TWalker

They don't use websites in asian countries? No smart phones/mobile devices in asian countries? Thats too bad I guess your right you better look at something else.

You guys are looking for reasons why this won't work. Its much simpler than you think.

There is no "affiliate" no "software" in this. These are websites for goodness sake and simplified HTML ones at that!

Don't complicate it. Just sell websites for mobile devices.Thats it!

Adrian John

Selling mobile websites could look easy for local people in US/UK/Canada where there is a market for it. The thing is that on WF there are plenty people outside those countries and the mobile market(even the internet market) is close to 0, people don't see it as a good marketing avenue (and for good reasons, few searches or none).
We should brainstorm on some ways to sell without having to meet the owners(even if i can imagine that this could be the shortest and the best way to close some deals) or find some partners in those countries and split the profits.

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Jay Moreno

i find it hard to believe Asia doesnt have/use smartphones? can someone confirm...

UPDATE...

http://www.biztechreport.com/story/8...rtphone-market

ASIA poised to lead global smartphone market....

did i misread someones post?

Quentin

ukescuba I am an Australian living in Thailand and believe me as I travel around there are millions of smartphones all over Asia and QR Codes are also very visible.

Gee there was a big Honda motorcycle in a cabinet at the rail station with a QR Code leading to a mobile website right here in Bangkok.



These people don't know what they are talking about when they say no mobile sites etc in Asia.

Quentin

YellowGreenMedia

So let me ask you this, seeing you use jewellery stores and restaurants are you not going to have a problem with constantly needed to update the websites for mobiles? because these type of businesses have sales and menu changes all the time. how do you handle that?

ErnieB

Im sure scott will reply but here is my .02 on that matter. First I think the mobile site isnt meant to replace a full blown websites info/functionality. People are gonna be using the mobile to get directions, contact info, hours of operation, those types of things.

Updates in regards to menu changes or sales would be a good reason to get the client on a monthly maintenance fee. Charge $xx a month and in return give them so many updates.

I dont see this as a problem personally.

WillR

Exactly. There are two ways you can approach this:

1) Only go after those service based businesses like plumbers, locksmiths, etc where maintaining their website will not be an issue...

2) For those businesses who will need regular updates you can either charge them per update or a monthly maintenance fee. Personally I would just let them know that every time they need an update made to their site it will be a set fee of $X. I don't think charging them a monthly fee for this type of thing is really fair so I won't do it.

Remember, it is not all about the money. Treat businesses how you would like to be treated and they will keep coming back to you.

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javarog

I am looking for a little feed back on this from you seasoned guy's.

I have a internet business that does rather well so my immediate cash income is covered, so what I am thinking of doing with mobile sites is to charge a higher price for the site and spread that cost along with hosting fees over a period of 12 months divided into 12 equal monthly payments and at the end of 12 months the monthly design fee will drop off and then the monthly charge would only be hosting fees.

I would set the client up on a auto pay from their debit,credit card or checking account, this costs more than what it would if you took a business check but it would be covered in the higher price charged for the site.

Of course there would be a contract with a nice sized opt out fee.

I am very new at this so I am looking for thoughts on this type of scenario.

Adrian John

@javarog
I would recommend getting them auto pay every 4/6 month or even yearly with upfront payment for the first period of course.This way it will be easier for you and for them to keep up with the payments.Every month payments can get into some issues(I hate my monthly payments )
Also make sure you remind him some period before(1 month, 2 weeks before you will send the invoice) so the owners find the time to schedule your payment.
This is my oppinion

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phaproduction

What I do is I tell the business owners that they can either pay monthly, so 12 installments, or they can prepay the service by paying 10 installments for 12 months. So they "save" 2 months. I do this for the following reasons:
1: For me, the net present value is greater, because I can use the lump sum for other opportunities.
2: I do not have to worry about sending invoices
3: The owners feel like they got a great deal [2 months free]
4: It has worked for me so far. Whenever I would say monthly installments and I got a little shake of their heads, I would suddenly drop the 2 months free and it always sealed the deal

javarog

Very nice ! Thanks for the advice !! Seems like this is what i was looking for, Thanks

Jay Moreno

i agree with offering lump sum payment instead of monthly unless of course you have a good way to get the money and manage turning there sites on and off if they dont pay...

to handle that i personally use

WHMCS - The Complete Client Management, Billing & Support Solution

i believe you get it free with certain hostgator account - you could easily configure it to toggle your clients mobile websites on and off

hth

jay

i would much rather have money in my hand than dribs and drabs if its a big project but you cant knock a good residual income either from lots of micro payments too

javarog

Thats what I use also for some hosting I do, , I have a couple of private video sites that are easy to run when it comes to payments as the software controls all of the payment schedules.

