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Pitching Web Desing - HELP NEEDED!

by coffeecashnow
18 replies
I recently started to offer web design and hosting services in my local area.

I started by offering free websites to restaurants, with recurring fee for hosting. Not much luck with this... I know free has no value, etc... but was hoping to close more deals and I only planned to phone close on this.

I also spoke to a friend who has a landscaping business, and I m currently making his site, charged him 500€. Not bad for a 1st one. I also have another friend who will want one in October for 1,000€, sure at 95%.

I'm asking them for referrals of course, and the 1st one should introduce me at least 1 interested lead.

My biggest challenge is that webdesign in itself doesn't really provide any value to the biz owner.

I mean just a website without traffic will not bring in any business. Problem is that where I live, ppl will not search Google when they need anything, they'll go to YP.

2nd point is that anyways, I wouldn't want to pitch SEO as it'll be very hard to outsource as it's not in english.

So what can I tell people to pitch them just the webdesign.

I also launch the 9x12 concept and have 2 customers at 495, after only pitching 2 ppl. They're also my friends, but they definitely found value in this!

I was thinking of tiding it together, or maybe with a local online directory, which I can easily do. But then the pitch becomes more complicated.

It would be easier to get traffic to my local directory and to feature my own customers there because I could use 1 space in the 9x12 postcard to promote it, and I could also do some cheap local PPC.

That way I could make their website for 1,000 €, and charge XX€/mth for hosting, maintenance, and featured spot on the local directory.

I tried to be very clear, not sure I've been!

What do you guys think of all of that?

I really really appreciate your input!

Thanks
#desing #needed #pitching #web
  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Well you can start with this script. Look at the underlying mechanics of it.

    It is easily adapted to selling the giant postcard spots--I have trained plenty of people to do that--and operates on a principle:

    If they say it, it's true.

    If you say it, you have to defend it.
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  • Profile picture of the author coffeecashnow
    Thanks Jason, I read this a hundred times I think! lol

    I also got the offline brat pack and I understand all the stuff I think.

    But how do I monetize the problem of not having a website. ( I basically do this with the postcards, that s how I pitched it to my friends)

    But for webdesign only?

    That's my problem... and you 'll probably say that a website with no traffic is worthless. Though lots of places have a website, and there is no search for their service in their area. Someone still sold them on it though!

    My wife told me "find that reason they need a website, other sell them that, so do it too" lol, I agree with this.

    The restaurants I called either didn't want or didn't need a website(they say...). They have enough biz or they have local customers only.

    Simply, they don't see the value in having a website, and I don't know what to tell them at this point.

    Do you think I should really tie in everything with the postcard or with the directory?

    Thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author kebertt
    Are you offering other internet marketing services? If so, you could use your website design services as an "ice breaker" and offer your other services after the website is complete.

    Many businesses understand the value of a website, because they too use them when looking for other services.
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      First you need to have complete confidence in bringing customers/clients from the internet for them.

      Once you have it, then you create a message that demonstrates you are the most knowledgeable on the subject.

      Here's an example of an ad I wrote for a web design firm which brought in $25,000
      worth of work in 2 days.

      It isn't a self serving ad, but a community service to get the most out of their web design,
      because little changes make a massive difference to the leads which come in.

      Study it and the reasons why it works.

      http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...5k-2-days.html

      Best,
      Ewen
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  • Profile picture of the author coffeecashnow
    I don't really provide other services as it's very hard to find outsourcers in non english langauge. That's why I try to focus on stuff that doesn't require too much time/work.

    I m thinking of providing FB pages creation(not management), google places listing, and email marketing. Those I think I could handle pretty easily.

    Thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author coffeecashnow
    Thanks Ewen.

    I'll have to translate this to french and make it sounds good. I didn't really plan to use classifieds but I guess I'll ad this to my arsenal.

    I don't have the confidence that it will bring them customers. As I mentionned, ppl here don't google stuff that much. I wouldn t either because I know that YP will give me more results locally. Only thing is if you have a website listed on YP, then I can check you out and I m more likely to call you than your competitor who don t have a website.

    If I had the complete confidence and knew how it would bring them X more customers every months, I would have no problem I think...

