Gold Coast Web Expert

A decent blogster (is that even a word??) is Matt Cutts. Matt is one of Google’s most famous Webmaster-liasons – well worth a look if you provide SEO services.
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/
Cheers
Brendon

I was speaking with an obviously talented designer yesterday and she mentioned the trouble she has getting paid. Getting paid is a problem for all businesses.
I know I’ve had my share of people taking an age to pay over the years.
In our efforts (and by “our” I mean all of us) to be a good business and provide the best service for our clients we all strive to be ‘nice’ and to be flexible on payment. But if you’re too nice people will take advantage of you and slow your cashflow to a crawl – you can then spend half your time chasing debts and your business suffers.
After a couple of years of that I initiated a few fairly obvious strategies (obvious to me now!).
3 Best Debt Collection Bits Of Advice For Web Developers
1. Always get a deposit before you start – we ask for 50% (I’ve never ever had a client question that)
2. Never make the web site live until the client makes the final payment (otherwise they have no incentive to pay. If they’re excited about the site they’ll want to see it up ASAP – and so they’ll pay ASAP)
3. Stick to a system for debt collection – no exceptions (make it as automated as possible)
Hope that is of some help.
Cheers
Brendon

I gave a client a quote on July 22 (over 3 weeks ago).
The client is still thinking about it. That means they’ll probably say “No” to the quote.
One of the biggest influences when people are buying is the speed with which they buy. The longer they take to decide the less likely they are to say yes.
It’s also been my experience that clients who deliberate for a long, long time (unless they are a large company where the wheels generally turn slower) are often more high maintenance they clients who just take action.
Cheers
Brendon

A few weeks back Anthony, the team’s web programmer and all round computer guru, wandered into the office and asked if PR worked. We’d just had a story on me in the local newspaper and we hadn’t generated any calls.
My answer to Anthony was simple: PR is a cumulative thing. Keep getting your face out there in the community and things will start to happen.
This was my day yesterday.
9.30 am – meeting with a client after we’d finished his web site
11.00 am – 20 minute radio show
12 midday – meet with client to present a pitch
1 p.m – meet with a client to discuss the needs and wants regarding his upcoming web site
3 pm – meet with client to discuss the development of his new site
4 pm – meet with PR company who gave me 2 magazines I am featured in this month. Business Acumen and Life Gold Coast.
5 pm – drive an hour and 20 minutes to outer suburbs of Brisbane (110 kms away) to give a speech to a group of 30 businesspeople (Rotary Club)
I was home by 9.30 pm.
Results So Far
We received 3 calls after the radio show from people who want to meet and chat regarding web sites.
I’ve received 2 leads from the Business Acumen article.
And 2 strong leads from the speech.
That’s 7 excellent leads – all because these people have become aware of me through a constant PR campaign.
PR works and works well. Can it be part of your marketing mix?
Regards
Brendon

…..I’ll send the prospect a letter a little like this:
=================
Hope all is well. Thanks for the opportunity to provide the proposal for the web site.
We would very much like to work with you and your team to develop the premium site that would be of tremendous benefit to the company. With all of the possibilities we’ve reviewed the site would be exceptional.
Thanks again. Will speak with you soon.
=================
Short, simple and to the point. Also note I say something like “develop the premium site that would be of tremendous benefit to the company.”
What I’m trying to push there is that the site should be an asset. because that’s what every site should be.
Always, always, always follow up after you have provided a proposal. After all, this person is giving you a terrific opportunity to make a case for using you – and helping you grow your business, feed your family and keeping a roof over your head.
The least you can do is say “Thanks for the opportunity”.
Brendon

I’ve just seen a competitors quote for a web site we both went for (we won the job).
The competitor was a fair bit below us for the site development (10% less) but, interestingly, their hosting fee was $250 per month. The hosting fee we quoted was $240 per year.
It was an interesting way to propose – less on the site development and then make $2,800 a year for a few years on the hosting.
That’s big bucks in just a few short years. Keep that one in mind when you quote – it could be a strategy that works for you or could be a strategy being used by your competition.
Regards
Brendon

Following on from the post below, I’m about to follow my own advice!
I’ve given a client a web site proposal for $21,000. It’s a client we’ve worked with previously and they accepted out quote and asked us to start work right away.
A couple of days later the client asked me to stop the work we’d done and come in for a meeting. Turns out they are in this new business with a partner and the partner had gotten a quote for the job as well.
$19,700 Less!
The quote their partner got was $1,300!
So I went in and explained the value of our proposal and they were happy with that. They wanted some reassurance the site would work how I said it would if we implemented the strategies suggested.
Because I had worked with one half of this business before I said sure – pay me $6,000 upfront and $15,000 in 10 weeks if the web site is achieving the goals we set.
They came back with a counter-offer.
* $3,000 now
* $3,000 on completion
* $1,250 a month for 12 months
The Red Flags Are Up
The client wants me to take the entire risk for the business succeeding. I don’t think so friend.
I reduced their risk substantially with my initial $6,000 now/balance if the site works offer, but now I get the sense they’re just trying to screw me.
* In the meeting they were trying to screw me down on every little cost.
* They didn’t want us to take product shots, they just wanted to steal the graphics from a competitor’s web site.
* And now they want me to act as a Finance Company (interest free) for their web business
They have no ‘hurt’ money in the project. Which means they don’t care if it succeeds or fails. That is, if it fails they still get to eat. They don’t desperately, desperately need it to succeed.
Nope. Not for me.
Cheers
Brendon

Hello. Thanks for reading.
I really am a very stupid man. You see, I don’t take my own advice.
One of the big, big things I’ve learnt over the years is to not take on clients that raise a few red flags – you know the sort: the one’s that you just know are going to be a complete pain in the butt and will be a big loss.
I see rejecting clients (the wrong sort of clients) as as hugely important strategy for business success. Here are the sort of red flags I’ve come to identify as being a key indicator to keep away from the client:
1. They want a $50,000 web site done for $100
2. They want it finished yesterday
3. They have no understanding of the impact a web site can have on their buisness
4. They’re far too busy to meet with you for more than 1/2 hour
5. They tell you how much work you’ll get from them down the track if you do this cheap
All The Red Flags And I Still Jumped In
I had a client a few weeks ago exhibit all of the classic signs. I even said to the team here “This client will be a pain in the butt but their are some strategic reasons that I think we should take her on. I hope it works out okay.”
Moron
I’m a moron. What was I thinking!
At the moment, assuming we get paid, the loss will be about $2,000. Not much, but enough. The bigger impact has been the energy this person sucks out of our business – you don’t want to answer the phone because it might be them, we don’t want to make changes to the site because they won’t be happy anyway (the site has been approved, and then changed about 6 times as the client wasn’t happy) and on it goes.
Never Take On Clients You Don’t Think Will Be Great
Rejecting bad clients is just as important as getting good ones.
And I promise I will never make that mistake again.
Cheers
Brendon

We’ve just developed a very successful web site for a client and he asked me “Is this your best web site ever?”
“Well yes it is………until our next one,” I replied.
You see, on every single web project we’ve ever been involved in we learn just that little bit more. And after hundreds and hundreds of “little bit mores” we have become pretty effective at what we do.
Our Next Web Site
And so that means that our next web site will be the best one we’ve ever done. And the one after that will be the best one we’ve ever done. And the one after that will be…….and on it goes.
Web Sites Must Actually Work
Web sites must actually work otherwise they’re just expensive bits of art. Probably my best piece of advice to those considering a web site is to not select the developer on price, but to select on value.
Brendon