thanks a lot, is helpful.

Dont try man!

Commit yourself! Its not as scary as it seems...in fact the journey is passionate and exciting...this is a good way to start and make money while you develop.

I did it from the very same place you are now...maybe not even as far as you are now!

You will develop more over time just like everyone else did... but you can start with this plan NOW, and it wont fail if you commit yourself to the process. I promise.

No need to be broke while you learn.

Just put your blinders on and forget all the bs around you and look forward. You can make money within a week, and start developing relationships with business owners, and they dont mind growing with you, trust me.

If you get stuck on your first html site, post here and I'll help you. Use the homestead program. It works, its simple for a newby, and the sites rank nicely.

Once again you dont see an affiliate link... no motivation here but to help, and give back because so much has been givin to me...and I started with nothing...not even a high school diploma.

10 years ago, it was just me...the exciting new warrior forum... and a dummy program...and we just all took it all the way together.

Guess what...its still just us...and I still use the dummy program...however much better than I used to, 100's of thousands of dollars later.

Note - Just in case someone tells you these homestead, or "template" sites are worthless...:

I would never show my own sites here because I made that mistake once and my clients started getting calls from 10 different people...But here are some examples from another designer who uses Homestead templates...the same simple program that any newby can use, the one the the "experts" would tell you isnt real web design.

These sites rank in both google places listings and also natural search rankings

1: Google (broad search) "Sarasota guitar lessons" or "guitar lessons sarasota" two competitive terms. you will see this site which was designed with a homestead template...yes you can even drag and drop video or whatever...even if you are a beginner. This is the site you will find at the top of the search rankings... http://www.guitarlessonssarasota.com/ YES it is a basic homestead site...

Now let me ask is this guys site valuable? Well its on top of google natural and also google places...what do you think?

Could any newby do this with a web for dummies program? Yes. can YOU? Yes. Do you need to be an expert? No.

2: Try googling "sarasota finish carpenter" another competitive term, or "finish carpentry sarasota" Yet again you will find that the top ranking sites are ones designed with a dummy program , my favorite one "homestead" thats made for newbies with no html knowledge or programming knowledge.
http://www.finishcarpentrysarasota.com/

Yet another "websites for dummies" homestead site that any newby could learn to design easily following a dummy tutorial. ranked on the top of both google places and also google natural listings...

Do you think this guy is getting business off his site? Of course, and making thousands of dollars per month Im sure...cabinets arent cheap.

Do you need to be a programmer to design this site?

No.

If you got paid $399 for this site and you didnt know how to create a google places listing for the client, could you pay sombody 50 -100 bucks to do it for you? Yes. Sorry experts, its true.

Can you figure out what keywords are obvious that your customer would want to rank for and place them in a predesigned template that says "put your keywords here" and automatically be meta tagged... YES YOU can. Alll you need is a dummy program ...you dont need to be a programmer or expert at coding... it shows you where the meta tag box is in the program and says "type your keywords here that you want this page to rank for".

You can do that.

I want to dispel the myth that you have to be an expert to get a business owner online and help them get ranked.

Is every site you create gonna be number one?

No but whose is?

If you dont know anything right now but how to open your email box and send an email, you can go to a site like homestead or others...and learn to design a website within 24 hours!

Will you get better with time just like everyone else? Yes.

Start NOW!!!!

You can do this with a template program from where you are right now, starting with the knowledge you have right now, and baby...the proof is in the pudding. Its self evident.

There are THOUSANDS of these basic sites designed with dummy programs that are ranking and the business owners are getting new customers off of them every day, and I dont care how new you are you can learn to do this and pick up a phone and call some business owners and make money helping them get online!

Its funny to know that half the people reading this are looking out for what my agenda is.

Just want to make a point and help some people... I know that not having an agenda is foreign to some... however... its just the way things ought to be when you have been given so much, you should give.

VERY obviously...my desire is not to convince you that I am an authority..because all the authorities are laughing at this post right now.

BUT...its true. You can do this with ZERO programming knowledge... and you arent worthless, and what you offer isnt worthless, the proof is right here.

Go get the dummy program and learn...watch the tutorials, and help some business owners...

You dont have to be an expert...just be YOU and start with this...and grow, and let your customers grow with you... and start NOW!!!!

Go! Do it!

You can!

Sure I like to sell a report here and there... but I also like to help people for no good reason sometimes, just because I have been blessed, and freely given to, so I want to freely give sometimes. Thats what this is about. You will remeber this and give too! pay it forward.

Offline may not be your goal... but if it is, and you feel intimidated, then be like I was, and like many others were, especially when the internet was new, and hardly anyone knew anything..., I wasnt a slave to any expert when I started out... it just made sense that if I tried some things I could figure it out... well I did...now Im showing you what I figured out. What didnt take years figure out, what can help you RIGHT NOW, without feeling intimidated just because others know more. Others are ALWAYS gonna know more... cant let it stop you. Put your blinders on, stick your head in the sand... look only at your dream, and "aspire" with dedication. Become fascinated by the process and dont despise your humble beginning.

Someday you will help someone, because they will know that you started the same way they did, and they will be inspired. Ignorant, intimidated because everyone else seems to know more... dont let it stop you...learn as you go and start out with the wonderful tools are all around that believe it or not were created for people JUST LIKE YOU!!!!

Now if your customer gets a decent website, and you get paid... and everyone is happy... DO YOU CARE IF ANYONE THINKS YOU ARE LESS THAN BECAUSE YOU ARENT A REAL PROGRAMMER?

As you can see... I dont! I can pick up the phone tomorrow and sell somebody a solid website and not charge nearly as much as my competitors and truly deliver value. SO CAN YOU!!!!!

Now I do work with web designers sometimes for real complicated stuff... but for a basic small biz website, you dont need to be complicated... when I work with a designer its because that way I can focus on sales... but I dont NEED to... whenever I want I can bust out my dummy program and produce a site just fine! Its not gonna be real flashy, though it might be more flashy than you'd expect from an ignorant hillbilly..., but it will make a business owner happy and it will be a great tool for their business, and they will love me for it.

You can do this guys! Dont procrastinate success...procrastinate procrastination instead. Get yourself a dummy program and learn how to do a small biz site, you can learn the rest along the way... then come back to the warrior forum and learn some cool stuff from the experts to add to your arsenol.

Dont stop to smell the roses, smell them while you are running with them in your hand!

Make some money!

I will give it a thought too

Chad,

Thanks for your thoughts, you are an awesome guy! Always uplifting! Lol. yeah I know Im gonna be a man with a mark on my head. lol

My own favorite web designer might even scold me for this one!

Back when the WF started this is how we rolled... people were less concerned with being considered an expert, and more concerned with learning together, and excited to share just for the sake of sharing. The internet, as was the WF was all new and exciting. I lurked more than participated then... and I had a different handle... but I LOVED this place and could wait to get home from "work" everyday to come here, just like many newbies now... so this just gives them something else to be excited about! the knowledge that they "can".


Get on the phone and ask some people if they need a website... the good ole fashion way thats worked for 15 years. Simple. Set an appointment to go talk to them.

I teach alot of techniques for that... but a few hours on the phone you could easily get in your groove and figure it out without buying any report.

Good luck.

Daryl, it's really quite easy. As John has described, just keep calling local businesses until you get business owners who are interested. It's not as hard as it seems, as it really is just a numbers game. Out of every 100 local businesses that you call, I don't think it'd be unreasonable to assume that you could close 1-2 of them on a website.

The issue here is that many people are afraid of calling, and typically call less than 50 businesses after which they call it a day, concluding that this surely cannot work. You have to make up your mind to do this (and not just "try"), and this means reserving your judgment about whether or not this will work and instead just bite the bullet and call over a hundred businesses swiftly and efficiently, without engaging in small talk especially with the business owners who aren't interested.

You want to bang out those phone calls as quickly as possible and get your first sale as swiftly as you can. Once you've acquired that all-important first sale, you're going to be much more motivated to keep calling - when you keep the momentum up like this, you'll find that it actually is pretty easy to get at least $1,000 per week selling simple websites just like what John mentions here!

Paul

go for very door in yr neiborhood and communities ,knock at the door,ask"may I help u?":rolleyes:like a little boy

cleaning the house,lawn、garden...

I'm just starting but I am about to get my third offline client by doing a HubPage about their business. I went into the shop, asked to speak to the owner, told them about the HubPage I was doing, asked if I could take a few photos for the HubPage. We chatted, I took photos, I sent them the HubPage link when I was done. Took a couple of hours.

Two things happened....

1. They sent the link out to everyone on their list and that HubPage got a lot of views, and I (with only a few HubPages created so far) now have a HubPage Accolade award on my profile.

2. One of the stores profiled in the HubPage is "thinking about" hiring me to re-do their website. All I need to do is go back and follow up. (that reminds me....note to self.....follow your own advice and follow up today!)

Now that I'm armed with this excellent and easy website creation tool, I'm going for it!

Thanks John for your help and encouragement.

You find TEN clients willing to pay you $100 each.

Or 20 that's willing to pay $50 each.

Good luck.

Great post John... that's for sharing and giving a proven idea for success...

