wrong about SEO being more profitable, not sure where you pulled that from, because you can offer SEO with Web development, thus making Web development more profitable by default.
      Signature

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5104713].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author IMdude123
    what do you suggest I sell for seo? backlinks? reports? is it worth getting something like senuke and starting a backlinking service? at the moment I just want to start making some money instead of just reading about how to do it.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5102656].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Nathan2525
      Originally Posted by IMdude123 View Post

      what do you suggest I sell for seo? backlinks? reports? is it worth getting something like senuke and starting a backlinking service? at the moment I just want to start making some money instead of just reading about how to do it.
      Find a good SEO reseller company and add a margin.

      You want to sell the business on Traffic and Page 1 rankings.

      If it costs you $600 charge the business $1200 and you take
      the recurring commissions.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5102696].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author IMdude123
    ok thanks, can you recommend anyone?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5102723].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Nathan2525
      Originally Posted by IMdude123 View Post

      ok thanks, can you recommend anyone?
      I use SEOPartner.com/x

      There awesome and Im getting fantastic results
      for my clients.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5102765].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author rhinocl
        Think about how many updates to a site you want to include with the hosting. Too many included updates can kill you.
        Signature
        cheap search engine optimization
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5102831].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author CourageIncorporated
        Originally Posted by Nathan2525 View Post

        I use SEOPartner.com/x

        There awesome and Im getting fantastic results
        for my clients.
        Can you talk more about this? Somebody recommended SEOPartner and I'd like to know more details about ranking and traffic changes.

        Thanks!
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5179200].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Nathan2525
          Originally Posted by CourageIncorporated View Post

          Can you talk more about this? Somebody recommended SEOPartner and I'd like to know more details about ranking and traffic changes.

          Thanks!
          I have a client who now has six packages sending
          £2,500 per month but we are now turning over over 1 Million.

          The results we get are awesome.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5179539].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author jgant
    It all depends on your long-term business goal.

    If you want to have hundreds or thousands of business owners paying you $10 to $25 per month for hosting, then build sites for less to get the recurring hosting fees.

    If you'll be writing content and sales copy, the rate is FAR TOO CHEAP.

    If you're looking to upsell clients with expensive SEO services, video markting, and other marketing services, then low-cost websites is a way to get upsell opportunities.

    For example, I know a web design company that charges $10K for a site (copy included), but they have a network of hundreds of clients in a single industry. Your site receives links from all the other sites which helps with SEO pretty quickly. They charge $500/mo. in addition to the $10K up front cost. They charge a ton because of the SEO benefit.

    Another business model to consider (this is what I do and I've considered all the above) is you retain ownership of the site and promote the business. You earn by referral fees. Every customer the business gets from your site, you get a commission. This way you charge nothing up front to the business and believe me, you'll be motivated to make the best site possible and do the best SEO possible because you'll want to earn commissions.

    At the end of the day, think about what your long-term business plan is and how you can earn premium dollars. Simply churining out sites for $200 to $500 with no long-term plan isn't that great of a business model (except it does get you cash quickly - which is a good temporary fix).

    Think about what you really like doing. Is it SEO? Plan an huge SEO upsell business. Is it designing custom sites? Then move in that direction. Affiliate marketing? Own the site and generate leads and sales.
    Signature
    How I hit $10,000+ per month very fast w/ 1 niche blog - Click Here to learn more (no opt-in).
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5103167].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author MikeKey
    I should just add that I'm incredibly lazy. I could charge a ton and spend months working with clients to develop 6K websites. I'm building a Magento site now and I'll be doing a lot more than designing it.

    And really I just want a fast method of selling websites.

    I'm on IM forums because I've been exploring ideas of turning basic web developer/designer services and turning them into products people buy on the fly.

    So yeah, lazy.

    Try freelance for a couple years and you'll have plenty of days you hate all the hand holding that goes on. Unless you can break into the larger market of working with large companies.

    Me personally, I lack that talent at the moment, so cheap people are my shortcut to more income.
    Signature

    Want to be rich? Here's the secret: SPEND LESS THAN YOU EARN.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5104470].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author cleanerupper
      Originally Posted by MikeKey View Post

      I should just add that I'm incredibly lazy. I could charge a ton and spend months working with clients to develop 6K websites. I'm building a Magento site now and I'll be doing a lot more than designing it.