Jay Moreno

I use it for billing clients for non tech/internet products too

Have it configured for screen printing, flyers, banners, postcards, etc took a longtime to setup but has been more than worth it

WillR

Just get the money upfront. You create the residual income by doing a good job with the mobile site and upselling them to other services. It's going to be hard to talk someone into some of your other services if they are already paying you a monthly fee.

Besides, anyone you are approaching to build a mobile website for should already have a regular website which means they already have hosting. So why would you want to charge them for more hosting that is totally unnecessary? Cut the bull**** and treat customers how you would want to be treated.

If you are providing a great service then there is no need to keep discounting your service until they buy it - this doesn't just cheapen your service, it cheapens your reputation as well. If they don't want it then move on and find people who actually understand the value you are providing. These are going to be much better long-term customers for you anyway.

If you want to charge me monthly I would simply pay for a month, get someone I know to copy the website, and then tell you I don't want it anymore.

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scotth

Totally agree..My goal when selling mobile site is charge one price..pay half up front...last half on delivery...dont charge hosting fee I have before but not good service they just flat out dont need another hosting fee...I try to stay away from businesses with to many updates...been there dont like it..once I sell them the mobile design I then up-sell into monthly service..the focus is email and digital list building...

Based in Costa Rica Living my life on my terms a expat lifestyle and traveling the world at will. Time Freedom is True Freedom!

javarog

I normally would agree with the upfront money and that may be the fact once I get out and into it ,however I live in a area with a unemployment rate setting at around 18% which has a defined impact on the business owners, so until I get out there and see how the businesses are doing then that will determine which way I need to go on this.

WillR

That would simply tell me that businesses in that area need the service you are offering them even more than ever. This is not an expense for a business - this is an investment! Don't be discouraged by that. If you find it doesn't work out then try and target businesses further a field.

Scott,

Yeah it should be said you can still ask for half upfront and half on completion - that's fair enough and quite common practice these days.

I also agree that it has a lot to do with the businesses you target. Some people say they like to target businesses who need regular updates because it gives them a residual income. Well I would rather NOT go after those types of businesses and instead of spending half an hour updating a website for $50 I can instead spend that same time selling mobile websites for $297+ a piece.

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javarog

Nice thinking Will,,, thanks for that!!

Jay Moreno

I have multiple clients that pay me $400+ a month they simply couldn't afford initial payment of a few thousand dollars, on a monthly basis since I am in touch with them on a regular basis I find it much easier to up sell to them, typically their business grows as a direct result of my services and advice so as they get more money it's a no brainer for them to spend more money with me as I bring more services and advice for them...

I make sure I am not a wham bam thank you mam not see you ever gone just cos I got your money... I don't discount my prices in my mind if I want to sell something up front I already have my set figure if they want to it monthly I add a percentage so I actually make more...

Sure go ahead make a one time sale but there's something to be said for walking away from a sale from a start up company that cant initially make full payment and working with that company splitting the payments up and get several times that amount you where ever going to get from them by up selling

Automation where you don't do anything other then take a micro payment works for me ie I have dating site, qr codes, and hosting that make residual

you would have to be dealing with some shady characters if they would copy a website after you built it, apart from them having a lawsuit on there hands depending on the amount of the product they ripped off in the past 10yrs I have never had anyone do that to me ever

YseUp

Hey guys,

I'm going to a local business networking event tomorrow. Any advice on how to go about it?

I've already created an e-book which they can download from my own mobile optimised site (in exchange for an e-mail).

I'm thinking of printing out some sheets with the best tidbits from my e-book with a QR code at the bottom that links to my opt in page.

Any advice for how to speak to business owners or how to present my service?

I'm still in two minds about whether to offer hosting, seems like a good way to get residual hosting.

WillR

Horses for causes I guess. If I'm approaching clients who already have a website then I don't expect they cannot afford $300 - $400 for a mobile version. Besides, the issue is never really to do with price. If someone tells you they can't afford it then it usually means you (the seller) haven't done a good enough job of presenting the value to them.

If a customer starts talking about monthly payments then often times the issue is not wanting to spread the payment out over months, it is wanting to spread the risk out so if you don't deliver what you promised they are not stuck out of pocket, looking like a fool.

I've seen this happen several times - not to me. I am not talking necessarily about the business owners doing so. I am talking about the business owners who go and show their current web designers (who know nothing about mobile sites) yet they manage to whip up a mobile site very similar to the one you provided... in record time.