Dude, Rome wasn't built in a day. Start slowly, but surely. There's no real "get-rich scheme" But there will always be "Try harder and be rich later"

As John and Paul said it does take work and determination however if you want to be a bit more efficient and not have to as much contacting, say the first 5 biz owners you commit to doing business with you, offer them say a 10% discount on the monthly retainer fee if they give you at least ten business referrals.

If you even have 3 biz owners do this for you that's thirty prospects which you didn't have to personally contact.

Indeed. and if they are an OFFLINE business, chances are they arent gonna jump up if you dont call on them!

You would be surprised at all the people who want to talk to someone just like you, and they dont want any big fancy parades... they just want to deal with a down to earth person who can get them online without alot of hassle.

You can be real and even say "Hey Im just starting, but if you will give me a shot I can build you a website for $300 and if you dont like it I will keep working on it til you do"... Seriously, you can do that... drop the sales crap and just TALK to them. Some people will trust you more just because they can see you're not that professional as a salesman.

You would be surprised how if you are just down to earth with people how many will talk to you.

You would also be surprised to know how many people are actually "turned off" because you are overly polished, or seem to concerned with looking like a big deal.

You know what? I cant count the times a customer said yes to me when I first started 10 years ago, and then told me later they only said yes because they admired me for calling and being motivated enough to go out and create my own business, even when I had problems working out their site... they knew I was sincere and they knew I really wanted to do well for them, and they were patient with me... some even told me that early on they knew I was a newby, but they just couldnt say no because they admired my effort in trying...

Hey, you will get all that along the way...and you will develop more as a professional as you go.

Can you get some business?

Im telling you absolutely yes you can... no doubt.

Ps. Thanks Paulie for your contribution, much like Chad I have never seen you when you werent encouraging or uplifting... and CORRECT, because a person who believes truly in OTHERS... they are correct. People like you and Chad encourage others to believe in themselves instead of just believing in YOUR self.

The truth is that people "can". Wow... I cant believe 11 years ago, I was literally afraid of a typewriter.

I was running a call center that sold websites... I knew the phone pitch, I knew how to telemarket...and could train others to say the pitch well... but you know what? I had no idea what I was talking about telling customers on the phone about lycos and hot bot and excite.... I was just saying the pitch.

I remember one morning after I got promoted... I was so nervous because I thought "my boss has no idea how ignorant I am at this internet stuff or he wouldnt have promoted me"... and he asked me to go around the room and turn on all the computers... I remember taking my friend to the side (at 30 years old) and telling him I was embarrassed, staring at the monitor looking for a button....because I didnt even know how to turn on the tower. lol

Today that same person (me) makes his ENTIRE living on the internet, and a pretty decent one.

When I finally learned from that same friend how to get on yahoo and surf...it was the most exciting time!

I know that sometimes people dont believe it, but some of these newbies are just as ignorant and intimidated as I was... and they have just as much potential.

So anyway, go order a dummy program and you will be able to design a website within hours...then grow from there. Yes a drag and drop newby html template program can be just as effective as any other site, once again the proof is in the pudding, and they were specifically designed to WORK for people just like you!!!!

In fact when I left that job a year later, me and my friend started a web design company that ended up doing 30 thousand per month, and we had pro web designers in our office who we paid 15 bucks an hour, but we made them use template programs so that if they ever walked out we could edit the sites ourselves and wouldnt be sunk, also we could easily train others the system if we needed to hire someone else in a hurry, and our customers LOVED their sites!

True story.

Hi John, thankyou so much for sharing this information it is very much appreciated, I will definitely have to try this.

John, I'm on your cheerleading team don't worry. But I may have to leave if the team colours clash with my hair.

On a serious note the idea is solid. Two things I'd like to bring up if I may though.

Years ago I used to make free sites for people. Mostly free (because I had sucker written on my head) but still it was ever so good experience. A few I did to gain experience and some I got paid for. YES people will pay for sites like these for sure but from the buyers perspective I'd like to just in-still some good customer service.

People think they can just stick up any old thing and it will do.

Most people reading this will totally be dedicated into doing a good job.

Last week my lil heart sank as I was shown by two different prospects the sites they'd purchased (for a lot more than what you specify here John). I witnessed what can only be called 'carnage in a browser'. Links not working, images not optimized and heavy...blah. Colour schemes that screamed 'web designer on acid' ...you get the picture. You all must know the kind of sites I mean.

So yes - site building like John said is a workable plan but read the tutorials and think if you'd be happy with the site you created.

I've been known to scrap a site completely if I think it looks like crap.

As for being a marked man John - did you mean from Web designers or anyone doing this who doesn't want anyone to know?

I'd say there is a market for all price brackets and it's a big world. No mark needs to be put on you for stating the obvious.

Go you!

V

Hey John - did you ever create that video?

Cheers pal - you are amazing...

Excellent post John and I for one am always keen to learn things that will make my life easier.

Even so I still believe that many people wont offer this site as a service because they will be frightened of approaching new customers. It's the ol' cold calling syndrome again.

I'd like to just offer one way of marketing this easy to build site service, it's not the fastest way to make money online but it works. It's not new, but it avoids having to do any cold calling.

Build the site like John says, but build it for yourself. The type of site you want to build will be one that lists local services in your area for example 'mytownemergencyplumbers.com', 'mytowntaxis.com' you know the type of thing.

Create some posts of keyword rich content relating to your subject. Now using all your skills with SEO, backlinking etc. get it to rank on the first page of Google.

Create a page with a form where business can add themselves to your directory for free including their website, so you can take a look at what they have.

Make the send button capable of sending you the form and at the same time redirect them to your paid services page where you offer to build them your easy site, get their own site ranked on the first page of Google, get them listed in Facebook, redesign their website etc.

Basically offer whatever packages you have available, and make it easy for them to contact you, including your phone number.

Using this method you wont have to worry about cold calling or finding customers, they come to you.

This type of site is similar to classified ad sites that let you post a free ad, and then redirect you to their upsell page for extra features.

Hope this helps anyone worried about cold calling.

NVM- I don't want to hijack John's thread.

Good info John.

Marcos

You are the most dedicated person I can think of Adam. You will do GREAT. You remind me alot of myself at your age actually.

On the quote above; the 1% makes up for it my friend.

When you make your work, not selling, but rather practicing the laws of the universe that never fail, you cant go wrong.

"My face they may reject, my mannerism they may despise, and even my BARGAINS may cause them suspicion, but my love will melt their hearts liken to the sun whose rays soften the coldest clay....and who is there who can say nay to me when their heart feels my love? If I have no other qualities than this... I can succeed with love alone. I will greet this day with love in my heart and I will succeed". ~ Og

Remember that on the phone... "give energy, and instead of take", and your successes will come almost effortlessly, without resistance, and you will feel great about it and help others along the way, instead of "selling" them.

Make your career being a master practitioner of giving, the receiving will take care of itself.

Thats all you have to do and your success will be drawn to you while many others chase theirs.

Thats one thing great about the WF...they teach you to give here.

You got this.

Its all good guys. If you read the second post... you'll see what I mean about the quality of these sites, and the placement...

Steve you have no idea how this blesses me... when I first read your email of your situation I actually made an hour long audio just for you... then I scratched it because I felt it was too passionate and it would freak you out, but I so related to you. I have had my back against the wall before, and I know what it takes to pull yourself out in those times, clock is ticking, count down...the fat lady is about to sing...then something in you rises up and says NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! YOU WILL NOT SING ON ME AND MY FAMILY!!!!

I knew you had it in you... and I was soooo hoping you would find that in yourself, and you did...without too much intervention actually, you pretty much just did it on your own with the info provided...and you did what you had to do! The walls didnt cave in on you, you found that great spirit inside of yourself, and like Samson... you werent going down without a fight!!!

If that phone were the "jawbone of an ass".... you slayed the whole philistine army with it!!!

Wow. what an inspiration!

Dude, many many props to you!

And thanks for the kind mention!

Wow man. This touches me, I am really humbled by your words. Congrats on the $1200 recurring.... Just dont ever look back man, now you know what you have inside.... I think you knew already though, and just needed an idea!

That's a great story man. I hope your son is doing better and everything worked out for you and your family.

Thanks for a great reply. I will give it a go.

This is an important point.

To some extent EVERYTHING is borrowed one way or another. The overwhelming majority of "custom" WordPress themes start as a free or possibly paid "developers license" theme that has the basic structure of the code and are then modified to the point that few if any would be able to tell, and then only by looking at the code itelf, not the page on the screen.

More advanced developers, ahemmm, have tool kits they work from. These tool kits have snippets (and even whole pages) of code that they've collected over time that they plug in as needed. Most of them also have a couple of "frameworks" to provide structure for the snippets.

Thing is, where do you think 90% of this code came from? Right, they saw something cool, and they borrowed it, then they altered it to suit their needs. It was useful and it went into the kit.

Smart coders DO NOT sit down with a blank screen and start typing until they have a complete website. That is INSANE, I know, I've actually done it a couple of times way back in the early 90's. It's slow, it's painful and it's error prone. It's also a horrible way to build a business.

If a template, theme, whatever is available, that is close to what you want, whether you are dragging and dropping or writing and plugging, starting from somewhere is always better than starting from nowhere.

