The "Design a mock up" approach

It sounds like a good program. But, to understand what is not working you would have to talk to those who seem interested but do not bite - they are the only ones who can tell you why they don't buy.

My opinion is that you focus more on your story - e.g. what your competition is up to, they have come to us, rebuild your site - all things that don't really tell them what is in it for them.

You might want to turn it around - let them know what is in it for them up front - them go into how you have helped other - even their competition. But, always - as quickly as possible - tell them what is in it for them - or you will lose their attention - remember, they are busy too!

"I have done around 50 websites and It was taken me around 50 - 70 hours and sent e-mails with little success"

Get on the phone instead.

This is wrong from so many angles...

1. The subject line screams SPAM to me. If I see something that says it came from my website right in the subject line, I usually don't even read it. Also, if you are targeting US customers, we have a tendency to use "Inquiry" not "Enquiry"

2. The first sentence "I wants to know...". First, why do I care what YOU want, not to mention the sentence is bad grammar. Again, it screams SPAM.

3. The rest of the e-mail is also full of bad grammar.

4. You are working for my competitor? That is a big warning for me. I don't want to share any of my information with you because there is a risk you will share it with them. Also, why do I want the same thing as my competitor, I want to be unique and set myself apart for them.

5. What happens when they know their competitor and talk to them and find out they aren't working with you? What if they or someone on their staff is smart enough to look at the competitor website and see that someone else, not you, did the site?


Mock-ups can work if presented in a clean professional manner. If your e-mail to the business is any indication of what they are going to get on their website, there is no way they are going to do business with you.

Based on the sample e-mail above, I am surprised you received any response.

I never offer a mock up and never do them if asked. I show examples of my work, that's always enough to close the deal if they are really interested.

Mock ups are a waste of time.

This approach works great, but it is all on how you market it.

If you give the business something for free, anything small would do good just to get their attention should be given the mock up once they see you're a marketer willing to give them something for free.

The other key to using this method effectively is to make sure the designs work great and your script is perfectly crafted. The email you wrote just doesn't seem like it's good enough for me. You have to show them what it is you're giving, and not exactly the thing you're selling.

You cannot sell a product; sell the dream.

You need to tighten up the copy a lot, correct the English - if you do not know what is wrong with it ask a good native speaker of English. you need to sell them on the benefits of what you offer a little more-your message is a little tame and vague - don't try to be 'business like' by talking about being 'busy' but not making money-that is a real turn off. Make the offer attractive - think about the target market, what are their pain points, how can you address those with your new website offer?

1. Why are you working for free?

Mock ups before someone is interested tells them the following:

• You are desperate
• You have no clients
• You work fast and cheap
• You don't care about what they want in a website (since you already designed what you thought it should be)

So stop working for free. If you want to make mock up make examples for fake businesses.

2. Why are you afraid of the phone?

Seriously you are spending an hour plus on each client before even contacting them and you are sending an email? That's a waste.

There is nothing wrong with research and going in with all the facts. But if you are going to spend that kind of time you better be calling them or walking in to talk to them. You need to use the knowledge you have an an email isn't going to do that.

3. What do you want?

• To Make Websites:
  You love design and making websites. You love the work.
• To Sell Websites:
  You can design and fulfill yourself for now but your real goal is to hire someone to do that while you sell.
• To Run a Business:
  You can sell and fulfill now because you have to but your plan is to have several designers and several sales people selling for you plus a staff.

Based on what you said it sounds to me like you want to make websites. So IMO you need to be partnering with or working for someone in that capacity.

Sometimes on here people act like having a Job is bad. But if you are merely creating a job for yourself vs a true business you might as well work for someone who can pay you better then you could pay yourself.

I'm in the final week at my Job. I stayed so long because I am very well paid. But my goal is to Run a Business and after trying on the side for too long I realized I could not do it well unless I could give it 100%.

So you could very easily find a job here in the US that would pay you $50k or more (I was a lot more) doing what you love.

So really take a hard look at why you are mocking up websites vs. selling.