Zero skills, but produced £5970 and £900 in recurring payments in just 4 weeks.

by Dinospider Banned
62 replies
Now, I've always focused on Google Adsense niche sites, and currently have 50 websites each generating between $5-$50 per day.

Recently I've been thinking that having my income come from one method is not the way forward, specially after all the recent aggro that Google has been causing with the Panda, Penquin and the for coming future updates.

I was sat in a nearby cafe when an idea came to my head. There was a billboard with loads of business cards pinned to it. Most of these business cards were painters, plasterers, builders and so on..

None, and when i say none, i mean literally every business card there had no website, so it got me thinking of building a web design firm, producing small local websites to small local businesses.

Now, i have zero skills in web design, but have skills in building small Wordpress sites, enough skills to get a quality looking site up and running.

So the next day i decided to put myself into action mode and create another method of income. I revisited the cafe and took with me a notepad and pen, i took down each phone number and business name on every business card that was there.

I actually ended up writing 58 phone numbers, these were mainly mobile phones and a few home phone numbers. it got me thinking, there was 58 potential customers that COULD be interested in a website, this was in one cafe alone, so i decided to head down to another nearby cafe to see if they also had a billboard of some kind, which they did, and again, i took each and everyone's phone numbers down (and business names).

This time i took 34 phone numbers which had no website on there business cards or flyers.

Within half and hour i had 92 phone numbers of small businesses that could potentially be interested in a small website, to help and grow there own business.

I went off home and made myself a cup of tea and got comfy and decided to phone up the phone numbers i had wrote down earlier.

After phoning each and every number, i actually ended up closing 4 deals which they each paid £199 (about $300) + charging them £30 per month, for hosting and 10 updates or changes per year.

So.. out of visiting 2 cafes, i took 92 phone numbers from business cards, and generated 4 sales in the first day, plus also taking £120 in recurring payments.

I'll tell you know, i'm a person that is not great talking on the phone, but after a bit of self belief and saying to myself the only thing they can do is SAY NO! so i took the plunge.

After the first day went so well, i decided to change my approach. I figured if so many small business are looking for small websites, newspapers, magazines, trade magazines, would be the place to look at.

So i decided to nip to the shop to purchase literally every newspaper and every magazine where i could possibly find businesses that are advertising there services.

The amount of phone numbers for businesses without a website in these sort of newspapers and magazines is enormous.

After 4 weeks of driving round cafes, newsagents, places where small businesses would place a business card, buying papers, magazines, trade magazines.

I closed 30 sales each paying me £199 + £30 per month for updates and changes, this was all done with zero skills and action taken!!

Here's a breakdown :

Step 1 : Head down to cafes, newsagents, searching for places where businesses leave there business cards.

Buy newspapers, magazines, trade magazines etc..

Step 2 : Write down every phone number and there business name and also there type of business.

Step 3 : Before phoning up i did a quick Google search for there main keyword in regard to there business,using the Google keyword tool, i wanted to explain to them on the phone that your business might be missing out on x amount of clients/appointments/free quotes as per there keyword related to there business.

Step 4 : Closing the deal over the phone, it's a hell of a lot easier then i thought, because businesses are wanting extra customers everyday, and specially in these hard times. I simply explained to them over the phone how a website would improve there marketing power in gaining new customers/clients for there business. Whilst getting the "Yes, would love to go ahead" i also made sure they signed up for a 12 month agreement to pay £30 per month.

The way i think about this is simply, £30 per month is an extra £360 a year.
So in other words I'm selling them a website for £199 + £30 per month = £559 per client over the year.

Step 5 : I visited the Warrior forum special offer forum, and purchased 3 offline wordpress themes, i have also purchased 2 other wordpress themes from theme forest. These themes i use to build the clients websites. which usually takes between 3-4 hours to complete, I've so far in 30 clients have had zero complaints and quite a bit of praise from the quality of designs.

I collect payments through 2checkout and nochex, what i have done is asked for a 50% deposit and 50% when completed.

I'm looking for an alternative for collecting recurring payments, which would be much better, currently looking for a direct debit solution.

1 customer had actually told one of his friends, who also ran a business about me, which i'm going to phone up tomorrow morning.

The only reason why i have wrote this thread is to make others aware that phoning up businesses isn't that hard. I'm no salesman, i'm shocking at talking to people over the phone but... if you explain to those that they are missing out on a huge number of customers and clients for not having a website, can they turn you down?

What's my idea to grow this from now?

Outsourcing the creation of websites, and also taking on other cold callers to ring round businesses and improving those sales.

I'm thinking of a few avenues of looking for some investment to help grow this business and turn it into a long term business for the future.

Just my last tip for anyone wanting to start earning money and creating something worthwhile, get into gear and start doing something about it, reading forum post's and buying WSO after WSO isn't going to get you anywhere.

Action is a beautiful word



P:S : I'm not great at writing either, i think i got everything down and i hope you get some inspiration from this and get off your ass and start taking action!


Your welcome to ask any questions, always happy to help another out. We are all here to do the same thing, to make a living.


Edit : Sorry i forgot to add, that now i've gained those clients, i've got them for a year, later down the line, i now have the chance to sell them add ons like :

Google places listings
Seo
Social media marketing

My view is one client is potentially worth a lot more down the line.
#£5970 #£900 #payments #produced #recurring #skills #weeks
  • Profile picture of the author IM nice guy
    Cool man, good job.