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linkmetro

Looks like w/Quentin's wso need more moduls, like the redirecting script for $13/mo and any other layout?
Thx.

clubrrr

Hi, thanks for all that you provided here!
I would really appreciate your help with a few things
I dont have a smart phone yet,but should be able to get one in 2weeks or so(im in south Florida, any recommendations?)
How can I tell if they need a mobile site?
I have the mobimakers and I created a decent site, would you recommend that to create clients sites.
can u recommend any scrapers, and bulk emailers software.
I guess I will use scotts scripts for now, any suggestions on that...
also, would like to use a predictive dialer. Is this is the path of least resistance for a newbie to start selling?
Thank you so much!

scotth

There are couple of ways that you can see if they have a mobile site is to type their domain with a .mobi replacing the .com or whatever it is...or you can put a m. in front of the domain..I am sure there are other ways this has worked for me...plus I would venture to say that high % of local businesses do not have mobile web design.

I like Quentins script b/c its easy to customize the site....also Willr he has written many post in this thread...he is coming out with some mobile design templates that are very easy edit and customize...You will know if you come back here often when Willr puts out the WSO for them.

The only scraper I like is the one Tim Castleman has..you can go to his site at http://timothycastleman.com/us-canad...w-page-scraper is not a affiliate link...I am sure others here could chime in on what they use and like.

I like cold calling local businesses for mobile design its the fastest way to closing IMO and getting cash in your hand...but there many other methods you can use that are sprinkled through out this thread.

Hope this helps,

ScottH

Based in Costa Rica Living my life on my terms a expat lifestyle and traveling the world at will. Time Freedom is True Freedom!

YellowGreenMedia

If you don´t have a smartphone you can use this
Blackbaud Labs - Home

This is a iPad and Iphone (CTRL + 2) Emulator, if your prospect has a mobile site it will show the mobile site, if not then you will see the regular site that you would see with a normal browser.

Adrian John

@scotth
Can you help us with a script or some resources to learn how to close over the phone if you know any of them?
I haven't got any success with emails so far and my script for cold-calling business go me no results so far.
I would like to learn how to close over the phone just because i'm not living in US/UK(like plenty of us here) where there is a great market for mobile websites.
If anybody can guide me somehow or teach me how to do it maybe i can do something in return to help you
Thanks again everyone for the great ideas shared here.

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scotth

Email marketing works...you just have to send out lots of emails to get the responses. Cold calling is the fastest but not the most pleasant for most people...but no matter where you live you can close business...you said that you cold call and sent out emails with no luck..May I ask how many calls did you make? and how many emails did you send? Not sure if you bought Quentins script for mobile design..but he has a nice email template that gets responses...

Based in Costa Rica Living my life on my terms a expat lifestyle and traveling the world at will. Time Freedom is True Freedom!

Adrian John

Thanks for the answer scotth.
Cold calling it's not something that i don't like doing but after i called more than 500 businesses with different approaches(new designer looking to drum up some business, special offer this week only, i can't see your site on my iPhone + others) and getting results close to 0 puts on on thinking that i am doing something wrong. I say close to 0 because i managed to get to the final part, terms, prices and closing with 12 business owners and once i said that i am from another state(haven't said i'm from Romania ...) and i couldn't meet them to show more they immediately changed their minds and decided that they are not comfortable doing business with somebody they can't meet.
I also got Quentin's WSO and i consider it one of the best here but it takes time to build mobile websites and doing this for every client, and not beeing able to meet them if they want more info, it's just something that i don;t see it working very well.I've send just few email, around 10 with completed websites and like 50 with mock-ups to see if there is any interest but all i got was only 1 response and after exchanging several emails and phone calls neither they weren't comfortable doing business with someone that is not local and new in business even if they liked what they saw.
That's why i want to learn how to close over the phone.
If there is something i could do please advise me.I will be very grateful and i will give something in exchange for sure.

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YellowGreenMedia

I don't think you will get many clients if they can't meet you... think about it would you do business with a guy that lives in another state or country? I don't .....

Alex Nash

Nice one scotth.

A few examples on Wordpress plugins that will transform Your (or a customers WP site) into a mobilized version:
Wapple Architect

MobilePress

IWPhone

Wordpress PDA

Wordpress Mobile Pack


Get a customer that wants a simple website -> Open a Wordpress theme, modify the theme, outsource if needed etc -> Profit.

Come back xx days later with some statistics on phonebrowsing that it's more and more common these days -> Ask if the customer is willing to buy a mobilized version which of course uses the same DB. PROFIT, AGAIN!!



Good luck.



~Alex Nash

Learn from your mistakes. Experience is priceless.