    Thanks for this share, it's really golden stuff. I ll also try to integrate that in a call pitch!

    Regards
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    • Profile picture of the author kebertt
      Originally Posted by coffeecashnow View Post

      Thanks Ewen.

      I'll have to translate this to french and make it sounds good. I didn't really plan to use classifieds but I guess I'll ad this to my arsenal.

      I don't have the confidence that it will bring them customers. As I mentionned, ppl here don't google stuff that much. I wouldn t either because I know that YP will give me more results locally. Only thing is if you have a website listed on YP, then I can check you out and I m more likely to call you than your competitor who don t have a website.

      If I had the complete confidence and knew how it would bring them X more customers every months, I would have no problem I think...

      Thanks for this share, it's really golden stuff. I ll also try to integrate that in a call pitch!

      Regards
      If the reason you don't feel comfortable with selling websites is because the services aren't being searched for locally, then you could also sell on the point that having a website is great for other forms of advertisements. They can put the website on business cards, flyers, signs, cars, newspaper ads... the list goes on. Not all of a business's traffic has to come from Google, having a website is still be a profitable marketing tool that every business should have.
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      • Profile picture of the author coffeecashnow
        Good point here! I think that email marketing would be a great add on also. It would make a complete marketing plan. But i don t see how an electrician would use email marketing though. I can see how an accountant could use it and I have an accountant friend, so i ll talk to him!

        Originally Posted by kebertt View Post

        If the reason you don't feel comfortable with selling websites is because the services aren't being searched for locally, then you could also sell on the point that having a website is great for other forms of advertisements. They can put the website on business cards, flyers, signs, cars, newspaper ads... the list goes on. Not all of a business's traffic has to come from Google, having a website is still be a profitable marketing tool that every business should have.
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  • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
    You mentioned you don't believe web design is of any value to the client. You're 100% wrong because it is single handedly the MOST important aspect of their online marketing. It offers the MOST value because the average website converts at around .75-1%. Imagine a website that converts at 10% with PPC instead of 1%. That's 1,000% increase.

    Imagine a website that captures twice as many leads because it is BETTER than their self build it script.

    A website needs to be built in a search engine friendly way, that is almost never talked about on these forums.

    Think about it like this... you said a website without traffic won't bring additional customers. A website that doesn't convert, gives negative perception to the traffic and still doesn't bring customers. You can BUY traffic.. Websites that convert, is the most valuable tool.

    Matter of perception I suppose.
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    • Profile picture of the author coffeecashnow
      Thanks for your reply. I actually meant that it has no value if there is no traffic! Which I still believe. Though, I just got convinced that traffic can still come even without any local searches on Google. I understand we can also do PPC, but I think I'd really have to target the right customers who have a budget for that. Not a ton of them in my local area I think, but I'll dig this.

      I think I just wished I could sell websites for cheap with monthly hosting and sell 5 of them per day. But I can see that if I don t bring value, then I don t get interest.

      Thanks

      Originally Posted by iAmNameLess View Post

      You mentioned you don't believe web design is of any value to the client. You're 100% wrong because it is single handedly the MOST important aspect of their online marketing. It offers the MOST value because the average website converts at around .75-1%. Imagine a website that converts at 10% with PPC instead of 1%. That's 1,000% increase.

      Imagine a website that captures twice as many leads because it is BETTER than their self build it script.

      A website needs to be built in a search engine friendly way, that is almost never talked about on these forums.

      Think about it like this... you said a website without traffic won't bring additional customers. A website that doesn't convert, gives negative perception to the traffic and still doesn't bring customers. You can BUY traffic.. Websites that convert, is the most valuable tool.

      Matter of perception I suppose.
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    • Profile picture of the author socialbacklink
      Originally Posted by iAmNameLess View Post

      You mentioned you don't believe web design is of any value to the client. You're 100% wrong because it is single handedly the MOST important aspect of their online marketing. It offers the MOST value because the average website converts at around .75-1%. Imagine a website that converts at 10% with PPC instead of 1%. That's 1,000% increase.

      Imagine a website that captures twice as many leads because it is BETTER than their self build it script.

      A website needs to be built in a search engine friendly way, that is almost never talked about on these forums.