    You just buying reseller hosting with like hostgator, and managing their accounts on that, or what?
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    • Profile picture of the author Dinospider
      Banned
      Originally Posted by IM nice guy View Post

      Cool man, good job.

      You just buying reseller hosting with like hostgator, and managing their accounts on that, or what?
      That's correct, although it's not hostgator, i'm currently using "hostwinds" i've not had one problem at all with there hosting.
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  • Profile picture of the author IM nice guy
    Nice, I'm doing something similar with my company, but not charging for hosting yet (i'm playing around with different models)

    Just curious, how many individual businesses/people do you reckon you had conversations with to get those 30 clients?

    Cheers,

    Nick
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    • Profile picture of the author Dinospider
      Banned
      Originally Posted by IM nice guy View Post

      Nice, I'm doing something similar with my company, but not charging for hosting yet (i'm playing around with different models)

      Just curious, how many individual businesses/people do you reckon you had conversations with to get those 30 clients?

      Cheers,

      Nick
      I wanted to build a recurring monthly income so that it's stable, rather then selling a one time website, with the recurring payments i figured that i could build a relationship with the client, rather then having to get in touch with them later down the line to try and sell them "Google places listing" which is just similar to having a advertisement in the yellow pages or white pages.

      Well, it was just over 80 conversations to close those clients, now that's a cracking response rate, but my approach wasn't to sell hard and pester them.

      I simply explained to them, with a website your missing out on x amount of clients because there are over x amount of searches for multiple keywords online relating to there business, i also explained to them that having a web presence in this new social era is the future and that yellow pages advertisements and magazine advertisements are on there way out.

      I asked them straight up, what would 5 potential clients a month do to your business? They gave there answer, which usually was a similar response by everyone, "Income they can't do without" which i told them, there's your answer to getting your business online and securing those extra clients by having a web presence.

      I don't go rushing in, i speak to them as i would just to my friends and that's what I've found successful.
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      • Profile picture of the author Black Hat Cat
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Seadragon View Post

        I asked them straight up, what would 5 potential clients a month do to your business?
        So...you lie to them? Because just building them a website isn't going to deliver a single potential client. Have you rehearsed what you're going to say when they ask you why no one is visiting their website that you said would get them 5 potential clients a month?
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        • Profile picture of the author Dinospider
          Banned
          Originally Posted by Simon74 View Post

          Great system Seadragon, I can confirm that these approach works very well. I have been doing a similar system for the past 4 months having a great success. I actually started a threat http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...y-3-weeks.html

          you can check it out to get more ideas.

          Simon
          Cheers Simon, will take a look shortly, could do with a few more ideas and techniques.

          Originally Posted by Black Hat Cat View Post

          So...you lie to them? Because just building them a website isn't going to deliver a single potential client. Have you rehearsed what you're going to say when they ask you why no one is visiting their website that you said would get them 5 potential clients a month?
          Nope, see the word "potential" i don't say to them, your going to get 5 clients per month.

          I explain to them that by having a web presence they have the potential to pull in more prospects then they would without a website.

          I do also explain to them about SEO as in "online marketing" in which to have traffic driven to there sites through search engines, they would need to target keywords related to there business, and that SEO services would be needed in the future, which i also explain to them that i do offer those services at a huge discount to clients that purchase a website through me, but i don't sell SEO services on the spot, i aim to build a relationship first.

          All the site's i've done and doing, I've keyword research them first so that when i sell them SEO services, I'm able to rank for low competition keywords related to there business.

          There is one site I've done actually getting 5-10 visits daily already and has had customers through his website, which is a exact match domain.

          So i never once lied to a client i've phoned up, i never have once said "Your going to get 5 clients per month" i was merely asking them a question, how'd it effect there business.
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          • Profile picture of the author jimbo13
            Also Seadragon, you can increase a Tradesmans business with a website even if not a single person actually goes and visits it ever.

            This is how and something you can chuck into the conversation if necessary.

            In the UK approx 20% of people when viewing an Ad in the paper or flyer will not even contemplate calling that Tradesman if they have no website.

            And the thing that tells them unconciously that there is a website is a URL in the Ad.

            So the very fact that they have a website will not lose those 20%.

            Now half of those 20% will not even go to have a look at the website so over the course of a year a Tradesman will get some more work just by having the URL in the Ad irrespective of what the website looks like or where it is in Google.

            Dan
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            • Profile picture of the author Dinospider
              Banned
              Originally Posted by jimbo13 View Post

              Also Seadragon, you can increase a Tradesmans business with a website even if not a single person actually goes and visits it ever.

              This is how and something you can chuck into the conversation if necessary.

              In the UK approx 20% of people when viewing an Ad in the paper or flyer will not even contemplate calling that Tradesman if they have no website.

              And the thing that tells them unconciously that there is a website is a URL in the Ad.

              So the very fact that they have a website will not lose those 20%.

              Now half of those 20% will not even go to have a look at the website so over the course of a year a Tradesman will get some more work just by having the URL in the Ad irrespective of what the website looks like or where it is in Google.

              Dan
              Cheers Dan,

              That is something i would never have knew about, if you hadn't posted it here.
              I will be certainly adding that to the conversations i have with customers.

