Do I require a website as an Offline Consultant before i start fetching clients?

I personally do have my own website but I have never used it nor has it even been involved with me acquiring a new client.

it helps with having a website .after all you are going to be promoting your internet marketing services..

someone on the forum said in an earlier thread..not having a website is like a business card salesman who doesnt have his own business card.

so are you going to outsource?

You don't need a website as such, but I had one from the word go and there were 3 reasons.

1. If you call a business owner up about online marketing and you don't have your own website, it for me anyway, seems really odd?

2. When you prospect, business owners will naturally want to see your website for more info on you (making sure you are legit), or once you have spoken to them, they like to do some research.

3. You can also optimize your website for local keywords "web design your city" or "seo company your city", depending on what you are offering. By doing this, I have generated more enquiries!

Obviously having a website doesn't just mean you are legit, but for potential clients to be able to see you are there, and see a phone number or address, plants that little extra bit of trust.

As an idea,

Why not build a potential outsourcing team by outsourcing your own company website? This way you kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

1. You get to work with a potential team and test them out for potential future client jobs!

2. You get a professionally designed company website to use!

Just my 2 cents anyway!

GoGetta

Hey GoGetta,

Thanks for your advice.

I think i'll create my own site. Question is, does that mean I need to think of a company name too...?

I was thinking of telling people I was a Freelancer - or is it a better idea to have a company name and say that I'm an Marketing Consultant?

Esh

That part is completely upto you.

You could register your own name as a domain or even a keyword rich domain for a local keyword "webdesignyourcity.com" for example.

GoGetta

I received $2250(2 jobs) worth of work last week to pop my cherry. I still dont have business cards or a site. TAKE ACTION IS THE KEY!

@ Rolltide - well done! Wow, $2250 in 1 week? Thats excellent! Can i ask what your price included? Was that for a website, hosting and seo? or just website?

Esh

You need to use every advertising channel that you can, so yes, every business should have a website.

well! You need a website but you must think of the cost of designing and hosting. Above all, get the clear picture of what you want to do with the website. Scale of prefrence is needed here. What i will advice you to do immediaitly is get your domain registered and open email to make your business more corporate. And you can establish you website later when you are financially ready. Chears

well! You need a website if you can afford it now, but you must think of the cost of designing and hosting. Above all, get the clear picture of what you want to do with the website. Scale of prefrence is needed here. What i will advice you to do imnfiatly is get your domain registered and open an email to make you business more corporate. And you can establish you website later when you are finacialy better. Chears

You need a website to enable you reach more clients far and near. But you should consider cost. You can start by getting your name registered and open email on the domain, and that will make you looks corporate. You can later open your website when you have cash to do so.Chears

I have to agree with rolltide. Taking Action is the most important factor.

LOCAL BUSINESS OWNERS WILL HIRE YOU BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE YOU CAN DO WHAT YOU SAY and if you feel a website will give you more confidence and help you convey that message then you should get a website.

I've found that providing web services to the offline market, is really about building relationships and credibility and i think the best way to do this is to show results I've achieved for other local businesses that they probably know, not just by getting a brochure style website.

I have set up different businesses offering different offline services to local businesses one had a website and the other didn't and the results really surprised me.

I actually found getting and closing high paying clients (over £10k set up fees and a monthly management fee) easier WITHOUT having a brochure style website while my local web design business which had a website seemed to attract leads from the internet but the typical transaction value was under £2k. Over the last couple months i've generated over £40k ($60k USD) providing services for local business owners and I have not had a website and none of these business owners have asked me to see my company website.

I guess, the decision really depends what business model you will be following and also the way you're planning to market your business and get your message out to potential clients.

If you're planning to target lots of low value transactions clients, you may want to get a website done so that it displays what you offer and the prices, to save you time explaining it on the phone to everyone that enquires.

You may even do some keyword research and try to rank high for local keywords in your town or city. You'll get lots of leads, but you may want to stick to services that offline business owners may have heard of or understand.

However, if you're going for the high paying clients, they will usually be successful business owners in their own niches and are more interested in seeing that you have delivered results for other businesses than wanting to see a website that frankly anyone can get outsourced.