"talent borrows, genius steals" ~ pablo Picasso
"Good writers borrow. Great writers steal." ~ Oscar Wilde
"The Mediocre borrow. Genius steals." ~ George Bernard Shaw

None of these men were talking about plagerism.

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Glad to help. I owe it to the forum. This place has been my greatest asset in 11 years... just returning the favor, and so nice now that there is a section that applies to my particular area, and other off liners.

Before they called it "offline marketing" ... I used to think of it as "hybrid"... not quite "IM" but not quite "brick and morter".

Now we have a term for it, and a section to discuss it!

Working on setting up the dl page now with Darren from High Impact Marketing. You may know him better from Graphics Genie. He's the guy I turn to when I dont know how to do something. Awesome person to work with.

If thats true thats awesome news! last time I spoke with my rep was a couple of months back, maybe 3...I have the "Business" package, and it costs 2.00 per month per domain.

Unlimited domains for 50 bucks is awesome though! I need to call my rep back! You may have misunderstood your rep though... the biz package starts out at $19.00 and you can add as many domains as you want... just adds 2 bucks per month each new client you take on.

I dont know how it would make sense for them to do that, but I'll call and find out thats for sure.

Hi

Wow thats a great little resellers pack.

Even if you only managed to get one customer a week for 50 weeks you would have them costing you $1 a month by the end of the year and the upside is $$$$.

Plus next years $$$$ are already forward planned.

Cool.

Regards

Bronwyn and Keith

Hostgator Does... I think it's $25 per month... But no big deal.

Hostgator also has a bunch of Website Templates ready to go in your CPANEL

This is a great idea for newbies.

Heres the Homestead link:

Web Hosting Software Packages For Your Website | Homestead

I wonder how it would work for Australian domains? (.com.au)

John -

Well said. If folks don't want to pay monthly, simply get an affiliate account with a host and have them go through you to get their hosting.

The other way I find clients is simply driving. Look around and see how many work trucks don't have a website listed. Google them and when nothing shows up, give them a call. I have had huge success with that.

Awesome post! One quick question...

Are you sure that Homestead has a reseller option? I cannot see it. I noticed the $19 business package, but it doesn't seem to be for those who want to resell web hosting.

Bogdan

I'm a previous Recruiter too- I know I have the sales/ admin skills necessary to get this 'job' done - How many times did your boss say:
"Here's this new software, figure it out and use it." Ha! Many times for me. Good Luck, Husker. I know you can do it!

Hey John,

This post is very informative! Thanks!

Hi John

Thank you so much for providing us with this valuable content. I had the same idea as Neil and have created some sites using kompozer as examples for business owners.

Now the big BUT -- I have not come this far to actually sell any sites etc, mainly because transfering all the files is one step above my skills

If I understood correctly with homestead we can build the sites,host it,have unlimited domains if you take the $50 package and no need for any transfers etc? If this is the case I am off to a great start cause I have some interested clients already.

I also want to know if people want to change there sites, do you do this or is there any option for them to have access to the admin(cpanel)?
Once we have many clients it might be difficult to keep up with everyone if they want changes.

Cheers
Werna

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!

Your advice worth much more than some WSOs....

Thank you man!!!

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Sorry for a newb question here, but if you are building all of these websites for different businesses and also managing the hosting and accounts, how are the individual email accounts handled? How does your client access them? Also, what about cases of paypal for your clients site? Basically, how is all the back end stuff handled? I know I can build the sites because I am driven. I'm just a bit confused since I'm still learning.

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Hey John, do me a favor then...

Please put your Affiliate link in this Thread for me (if for no one else). My plan is to look at moving forward with this. I would frankly be very happy to give credit where credit is due (and maybe others would like to do the same). It's my way of saying 'Thank You' for creating and contributing so much to this Thread.

Looking forward to seeing your link in one of your next posts here.

Wes ~

Appreciate that Louie!

It was my TMer that got it. It was for a free one page design, but the hosting is locked up for 6 months.

On the road to riches...

Great tip by the way do you use aweber or is there a free autoresponder?

Also do you use the cold calling tactic? How well does it work for you and do you have your own web design site?

You and me both....

The hard way has always been my route.

Just can't help it.

But... The easy way.... Don't Think... Just Do.


As far as webdesign goes... that is exactly what I do. I sell web design. Why?

So I can have an established relationship with a client that I have already built an "onPage SEOed" website for. It makes my job easier. And it gives me a hot lead. I say hot, because they are already my customer.

Easy Peasy.....

Never have I had anyone ask me for my website.

I have offered it... but never a single request.


Really... if you want one... get one.... and I am sure it helped me when I didn't know it... because it does get a lot of traffic. But.... Do not wait to take action. Just start getting clients and if they ask...


"I do have a site that is in redesign"

What's your email address. When it goes live again. I will send you a link.

Normally though... if they ask for a website. It's a blow off statement. Kind of like.. "do you have a card?"

Hey Luis, I have added you on skype happy to speak whenever you are free.

Thanks,
Ste.

I didn't see anyone answer that for you, so I will. There's nothing to worry about SEO-wise. I have far more HTML sites than Wordpress sites. They rank, and have since the 1990's when I first started. As for impressiveness...if you design a professional looking site it should look professional years from now as long as you stick to tried and true web design principles and aren't using any funky new faddish things that become dated.

Hope that helps.

WOW! A wealth of information. I like all the sites you listed above. How do you people find all this stuff? I had to "copy and paste" this post into my notes...along with John's original Post. Thanks for sharing this stuff. You all make this fun.

Have never really needed them.... but if you feel like you need it. Go for it...

Most of what I do is over the phone. So if you have an autodialer, it will record your conversation. If there is ever a problem, you can play back the recording. Ofcouse.. I have never had a problem.

Just going to answer this if I may.

Use the trial link, then on STEP 2 (if I'm correct) it'll ask you for your bank details and which package you'd like to try. 30 days trial.

How do you lower FREE?

I don't know where you are... but when I first started putting out websites my initial fear was I was charging too much in hosting.

Then I found out what everyones biggest competitor charges for hosting.

You have to remember. Not everyone and thier dog knows about host gator. or Home Stead.

Never once have I had some one say.... I can get that for $10 a month over here.


And if they do balk.... you can say... the rest if for maintenance. That way if you need to make a quick change... no big deal. We will be there for you after the sale.

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Oh I wanted a .co.uk domain but there was no link/banner that I saw, oh well. Got my main website up and running, did a few tweaks on PS so it'll look better.
___
Classes are cancelled for the whole week, so I will be start calling few people tomorrow. haha! Any tips from fellow warriors?

What i meant is i don't think you can register or host .com.au domains with them.

Beside that you are only allowed 3 domains. Would you have to pay to register more external to Homstead for more than 3?

If they did... I hope they didn't give up 5 minutes before the miracle happens.


That happens a lot. You get people that say they are going to do this...

They are going to do that....

When it comes down to it... They make like 50 calls a day... MAYBE.... then wonder why it doesn't work... It actually does work... If you work it.

There is no magic pill. There is work to be done. If someone made 500 calls per day.... CONSISTENTLY... for one week straight.... the would be wealthy.

How do I know...

The money in my pocket... That's how.

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Not today but a few days ago. I have 6 new clients-yippee! They were all from word of mouth. I'll start cold calling in a few days. I just sent a message via facebook to my friends and they put the word out. I read in someones post that they were calling on work trucks-two of my new accounts are from construction companies. I also had upsells by making them twitter and facebook accounts. This raised their monthly maintenance fee too. If your worried about your clients wanting to move their site, don't be because odds are they won't. Only if they really know what they are doing to maintain the site will they move it. If they decide to do that and think they can do it on their own, they will probably come running back to you within a month or two because they can't deal with it. I don't use homestead. I just have my account with hostgator.

I got his WSO and am working on specific processes for it myself. Looking at where I can find a web builder that will let me make multiple sites that I can sell. I realize that they have to be completely mine for me to do this so it's just a bit of research.. Unfortunately, I'm not too familiar with Wordpress. I use Weebly. Any thoughts on that?

What is an autodialer

I have a very good offline product going for about usd500 for my market and this would really boost my sales! Please share how i can use this autodialer

Also, what crm do u use to manage ya small business?

The real term is actually "predictive Dialer". You load a cusomtized call list into it, put on a pair of head phones and it loads up calls for you, weeding out answering machines and no answers... so it goes through about 100 numbers per hour, and makes sure that as soon as you hang up with a customer there is another popping up on your screen saying "Hello"... very cool.

cuts out down time, and alot of irritation.

With a predictive dialer, you dont waste time listening to ring tones and answering machines, looking up numbers..., you just log in and it starts spitting calls at you as fast as you want to go.

In a nutshell, with a predictive dialer, you are actually talking to customers all day not wasting time... plus it records your calls, tracks your conversions, offers reports on every aspect of your call session. Most importantly, it enables you to hire virtual telemarketers who can log in from their home pc's, and you are able to monitor them and view reports on their real time stats...

Good stuff.

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Hi Jeremy

Just looked at your site

First and foremost.... Take the phone numbers off the site, your doing there advertising for them for free

You dont say how old the site is or if its ranking or not

Paul

Hey Jeremy,

My cousin owns one of the shops you have listed
on your site.