              As the saying goes " You learn something new everyday"
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            • Profile picture of the author IM nice guy
              Originally Posted by jimbo13 View Post

              In the UK approx 20% of people when viewing an Ad in the paper or flyer will not even contemplate calling that Tradesman if they have no website.


              Dan

              Very cool statistic Dan, mind sharing the source? (as something like that would be great to use, but I wouldn't dare without knowing the legitimacy of the source of info)

              Cheers,

              Nick
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  • Profile picture of the author johnben1444
    Ideas implemented shines.
    I like your courage and ability to put things into practice.
    Business is all about identifying that untapped goldmine and sucking it dry.
    I also like your idea of collecting $30 monthly for hosting and so on. That will not only generate recurring income but it will give you high spirit and hope to do even more.

    A piece of advice of you:

    Your area is still untapped, take advantage of it.
    Setup a little company with sales men for your offline marketing.
    If you don't have web design skills you can hire a professional to do the job.
    Start getting your feet wet in web design, its not too hard.
    You can even hire expert in your area or country, they mustn't reside within your locality.
    Web design is a million dollar business, you can even take it global if you want.

    Good luck..
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    • Profile picture of the author Dinospider
      Banned
      Originally Posted by johnben1444 View Post

      Ideas implemented shines.
      I like your courage and ability to put things into practice.
      Business is all about identifying that untapped goldmine and sucking it dry.
      I also like your idea of collecting $30 monthly for hosting and so on. That will not only generate recurring income but it will give you high spirit and hope to do even more.

      A piece of advice of you:

      Your area is still untapped, take advantage of it.
      Setup a little company with sales men for your offline marketing.
      If you don't have web design skills you can hire a professional to do the job.
      Start getting your feet wet in web design, its not too hard.
      You can even hire expert in your area or country, they mustn't reside within your locality.
      Web design is a million dollar business, you can even take it global if you want.

      Good luck..
      Your right there, the web design business is a million dollar business, which is why I'm taking steps to create a professional company and maybe get some investment to take this on further, by hiring professional designers and better marketeers that can get clients for me.

      I'll still be growing my adsense niche sites, but i believe this is a more stable way of creating a business and also splitting my income through multiple revenue avenues.
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      • Profile picture of the author jimbo13
        Seadragon

        Have a look at www.gocardless.com (utilises RBS for collecting DDs, no Merchant Account required by you) and Direct Debit Services for Business - Direct Debit Bureau - FastPay Ltd which will also sort out DDs for you.

        Do you have an example of a site that you have done at all?

        You can pm me if you don't want it public. Apparantly making them public attracts spam I read in another post but I have no idea on technical stuff.

        Dan
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        • Profile picture of the author 9999
          Thanks for taking the time to post this, sometimes you need to read a post like this to pick up the pace again.
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          • Profile picture of the author Dinospider
            Banned
            Originally Posted by jimbo13 View Post

            Seadragon

            Have a look at www.gocardless.com (utilises RBS for collecting DDs, no Merchant Account required by you) and Direct Debit Services for Business - Direct Debit Bureau - FastPay Ltd which will also sort out DDs for you.

            Do you have an example of a site that you have done at all?

            You can pm me if you don't want it public. Apparantly making them public attracts spam I read in another post but I have no idea on technical stuff.

            Dan
            Thank you Dan, will certainly have a look at those, in the morning.

            You know what i'll send you the link to the themes i use, you'll grasp the idea of what they look like and what themes i use for easy customization.

            I'll pm you those in a second.



            Originally Posted by Enfusia View Post

            Great work!

            We do about the same thing here with charging $39 U.S.

            If you don't mind what offline themes did you find that were good?
            I am familiar with theme forest but what were the other 2 if you will please?

            Great job,
            Patrick
            Great stuff, well i partly charge for the hosting, but i also include a few little other things, like 10 updates in a year, just so if they wish to add new pictures or anything on there sites, i can do that for them, but i also let them know that they can contact me at any time.

            The reason i say this is to build up a relationship with them, for future add on's i can sell them much further down the line.

            I think a good relationship with the customer is valued more then the first payment they make!

            Give me a second Patrick and i'll just send the links over to you via Pm, there cracking little themes, which literally take a few customizations to make them look attractive.


            Originally Posted by 9999 View Post

            Thanks for taking the time to post this, sometimes you need to read a post like this to pick up the pace again.
            Your welcome, everyone needs a little inspiration from time to time, and that's the only reason why I've posted this.

            It's probably the most used words ever on this forum "taking action" but, probably 40% ever do!
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      • Profile picture of the author Enfusia
        Great work!

        We do about the same thing here with charging $39 U.S.

        If you don't mind what offline themes did you find that were good?
        I am familiar with theme forest but what were the other 2 if you will please?

        Great job,
        Patrick
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  • Profile picture of the author TopGun38
    Good to hear your success story. The next step is to offer them other services like SEO, GP, Social Media etc. Don't wait too long to do it as you need to strike the iron while it's still hot. These people had already paid you once for web design so they'd have no problem paying you again.

    I do SEO, GP, Social Media, Mobile stuff etc. for local offline clients. If you need help in these areas, I can help you with that. I can offer you a wholesale price for my services where you can mark up and offer them to your clients.