      And really I just want a fast method of selling websites.

      I'm on IM forums because I've been exploring ideas of turning basic web developer/designer services and turning them into products people buy on the fly.

      So yeah, lazy.

      Try freelance for a couple years and you'll have plenty of days you hate all the hand holding that goes on. Unless you can break into the larger market of working with large companies.

      Me personally, I lack that talent at the moment, so cheap people are my shortcut to more income.
      How do you get your name out there? Is it all word of mouth at this point, or do you actually go into each business and give them a proposal?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5105050].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author IMdude123
    I know this might make me sound a bit stupid but can someone lay it out step by step of how I could go about making and selling the websites, hosting and then up selling?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5105850].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author copywriter
      Originally Posted by IMdude123 View Post

      I know this might make me sound a bit stupid but can someone lay it out step by step of how I could go about making and selling the websites, hosting and then up selling?
      PM Me. I have been doing just that for 12 years. Most people dont have a clue what to do (Even the ones who struggle along week to week trying to do it) I'll be happy to speak with you on Skype and share a few ideas that work in the real world.
      Signature

      Unique Facebook Group Reveals How to Explode Your Influence http://www.facebook.com/groups/lawofinfluence

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5319601].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Allan Leadbetter
    your price should also be dependant on how many pages they want for their website, also I agree that hostgator reseller package is a good one. Good luck
    Signature

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5105878].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author JieLim
      Just a suggestion, but one thing you should absolutely do, is collect testimonials from your clients. This will really really boost your credibility and make it so much easier to get new clients. If you can, even get audio testimonials or video testimonials. Doesn't have to be very fancy, you could even use the video recorder on your phone if you have it. With testimonials, you can definitely charge higher prices.

      Jie
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5106492].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author fetamy
    You can further make domains and charge for them. Price should be charged of allocated space to a domain and time period. A better option to offer hosting with low cost but with long term basis.
    Signature
    VAT training course | payroll training seminars
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5106596].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author IMdude123
    ok so how does this sound:

    1. £200-£500 for a basic wordpress website. £1,000+ for a fully custom coded site.
    2. hosting for £5-£20 p/m with free domain
    3. £1,000-£5,000 p/m for SEO
    4. £50 for facebook page.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5108684].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author robnoble
      Originally Posted by IMdude123 View Post

      ok so how does this sound:

      1. £200-£500 for a basic wordpress website. £1,000+ for a fully custom coded site.
      2. hosting for £5-£20 p/m with free domain
      3. £1,000-£5,000 p/m for SEO
      4. £50 for facebook page.
      Just saw this...

      You would have to be incredibly convincing to charge£1,000 to £5,000 pm for SEO work - with some major case studies under your belt.

      Most I got was £500 pm from a dentist after getting him to the top of several keywords for local search. If you can get £1,000+ then all power to you and perhaps you could let me know and I might get back into the offline business!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5110610].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
      Originally Posted by IMdude123 View Post

      ok so how does this sound:

      3. £1,000-£5,000 p/m for SEO
      .
      Are you smoking crack?
      Signature

      nothing to see here.

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5121561].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author robnoble
    Also - I have a Hostgator reseller account for client and my hosting and I recommend them. The live chat for support is very good.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5110584].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author rooze
    Read Rob Noble's 3 back-to-back posts above. All your questions are answered in those posts.
    You can't charge high for SEO unless
    a - you have a proven track record and/or references
    b - you're just a great schmoozer who could sell sand to Arabs

    Rob also confirms what I said in an earlier post, that selling 'local' involves a lot of communication. You'll get lots of 'newbie' type questions and you'll need to allocate more time to each project, way beyond the actual design time.
    The beauty is that many of these local clients will stick with you for years and years if you look after them at the start. It's an investment that's well worth it if you're planning to make this a career.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5114335].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author copywriter
      Originally Posted by rooze View Post

      The beauty is that many of these local clients will stick with you for years and years if you look after them at the start. It's an investment that's well worth it if you're planning to make this a career.
      I couldn't agree more! I have a friend on the Gold Coast whose 14 year old kid came home from school about 8 years back and announced: "Guess what Dad? I learned how to build websites today!"

      In reality he learned how to write 'Ben is Cool' on a simple Front Page Template.