Small world.

There were a lot of good things about your site that I liked such as:
The pic of walking.. what a nightmare!
I guess what I'm trying to say is that you are really promoting to the viewer here- who really needs to get their car fixed. Can you put up a map locator? And are you alphabetizing your list of auto care professionals? Just asking! - Nice job!

This is a great thread with real solution building...

Can I add something... based on the following below and leaving homestead out of the equation.

Can't you just create a wordpress site with various niche themes and clone the sites to the be used for a new client?

1. create an optimized wordpress site.
2. offer 5-10 simple designs. Or more if you have the resources.
3. clone these sites as per your clients needs.
4. upsell additional services.
5. Use the telephone whenever possible to close more sales.

In essence this would be similar to using homestead though they have alot of resources to use.

My concern is that you have to host your clients sites on homestead and not on your own servers? That may be a negative, I don't know.

Couple questions:

How would you communicate where your clients sites are?
Would you create sud-domains or hosted sites that your client choose?
Would you sell them webpages or full websites first?

Awesome chat!

Mitch

Sounds about correct.

At this point, you either get some beer and pretzels as George Wright says, and stay up all night being creative and designing their website.... or you hire someone to do it and split up the profits... you may also want to send them an email to confirm your agreement and let them know their work in underway!

Lets say you sell one per day for an average of $399 , you have about 2-3 hours in sales per day, and 2-3 hours in designing... so you make $2000 per week for only working part time....
Now lets say you charge $1,500 instead of $299 then you only have to sell 2 per week to make $3,000 and only work say 15 hours.

As you can see its very lucrative





No because if they ever decide to quit working with you can down load their design onto a cd and hand it to them.



I just sign them up (register their URL) on my account. If the client ever wants to leave or wants to transfer their domain... then its easy enough to unlock lock it and transfer it to a new registar or change the ownership information...

https://www.homestead.com/~site/help/help_page_one.ffhtml



I dont. I think someone at homestead told me there was a way to do it , but I find it easier to just tell clients to email me their updates, and I will handle them. Learned a long time ago that customers dont really call in that much to be honest... you might hear from them once a month or so about updates... but even when they do its easy enough to have them email you , to update their blogs, or in that situation it might be better to have their site link out to their blog instead of designing it within the site. I dont really sell blogs, so I dont know. Another thing, you can charge them for a certain amount of updates per month.

I personally use it as a selling point, that as long as they keep their hosting with me I will do free updates, while other designers charge... they dont really ask for that many to be honest.

In short my policy is just "I'll do your updates".



Yes once again, using the link above you can transfer sites and domains...change registars and ownership info...



No prob. Hope it helps some people get started and stop procrastinating, you can learn more along the way... in fact you may learn some things about cpanel permissions... and blogs that I dont even know, because I sell my way, and just leave it at that.

I figure if I gave people access to a cpanel it would just create more customer service, as they would be ringing my phone off the hook everyday for consultations and training on how to use it... its easier just to say "email me if you want an update".

... dig around...theres a million options. You may find some that I havent even looked for.

Another good idea is to join their forum and ask questions their too.

Hope this helps

Guys, if I start answering slower, its because I can only put 25 more posts in this thread... or else its a sinker! lol

The o.p. cant have more than 50 posts in a thread or they lock it and it sinks into oblivion. forever never to rise again... so I will start waiting awhile between posts and using the multiquote function... since we want this thread to last a long time...

Perhaps some others can share their experience as well...

Thanks Russ, It really isnt hard to contribute when you are just saying what you know. Im just bssing, like two ole men sitting on a bench talking about their life to each other. Not hard, just shooting the breeze with some friends who let me stand on a soap box here and there, so I go off on a sermon... lol Sooner or later I'll get down off of my soap box.

I dont know how well what I just said translates to other countries... Does anyone know another way to put that "He's on a soap box"?

Anyway, its fun, and it's very worthwhile. Heck if nothing else, for posterity.

Rudyard kipling says in the poem "if", that one of the things that completes a person and brings them full circle is:

"If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew, to serve your turn long after you are gone, and so hold on when there is nothing in you, except that which is the will which says to them 'hold on'...."

Well hopefully 50 years from now when I am gone, some of these writings will be serving my turn, and still be inspiring others to their own personal epiphany's about their own personal ability to achieve greatness!

Ps. Eventually I will go crawl back in my hole and work! I tend to work real hard for a month or two, then come back and hang out at the wf for a couple weeks... then go work real hard for another month or two... cycles, as Paul Meyers says.

Wow,have really been blessed with all this info,now to take action.

Great idea with the Hubpages DrMeg. It's all about being proactive and creative. I've found if you take the initiative to take action and get a demonstrable result before you start talking to the business owner then your job is more than half done as they'll respect that and also be curious and/or excited about what else you can do for them.

Ahh... a man after my own heart quoting the brilliant and insightful "Kipling". If a man had only one piece of prose by which to guide his life then the "If" poem would have to be it.
"If you can watch the things you gave your life to to broken and stoop and build them up with worn out tools, or watch the truths you've spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools"
I could go on... but there's a gem (or two) in every verse for sure!
Thanks John,.. and I totally agree with making your mark and making a (real) difference whilst able bodied and in the midst of life!

The sites may not look like they are worth $100 but its what is done with them and the value it brings to the client that counts. I have seen 3 page html "sites" with one article sold for $500+ and the client was tickled pink as they didn't have to do a thing and now they had an online entity.

For that matter, I have set up single page html landing/squeeze pages for clients before and charge $1500+ incl copywriting and they were delighted to pay it.
As far as WordPress is concerned I agree that there is no other online platform as powerful as WP. I say that as a WP specialist who has created hundreds of WP over the past few years. But here's the thing,.. I totally agree with what John Durham said about the lack of willingness/skill/interest for the client to want to visit the site and start populating it and generally managing it. I have had dozens of clients (and still have many) that have had personalised training via seminars, webinars and video on WP and yet they still can't properly manage their sites (I get their requests every week).
Amazingly,.. I have set up some great WP sites and blogs and started to populate them with content. "GREAT" says the client,... then proceeds to do NOTHING with the site for months on end and they either become abandoned, lose ranking etc. Some eventually come back and take up my offer to manage the site as was first suggested.

I've found that the majority of business people would prefer to not have to ever go inside a cPanel. WP-admin or a MySQL database. Therefore, it's much better to offer them a totally hands free "done and managed for you" alternative that they'll gladly pay for so they can focus on their business.
This is what makes charging $30 to $50 per month for hosting possible when the client realizes that they're getting more than a home for their website,... they're getting the backend support should it ever be required. Ask any decent businessperson what an hour of their time is worth to them!

Cheers all
Russ

We seem to forget what a 'blog' is about. Its intention was for continously updating the public with your information. It wasn't long ago that no one even realized they could build a 'normal' website with a blog.

I've been online since 1995, can code html by hand from scratch. I've also built hundreds and hundreds of wordpress sites.

There's nothing like the sheer simplicity of an html site. Remember, wordpress is constantly updated, it takes plugins to make it seo friendly (though thats slowly changing), which means plugins are constantly updated. Now thats fine if you only have a handful of blog sites... but try hundreds and, even with things like wpmanagerdx, it becomes a continuous battle to keep things updated.

Not so with static html sites. They seo the same way (title tag, description, etc). They only need to be updated when necessary. And they are not resource hogs like wordpress can be.

So you really need to choose what is right for your customer. If they are a business that is always being social and updating the public, a blog might be right for them. If they are a plumber who just needs a web presence, a static html site might be best.

I absolutely and wholly concur...

This is my exact formula for web design. I prefer to use the Flexx theme because it is so customizable and easy to use. Also the Flexibility theme is easy to use too. But it crashed my WP installation when trying to change themes....

If homestead has Fantastico in their Cpanel, this is the easiest, most cost effective way to get sites that are 100% on page optimized ready to rock. You can use Xheader... from the people that brought us XsitePro for free to make your custom headers too. So graphic design is easy peasy....

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Not knowing where you live, I can;t give legal advice, nor would I suggest you get it from WF...

However, many states (like mine) allow a sole-proprietor to do business without incorporating a business name as long as your name IS the business name.

I do business as MFParsons.

But I will be either incorporating or doing the LLC thing soon.

Just finished reading this entire thread. Simply. Amazing. I cannot thank you all enough: first and foremost John for sharing this incredible and workable plan. But also everyone else for your great questions and insight.

I live in an area where local businesses are literally exploding all over the place and I feel like this is such a viable option for me. Right now my job is writing articles for $15 a pop - and I am not having fun. This seems like so much FUN and I would get to interact with people which is the only thing I miss from my corporate office days. Yes, I can do this....and still have time to work on building passive income on the side.

If my "Thank You" button would show up on my screen I would use it :rolleyes:

But THANK YOU - and I hope to report back in the next day or so with news of my first client.

I don't believe this is correct. Sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability companies, and S corporations are all pass through entities. The company's earnings are taxed at the appropriate shareholder(s) tax rate.

C corporations are the only entity that I'm aware of that have the double taxation issue. A C Corporation is its own entity and pays its own taxes. Shareholders must pay taxes on any distributions as well (this is where the double taxation comes in).