    PM me if you're interested and we can chat on Skype.

    Dan
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    • Profile picture of the author sandalwood
      Seadragon,

      Congratualtions on your success. Cold calling is the easiest thing in the world. After all, they can only hang up like you said. You on the other hand found a gold mine. Keep mining it and listen to what one poster said - get some sales people and let them do the selling.

      Who knows, you might be the next Richard Branson

      Have a great day,

      Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author Taniwha
    With you creating a website, how much extra business can you expect to give them without SEO? Close to nothing.

    You might as well sell them the SEO on the spot saying "just because you have a website doesn't mean you get any traffic from Google. You need someone to get it to the top of Google for your keyword to expect any more business"

    Nonetheless, congrats on your progress.
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    • Profile picture of the author sodomojo
      Originally Posted by Taniwha View Post

      With you creating a website, how much extra business can you expect to give them without SEO? Close to nothing.

      You might as well sell them the SEO on the spot saying "just because you have a website doesn't mean you get any traffic from Google. You need someone to get it to the top of Google for your keyword to expect any more business"

      Nonetheless, congrats on your progress.
      They won't get as much if they don't have SEO, that being said, I do think it will bring value to have a properly designed webpage to be able to publish on literature and advertisements. It is certainly better than what they are doing now.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dinospider
      Banned
      Originally Posted by TopGun38 View Post

      Good to hear your success story. The next step is to offer them other services like SEO, GP, Social Media etc. Don't wait too long to do it as you need to strike the iron while it's still hot. These people had already paid you once for web design so they'd have no problem paying you again.

      I do SEO, GP, Social Media, Mobile stuff etc. for local offline clients. If you need help in these areas, I can help you with that. I can offer you a wholesale price for my services where you can mark up and offer them to your clients.

      PM me if you're interested and we can chat on Skype.

      Dan
      This is what i intended to do, a little later down the line, i'd rather build a relationship with them, which i think would give me more weight to be able to sell them extra add on's later down the line.

      Will get in touch later on today, SEO is not a problem for myself, i can rank sites constantly, but i have no knowledge in "Google places listings".

      Originally Posted by sandalwood View Post

      Seadragon,

      Congratualtions on your success. Cold calling is the easiest thing in the world. After all, they can only hang up like you said. You on the other hand found a gold mine. Keep mining it and listen to what one poster said - get some sales people and let them do the selling.

      Who knows, you might be the next Richard Branson

      Have a great day,

      Tom
      Haha Tom, I'm no Richard branson just yet, but it's a start

      Yes, i'll be looking at some sales people shortly, first i'm going to structure the business correctly and make sure everything down to accounts and legal structure of the business is correct. (so i don't run into any problems later on)

      Originally Posted by Taniwha View Post

      With you creating a website, how much extra business can you expect to give them without SEO? Close to nothing.

      You might as well sell them the SEO on the spot saying "just because you have a website doesn't mean you get any traffic from Google. You need someone to get it to the top of Google for your keyword to expect any more business"

      Nonetheless, congrats on your progress.
      Yes of course the need of getting to top spot for there keywords is a must for traffic, the way i explained to them is, if you have no web presence, then your missing out on potential clients and customers.

      I didn't want to sell them loads and loads of extra's in a one off go, Yes they have paid, but i figured by building up a relationship, i'd have more of a chance selling them extras a few weeks or month further down, then i would hard selling them web design, SEO, google places in just one phone call.

      But this is something, i've never done personally, so it's all a learning curve.
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  • Profile picture of the author liindsay
    Congrats on your success!
    Would you mind PMing me also about the themes you've been using?
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    • Profile picture of the author zimbizee
      Hi, congrats, this is something i am trying to break into as well.

      Would it be ok if you sent me the links to the themes you use as well, every little helps. Like you i am no web designer but know my way around wordpress enough to put up some nice looking sites. I just have to pick up the phone!!!!!

      Can you tell me, do you write the content for the sites as well or is it provided by the client?

      many thanks
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      • Profile picture of the author payoman
        I was JUST thinking about how much better my chances have been on the phone calling businesses that ALREADY had websites that could do with a redesign.

        The idea of going and looking for business card boards/local newspapers is brilliant. Going to do it tommorow.

        Excellent post!!
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      • Profile picture of the author Dinospider
        Banned
        Originally Posted by danoercwd View Post

        thanks guy.... i must do what you said... right now.... i will PM you if there's something that i don't understand.
        Get it done, there's no harm in trying. They can't do anything to you over the phone apart from "I'm not interested" or a few bad words, but i haven't had that yet myself.

        The only way you'll know it'll work is by giving it a go yourself.

        Originally Posted by liindsay View Post

        Congrats on your success!
        Would you mind PMing me also about the themes you've been using?
        Of course i will, will do that shortly.

        Originally Posted by zimbizee View Post

        Hi, congrats, this is something i am trying to break into as well.

        Would it be ok if you sent me the links to the themes you use as well, every little helps. Like you i am no web designer but know my way around wordpress enough to put up some nice looking sites. I just have to pick up the phone!!!!!

        Can you tell me, do you write the content for the sites as well or is it provided by the client?

        many thanks
        That's all i have, knowledge in wordpress, can get up a great looking site, that looks professional. but other then that i have limited knowledge in web design.

