Hello.
I’ve mentioned Experience, Credentials & Guarantee already as the aspects that set us apart. But I think the biggie is this next one:
Value
By that I very simply mean this: We aren’t the cheapest but we do provide fantastic value for money.
I always think examples are a little dull, but here goes anyway:
* We had an old client with whom we’d worked with for years.
* He sold his business and started up again with a business partner.
* The business partner had been working in the business for 2 years and in that time had made 1 $400 sale from the web site.
* My old client had us come in and redevelop the web site.
* $5,000 & one month later we were finished.
* The next month the web site had $68,000 in sales.
* The month after that it was $80,000.
* The month after that is was $100,000.
That’s value.
Engaging the services of the cheapest web developers can be a false economy. Make sure you don’t skimp on the important things. And a web site can be an “important thing” for your business.
Remember, always look at the value not the cost.
Not Expensive
Having said that we’re not expensive at all.
We’ve worked hard to keep our overheads down – what that means for you is a web development firm that is often 25% less expensive than a firm working out of a fancy address (our office is located above a Pizza place and a Cafe – that’s not too fancy!).
We prefer to spend our hard-earned on better equipment so we can make ourselves better and more efficient.
Global Market
And of course our market in global. It’s just the same for us to work with a client in New York (as we do) as it is to work with a client next door (he’s in the next street across actually). So we have that flexibity through investing in our processes and our equipment and that’s a good thing.
Regards
Brendon
This next thing we have always seems to create some controversy when I suggest all web developers should have one. They often just don’t see the need.
Guarantee
We guarantee our work 100%.
If you, as our client, don’t think we’ve provided you with great value and done exactly what we said we’d do then their is no charge. Simple as that.
As our client you need to know that we do what we say. That we’ll do the job and that their is absolutely no risk to you.
I figure that if we don’t guarantee our work then what we’re really saying is “Well, we may or may not do what we say.” And that’s not good enough.
Other Web Developers
When I suggest the use of a guarantee to other web developers the general thinking is “What if the client doesn’t like the design, etc?”
That’s not relevant.
The development of a web site needs to be a consultative approach in that the web developer should liaise with their client to ensure the web site meets their needs and wants (of course most clients understand that the web developer has more expertise at web development and is someone worth listening to).
What generally happens with our clients is we talk at length about what the web site and provide our recommendations and adjustment suggestion to what our clients specify.
For example if a client wants to have a huge photograph on the home page we might advise against that on the grounds that the load time (how long the web site takes to load onto someone’s screen) might be too long. And we’d back our recommendation up with relevant research.
Stay tuned for the next Point of Difference: Diversity.
Brendon
That’s a great question. And a question I get fairly often – though it’s not always put that way…..but that’s what the person in front of me is trying to get at.
The Truth
The truth is there are a good number of decent web developers about. Finding them is the tricky bit of course because we’ll all say we’re the best. So we need to be able to differentiate ourselves from the rest.
Here’s my effort at answering that question and differentiating what we do (Part 1 anyway):
1. Experience
You see we’re not just web designers or developers. We’re also web owners. Pretty unique in the world of web designers.
And I’d guess that very few people have had the experience we’ve had over the past few years.
One site exploded with sales after a major current affairs show featured it. We went from 1 sale a day to 5,000 a day.
Dealing with the logistics of that gives you very valuable experience.
Another site we have went from $0 to $10,000 a day in sales in just 12 weeks.
What that means for our clients is this:
* We know what works (saving you possibly years and $000’s in waste)
* We test everything (and we know what to test)
* We’re very results driven (we know it’s about business. It’s always been about business. The prettiest site doesn’t win. The site working to its full potential does.)
2. Credentials
This is the risky bit. I don’t want to sound like a complete clown, but I probably do need to express some details about myself and the Tailored team.
We’ve been in the web game for close on seven- (7) years now. After working with one of Australia’s leading designers for a couple of years I was frustrated with the focus on design at, it seemed to me anyway, the expense of the web site being functional, useful and effective.
Since then my business has developed hundreds of web sites. Most of them successful. Some hugely successful. Some not so good.
Some small sites, some huge sites. Some simple sites, some hugely sophisticated sites.
We research and immerse ourselves in the technology. A good portion of our time here is spent investigating the latest standards or innovations on the web.
As the writer of one of the world’s biggest web master e-newsletters (130,000+ subscribers) I have access to a huge amount of data relevant to the next design we’ll complete. Data we spend hours poring over each day.
I’m the author of ‘The Web Design Business Kit’ – a book for web developers that has had sales in excess of $1 million in just over 12 months.
The background – my background isn’t in web development. I’m more of a marketing guy. And that, I firmly believe, is one of the main reasons why our web sites work – because we focus on how the site needs to be developed to get results.
What Do Our Credentials Mean For Our Clients?