Forming an LLC or Corporation is mainly for liability protection (but there are other good reasons too).

Anyway, loving this thread. Thanks John!

Hi John!
Thank you very much for such a contribution to this forum.
There is too much "cheese" being sold on this forum hidden under whatever names and systems.
You put your knowledge and experience for the rest of us to absorb and to take the best of it to make our own model, creation or a way of doing business.... even with not much in the pockets and neither experience.

Since I am a fairly new I cannot contact you directly would you pm me please?
I may need a bit of advice to connect the dots.

Happy New Year to you and everyone who contributed ... and to those who "got it" or had a "Aha" moment. ;>

Sincerely,

Walter

Unfortunately, the answer is no. I have a client that I modified a website for on homestead (because he was already on it). I had actually recommended switching to a regular host initially, but after looking at the html code on his homestead site, I realized that homestead does not really give you access to all the files and code.

I suppose this is their way of making you stay with them indefinitely, so this is something you'd definitely want to inform your client about before building their website on homestead.

Just wanted to check back today and let you know my progress!

Made a website: ehampdesign dot com

Made some cold calls today, here's the breakdown:

Left 14 voice mail messages

I got 5 people live on the phone. out of those, 3 said NO, One said "I might need a website soon" and one said "YES"!

The one who said "I might need a website soon" was a financial planner, talked my ear off about how he used to do a lot of cold calling back in the day, and invited me to some networking events. Pretty cool.

This is WORKING and the only thing that was standing in my way was fear. OK, fear is still standing in my way, but I'm actually getting over it. I barely made any calls and I already feel like this is such a viable way to work.

The adrenaline is still running through my body. I am actually shaking from making these calls, I suppose that will subside with experience though.

Hi Anthony,
I can let you know what I'm doing. I'm new to cold calling so some people might have a better way:

1. I went with an approach that felt comfortable to me. I find it's easiest to first call the business and make sure you are speaking to the owner. Then say, "Hi, I was wondering if you have a website?" If they say "no", say, "My name is XXX and I'm a local web designer in (city). Would you be interested in having me build you a website so you can attract more business from the internet?"

2. To find businesses, I went to my local chamber of Commerce online and contacted businesses that didn't have a website in their listing. I printed out a list so I could make notes on it as I made my calls.

I'm getting started again this morning. I'm aiming for 3 sales today. I know that seems high, but I really feel like I can do it. We're getting a snowstorm this afternoon, so I hope that doesn't mean people are closing shop early!

~Stacy

Exactly! Maybe not the most popular, but definitely one of the most truthful.

It's the gold package on the following link...

Web Hosting Software Packages For Your Website | Homestead

Any of those will work the only problem that I see with Hostgator that the templates are no that easy to modified in comparison to Homestead.

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Hi zoro

Sorry to hear of your problem with Homestead.

Care to share the reason why you want to cancel?

Regards,

Cliff

I think you're misunderstanding the point that is made within this thread. HTML is very difficult to understand by those off-line that do not have considerable knowledge of the web. Most small and medium businesses fall into this group.

Just because it comes easy to you and me doesn't mean it is easy to the rest of the world. That is why there is an opportunity.

Exactly, I tried going from homestead to hostgator as everyone here had suggested... awhile back, and it was about 10 times harder to manipulate the templates, not nearly amount the options either. I ended up hiring someone to do it for me, and went back to homestead.

I'll be honest too... I havent seen any WP websites that blow my socks off.... alot of them look basically the same to me... with just theme changes... I can almost tell one by looking at it. Maybe thats just me.

You can easily add domains for two dollars per month per domain/site. So in essence it cost you 2.00 per month per client.

Thanks Brother , That means alot. Being a part of the WF is a special thing. We should all be proud this a great place full of great people. I know some other sites say we are "inflated" with ourselves... but this is truly the greatest IM community on the planet! They are all just haters! Allen is the man!

Thanks man!!! You guys are awesome.

The truth will set people free... no doubt, and I guess the evidence shows that SALES in fact happening now for alot of the people who have read this thread!

Im am very humbled and blessed to see that it has affected so many people! Have gotten numerous money making reports from this... people making their first sales..

Just tellin it like it is! Dont anyone hate me for it! I come in peace!!!

I learned it HERE at the WF myself 10 or 11 years ago. Found the internet, landed and offline salesmanager position over 100 Telemarketers, and found the Warrior forum all in the same month!

Prior to that month I had never even been online... I got a job managing telemarketers who were selling websites... and I had never even SEEN one...

Now I can build em, sell em, and ten years later Im a senior warrior, who has helped other people succeed just like the early warriors helped me... oh and also I make my entire living from the Internet, just like my heros did back then!

Is that awesome or what?

Very exciting time looking back!


Not really.

Darren from Graphics Genie ( A popular WF designer) creates sites and graphics for me all the time from his own web program, or from scratch and uploads them to my hosting acct at homestead, using domains I registered with homestead.

I am also able to import domains I have bought elsewhere into my homestead acct, and also point domains I bought from homestead to other hosts... been doing it for years now.

Its not as limited as it seems at first glance...

But YES LewisWharf is correct, thats not what this thread is about.

Honestly, having clients update themselves is a bigger headache and will cause you more CS than just doing the updates for them in my experience.

People make a big deal like you are gonna have to do 100 updates per day... In my experience clients hardly ever ask for an update, those requests are few and far between...

Also, you wanna talk about customer service?

After trying to walk a client through their control panel 4 times every time they want to update and getting rung off the hook all day having to explain the details of a control panel to them, even after you already explained 3 times... you will usually be saying "Maybe it will be easier if I just do it for you this time".

I think alot of these ideas floating around are more speculation than real world experience, because customers updating... thats just not a MAJOR issue...

Any customer even smart enough to use the control panel could probably build the site too.
or maybe its my homestead registered URL but uploaded to amazon or something... I dont know but either way, it disproves the theory...

Telemarketing Free Audio Series

This isnt a sale pitch that costs money its a free audio... so Im not putting this link here for that purpose, only for demonstration purposes to answer the question. I make no money when someone clicks the above link.

BTW The Address on the Whois for this domain (For all of those whom like to google people) is not my home.

My home is located at 4203 Cherokee rd. Rogers Ar, 72758

Nothing to hide here.

Here, I'll save you the trouble: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ex...ed=0CBkQ8gEwAA

There are alot of people who have personal interest in others believing they are too ignorant to succeed, sell a website, or that using a template could be just as acceptable as any other website and create just as good a result...

Thats a lie... A template can generate in many cases an even better result... or a site designed with a "sitebuilder".

Just the same...

Alot of people charge THOUSANDS for google listings... and they dont want you to believe you could do it yourself, or that you could actually pay someone else 100 bucks to do it for you...

The only way they can virtually RAPE people for thousands of dollars is if the public keeps believing they are too ignorant, or that they are some kind of "rarity" because they know how to put up an optimized google listing... They get pissed when they see info like this being spread.

It is also to their advantage when other would be MARKETERS feel too ignorant to succeed...

Can you imagine going from thinking that it cost $2k per month for a google listing, or that you need an expensive technician...to realizing that some guy with basic skills will do the exact same job for 100 bucks and get the same result?

Can you imagine how many people really dont want others to be FREE, they want them to stay in bondage, and keep believing they are too ignorant to succeed?

As long as everyone thinks they are too ignorant we can PILLAGE them...

You are right its a LIE.

I have had more guys with a marketing degree work in my TM booths for ten dollars an hour than I can count...working for a guy that quit school in 8th grade.

I didnt know what the techs knew... but I knew wrote their paycheck every week ... ANYONE can succeed, and you dont even have to know how to use HOMESTEAD to sell websites, let alone html!

All you have to know is how to "present" a package.

Seriously.

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Doug,
As far as I can tell you can't export the Homestead templates to a new host, but you could do one of two things:

1) Speak with Homestead customer service and get the website transferred to your customer with their own passwords, etc. (In this cast they would have to use Homestead, too)

2) Copy the html source code to make a backup of the site, cancel it on Homestead, and paste the copied html into the pages on the new control panel. You'd have to transfer the domain name as well.

Lol. Actually this is a 250k house in Arkansas. But in Ca. it would be like $850k or more prob...

Im moving back to Nashville though. Wanna buy it?

I spoke with a rep named Paul today at Homestead.... he said "HTML Is HTML... you can copy the code and save it, and re-upload it anywhere you want... thats the nature of code", so

I was wondering the same thing.

I figured that if they have a site, I can just install a WP site somewhere on my subdomain and show it to them and then transfer it when they buy.

My question is if you go with hostgator and wordpress, is it OK to use the unlimited domains package (which actually places each domain in a directory in your public_html) or do you need to get a reseller account so that they are all on separate cpanels (even though I'm not planning to give cpanel access to clients). Are there reasons to avoid hosting them all in one account?

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This thread has the Golden Script

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Thanks. I like to think that I learned something by reading Tim Ferriss' book The 4-Hour Workweek.

I know there hasn't been any recent post in this thread, but I have a question hopefully someone can answer.

When designing websites with Homestead, at the bottom of the page it say something like "This website was designed by "your name" at Homestead, and then there is a link. Is there a way to get rid of that, and if not, does it look unprofessional and will the customer get mad that you used homestead to design their site? Many thanks in advance.