      Think about it like this... you said a website without traffic won't bring additional customers. A website that doesn't convert, gives negative perception to the traffic and still doesn't bring customers. You can BUY traffic.. Websites that convert, is the most valuable tool.

      Matter of perception I suppose.
      You and I definitely think alike. Usually when I would do consulting for a company the first thing I would look at was increasing conversion rates on the landing pages. That's the low hanging fruit. It all starts with the sites.

      Example: I had a campaign that was breaking even. I start working on the lead gen landing page. Within 4 weeks of testing I'm able to increase the landing page opt in rate from 8% to 34%. All of a sudden the campaign goes from break even to making a profit of $2500 per day. Imagine how much better that makes the results when you start driving traffic to it. The page is where it's at.
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  • Profile picture of the author luke1213
    I for one believe that a website has plenty of value, without seo.

    Some businesses just have websites to showcase their company. They use other forms of advertising to get people to see their websites and to get customers in the door.

    For the most part, when someone is looking to purchase a service from a company, they want to know if they have a website so they can see what their company is about.
    You could show value in your websites by how they can showcase their business with a photo gallery, customer testimonials, etc. Then they could market their website on their business cards, equipment, vehicles, and any other method they wanted.
    Show a websites value by what they are missing out on.
    They could have corporate email addresses that look more professional to customers than some free email account.

    You could optimize the site with the proper on page seo and eventually, they will start to rank for keywords associated to their business.
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    • Profile picture of the author coffeecashnow
      Agreed!

      I just need to make a list of all the ways they can get offline traffic.

      I understand and agree on the value of showing people the company, the testimonials, previous work, etc... no problem with this. I just mean it has no interest if nobody sees it. Of course my mind was focusing on online traffic at that time. I now realize they can still get good traffic out of SEO or PPC.

      Thanks!

      Originally Posted by luke1213 View Post

      I for one believe that a website has plenty of value, without seo.

      Some businesses just have websites to showcase their company. They use other forms of advertising to get people to see their websites and to get customers in the door.

      For the most part, when someone is looking to purchase a service from a company, they want to know if they have a website so they can see what their company is about.
      You could show value in your websites by how they can showcase their business with a photo gallery, customer testimonials, etc. Then they could market their website on their business cards, equipment, vehicles, and any other method they wanted.
      Show a websites value by what they are missing out on.
      They could have corporate email addresses that look more professional to customers than some free email account.

      You could optimize the site with the proper on page seo and eventually, they will start to rank for keywords associated to their business.
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  • Profile picture of the author watsonovedades
    You can offer a website to put your foot on the door
    after that you an offer a mobile website and print a QR code on business cards, flyers, signs, cars, newspaper ads. and get some leads to justify whats you're charging

    Maybe your customer is making $500 from a lead he got from a flyer or the website itself
    it depends on how much money a customer would bring yo him
    then you make a marketing plan to get lead as soon as possible to prove your marketing works, then go for SEO and local PPC

    Hope it helps
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    • Profile picture of the author coffeecashnow
      I understand your points, however I don't want to offer SEO for now at least. So I have to show them the value without the online traffic. All that matters is to give them some leads!

      Thanks for your comment.

      Originally Posted by watsonovedades View Post

      You can offer a website to put your foot on the door
      after that you an offer a mobile website and print a QR code on business cards, flyers, signs, cars, newspaper ads. and get some leads to justify whats you're charging

      Maybe your customer is making $500 from a lead he got from a flyer or the website itself
      it depends on how much money a customer would bring yo him
      then you make a marketing plan to get lead as soon as possible to prove your marketing works, then go for SEO and local PPC

      Hope it helps
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  • Profile picture of the author zuhaib1111
    yes you You're 100% wrong
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  • Profile picture of the author Eddie Spangler
    They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, if you believe that then consider
    a website as the worlds windows to the soul of a business.
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    Promise Big.
    Deliver Bigger.
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    • Profile picture of the author coffeecashnow
      I can already see the look of my propects if I tell them this! lol

      However, using other terms, it's pretty much the idea of the showcasing website!

      Originally Posted by Eddie Spangler View Post

      They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, if you believe that then consider
      a website as the worlds windows to the soul of a business.
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