        Sure i'll send over the themes i use, will send them shortly.
        Yes, i write the content myself, i send them a short questionaire asking about there business, what they provide, what they do, if they offer free quotes (a lot in the uk do this)

        Most of the site's i've done, literally are a few pages only,

        : Main page - Which literally fit's all there projects, what they are, what they do.

        Contact us page : A simple wordpress plugin used.

        Photo gallery : Work they've done, etc..

        About us : which is mainly on the main page, but a little about there past, company age etc..

        So it's not that difficult to get the sites done, although i do spend a bit more time on sites then i should do, this is because i like them to look good, and not some wordpress site that looks like it's took 20 minutes to do.

        What i do ask them is provide there own pictures, if they cannot, i try to get royalty free images.
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    • Profile picture of the author Oggyoi
      Originally Posted by liindsay View Post

      Congrats on your success!
      Would you mind PMing me also about the themes you've been using?
      Same here, well done on this.

      I also would be interested in which themes you went with.

      Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author Wilco de Kreij
    Thanks for sharing! Especially the monthly fee will prove to be most important for your business in the future. Keep doing what you do and build up many similar clients, and at some point the recurring fees alone will provide you a living
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  • Profile picture of the author BDE4Live
    Thanks for the share, maybe you can help me out,
    I'm amazing at selling, not afraid of the cold calling , been doing it for 16 years, my probl is site creating. Not able to find a way to build them and make them look nice .
    Tks
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    • Profile picture of the author Dinospider
      Banned
      Originally Posted by payoman View Post

      I was JUST thinking about how much better my chances have been on the phone calling businesses that ALREADY had websites that could do with a redesign.

      The idea of going and looking for business card boards/local newspapers is brilliant. Going to do it tommorow.

      Excellent post!!
      Great idea, not sure of the hit rate that would gain, but no harm in trying right?

      Go and check out cafes, believe me, there are hundreds out there and mostly all of them have boards up with business cards.

      Originally Posted by Wilco de Kreij View Post

      Thanks for sharing! Especially the monthly fee will prove to be most important for your business in the future. Keep doing what you do and build up many similar clients, and at some point the recurring fees alone will provide you a living
      That's the general idea, i think my next step is to hire a designer and a few sales people.

      That is something to look into, i've never personally hired anyone before so if anyone has hired any sales people before and have any tips, would appreaciate any tips going.

      Originally Posted by Oggyoi View Post

      Same here, well done on this.

      I also would be interested in which themes you went with.

      Thanks
      Will get them sent to you shortly pal.

      Originally Posted by BDE4Live View Post

      Thanks for the share, maybe you can help me out,
      I'm amazing at selling, not afraid of the cold calling , been doing it for 16 years, my probl is site creating. Not able to find a way to build them and make them look nice .
      Tks
      The thing is, with wordpress themes that are made for offliners, there's not much customization that needs doing, i'll send you those themes i use and you can have a look for yourself at how easy to change and add things to wordpress.
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  • Profile picture of the author coljwood
    After about a month of procrastination this month has really inspired me to go get something started. Great advice.

    My worry has always been my lack of money to invest and working around my 9-5 (for now.)

    My advantage is that I do have an eye for web design, I'm experienced with Sales and I already know 2 - 3 business owners personally that can help me get my foot through the door.

    One question. I assume you leave it to the clients to.create their own copy and provide images?


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    • Profile picture of the author Dinospider
      Banned
      Originally Posted by coljwood View Post

      After about a month of procrastination this month has really inspired me to go get something started. Great advice.

      My worry has always been my lack of money to invest and working around my 9-5 (for now.)

      My advantage is that I do have an eye for web design, I'm experienced with Sales and I already know 2 - 3 business owners personally that can help me get my foot through the door.

      One question. I assume you leave it to the clients to.create their own copy and provide images?


      Posted from Warrior Forum Reader for Android
      The thing is, I've spent under £100 on investing into this business, the first payment covered everything and the monthly payment from then on which will build up in time will cover other parts of the business once running to it's full potential.

      Provide images, Yes! i leave to them to provide me those, but i don't let them write the copy, i do this myself, i tend to ask them questions on what they do, what they supply, etc..

      the only reason i do this because, builders, painters etc.. are always on the move and haven't got time to sit down and write a copy out. therefore i use this as another advantage, explaining to them that everything is done by me, and the only thing they have to do is take a few pictures for the website.
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  • Profile picture of the author BDE4Live
    Thank you for your help, I really would appriciate if you can send me te wp themes.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dinospider
      Banned
      Originally Posted by BDE4Live View Post

      Thank you for your help, I really would appriciate if you can send me te wp themes.
      Will send the links over in a second.
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      • Profile picture of the author ohhugo
        Originally Posted by Seadragon View Post

        Will send the links over in a second.
        I would also like to know the themes...maybe you should just say the names here? Or PM me, as you prefer.

        Thanks for the post: It's great!
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  • Profile picture of the author Erzael
    Time for one of my first posts on WF - and it's about time!

    This is a wonderfuld story Seadragon - lovely, inspiring and interesting. I would definately try this in my area, and see if there could be any interests at the local business'.

    There are a lot of potential buyers out there, who doesn't even know how to surf the internet. And if you tell them how amazing the world wide web is, and how important social media, SEO, websites etc., are, then you have a nice potential customer group.