Don't get me wrong, having a website can certainly have its fair share of benefits. It can be a central place to describe what you offer and show some case studies. You can use the web address to direct prospects to it in your marketing material, which can be a great time saver and make you look more professional. You can even have the website address on your business cards and flyers and give these out at networking events.

What you'll find though is when you give prospects a business card at a networking event, they may check out your website (if you get one), but the reason they'll call you wont be solely because of your website, it will be because of the impression you left them with when they met you. So, its much more important being able to clearly describe what it is you do(your offer) and how that can benefit the business owners.

Although i can see GoGetta's point that if you're providing online marketing services, it may look a bit odd if you don't have your own website and this was a massive mindset obstacle for me when I started.

But I set out to just get a few business owners and get them some great results and the momentum built from their. I'd show new business owners the results i've generated for other local businesses and start to position myself as an expert in the local area.

I made sure I got video testimonials from each of my clients and screenshots of high rankings I'd achieve in the search engines for them.

I found showing what i've achieved for other business owners works much better when closing deals. At also built my confidence in no time. Within the space of a few months I went from charging £2k for a package to £10k for the same packge simply because I had proof and the confidence that I could get results (i still didn't have a website though).

I know this is a long reply so i'll just summarise for you.

1) decide whether you are providing high ticket price services(£5k+) or low ticket price services (£2k and less)

2) for low ticket price services(under £2k), you'll probably want more deals to hit your monthly income targets, so get a
website, create some fixed packages and get the message out to local businesses that your website exists and generate traffic to the site.

3) make sure you have a call to action on this website or a way to capture leads like a web form and autoresponder to help you follow up with them

4) if you're providing high ticket price services, i dont think you need a website, what you need is strong proof that you know what you are doing, you've done it before and achieved results for other business owners and you can do the same for your prospective clients.

5) for high ticket price services, you may want to consider running a small seminar presentation and invite 5 - 10 business owners to start with. Create a presentation and show them what you've done for other business owners. This works wonders, i did one and had 74% of the room hire my company to do on-going web marketing for them.

If you work to position yourself as an expert by getting results in your area and more importantly getting the message out to local business owners that you have and can achieve these results, then they'll want to work with you whether you have a website or not.

If you do choose to get a website, you may want to have a blog that provides useful marketing posts and use this as a way to entice local business owners to subscribe to your RSS feed or even opt in to your list so you can follow up with them

Hope that's all helped and i wish you the best in your offline biz.

by simply going out finding a local business owner, doing some work, getting some results will help boost your confidence, make it easier for you to feel comfortable closing deals.

when tackling offline client objections try to focus on the end result or outcome for the business (i.e. more customers, exposure and more revenue and profit) and not into a discussion about the technical aspects of the services you provide.

Most business owners wont have a clue what backlinking is, or how title tags affect SEO or how to optimise their google places, so try to help them understand what benefits you can bring using terms they can understand.

offline consulting is very profitable when you focus on helping business owners grow their businesses and word will spread quickly amongst your local business community if you can really help them earn more money.

Guys,

Thank you so much for all your info! It's been a great help and given me alot more confidence too!

Urmilp, thanks for your response - you are so right with your comment about the network events..."the reason they'll call you wont be solely because of your website, it will be because of the impression you left them with when they met you."

More than a website, you need a success story and a reference.

I have a personal blog that's there only for the purpose of anyone googling me to see if I am a real person or not.

As for my services, I maintain a corporate site with a corporate identity that isn't associated with my persona.


But almost 100% of my business is repeat clients and referrals, as it has been for 20 years.

I'm in the camp that says you should have a website. It doesn't have to be a complicated one, but you ARE providing an internet marketing service. After all, a local pooper scooper company has a website, but an internet marketing consultant doesn't???

I applaud to urmilp for generating such valuable contracts without a website, and I totally agree that taking action is the most important thing. I would just hate to be in a position where a potential client would ask me what my website address is if I didn't have one... That would be embarrassing. And in that case, I couldn't see asking for hundreds or thousands of dollars if I can't spend couple hundred upfront and $10 on hosting for my own site. You could create a simple Wordpress site for free or outsource it for $50.