It’s means we know what we’re doing when it comes to developing successful web sites. We know what to focus on. And we know how to get results. Real results.
Brendon
Hello. Hope you had a good weekend.
I’ve copped a bit of flak recently over parts of a newsletter I write for SitePoint.
I wrote in the previous edition about 2 things that have stirred a bit of controversy.
1. Issue 1: I wrote that pop ups on web site aren’t actually bad in themselves. I said that, done right, pop ups can be a useful part of visiting a web site.
2. Issue 2: I mentioned the excellent blog of GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons. Some readers took exception to me praising Bob’s blog and/or company on the basis of some controversial ads GoDaddy ran at the Super Bowl.
Broader Issue
The broader issue here is about marketing.
The marketing strategy employed by GoDaddy in respect to the Super Bowl Ads was one of the most brilliant awareness campaigns I’ve seen.
Pop ups on web sites keep getting used because they work.
An important aspect as a marketer is to set aside your personal preferences and, within reason, assess the suitability for your target market of your advertising strategies.
It’s Not What You Think
It’s not what you think, it’s how your advertising and marketing will affect your target market.
* Just because you might find that ads offensive doesn’t mean others will.
* Just because you hate pop ups doesn’t mean others do.
* Just because you might not find something interesting doesn’t mean others will.
Keep that in mind when you develop your marketing strategy – whether that be online or off.
Brendon
One of my favourite writers is a guy called Seth Godin. Seth commented on his web site a few days back regarding his frustration with a reporter who didn’t like his answer to a question.
Didn’t Like His Answer
“The reporter didn’t like the answer I gave her about how to build a email marketing list.
I told her that the first step was to offer something in your email newsletter that people would actually want to read.
That the second step was to promise people exactly what you intended to give them.
And the third step was to create content that was so remarkable that people wanted to share it. I explained that if you take your time and keep your promises, it’ll build if it deserves to build.”
Seth was explaining that there are no shortcuts to quality, but the reporter just wanted to know how to achieve the same result when you have no time or nothing interesting to say.
I See That A Lot
I see that a lot with clients who think they can get a great web site for $500.
It happens something like this:
I’ll have a meeting with a person and assess their web needs, wants and expectations. (Quite often we’ll have 2, 3 or 4 meetings to establish this.)
They’ll ask for a ball-park figure. Now, I never used to give a ball-park figure (rough estimate)because it’s much better to demonstrate the value of what we do rather than just the cost.
But these days I’ll generally provide a ball-park figure because it qualifies the prospect a little for us (it also causes us to lose potential clients because they don’t understand the value we can provide – and that’s because in an initial meeting we wouldn’t have a perfect idea of the value we can provide).
What that means is we don’t spend another 10 hours work developing a web site proposal for a client who has a budget of $200.
Anyway, let’s say the ball-park figure is $5,000. That’s for a fairly small web site. What often happens (and by “often” I’d say 50% of the time) the person will say “Our other quotes are for $300 and $500.”
Perceived Risk
Because one of the biggest choice influences in buying is perceived risk, we’ll get a “No” immediately because the person would prefer to risk $500 than $5,000.
The person buying web services hasn’t adequately assessed the risk/reward because they are too focused on the initial cost.
Here’s How We Developed A Recent Web Site
Had x3 1 hour meetings with the client to establish their market niche, their market positioning and their exact needs and wants from the web site.
Completed 6 hours research on competitor web sites and benchmarked against relevant web sites.
Spent 3 hours developing concepts for the site design.
Spent 3 hours researching appropriate keywords and phrases relevant to the web site market.
Stop Right There
So far that is 15 hours of work.
* Before we’ve even designed a thing.
* Before we’ve written a word of copy.
* Before the client has seen anything.
* They’re the things you have to do to develop a successful site. We know because we’ve done it before and it works.
The Only Shortcut To A Successful Site Is Doing It Right The First Time
The only shortcut to a successful site is doing it right the first time. That is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Find the right web developer. Ask them for testimonials. Ask them for a quality guarantee. Get it done right. And look at the value, not the cost.
Brendon
Because we do so many web sites I’m very aware of overcoming the client’s resistance to buying because of the perceived risk. One way we try and demonstrate our quality and expertise is by providing current client names and numbers to potential clients.
What generally happens is the potential client rings a current client and finds out how we do business in practice (because we all say we’re fantastic in the meeting!).
This Is What One Of Our Clients Did Yesterday
One of our clients (I’ll call him Ross………because that’s his name!) spoke with a business owner we’d been meeting with about a web site. Ross spent 15 minutes on the phone telling this client how we’d performed with him over over the past year or so.
I was very appreciative of Ross taking the time to chat to our potential client.
Yesterday, Ross was driving past our potential client’s business and decided to drop in. So in he went and introduced himself to our potential client in person.
They had another chat about us (Tailored Consulting).