      Anyway, my mate went out the next day and sold THOUSANDS of Dollars worth of Websites to local business owners. Today they rake in $37,000 a month in hosting (and they still churn out very basic looking websites.

      Can you imagine the impact that must have had on a 14 year old?

      Most people just don't get it though. The local market is all about creating a serious, long-term business.
      Signature

      Unique Facebook Group Reveals How to Explode Your Influence http://www.facebook.com/groups/lawofinfluence

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5319648].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author IMdude123
    thanks for all the advice everyone. I'm starting to think it will involve more work than I thought. I guess maybe making really simple websites with wordpress and giving them away for free when someone signes up through my hostgtor affiliate link might be an easier way to get some money quickly.

    I've only made about £300 online so far and want to start making some big money. thank you all for the great advice.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5120454].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author iwmminc
    Check out Thirty Minute SEO on this forum. It's a great course on starting a seo business, I am new to this whole seo business but this course put it all into perspective and gave me a great start....Good Luck
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5179846].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Kezz
    Firstly, I just want to say that steady freelance work is a great stepping stone to more efficient and profitable business models. Yes, you won't build endless wealth doing it, but you'll certainly be able to leverage your position into a place where you can.

    Secondly, and this is based of years of successful freelance web design, sometimes a lower price range is actually more profitable than a higher one.

    I found there is a "sweet spot" with pricing.

    If you go too low you'll not be making enough to be worth it.

    But if you go too high, you'll get clients that want to consume too much of your time with phone calls, meetings, consultations and so on, and you then end up making less money because of all the extra time that has to be put in.

    If you go somewhere in the middle you can get a really efficient process going where you're well paid for your time, but your projects run very quickly and smoothly.

    The key is that your service offering has to be efficient.

    The thing you want to avoid at all costs is doing custom quotes. If you do custom quotes for people you will quickly find that at least half your time goes unpaid, spent trying to scope an endless array of requests.

    Instead, it is far better to offer a set "off the shelf" service where your clients know exactly what they are getting and they can just hit the "buy" button.

    You know exactly what you are giving, so when an order comes in you collect the required information and produce the project quickly, easily and smoothly.

    Your clients will then love you because they'll get exactly what they asked for, and they'll get it quickly.

    And you'll be doing great because each job will run efficiently, causing you very little stress or friction, and due to that you can make your actual hourly rate quite solid.

    So I say your initial pricing model is just fine. But the proviso is to make it work you have to get that efficiency happening.


    P.S. I'd leave out the hosting as the time you'll have to spend helping people setup their email accounts will eat up your monthly fee (trust me on that one).

    You'd be better off setting them up with hosting on their own account, but through your affiliate link. Then the support is up to the hosting company, and you'll get a much larger initial payment.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5180565].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Matthew Shelton
      Originally Posted by Kezz View Post


      P.S. I'd leave out the hosting as the time you'll have to spend helping people setup their email accounts will eat up your monthly fee (trust me on that one).

      You'd be better off setting them up with hosting on their own account, but through your affiliate link. Then the support is up to the hosting company, and you'll get a much larger initial payment.
      This is a great tip, thanks Kezz. It can be very wearing to be doing that kind of support. Plus I believe hostgator has some pretty good signup commissions.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5183648].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author IMdude123
    so I think I might start doing this in the new year. here is my price plan. how does it sound?

    website
    1-3 pages - £250
    4-10 pages - £500

    hosting
    £120 a year and a free domain name

    SEO
    £50-£250 a month (reselling)

    facebook page
    £50 set up then £25+ a month for maintenance

    for the first few clients I will offer the websites at a discounted price to get a portfolio and then I will be able to charge more to other clients once they have seen the good work I have done.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5314845].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author blaugrana
    how everyone can charge over 200 bucks for website design ? how to get the client ? i'm really struggle to get client via email but i can't get one
    Signature
    The Best Binary Options Robot

    $9,711.09/day from Auto Binary Signal
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5314927].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author martyJames
    Hi All - i am interested to know how you get your clients initially

    At $10 CPC adwords has not been that effective and direct mail is so so..

    Cheers

    Marty
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5319396].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author noangel
    If you are using a .mobi site for your client then hosting could be justified.
    However, a m. domain is more popular and apparently more loved by Google
    and since it is only a re-direction from the hosting they are already paying
    for on their main site, why would, or should, they pay for it twice?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5319584].message }}

Trending Topics