Business really does. I’ve been in my own business for about 9 years now.
And it gets easier.
We’ve all read the stats that 95% of businesses fail within 5 years. It’s a big stat.
What I’ve found is that we have more than enough business now from current clients – that is, for example, like today.
Today I took 3 calls from current clients wanting either new web sites or referring me to friends.
And it’s a bloody lot eaiser when people are ringing you saying “Let’s do a new web site” than if you ring people you don’t know saying “You should have a web site.”
You don’t get that when you’re starting out. And that’s why, as a web developer, it damn tough.
But hang in there. Learn what you can. Keep selling, selling, selling.
Build a client base and you build a business.
Cheers
Brendon
I have 2 favourite bits of work.
# 1: Getting sites high search engine rankings. We find it pretty easy and it’s great when what we do works.
# 2: Look at a web site and tell the owner what he needs to do to get it working – that’s also very rewarding stuff.
We’ve just picked up a small client for that work – my first review of his site has picked up 10 things that will make a huge difference to his site and his business.
Cheers
Brendon
I got the email from a prospective client and rang him immeidately.
He wanted some ultra-urgent (i.e finished within 48 hours) work and needed a quote asap.
We dropped everything and reviewed what he needed in 2 hours. We quickly wrote up the quote and emailed it through.
I rang the guy, went through the proposal bit by bit and answered some questions.
“I’ll get straight back to you,” he said.
That was 5 days ago. I’ve emailed him and rung him to follow up. He doesn’t return the contact.
Even if you’re goiing to say no, have the decency to say “No” rather than let the person hang for days after they’ve provided you with the quote you so urgently needed.
That is frustrating.
Cheers
Brendon
A client sent us through a video for uploading to his web site.
So we did that.
The video had backing music – music that was already ripped from his CD collection and was copyright.
* Should we tell him he shouldn’t use the music?
* Should we just do what our client asked us to do?
1. Once we start giving him legal advice on what he is doing then that’s a whole new ball game. We should be charging extra for that.
We’re not his web consultants – we were just asked to get video prepped for web use.
2. But then again, we don’t want to be doing stuff that is illegal.
Cheers
Brendon
I was recommended a copywriter last Thursday.
On Friday morning I rang the copywriter and asked a few questions and asked for a few samples/portfolio examples to be emailed through.
The guy I spoke with said “Yes, no worries. I’ll email them to you this afternoon.”
I Didn’t Get Them In The Afternoon
I didn’t receive the info that afternoon.
The copywriter sent the info through the next day (Saturday) with his email saying “It was great speaking with you yesterday and my apologies for not getting back to you as promised…..”
I must be getting grumpy in my old age because I emailed him straight back letting him know we wouldn’t be using him. I didn’t even bother looking at his samples.
You see, no matter how good they are at copywriting, they’re crap at keeping promises. And if that’s the way they start a relationship it will just get worse.
As a busy web firm we just don’t have the time to be chasing up guys like copywriters to provide the information they were going to provide last week. We just can’t trust these guys to be useful to us and help us grow our business.
The best indicator of future performance is past performance.
If he doesn’t keep his promise the first time, he more than likely won’t keep them in the future.
Cheers
Brendon “Grumpy” Sinclair
I have a client.
She had a web site.
It had not made 1 sale in 1 year. Not 1.
She agreed to a redesign with new copy.
She agreed to our well-thought-out web marketing strategy.
We did the redesign. She signed off on it the whole way.
1 hour before we launched the site she rang me.
She’d changed her mind.
She didn’t like the redesign.
She preferred her ‘old’ site.
She want us to put that back up.
After wasting a couple of weeks trying to get the site different enough so she liked it enough to launch, I’d had enough.
“Try our site for 3 months. If it doesn’t work I’ll give you your money back and redo the site like the old one,” I said.
I promised her 2 sales a day by the end of 3 months. She thought I was way too optimistic.
We put the new design up (with all new copy).
We implemented our web marketing plan.
Today was 3 months after the launch.
Today she had 21 sales.
Those 21 sales today made her twice what I charged her for the new web site.
And I Thought It Was Her
All along I thought she was the moron.
When actually I think it’s me.
Brendon
Want to know the secrets of getting $10,000+ web development jobs?
Check out Show # 39 over at Tailored Podcast.
Cheers
Brendon
I just took a look at another web developer’s web site.
His designs look fantastic. He has a much more creative mind than us. Man, they are beautiful sites he does.
Why, then, do his client’s sites fail?
Easy. Because it’s not about design.
Web development is about design AND marketing AND conversions AND follow up AND lead generation AND usability AND….the list goes on.
Don’t be the designer who thinks designer is everything. It isn’t. And it never will be.
Business is about results – get those and your client couldn’t care less what the site looks like.
Brendon
Over on our podcast at Tailored Podcast I’ve interviewed a guy called Billy.
If you market a web development business it is well worth a listen.
It’s show # 35.
Cheers.
Brendon
I get a lot of questions from web developers asking how they should go about redeveloping a web site.
Here’s the top tips:
1. Add a stats package/Google Analytics to the site
2. Do a survey of current web site visitors – we use OneMinutePoll.
Only when you have some data can you make decisions.
Brendon