Luke Bishop

I've doing a bit of research on virtual tours at late and got together with a virtual tour photographer here in Aus.

We came across this piece of script called VR Habitat, basically its a html5 viewer for virtual tours on your Iphone and Ipad.

- Not too sure if it works on Androids and Nokia's so please test out the software by scanning the qr code below and let Us all know.

Here a demo my colleague created
http://qrcode.kaywa.com/img.php?s=8&...Ftestiphone%2F

link-
http://propersnap.com/testiphone/


The software is free to try and if would like to use it professionally it is a minimum $20usd donation.

I understand downloading the photos takes a little while to load but I do feel they can be tweaked for faster viewing.

Pls let know know your thoughts.

Quentin

I also have built a site to show off my mobile sites. It brings in a bit of work

Speedie Mobile Websites

Quentin

Jay Moreno

doesnt work on android... asks for iphone, ipad, touch - theres a good chance it will work on android so you might want to check that...

Jay Moreno

theres also wptouch

from my experience i havent seen them all in action or had chance to fully test them but the ones i have seen have been very limited with the styling and what you can do with them...

i will be testing them am all again very thoroughly in the not too distant future from a developers stand point and also a users standpoint

but thanks for your input

UPDATE

just FYI i just went and quickly reviewed the scripts- other than WPTouch just from the screenshots i can see that those plugins are not suitable for smartphones users, from my experience the end user will be get very frustrated very quickly - if your already having success with them thats awesome but am thinking there are much better options out there for you

Quentin

Hi Alex

Nice list and there are quite a lot more.

The biggest problem with most of them is you have to design your wordpress site to fit the mobile because if you do anything a little out there they tend to make the mobile site look pretty bad.

Only know this because we have had lots of complaints from various customers.

Now what I do like about them is if you are concentrating mostly on posts then they are absolutely fantastic.

Quite often I will also use wordpress as the CMS for the mobile site. By this I mean people never see the wordpress site as it redirects all browsers to the mobile version.

I make very simple pages and then concentrate on posts for the mobile site.

Quentin

Nail Yener

For the last three days I have been contacting business owners all around the world (Not U.S. yet) offering them a mobile friendly website and telling the benefits of it and I have to tell you that I am very disappointed with the responses.

Almost 99% of the business owners either

- have no idea what a mobile friendly website is

or

- don't care about how their website looks on a mobile device

or

- don't want to invest in a mobile friendly website.

I started learning mobile web design about three weeks ago with the hopes that any business owner would be interested in having a mobile optimized website to better serve their mobile visitors. But now, after seeing how unconcerned they are, I am about to lose my motivation on this, because none of the business owners I have contacted up to now are interested enough to make a deal.

I am contacting them via email and although I am not an email marketing expert, I can say that I started to get better responses with my latest campaigns. I have tried many types of emails and titles following the advice given on this and other threads. And I am targeting different business types.

I will keep trying a few more days improving my email campaigns and if I can't get any clients I will stop trying and continue with my other projects. Mobile Web Design doesn't look as bright now as the time I stumbled upon this thread.

WillR

Nail,

1. You can't expect to close a deal with only one contact. Selling offline services is no different to selling online products/services. It usually takes several contacts with a customer before they will buy from you.

2. Email can work but it is definitely going to be harder than cold calling or visiting businesses in person.

3. Email should only be used to get those business owners to take the next step in the process. You should not be trying to sell anything to them in your emails. You should be using email to setup a face to face meeting, a phone call, or directing them to a short report or video presentation you have made for their business.

4. Do not sell. Your job is to inform and educate the prospect.

They don't know why they need a mobile website? They don't care how their website looks on a mobile device? They don't think they need to invest in a mobile site?

To be blunt these problems are yours. If they don't know why they need a mobile site then you haven't done a good enough job of educating them on the problem and the benefits of the solution. If they don't think they want to pay for a mobile site then you haven't done a good enough job of building the value.

Every local business owners needs a mobile optimized website. In a year or two they are going to be left behind if they don't. It is your job to make them understand this and push them over the line, without coming across as a pushy used car salesmen.

Sorry to be blunt with you but no point leading you down the wrong track as you seem close to giving up with this. The fact there are several people in this very thread already making money with mobile website design proves this is a service people are willing to pay for.

Also, how many businesses have you actually contacted? Unless you have emailed a couple hundred then I wouldn't be drawing any conclusions just yet.

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JodyRossDeane

WillR,

That's great, solid advice. Thanks for your input on this issue. I think you responded to a lot of feeling that is in the air regarding potential customer's responses to calls especially.

Cheers
Jody

Nail Yener

Will, thank you very much for the detailed advice.

