Howdy.
I’ve just posted a blog on my Tailored Consulting site about the price of petrol/gas.
There are a lot of opportunities for web developers there.
Every man and his dog will be doing LPG conversions on cars. How about a web developer approaches a major conversion business with the offer of a web site. And make it a web site that will achieve a high search engine ranking.
That could be worth millions to the conversion company.
As a web developer why don’t you get out there and ask?
Cheers
Brendon
One of the services we provide is monthly management of web sites where we edit, market and report on a site.
Jump over to the Tailored Consulting site and grab yourself the free sample report (for the basic sites) of what we give the client at the end of the month.
Cheers,
Brendon
I’ve been approached to market a guy’s dream site – he’s developed a portal of sorts and sees it as the next big thing.
Trouble is there is no way the site can succeed.
1. It takes 78 seconds to load on a 56 k modem.
2. It is a very confusing site – I know what he’s trying to sell and I couldn’t even find my way around.
3. It does not offer anything of any real value.
4. It requires a huge shift in thinking and behaviour from people (and there’s no motivation to do it).
5. His budget to market this revolutionary new site is $0.
So what do I do?
There are 2 trains of thought running through my head:
1. Say no. He has no hope of success.
2. How do I really know it won’t work? Maybe this guy is the next Bill Gates/Steve Jobs/Whoever and ahead of his time.
# 2 is an interesting one. As the guy marketing the site should it be of any interest to me whether this site succeeds or not?
I still get paid (or would if this guy had any budget!).
But I look at it this way (from experience): If I don’t believe in the product I certainly can’t market it effectively.
So I’ve said no.
So then, should I tell this guy the truth about his site: again, from experience, the answer is “No”.
He needs to figure that out himself. If I am right it could save this guy a lot of time and effort, but he hasn’t asked me what I think so I won’t tell him.
Cheers
Brendon
We use statistics extensively to back up our claims about the benefits of web sites. One of the key areas for us has been quantifying the benefit of a site to clients – if a client can see the $ benefit they can make a decision very easily based on the risk:reward ratio.
What that means for us is more sales.
Who would you choose as your web developer?
a) A guy who quotes you $2,000 for a 10 page web site
b) A guy who quotes you $10,000 for a web site and who shows you how he’ll attract 1,000 visitors a week to your site, how he’ll get your sales conversion rate to 5% and how he’ll generate you $50,000 in profits in the first year alone.
Quantify, quantify, quantify. When you do it makes the buying decision so much easier.
Regards
Brendon
I’ve spoken before about increased sales on one of our web shops when we put on the site “Sold Out. New orders will not be filled for 4 weeks.”
This had the effect of actually increasing orders.
I spoke with a colleague last week who had a similar experience with her web design business – if she said “I can’t take on any more clients” her enquiry and sales rate went up.
Potential clients were happy to wait. Her perceived value went up.
We’re not far away from not taking on any more new clients. I’m just waiting on 1 more site to confirm and then we’ll have more than enough work for quite a few months. We don’t want to get too busy – what happens then is our quality can be compromised and our reputation suffers.
Grow The Business Slowly
I’d much rather grow the business slowly than grow it too fast and damage our reputation.
And not taking on any more clients for a while will allow us to sit back and strategically work on the business. That will allow us to develop the plans and actions to takle full effect of our skills and get us into the best possible position for the future.
Cheers
Brendon
Hello
I’ve just popped onto my business web site – www.tailored.com.au – a blog about receiving a plaque from the publisher of my kit for my kit making over $1 million in sales.
I’ve put the entry on the site for 1 simple reason – to market my business.
Here’s how I look at it:
* writing the kit gives me credibility
* having the kit win the ‘Best Book on Web Design’ last year gives me credibility
* having the kit make more than $1 million in sales gives me credibility
Whenever you do anything that the client might consider as giving you credibility, you need to tell them about it. Because if they don’t know about it, it didn’t happen.
Cheers
Brendon
I quoted on a fairly small job recently. But I must have been way too high. Here’s the rejection from the prospect:
“Hi Brendon,
After much consideration, I have decided to spend my money on educating myself by doing a diploma in Multimedia, so I can re-design and take care of my own website.”
Cheers
Brendon
In their plans to take over the galaxy Google have just launched Google Talk.
These guys are going to own the Internet.
Cheers
Brendon
The holiday season is top of mind for online retailers.
According to the latest Shop.org study by Forrester Research, online retail sales will grow by 22% to $172 billion in 2005.
And, for one out of five retailers Web Trends recently surveyed, the holiday season accounts for 50% or more of their annual revenue.
Now is the time to approach online businesses and show them how you can improve their sales.
Good luck!
Brendon
Hi. I’ve just been reading a leading marketers’ blog and he advocates writing a letter a day for 3 days and then following up with a phone call.
That’s doesn’t seem like marketing to me. Sounds like stalking!
Seriously, any marketing you do has to be something you’re comfortable with.
* I wouldn’t be comfortable writing a letter a day for 3 days to a prospect – so I wouldn’t do it.
* I wouldn’t be comfortable walking around dressed in a gorilla suit to promote this business – so I wouldn’t do it.
Positioning Is Important Too
And not only do you have to feel comfortable with your marketing, your marketing also has to be consistent with your brand.
For example, if you are branding yourself as a well-recognised and respected web developer then it’s not going to be appropriate to do your marketing with a loud hailer from the back of a moving truck.
Regards
Brendon