Answer:

A: Yellow pages, paid commercial lead lists, google scrapers like Russ Sells AWESOME gscraper program in the wso section.

B: With a normal list you can rarely tell if they have a website or not, but with a DAMN google scraper you can! I say "damn" because this is "must know" information to answer your post , but it sucks that I cant place an affiliate link to Russ product here!

Anyway, I highly advise his gscraper program. Its rather new and I was unaware of it when I started this post, but now I SWEAR by it. If you want a great list go to russ... we also have a list generator at my forum TMF which performs some different unique targeting functions.

C: Though you cant always tell if a person has a website with a phone book, I must tell you that when I myself cold call its what I personally use most of the time, and it works just fine. From now on will be using Russ's gscraper.

Yes.

Its best to guide them through a questionnaire of the basic info you need to present their company. Waiting for them to email company information after the initial sales call many times results in a long wait... then they blame you because their website isnt finished...

Get what information you can to build a basic presentation while you have them on the line, or in a meeting... build on that. Later, when they view the website online, if they have concerns about the content and want it changed or added to...they will email you some word files pretty quickly with more urgency.

You may also consider adding 50 bucks to your price and using it to hire a warrior to make a custom header for you if you are new, which can be used in homestead or just about any other website building program. A nice header goes a long way in making a site look professional, and its a very easy small outsourcing job for a newby to pull off.

No. For two reasons.

A: One page has less percieved value.
B: You can utilize the other pages to truly deliver a great website and represent their company even better.

The intent of each optimized page is in fact to drive visitors straight to the form, because YES that is the end result most business owners are looking for with their website.

Minimal optimization is required to get them ranked on the search engines however many pages deep... most of the optimizing tools are included in a basic web template for dummies program. Add a couple of backlinks and you are gold.

A few weeks down the road you can show them how they are showing up on the search engines on page 30 lets say...and encourage them to do more seo, google places...maybe even more web pages... if you wish.

The first level is just to get started and get a few customers.

No you promise them a website that will rank on the search engines... then once its showing up you can look at it and together determine what it will take to get it ranked higher. You explain to them that search engine ranking is a constant work in progress, but that the progress BEGINS with having a website.

They usually understand this.


You make suggestions, but in the end... "The customer is always right". Some want their company name for a domain name...

It varies... alot depends on the biz model you are working, and also how good you are on the phone to start with.

Assuming you are working the plan described in the OP, I would say you should get an "Appointment or two" within 50 "pitches"... or a "one call phone close" sale in 200.

To reach 50 pitches, you are looking at a straight two hour call session and probably dialing 200 numbers. It may work alot better for you or worse. Im telling you what I see as average performance.

If you are a phone newby, it may take a couple of days of that to even get ONE... or it may not.

In any event the point is to get on and just dont stop till you get a sale! You know its there already.

Homestead isnt a requirement. It is only a suggestion for newbys who arent well versed in coding and different things... the fact remains that no matter what is new, the internet was very literally BUILT on programs like these. This very forum is probably built from some kind of template as a matter of fact.

However, no homestead is far from required. Whatever website building tools work best for you, use those.


No Problemo... Its all good in the proverbial hood!

I was wondering about how to do this, you could phone companies up like in the first post, but what about sending them a sales letter?

Stamps here cost 32p though and that is for second class.

So just to offer this to 4 companies would cost more than £1.00

Hmmmm... maybe thats why the OP doesn't mention this "method".

They are probably far more likely to respond to a phone call anyway I would assume. How many letters do you get that you just throw away. Yes, it would be just another "junk mail" letter to them, even if it is genuine.

From what I know (from checking against other keyword tools, and from reading what other people have to say), the Google keyword tool can be WAY off. I don't know why they do that.

FYI,the site you mentioned Juan, has an Alexa ranking of 1,162,500 or some such Finishcarpentrysarasota.com Site Info

People are going to the site. If not , the ranking would be 12 million or 20 million.

That's better than some WEB DESIGN companies in my local area. LOL and some SEO companies too...

You obviously haven't read the entire thread.

It gives you an opportunity to do an about us, feature their products or services more prominently, feature their staff, create more optimized content... It gives you more opportunity to feature the unique aspects of their company, as opposed to a more typical one page directory listing.

Amazing! Good for you. Already in biz!

Remember your homestead email package comes with auto responders and newsletter features that you can incorporate for your clients... (Note: I am not claiming homestead is the only way to pull off this business plan described in this thread.There are other great programs too, especially if you are more advanced...)

Yes the list generator is still available to TMF Gold members, there are also several other list generators floating around here on WF.

Rock on man! Keep it up!

Great question. No I dont think you only have to do local. You can close this sale by phone, sometimes you may have to fax them info and call back... but this is something that can absolutely be sold by phone. Its usually easier for beginners to set appointments because phone closing takes a little conditioning... I have a free 37 minute audio on conditioning to phone close here BTW: http://thetelemarketingforum.com/index.php?topic=765.0

But yeah, you can close this by phone. At the TMF you will find a ton of different phone scripts of every shape and size.

Again, great question.

Sounds like me, lol.

What exactly is involved in your "appointments"?

There are a million telemarketing scripts on my free forum you can check out!

The Telemarketing Forum - Index

By the way; I cleaned up this thread so Im good for 20 posts now!

Use manta.com to get the owners name so you may ask directly to speak to the owner.

"Hey, can I speak to John please?"

speaking.....

"oh hello John, this is Osman speaking and I'm a new web designer in town!"

"I just opened up for business and real quickly I'm buzzing around all the local businesses, introducing ourselves, letting them know of our services to maybe drum up some business."

" I was wondering if you folks have a website for your established business?"




.....take it from their.

You are sorely mistaken. Even in California, supposedly at the cutting edge of technology with Silicon Valley and all its high-tech start ups, I still find plenty of businesses that don't have a website yet (or they have something very poorly designed and amateurish that was probably put up by a friend or relative).

When you look for businesses in Google Places, they probably don't have a website if one isn't listed there.

Yes, if you know your way around Wordpress and can do some minor customization and graphics, it'd work fine as well.

Paul

Your skills at interpersonal relationships will be more important than your technical skills, and you technical skills will improve to the point where you get great results on the first try in about an hour or so. They have to know, like trust before they will consider buying.

Well done Marianne, and congratulations!

Not to derail the thread, but what WSO did you purchase of John's? I've been lurking for quite a while now, just decided to sign up and get involved. John seems to have his act together and so do you. I listed you as a reference when I signed up by the way. I found a lot of your posts to be very helpful and as such, was a reason for me signing up and joining the war room. Anyway.. any WSO of John's you could recommend for a newbie that would like to start an offline business? oh, and quit his day job

Amir, which one did you buy ?

This thread is utterly fantastic, thanks for sharing all you have, both
you and John. You guys rock!!!!

And everyone else that has shared, you all rock as well

Owen, it's so nice of you to offer this. Many newbies still get intimidated by Wordpress, but Homestead is about as easy as it gets - even a 7 year old could pull off something halfway decent! It's important not to let the lack of technical skills cause someone to put off doing offline consulting, because that is truly the least of their worries.

Paul

@UK Warriors- one more question

How much are you charging in £?

And also the monthly in £

Thanks

Hi Qamar yes u can use a . com for a local website no problem.
Owen

Hi Qamar,

You can use a .com domain but if you want to rank in Singapore SERPs then you will need to host it within Singapore. Alternatively, if you use a .com.sg you could host it outside of Singapore and still rank in Sinagpore SERPs.

HTH,
Rob

it may be effective but definitely not 'simple'

There are a couple of ways you could go about this....

ONE...

Set up a gmail account for the client. Link the hosted emails to the gmail account. Give the client the log in information.

TWO...

Set up the clients outlook or other desktop email client to link to the hosted email account.

Easy Peasy either way....

I prefer the gmail version becuase it gives you less technical trouble. Just my experience....

I am sure there are other ways to do this... but this is what I have done, and continue to do.

The best way is to activate the email that comes with the domain. On godaddy that way u keep domain and email together and u just need to give the client the url to godaddys webmail.
Owen

[DELETED]

I am doing fine with my current business and that is article marketing and promoting Amazon products via several of my websites. i am just trying to diversify my business to the offline world and I was about to follow you until I received your comments above.

I was just saying that this offline thing is effective yet not as simple as you guys made it to be. I did not say that it is not doable. Come on, I am not arguing with anybody but the reality is doing your model is effective I know, although I have not done it full force. But still it is not "simple". Yeah to those who have succeeded in getting their first checks in 1 hour, 5 hours, 24 hours or 72 hours doing cold calling or telemarketing, may say that it is simple but you must remember, there are many kinds of warriors here in the warrior forum coming from different background, cultures and mindset and not everyone can be a HERO like you or Adukes.

Some will do it fast while others need more coaching or motivations to even pick up the phone receivers. I was just being realistic, maybe the cultures and the mindset in the west is different with respect to telemarketing as compared to my people. That is the reason why I said that I may need some knowledge about the business that I am selling to my people because I know what to expect from them.

I have your offline on crack audio courses and I have already registered on your TMF a few days ago, in fact i was about to purchase your 5 stars wso but I guess it's ok, I am just not cut to be in this business, as suggested by your friend Amir, I will stay online pushing adsense.