Just my opinion.

Katerina

good point by StrategicMarketingTN about the fact you can a domain name and cheap hosting and set up a wordpress site in just minutes.

I completed agree it is not expensive nor does it take much time to put up a quick website/blog, the question still remains what is it's purpose.

If you put up a site which looks unprofessional just to have a site, then potential customers will not think favourable of your skills.

However, if you set up a wordpress blog, to display the results you've achieved for others plus an opportunity for visitors to that blog to leave their name and email in exchange for a free report or video that would be of value to then, then that may be a great marketing tools to get your foot in the door.

I am a big believer for trying lots of different strategies, some work for some personalities and others for others.

I personally don't enjoy cold calling and prefer to use email marketing and email prospects with a short video of myself showing what i can do, what i have done for others and how i can help their current business. Then provide a call to action to either speak with me or meet me at a local seminar.

Regards the whole question of whether to get a website or not, really depends on what you are going to use it for. A website is just a tool, like a postcard or a flyer, simply having one and sending them to clients wont get them to give you a cheque (check).

My best advice is, if you have a strategy or internet skills you feel will benefit local business owners, then you have no reason to worry, you just need to let business owners know what you can do for them, be that through a website, postcards etc...

Just remember, you or an outsourcer you hire will need to speak with them before money coming flying through your letterbox.

I wouldn't waste anymore time thinking about whether you need a website or not. Its really just a personal choice and if having one makes you feel more comfortable speaking to clients, then get a domain, get some hosting, setup wordpress, get a great theme - I love themeforest.net (the themes are great and cheap), put up a quick site and move on to contacting client.

Trust me, i spent ages thinking about little things, that really didn't make me any money, its the perfectionist part in all of us.

The money comes from talking to prospects, building relationships and trust through actual personal communication.

Good luck again, keep me update how you decide to move on. would love to know.

This is not necessary that you should have a website if you are planing to get some visitor from the interment then you can launch a website but you are trying to go offline then its ok, if you don't have website.

If you believe in what your selling then off course you do.

If you don't believe it then not at all.

Quentin

If anybody tells you that you don't need a website as an Offline Consultant, consider how foolish you'll look to your prospects when they innocently ask, "Hey, that sounds interesting, can you show me your site?"

Or if someone asks you for your business card / contact info, and you give them a flippin' GMAIL / YAHOO / HOTMAIL address, without a URL on it... and they ask, "Where's your web address?"

Holy negative credibility, Batman.

Hey, I'm glad you asked.

Recently, i purchase a WP template from a warrior for $15.00 box , a dot com domain for $7.00(total), and hosting for $10.00/month at Hostgator. I'm about to add some content. Is NOT ready but you can take a look at Text it Chicago | Mobile Marketing Consultant

For less than $32.00( not including the hosting monthly fee) you can get it started!

For the template go to smokinghottemplates.com not my affiliate link >

hope that helps

Well, i personally started with a cellphone.

A website is helpful from a credibility and self-esteem standpoint (ie... you don't feel like the cobbler who's kids are running around barefoot). If done right, it can also be great at generating a consistent lead pool for you (the same way you do for your clients).

However ---
1) It absolutely does NOT have to be complicated or time consuming (can even be just a blog where you post one or two informative articles a week ... and if you want to add a bell or whistle - an optin form where they can request a free report or weekly ezine).

2) NEVER wait to get started until you have it in place. I started without business cards, web site ... pretty much everything. I had my list of existing contacts/relationships and my phone and email. That's it. My closing rate went up when I had my marketing materials in place, but if I had waited till that was complete, I'd still be waiting to get started.

Hope that helps!

Taking action is indeed the key!

Start by identifying business owners you know or your family knows. How can you help them? Give of your knowledge and talents to build credibility and testimonials.

Just do it..get some success under your belt, learn along the way, and then have a simple site built. As stated by Thom, it does not have to be complicated or fancy...
Just a place to refer prospects to so they can get to know you, your approach, others you've helped, and what you offer.