    I will follow this thread in the future, to see if anyone is taking action. Personally I'm going to try it ASAP!

    Cheers,
    Erzael
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    • Profile picture of the author Dinospider
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Erzael View Post

      Time for one of my first posts on WF - and it's about time!

      This is a wonderfuld story Seadragon - lovely, inspiring and interesting. I would definately try this in my area, and see if there could be any interests at the local business'.

      There are a lot of potential buyers out there, who doesn't even know how to surf the internet. And if you tell them how amazing the world wide web is, and how important social media, SEO, websites etc., are, then you have a nice potential customer group.

      I will follow this thread in the future, to see if anyone is taking action. Personally I'm going to try it ASAP!

      Cheers,
      Erzael
      Exactly!

      I'm currently concentrating on building a good relationship with my customers, rather then trying to bleed money out of them at first sight. I believe in the long run, it'll pay off more then trying to sell everything in one go.

      Your welcome to ask me any questions, if you was to try this in your own area.

      Good luck
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      • Profile picture of the author Erzael
        Originally Posted by Seadragon View Post

        Exactly!

        I'm currently concentrating on building a good relationship with my customers, rather then trying to bleed money out of them at first sight. I believe in the long run, it'll pay off more then trying to sell everything in one go.

        Your welcome to ask me any questions, if you was to try this in your own area.

        Good luck
        What about trying to contact people who already have websites? Many business does already have a website in my area, but 70-80% of them are very, very ugly and eye-killing. So what about calling them, and offer them a new, beutiful website, with 12 months hosting, support etc., like the other packages?
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        • Profile picture of the author Dinospider
          Banned
          Originally Posted by Erzael View Post

          What about trying to contact people who already have websites? Many business does already have a website in my area, but 70-80% of them are very, very ugly and eye-killing. So what about calling them, and offer them a new, beutiful website, with 12 months hosting, support etc., like the other packages?
          That's something someone else mentioned earlier in the thread and to be honest not a bad idea, obviously the websites i and yourself built would need to look very professional and eye catching to these other prospects.

          I'm already going to input that into my business, maybe in the future, but at present I'm concentrating on people who haven't got a website.

          I think, if i start using different methods Ie : selling to clients without sites or selling redesign sites, I'll get mixed up and in a mess.

          for the time being, i think it'll be best concentrating on one particular outlet and once running stable, like for a few months, then i might start thinking of cold calling clients on redesigns, but as i said i think that will be a future thing more then anything.

          Great idea though!
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  • Profile picture of the author IM nice guy
    one more question for you buddy, you said you just ask for pictures and that's it.. So you are outsourcing the text content for them? as in homepage, about us, etc content? How can you outsource or create that if you know nothing about their business...?

    Also mate, would you mind PMing me a few example sites, I'd be happy to share a few of my techniques with you, as I'm doing something very similar and have some pretty cool tricks that allow me to create really nice looking sites, very quickly.

    Maybe we can chat?

    Thanks,

    Nick
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    • Profile picture of the author Andy Brown
      Great inspiration post, love your focus. You know who your customer is and you are providing them with what they need.

      Thanks for all of the information you have shared.

      Cheers

      Andy

      P.S. I tried to PM regarding the themes, unfortunately it said I need 50 posts. I had to renew my password the other day and it reset my posts to zero, at least it shows I joined in 2008.
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      • Profile picture of the author Dinospider
        Banned
        Originally Posted by IM nice guy View Post

        one more question for you buddy, you said you just ask for pictures and that's it.. So you are outsourcing the text content for them? as in homepage, about us, etc content? How can you outsource or create that if you know nothing about their business...?

        Also mate, would you mind PMing me a few example sites, I'd be happy to share a few of my techniques with you, as I'm doing something very similar and have some pretty cool tricks that allow me to create really nice looking sites, very quickly.

        Maybe we can chat?

        Thanks,

        Nick
        Sorry for the late replay Nick,

        What i do on the phone is ask them if i can send them a questionaire, which ask's questions like this :

        1: What services do your provide?
        2: Write a short brief description of your business
        3: Do you offer any special offers or free quotes (mainly builders, painters etc..)
        4: Who runs or owns the business?
        5: How long has the business been running?
        6: Full contact details
        etc..

        I usually send this through email, or i ask them over the phone there and then once they have agreed to a website to be produced for them.

        I do ask them if they can provide pictures of there business, past completion work etc.. if they can't i purchase royalty free images that are related to there business.

        this gives me enough information to fill the sites that i build, it doesn't really take me long to write up the content, i may outsource this at a later stage but for now i'm doing it myself, this is because i've just been doing this for over 4 weeks now and it's all a learning curve.

        I'll pm you a few examples shortly, i've been sent numerous private messages and trying to respond to everyone in good time i don't like ignoring people so i will get a message to you as soon as possible.


        Originally Posted by Andy Brown View Post

        Great inspiration post, love your focus. You know who your customer is and you are providing them with what they need.

        Thanks for all of the information you have shared.

        Cheers

        Andy

        P.S. I tried to PM regarding the themes, unfortunately it said I need 50 posts. I had to renew my password the other day and it reset my posts to zero, at least it shows I joined in 2008.
        Don't worry Andy, i'll get them sent to you shortly, as soon as get past all the other Pm's!
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  • Profile picture of the author RedShifted
    3-4 hours to complete a site!!