Thanks anyway for your wonderful advice and tips. You are no doubt very helpful and sincere in helping people to succeed, the only thing is that you might be forgotten that not everyone are created the same.


Qamar

Hey John, i think you somehow or rather easily got swayed.....Who's hating? and I did not say that taking the plunge like your peeps were doing are stupid! I never say that. How can I say that kind of statements to a war veteran like you and for the fact that you have been in this line for over 20 years right? Come on man. I am not preaching to anybody,as far as I am concerned, I am only responding to your students based on what they are alleging. Don't misinterpret my statements.


Qamar

There are several other ways you can do this...

Homestead is just one option.... Really a good one if you have ZERO experience building sites and just want to make some money.

Hostgator is another good one... Which is also good for ZERO coding experience.... but a little knowledge of how things work. Because you can install WordPress with a one button install via "Fantastico" and then add a theme... customize it a little.... and your done.

Easy peasy....

I prefer the WordPress route because they are light coded... (search engine friendly) Also they are consistent. If you use one WP theme.... LIke the Flexx theme for all your sites... you have consistency. You know on your third site exactly how to set it up and get it done.

With homesteads sitebuilder.... it changes a little with each different theme or design. (At least it used to... I haven't used it in years) Coming across different operations with each site can make for more time spent trying to figure out how to do it. Which equals a less dollar vs time ratio.

No matter what it I am doing.... I always.... and I mean ALWAYS bill $60 per hour. If it is just me... $90 if it an employee. That is just me... Once you know how long it takes to do what you need to do... You can judge how low you can go on pricing.

If it is always changing... you might get screwed.

That being said... do NOT be afraid to make $500 per hour. There are a lot of people that do.... so why shouldn't you?

The only reason I say that is because a lot of people leave money on the table. They feel bad for making so much money.... I used to be one of them. It felt illegal or immoral for me to make that kind of money... Especially since I have no formal education. I am self taught....

You deserve to be paid for your time and training... Creator, God, Allah, Buddha, Jesus, Zoroaster, Mohammad, or anyone else you may or may not believe in wants you to succeed.

Your success and happiness makes your creator smile. You have come a LONG way and TOOK ACTION.... you deserve the money....

Thanks John for starting this thread. It is very interesting. When you say a 3-page website, are you talking about 3 page of content in addition to the contact page, the home page and the privacy policy page?

Or does the 3-page site means the home page, the contact page and the privacy policy page?

So, if someone knows how to set up a 3-page wordpress site, and then create a header with the name of the local business, write some content for the home page and add the other pages from a WP plugins, do some basic on-page SEO, they can start calling the local businesses in their area and offer their services right away, right?

Is there anything else they need to know first besides the above? I just want some clarification on that? This method sounds very doable.

John,

I really appreciate the thread. I like the idea and I am definitely going to put this to use.

Here is my question to you or anyone else. Is it possible to do this 100% over the phone or email?

I am currently in Korea. I am returning to the US in June. I would like to be able to start this now. It would be nice to get some jobs and experience now instead of waiting until June.

I appreciate any advice you guys have.

Jon

Thanks to John for this amazing info - I'm really grateful for this advice that is worth more than the many paid IM stuff I've bought over the years!

Can I just ask how you transfer the website and domain details to a client if they just want me to design and build the website but then want to maintain the site and the hosting for themselves?

Hope that helped out some.

It's a numbers game. Everything is a numbers game. Call 1,000 people relentlessly ( NOT in a BAD way ). Don't be pushy... just be YOU. Then if you fail, then you can cry. But... my guess is that you won't.

If you do fail, it's still O.K. Pick yourself up and try again. You can't lose FOREVER.

You may want to visit The Telemarketing Forum - Index

Check out over there any objections you may have come across...

There are more success stories of people with the "gift of desperation" than you can shake a stick at.....


NO MATTER WHAT.... DO NOT GIVE UP!

If you are need money hella quick.... make your phone calls with the sole intentions of setting an appointment.

That is your close....

"Well _____ Why don't I come by and we can talk about it? I have two openings... Which would be better, tomorrow at 10:30am or 1:30pm?

(Open ended questions... always ask open ended questions... don't give them the opportunity to use the word.... no)

Once you get three appointments per day... You can run those appointments with love in your heart... and knowing that you "want thier business, but don't NEED their business."

The secret to selling your services is to care... but not that much.

If you are indifferent whether they hire you or not.. . they will detect it and become attracted to it... kind of like dating...

Once you set the appointment... You are golden.... You have planted the seed and they are just wanting you to set thier mind at ease before picking up a check.

I personally have an over 80% success rate with appointments...

Starting out don't be offended if you close 2 out of 3.

Heck... for that matter... don't be offended if you close 1 out of 3.


Especially if you have 3 per day... It's a numbers game right? Right.

Right now... This very second... You have everything you need to be successful. You have everything it takes and more to become everything you have ever dreamed and more than you can ever imagine.

You are a success just by coming as far as you have....

DO NOT give up five minutes before the miracle.

Patrick, there is no "trying" with cold calling, only doing. It is a numbers game at the end of the day, and at an average 1-2% closing rate, you'd have to call at least several hundred people before you can actually figure out whether you're doing well at this or not - and it seems to me that many people give up before they've even called 50 businesses.

Paul

I am simply blown away and wishing I could do more than say 'thank you'.

Thank you so much John and Amir for taking so much time and energy to help me get back out there and do it again another day! Both my husband and I are so grateful and were so encouraged by your posts. I am amazed that you would take such time and effort for perfect strangers.

I've signed up for the TMF but have only browsed a bit. I totally want to become a lifetime member once we make a few sales - which is sort of a bummer because I think the benefits of membership would really help me right now!

More than anything else, you've breathed new life back into our calling campaign!! THANK YOU!!!!! Reading the post from John was like getting my morning coffee!

Now, could you just get my 5 month old to sleep through the night?

I'll post back after my first sale - maybe today!!!

I hacked it up... But this is John's Prophecy Post...

The law of attraction... shear determination... and ACTION at work!

Agreed....

I don't know about John... But I am "just a dude"...

A dude that got desperate... and TOOK ACTION.

And no matter what... Did not give up....

Now you have the power to be that next success story. You may just be a "dude-ette" But... Your success will change the lives of those around you.

Here on this forum, your home, your family, your friends....


I can't wait to hear your success story!~!

**EDIT**
oops... double posted on accident...

I respectfully disagree...

A year ago... more than 40% of ALL businesses did not have a website....

Your perception is that they ALL do... but in this case... perception is not reality.

You can use manta... You can use yellowpages... then manta to get the owners names.... or you can sign up for the Gold Membership at TheTelemarketingForum.com and have access to over 18,000,000 leads.

Whatever you decide to do is up to you....

There are list brokers out there... Just google it....

You could always outsource the process...

If you are going to outsource... you may wanna pick up this wso....

http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...a-glasses.html

Thanks John for all the Info remember people knowledge is King.....

phillip in san diego

- -

This is true... My favorite is the Elegant Themes package.... I don't have any experience with WOO themes... but any theme company is going to give you extremely solid support...

Don't worry if you can't do the work yourself... You can always use someone from the warrior for hire section to do you sites for you... Or you can jump on Odesk and get a designer....

Whatever works for you...

Think about it... you sell a site... $299 down and $30 per month hosting... There is a warrior that will do professional theme setup for you $77....

Have your content written $5 per article...

So you spend $100 to have the site made and pocket $200....

Still one of the most amazing threads ever started!

You totally can.... as with anything on this forum. I usually take the information that I find here... then put my own twist. I use the information that I get in WSO's as a guide not gold.

Really... you have to do what works for you.

The idea of using Homestead was so that people who have no web design or technical skills can still make money... TODAY.

Fact is... Wordpress is pretty much the same... If you are hosting with CPANEL like Hostgator that includes Fantastico, you can install WP with just a couple of clicks.

Then install a theme and edit from there....

Same principle... I prefer WP over the HTML Homestead templates because of the light coding and ease of OnPage Optimization with plug ins like AllinOne SEO and XML sitemap.

Just sayin....

Have no clue about pricing in the UK... sorry bro... I only share my experience. I have no experience there... so what I may say would be 100% conjecture. Which will not help you or me.

You stop paying homestead... yes.... you lose the templates and they pulll your sites down.

EXCELLENT IDEA... Not only do you get a portfolio. But a Site Unseen... Is no site at all... So you will have effectively positioned yourself as their "WebGuy". Then you can sell them SEO, Google Places Optimization, Video Marketing, or whatever else you want to offer....


As far as the web page offering my services.... OF COURSE!

I am positioned page one for several local keywords... That way... when I sell someone a complete package... Site, SEO, GPO, and Video....

I can show them how my site is on page one for all of these.

"How To EASILY Sell Your Sites!"

I'm sorry....I've read 10 pages of posts (nearly 500) and NOT ONE has mentioned the "Easy-Way" to sell your sites!

You are ALL going about this WRONG! You are phoning potential clients, walking in on potential clients, emailing and mailing potential clients. Making HUNDREDS of contacts. So much energy spent trying to find someone interested in having YOU...provide them with a website.

