Mock Ups
 

Hi,

I've been reading a lot, and people mention mock ups.

Now, I'm a little confused. Are these mock ups functional, or are they just screenshots? And how does one go about creating them? Mobilizer? I'm thinking people just create the homepage with the client's logo and some menu items and show that page to the client. Is that correct?

Thanks, any help would be appreciated.

Re: Mock Ups
 

I've seen people doing both and would say which method to use depends on how quickly you can set up a mockup or demo.

I work with a number of mobile templates purchased here, along with a mobile website creator, and can easily create take a working website for a certain niche and customize it with a prospects colors and logo in about 5 minutes or less. Personally I don't see the need to have to customize every page and do a full mobile site on spec for them, but think just having their logo and colors used along with a few buttons and a tap to call would be enough to get them really interested.

Along with and maybe even better than a mockup of their new mobile website, might be a comparison between their current site and a working site for a client you've done in the same industry and in the same area.

For example, show your restaurant prospect the site you did for the restaurant down the block and how that looks and functions compared to his current website, and odds are good just the fear of losing business to them will encourage him to buy. That fear of loss coupled with the social proof that someone else in their industry gave you their business is a pretty powerful combination.

Cheers,

Steve

Re: Mock Ups
 

Thanks for the detailed response. Appreciate it.

I'm still in the process of looking for potential clients. I'm still a full-time student, so only wanting to do this as a hobby/side-income sort of thing. I like web designing and although not an expert at PHP/HTML coding, I can get my way around easily. I see people talking about SMS alerts, hosting and maintenance, I hope these are not required to get a client because I am not too sure what these processes are.

Ta.

Re: Mock Ups
 

A mockup can be either screenshot images, or a full-blown working demo (the latter taking longer to create, of course). And usually just 1 or 2 pages... just enough so that the client can get a "feel" for what you're offering. And as Steve mentioned, it's always good to use the client's logo / colors from their existing website in the mockup.

SMS marketing = helping your clients manage their promotional text message campaigns (which is completely unrelated to creating mobile websites for them).

Hosting = the physical location (server) where the website "lives". One option is to use the client's existing webhost. But a better option (in my opinion) is to use your webhost for this. That way it's easier for you to maintain, and you can justify a small monthly fee for hosting/maintenance.

Maintenance = you making periodic changes to the website, at the clients request (ie updating some text, changing part of the design, etc). And if you use a CMS (ie WordPress), then you need to keep up to date with security patches, plugins, etc.

Re: Mock Ups
 

Will any client accept if I said I can't maintain their site in the future? That I can only create the mobile site and leave the files with them for what its worth?

SMS marketing seems too advanced and beyond what I want to do.

Re: Mock Ups
 

That would not be a very professional way to present yourself, in my opinion. Why would a client want to do business with you if they know that they can't depend on you to be there for them in the future? Most will not!

If that is how you want to operate your business, then you are going to be leaving an absolute TON of money on the table.

It's all about building and sustaining good relationships with your clients (<-- read that last sentence over and over again until it sinks in :)). If that's your primary focus, then you will succeed. If that's not your primary focus, then you will struggle. Trust me on that one.

If you don't want to maintain the sites yourself for whatever reason, then you can always pay someone to do it for you.

I don't know where you got that idea from, as there is nothing that's even the slightest bit "advanced" about SMS marketing. If you know how to point and click with a mouse, then you have all the skills you need! Seriously... you can sign up with a SMS provider and be sending out your first message within the span of a few minutes.

Do a search for "SMS" here on the forum... you'll find plenty of threads to give you ideas about how to pitch SMS services to business owners, and what to use for message copy, etc.

Re: Mock Ups
 

Good idea, never thought about outsourcing the job. Off topic, but does PayPal allow recurring payments? I'm guessing a monthly fee would be called for if they want regular maintenance? Or you reckon I should be charging only when an update is needed? <--- would be easier for me.

Okay, I will. I have no idea how SMS marketing works, so that could be the reason for my confusion.

Ta.

Re: Mock Ups
 

If you're not sure how long you'll be around to take care of your customers, I'd either outsource like Brandon suggested, think about maybe selling for someone else who's interested in developing a site long term, or if you just want to design - offer your services here or on other sites for others to outsource their web design jobs too.

Unfortunately, web designers can tend to be unreliable and stop servicing their clients for any number of reasons. Personally, I've worked with mostly smaller businesses and most of them don't have the need to update their websites regularly, and I always just charged them if and when they needed changes made. I use Wordpress for pretty much everything now so I teach those that want to know how to update their own websites.

As far as sms goes, I just stumbled on this site the other night and they offer some great videos explaining how that works SMS*Broadcasts | Tatango

They also go into more detail on just about everything to do with sms, much more so than any other company I've seen, so if you want to learn how it's done spend some time watching their videos.

Cheers,

Steve