    I'm honestly not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing. I did not buy good themes off here I merely downloaded free themes from wordpress than customized them as good as I could.

    Problem is it takes me a week at MINIMUM to finish a site. The one I'm working on this week I charged $900 for, will probably take me 10 days minimum to finish. I'm doing about 50% the work myself, another 50% outsourced on fiver.

    Still, if I did my websites in 3-4 hours I'd be out of business right now. My last 4 jobs in a row have been referals, mainly do to how well I'm trying to make my sites. So I spend a bit of extra time making the sites (well a lot of extra time) but I have not done ANY marketing yet at all.

    I go crazy building the best sites I possibly can, and fortunately I have been getting referals like crazy. It was the referals alone that actually led me to persue this to the extent I have as it has nearly become a fulltime gig for me.

    I just finished my last site on saturday, wound up getting another referal already today. The problem is I don't know if I can keep getting referals successfully, so we'll see after this job.

    What I do know is I absolutely LOVE designing sites. I take it very personally and every site I do I treat like my own. I have also been able to raise my fee on average about $100-$200 a site, although right now I'm not sure how exactly I will break the $1000 mark.

    One thing I do know, if you are just starting out, and you put a lot of effort into each site you make, you WILL get referalls. I did NOT think this many people would actually be looking to get their sites redone, but I am shocked by how referalls have been coming in.

    Also, since I gain more experience with each site, it takes less time to accomplish more, allowing me to make more money faster.

    Website design is something I absolutely want to stick with for a bit, so I'm hoping I am able to consistently find more clients. If not, then I'll just start making calls I have no problem with it.

    Good going on your success and keep it up!! I notice the more momentum you gain, the more people want you to design their site, and the easier overall it becomes. People just start to respect you more, you become more of an authority, and they start talking to their business friends like your god. "I found this incredible designer" etc etc. Since I'm new to this, just to hear people recommending me is a huge ego boost.

    So like I said I won't be stopping anytime soon. One thing I will definitely do this week is buy some themes off warrior forum, and maybe that will allow me to work a bit faster than I am now!

    -Red
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    • Profile picture of the author Dinospider
      Banned
      Originally Posted by RedShifted View Post

      3-4 hours to complete a site!!

      I'm honestly not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing. I did not buy good themes off here I merely downloaded free themes from wordpress than customized them as good as I could.

      Problem is it takes me a week at MINIMUM to finish a site. The one I'm working on this week I charged $900 for, will probably take me 10 days minimum to finish. I'm doing about 50% the work myself, another 50% outsourced on fiver.

      Still, if I did my websites in 3-4 hours I'd be out of business right now. My last 4 jobs in a row have been referals, mainly do to how well I'm trying to make my sites. So I spend a bit of extra time making the sites (well a lot of extra time) but I have not done ANY marketing yet at all.

      I go crazy building the best sites I possibly can, and fortunately I have been getting referals like crazy. It was the referals alone that actually led me to persue this to the extent I have as it has nearly become a fulltime gig for me.

      I just finished my last site on saturday, wound up getting another referal already today. The problem is I don't know if I can keep getting referals successfully, so we'll see after this job.

      What I do know is I absolutely LOVE designing sites. I take it very personally and every site I do I treat like my own. I have also been able to raise my fee on average about $100-$200 a site, although right now I'm not sure how exactly I will break the $1000 mark.

      One thing I do know, if you are just starting out, and you put a lot of effort into each site you make, you WILL get referalls. I did NOT think this many people would actually be looking to get their sites redone, but I am shocked by how referalls have been coming in.

      Also, since I gain more experience with each site, it takes less time to accomplish more, allowing me to make more money faster.

      Website design is something I absolutely want to stick with for a bit, so I'm hoping I am able to consistently find more clients. If not, then I'll just start making calls I have no problem with it.

      Good going on your success and keep it up!! I notice the more momentum you gain, the more people want you to design their site, and the easier overall it becomes. People just start to respect you more, you become more of an authority, and they start talking to their business friends like your god. "I found this incredible designer" etc etc. Since I'm new to this, just to hear people recommending me is a huge ego boost.

      So like I said I won't be stopping anytime soon. One thing I will definitely do this week is buy some themes off warrior forum, and maybe that will allow me to work a bit faster than I am now!

      -Red
      Red, i think it takes me that long because i'm so used to wordpress with building adsense niche sites that, i've purchased about 4 premiim offline themes and a couple of theme forest themes, which go perfect for local businesses like painters, builders, plumbers etc..

      See with those businesses, there's not really much to it, yes, i change the colours, the layout and everything, but the offline themes i've got literally have everything in lace, which is saving me time and money to be honest.

      I don't have any web design skills, part from wordpress themes which i find very easy to customize myself.

      I think i'll have to come up with a cunning plan to try and get referalls in, we all know that small businesses all know tonnes more of small businesses, a plumber might know a painter, a painter might know a electrician and so on.

      There must be a way i can get a client i've done to pass on my details to another of his friends, maybe a business card, maybe a freebie, something small and something noteworthy.