Stop and "think" for a minute. Put yourself in your prospects mind. He/she is sitting at their desk....the phone rings....it's you...asking if he/she has a website. YOU telling them you can "make a website" and place them on the web.

Whoopee Fizz! WHO are YOU?...and WHY should someone want YOU to design a website for them? They don't know YOU from Adam. WHAT have you done before. WHAT KIND of website will you design for THEIR business or profession? How do they know YOU have any talent at all? etc....

Here's what I suggest;
Some years ago I was selling "Information Reports" via the mail. I'd run ads about the benefits of my Info Report asking those interested to phone my Voice Mail and listen to my 2 minute recording. At the end of the recording I'd ask anyone interested to leave their name and mailing address and I'd send them "more info".

I started out by mailing a 4 pages sales letter, pointing out all the benefits of receiving my Info Report....and they could have it for X$ if they mail back the Order Form in the enclosed envelope.

Well....orders trickled in. Then....I got a brainstorm (This was about the time that Floppy Disks were coming out and pcs had a Floppy Drive)

Why don't I INCLUDE the Floppy Disk that had my Info Report ON IT... in the envelope with my Sales Letter?

And....my Sales Letter would finish by saying; "Now...instead of ordering my Report and waiting for it and wondering when or if you will get it.... YOU ALREADY HAVE IT! IT'S IN THE ENCLOSED FLOPPY! No waiting...No wondering when or if you'll get it! However, it's locked.... encoded. To UnLock and Open it....just phone my 24hr Order Service....give them your CC Info and they will give you the UNLock Code...so you can begin enjoying the benefits...within minutes.

So....sales went from less than 1% to OVER 20% of all Sales Letters sent!

So...by the same token...here's what I suggest to sell Websites;
1) Register a Key KeyWord (ex; ToledoPlumber.com, PlumberInToledo.com, or...appeal to their ego, ToledosBestPlumber.com)
2) Build a 3-page website with "fictional Names & Numbers" (Make a note that says, YOUR Name & Info goes here)
3) Send an email (or a letter) to 20 members of that Niche....with a Heading saying, "I've Created A Website For You!"
Then in the body say,
"ToledosBestPlumber.com" It's OnLine NOW and Waiting to be Owned by ONE of the 20 Toledo Plumbers this note is being sent to. If you'd like to be THE Owner of this website....just fill in the Order Form on the site BEFORE a competitor does. I will contact you to personalize the site to your business.
Thank you,
Don Alm

Now....you could add an extra comment or 2 about how having THIS website can BENEFIT them and bring them more customers/clients/patients.... but you get the gist of it.

By PRE-Building the site....there's NO "wondering" about WHAT kind of site you can build for them....or WHEN you can build it....it's ALREADY BUILT and READY FOR THEM TO "MOVE-IN"!

CAN YOU SEE THE RAW PSYCHOLOGICAL POWER HERE? Businesses and Professiona are COMPETITORS! They're "Competing for Consumer Dollars!" THIS can give them a "Competitive Advantage"! (If they already have a website...you can Link this site to their existing site!)

CAN YOU SEE HOW THIS CAN SAVE YOU HOURS OF TIME and FRUSTRATION, TRYING TO "FIND" SOMEONE INTERESTED IN HAVING LITTLE OL' YOU....BUILD A WEBSITE FOR THEM?

You only need to contact 10 or 20 prospects in THAT Niche! You can even do this by phone. First One Who WANTS IT....Gets It!

Plus....if your "Tenant" (you are "Renting" the sites to them) decides to drop out or go out of business or stop paying you.....guess what
.... you just remove their personal names & numbers and replace with a competitor's!

Also...another PLUS about this technique; You can charge higher fees....both Initial SetUp and Monthly Fees! (Plus...you could consider making a "local Website Directory" and include your sites IN it....to get more exposure (and more money) for your clients)

So....thanks for letting me toss in this "Marketing TidBit". I hope this can provide an extra "glimmer of hope" to those who've been trying to do the "Phone Hundreds a Day to find One" technique.

Don Alm....Marketing Guy

Hey guys

This thread keeps going and going.

I would like to focus on the marketing of the sites and not building them.

Yes I know it's simple but I would like to use my time better if I can.

Anyone interested in building Homesead sites for me?

If so what would you charge for each 3 page website?

It might be best if you PM me with your reply if interested.

Thanks

Keith

Don, excellent post - great details.

I try to use the "get it before your competition does" when I can and this method gives them something tangible to fight for.

Love it.

I love this tweak, Louie!

This way you've got a no-brainer offer and two great upsells!

This method has your upsells naturally built in instead of being an after-thought.

In my seminars, I taught a strategy on increasing conversions on your upsells. What most people do is sell a product and then follow up with additional products that are somewhat related to the original product. If you want to boost your conversions for upsells, your follow up (upsell) product should perform some function of increasing the effectiveness or adding additional functions to the original product they bought. If they like and use the original product, they will be more likely to buy the upsell to make that original product perform even better.

Katerina

You absolutely can!

There are a lot of people that prefer not to if possible, or they are selling in a market that is not their own. So it is impossible for them.

But if you are serving your local market, go ahead.

I have actually found that meeting in person solidifies trust and removes doubt from any potential client. So you can close the deal right there. Also... You can see their body language and know how to proceed when you run into possible objections.

The best part is.... when I walk into a client meet. I walk out with a check.

Done... and Done.

thanks a lot John, this is very usefull for newbies!

That is indeed perplexing, Louie. I find that they tend to value web consulting and work more on the other side of the pond in general! Far less freebie seekers who think that just because things are done on the computer/internet, it should be given away freely to them or at a criminally low cost!

Paul

Hi

What company is it? Every time I go to a site they always ask you to request a quote.

WOW Finally made it to the end. Only took me three days but well worth it for the info as well as the encouragement. Especially the young women and her husband who were frustrated but didn't give up. I believe the expression was WOOO-HOOO. and that was just 24 hours after sounding close to giving up. Great job staying the course. You have inspired me with your successes and sage advice.
Tomorrow the Chamber of Commerce is holding it's first Meet the Local Businesses day. 40+ local businesses all in one place. I plan to hand out business cards that say "Call for a special on either a website or Facebook Page" Do a lot of handshaking and handout a lot of business cards. Hope to come away with at least 2 orders so I can say WOOO-HOOOO!!!

What does that tell you?

The OP is trying to sell you on yourself... and you bought it.

The "Plot", in old school sales language ... we call that "Painting a picture".

Ok, awesome thread is obvious and goes without saying at this point!!!

I have noticed the Homestead/Wordpress debate ongoing throughout this entire thread and decided to opt with Homestead based on OP's points (Thanks John!!!). Signed up for the $19.99 pack free for 30 days. I need to make 3 simple websites right away, 1) My web design site 2) My brother in law's landscaping company site 3) My best friend's A/C company site. Homestead's free trial only includes one domain name, so I'm assuming that I will end the free trial early and pay the $20 to continue with the other two for my family and move onto the other service industry leads I have at $2 each, but my question is this:

It looks like the domain name will have homestead added to the end, is that how it will be published online? I can't have that extra .homestead in my domain name or for anyone really.

I have experience with, and own a WYSIWYG website tool and experience using it with hostgator, the sites I built just never looked "complete" if that makes sense to anyone. At this juncture should I use my tool and hostgator, or will Homestead be a quick and easy complete approach and actually publish with a simple myname dot com? Sorry I can't be more clear but I can't post anything that even looks like a link because of my low post count.

Once you have enough prospects in the pipeline you stop being so desperate... and you learn what Luis is talking about "Let all men count with you but none too much".

One meeting doesnt make or break you anymore!

You might not get much results from mail either which is why John suggests calling.

If you don't handle rejection well then thats a good reason/excuse not to call and just send mail.

Taking action and calling is the basis of this plan. I suggest you follow it in that order.

I started taking action with people I already knew and didn't need to call anyone at first, but I was disappointed I didn't GET to call so I started.

John had me so fired up and optimistic I was itching to call and see if it worked. It does.

Some day I will share my history but let me say this: I should be the absolute last person you would ever think could cold call. I was practically mute as a child/teenager and had severe communication problems all my adult life.

If I get nothing else out of this thread and Durhams writing except to take action it worth its weight in gold.

Hey John, I've been reading a lot of your threads here on the Warrior Forum and registered to the Telemarketer forum where the amount of information on telemarketing is mind blowing! I'm in the process of listening to the OfflineonCrack audiofiles which I paused to get a free trial on Salesgenie. I have a question though. I am in the new businesses section and have made a list for the Miami area, but have found that none of the business phone numbers are showing up and it just says "not available". Is this because I am currently under the trial or maybe because they are new businesses and Salesgenie does not yet have their phone numbers? I know I should ask Sales genie directly but their customer service is closed until tomorrow, so I was wondering if you could give me a quick answer.

I am on the verge of becoming a gold member on The Telemarketing Forum, but John, how targeted can the leads be which gold members have access to? New businesses, area, number of employees, revenue, are all these categories we can target with Gold Member leads?

Thank you very much John! The amount of knowledge you present to the offline community is too much to possibly be praised, and truly awe-inspiring. Again, thank you!