I am not expecting that and I have a number of biz owners that I have contacted several times. A few of them looked really interested but I didn't hear from them again. I will contact them soon if I can't hear from them.

The reason I chose email is that in my city, it is close to impossible at this time to sell a mobile site to a local business. That's why I am targeting other countries. Additionally, my spoken English is not as fluent as my writing, so cold calling is not an option for me at this time.

For the reasons above, I will have to hone my email skills to close deals at this time.

I am trying different type of emails and from my experience there is not much difference between trying to sell and trying to educate. But I totally understand your point.

Well, you are right to some extent, that's why I told I was not an email marketing expert and I am working on improving my campaigns. But, actually I got such type of responses even after my educational emails. It seems I have to work harder on educating them

Actually, this is the very point I am trying to convince myself as well. As I mentioned in my above post, I started working on this believing that every business needs to have a mobile website but now, after some very strange responses, I started to question that. At some point I felt like I am offering a worthless thing to people. This is mostly because although most of the websites do not look well like a mobile site on a mobile device, they are not totally unnavigable and it seems that it will not be a big problem for the visitors.

Yes, I know. I feel I am close too but I wanted to share my feelings about the responses I got. I contacted about 400 businesses but I am not sure how many of them received my email and read it. About 300 of them were in the same niche, I guess that niche was not a good start

Thanks again Will, I will go over my emails once again following your suggestions now.

scotth

Will Fantastic content...you bring lots of value to this thread. I look forward to your posts..keep it coming.

Based in Costa Rica Living my life on my terms a expat lifestyle and traveling the world at will. Time Freedom is True Freedom!

Quentin

Will has some good points and I feel with your frustrations Nail.

I tried the same thing but hey if you expect different results doing the same thing you know the rest. I did 200 email and got 3 accounts.

First I started out by doing some free mobile sites to develop my skills and see what customers actually wanted and questions I might get asked.

I started to promote QR Codes for free and set up a skype number in the country I was targeting.

They started to ring me asking about them then did my sales speal that they needed to send their QR Code to a mobile site and provided the QR Code, Mobile site and Analytics tracking. This bought in some more.

Then I created a website targeting people who may be looking and this generated a few more.

The rest has been by asking for referrals.

You have to mix it up a bit to find your gold mine.

Quentin

paologiannone

I have used Weebly for some time now and design several websites now using it. Mobile integration is recent but very effective, Video player has also been upgraded.

MLM secrets revealed

Digital products and E-book reviews

how to stop chewing your nails

WillR

You may want to remove the affiliate link from your signature if you want any chance of having your posts remain on this forum. They'll delete them otherwise.

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MarthaD.

And once again, the self-appointed King wields his mighty, self-righteous sword to keep all in line in "his kingdom!"

MarthaD.

scotth

Willr is just letting the guy know so he can play by the rules..we all should be writing quality posts so we can learn something...just throwing up affiliate links is not cool..I know I have done it!

Based in Costa Rica Living my life on my terms a expat lifestyle and traveling the world at will. Time Freedom is True Freedom!

MarthaD.

Yea, sure he is Scott! I'm not defending using affiliate links where and when its not permitted, just he's constant arrogant, obnoxious way of self-aggrandizing!

MarthaD.

cshilling22

I am very interested in this, I think I would have a ton of interest in my area. I am just not convinced I could develop the skills to provide a quality product in a short period of time. How much would someone with experience charge me to outsource the initial mock up and then the site?

Also a great way to market this would be at your local Chamber of Commerce monthly mixer. There are a lot of business contacts there and the Chamber in your city probably needs a mobile site. Do a mock up for the chamber and then chat up the CEO at the mixer about it and show the example. The word might quickly spread about what you do. Also while networking learn about the other businesses there and talk to them about what you do (without selling too hard). You can show them your chamber mock up as an example. That could be a gold mine for potential business in some areas, they might even let you do a presentation.

Slwebbiz

Hello everyone and thanks for all your gold nuggets.

I'll try to practice all your good advice.
Thank you a thousand times,

Samuel

scotth

That's a great idea going to the chamber with a mock up of the chambers site...I would think that would open some doors..as far as designing mobile yourself..when I started doing mobile sites back in Feb. I knew nothing about mobile...I got the script watched the videos...took me 3 hours to finish my site...now I can design a 5 page site in 1 hour and that's surfing the net too..just kidding..keep all the money yourself by learning how and not have to depend on some one else...when you get busy you can out source it pennies on the dollar.

Based in Costa Rica Living my life on my terms a expat lifestyle and traveling the world at will. Time Freedom is True Freedom!