      That's something i'll be looking at pretty soon, Good luck on your business, looks like your doing well.
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  • Profile picture of the author webmarketer8
    Action really does pay off. Once you start working money is going to come in.
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  • Profile picture of the author webmarketer8
    Oh yeah! I forgot to say that I am also taking action in this as well.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dinospider
      Banned
      Originally Posted by ohhugo View Post

      I would also like to know the themes...maybe you should just say the names here? Or PM me, as you prefer.

      Thanks for the post: It's great!

      Of course i'll send them over, will get that to you as soon as possible!

      Originally Posted by justonce94 View Post

      Oh yeah! I forgot to say that I am also taking action in this as well.
      Best way mate, Taking action is the key to a successful business! I hope it goes as well as it is for myself.
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  • Profile picture of the author Eugene Celestine
    Creative Ideas that work when one take action.
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  • Profile picture of the author Simon74
    Great system Seadragon, I can confirm that these approach works very well. I have been doing a similar system for the past 4 months having a great success. I actually started a threat http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...y-3-weeks.html

    you can check it out to get more ideas.

    Simon
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Solem
    Kudos to you Seadragon - for spotting an opportunity and taking action to make things happen for you!

    Now once you've got a stable base of clients, don't forget to ask for testimonials and referrals and pretty soon you might not have to make "cold calls" anymore.

    Nicely done!

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author viralmarketing
      Seadragon, how many pages of content do you create, minus the about, privacy poliy, contact us etc. Starting out, if your only creating let say 5 pages of actual content, thats ok as you've only sold them a website.

      But later on down the road, a client might want your SEO services, and we all know how google feels about "thin" sites. So are you just getting the site up with minimal content, and worrying about adding more later, or are you filling these sites out with lots of content.

      Also, how do you buy their domains......new, auction, aged? Or does it just depend
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    • Profile picture of the author FanPageLinks
      Hi mate.

      Ive been thinking of something similiar.

      Im setting up a site where you can rent a page of my website where you generate a webpage for x amount of money i.e. the 2nd link of my signature then add your business and then it appears as dot.com/warriorforum as an example. they can then upgrade and place basically what they want on their page, however the page is also based on their facebook timeline and also appears within my gallery with a thumbnail.

      Cheers
      Shaun
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    • Profile picture of the author imjw0214
      I have been trying to get into the local seo market myself. When I was looking for potential clients I always passed up those with out a site. Now after reading about your success I might have to look at it differently. Thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author Eldon
    What an awesome post Seadragon. I too am interested in seeing the themes you are using, as well as maybe a site that you have done.
    I have an idea for you, but don't want to post it on the forum here. Unfortunately I can't send a PM because of too few posts. LOL Perhaps I will reply to some posts and get my count up so I can PM you the idea.
    Good luck to you sir.
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  • Profile picture of the author je9265
    Thanks seadragon for such an encouraging post. I would also love it if you could pm me with one of your themes or possibly one of your sites you have sold?

    Thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author sloanjim
    what do the sites look like?

    How big?

    What theme?

    COOL man....really impresed there... :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Mach1Marketing
    Looks like you're on the straight path to success. Wait til you get into ecommerce sites. Then the money rolls right in.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dieko
    Thank you very much for! I have some experience with Wordpress and I know a lot of websites with templates. I will use this method for sure
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    • Profile picture of the author nyk24
      Hey seadragon and simon74...congratulations to both of you. We may be rubbish at football and tennis but us brits sure know how to kick ass when it comes to offline marketing.

      I think the panda and penguin updates have really opened people's minds to the fact that there isn't just money in selling SEO to businesses.

      I recently took action like you guys but in local seo and I have to say that because of that I got my partner involved today as she hates her job and wants something more enjoyable. I will show her the ropes so while one of us will do the local seo...me, she will do the wordpress sites.

      Before I read seadragons excellent thread I was going to suggest she sell the sites at £100 a go but now I think she should try £200 as that's still cheap and it gives room for negotiation.

      I understand seadragon why you want to hold off a bit on side selling/up selling but once you have the full payment for the client and locked them down on a 12 month hosting package you have nothing to lose asking if they want local seo, google places etc as if like you said they are happy with their new site this is when they are going to be in a good mood.....although nice why waste time keeping in regular touch with a client when you should be closing even more deals?

      My suggestion is this tell each client after the deal that on say a thursday 2-4pm is "client time" and this is when they should contact you for any advice or just to shoot the breeze. This should give you instant cred with your new client.
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  • Profile picture of the author Casey101
    Hey, thanks for this share-- that's what I love about this place, so many ideas always floating around. Another source of clients that people might find useful is meetup.com

    There are usually groups of local business owners with several hundred members. A quick email to the group leading might land some sales!

    Keep up the good work!
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  • Profile picture of the author RD Phoenix
    Shows the power of facing your fears of cold calling initially and taking action.
    Well done mate and thanks for sharing.
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  • Profile picture of the author ShaunQ
    I would be very interested in seeing some of the themese you use.

    Also do you have your own web design site with example sites of the portfolios you use. I'm unsure whether I should make 5 or 6 mock up sites and design a good looking home page to add credibility to my offer, or is this something you have found isn't necessary?
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    • Profile picture of the author liquid ice
      Great method sea dragon, can you pm me the themes you used as well?
      tnx in advance
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  • Profile picture of the author TimGreen1
    Good stuff!

    Just goes to show, you only get results when you take action, and if you take action, you WILL get results.
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