Will We Get The Job?
My mum always told me not to count my chickens before they hatched, but the chances for our success would have increased significantly because of Ross’ efforts.
That’s the first time a client has ever gone way out of their way like that to help us get a job and I’m thrilled Ross has thought so much about our business to help so much.
And I’d usually end off with a comment about how we can repeat the process, but I really don’t know. It’s not as if we can ask our clients to visit potential clients and praise us up!
Or can we??!
References are good. Testimonials are fantastic. An in-person visit to provide a testimonial is unbelievable. Thanks Ross!
Cheers
Brendon
On one of our web sites we have a 3.2% sales conversion – that is for every 100 visitors 3.2 buy (I’m not sure, but I think the .2 person must be really, really small??).
When we test new things we generally only make one change at a time. If we made more, and the changes impact, we’d never be sure what made the difference.
How we test that site is very basic AB testing. The site converts 3.2%. We try and beat that.
We Try One Thing
We try one thing – if after a set period of time (we measure by visitor numbers rather than time) the conversion rate drops to 2.9% we’ll know to change back to what we had.
But if the site conversion increases to 3.5%, this is our new benchmark page and we’ll keep it as is. Then we’ll try and beat it.
The Aspect That Always Has The Biggest Impact On Sales
The aspect that always has the biggest impact on sales is the headline. The heading. The big, bold words at the top.
Just yesterday I changed the headline on one of the sites we manage. Already the conversion rate looks like it will jump a good 10% (from 4% to 4.4%).
That’s a significant jump.
Keep testing, testing, testing your site so you can gather the information you need to make effective decisions.
Brendon
Howdy.
A few people we meet with seem to think that successfully marketing a business requires us to be struck by a bolt of brilliance from where we craft a fantastic marketing strategy.
Doesn’t Work Like That
It doesn’t work like that. If I could give you a successful marketing strategy in 1 word it would be “Consistency.”
If you graciously allowed me 3 things, they’d be:
1. Word of Mouth/Referrals
2. Advertising
3. Public Relations
Marketing is about getting your message noticed by your target market. And getting noticed has a lot to do with frequency – that is, how often your market sees your message. The more the better.
A well integrated marketing campaign
Combine those 3 tactics together to form a well-integrated marketing campaign and the leads and sales will flow in.
Don’t rely on just 1. (Mostly because it won’t give you the frequency you need for success, but also because by using those 3 people will know about you (advertising), they’ll believe you’re credible (PR) and they’ll trust you (referrals)).
That’s the sort of mix that leads to a sales – the ultimate goal of any marketing.
Brendon
Many people I speak with are afraid to go into business for themselves. “Afraid” is not really the right word….more “anxiety”.
They feel as those they need to have everything planned out to the nth degree.
The hardest thing about getting started is getting started
The hardest thing about getting started is getting started. It has long been a philosophy of mine that it’s more important to do something rather than to analyze extensively, plan, review and only then implement.
Just do it and see what happens!
I was talking with the new team member (Anthony) today about our business. One of the warnings I gave him was to not be surprised if he sees us doing something a particular way that makes him think “Why are these idiots doing it that way?”
Well, usually the answer to that question is “Because we don’t know any better.”
The Reason We Do It That Way
And there’s a reason we do it that way. Much of my business career has been very entrepreneurial where I’ve had to rapidly assess and act on market information.
I often don’t have time for the subtleties that some organisations might have. I have to attack and attack hard to see whether the business is viable. I’ll do whatever works to solve my problems of the time.
Sure, they won’t always be the “best” or “perfect” solution, but the time I save by implementing NOW provides me with so many significant market and competitive advantages as to outweigh the negatives of doing it “wrong”.
It’s About Results
It’s about results. As an entrepreneur I need action now. Not analysis.
(But as my business range has become more focused – now I do business mostly in the web arena – I have acquired more knowledge, experience and expertise along with more highly skilled people around me (like Jo & Anthony) to enable me to pick the best solution sooner (if not immediately).)
Unquestionably, the best article/ebook/manifesto I’ve ever read that has come closest to my personal business philosophy is “The Art of The Start” by Guy Kawasaki.
(It’s 34 pages of easy reading. File size (PDF) is 609 kb.)
A simple and easy read that should be compulsory reading for anyone looking at starting or continuing in business.
66% Of Marketers Have Budgeted for A Web Site Revamp This Year
Just reading MarketingSherpa.com and noticed they say 66% of marketers have budgeted for Web site revamps this year.
A better market for web developer is people who already have web sites. After all, they know the value of a web site better than businesses without.
And here’s an example of a site design that works and works very, very well. I haven’t seen a design similar to that before.
My only change would be a benefit driven heading and a testimonial in place of the second paragraph (or maybe even in place of the 1st paragraph). But then again I’m sure they’ve tested the Home Page to the nth degree 🙂
Brendon