A few days ago, I told you how I was approaching businesses and getting clients who needed either new, or up-to-date websites.
Today, I want to let you into my little secret about how I am making money from my offer.
You see, I’m not always charging them for the websites!
Yeah, some are paying handsomely for new websites, BUT I’m also giving a lot of websites away… For free!
A lot of business owners are approached on an almost daily basis by people offering to build, or rebuild their websites for $1500+++
And the initial outlay can scare the business owner off. They wonder maybe “how many sales do I need to make to cover the cost of the site”.
So imagine how they feel when someone comes in and says “Mr Business-Owner, I noticed when i was searching for [Your Industry] that you don’t have a website. I’m sure you realise the importance of being seen online these days. How about I build you a website for FREE?”.
This is probably where you start to think I’ve gone a bit mad! OK, maybe I have a little, but bear with me on this one.
I’m a bit of a techie, so I know that I can put together a site for them within maybe half an hour.
Don’t forget, I’m giving this to them for FREE, so it’s not going to be a massive website full of hundreds of pages of content. It’ll be a 4 or 5 page site with the essential details included.
If they want a bespoke or larger site, they’ll have to pay for that…
And, no I’m not going to charge them for the site – it will be built using either a free template, or preferably a premium business template to which I have developer/resell rights.
What I AM going to charge for however, is HOSTING.
I have a reseller account with Hostgator that costs me 25 dollars per month. One hosted website and, my hosting costs are covered. But what if I build 10 of these sites. 5 hours work for me, and assuming I charge 25 dollars a month for hosting, that’s 225 bucks profit each and every month.
If I build 50, that’s $1185 profit per month…
And guess what. People are SCARED to change their website hosting! So the retention of these clients is pretty easy from day one.
Oh yes, and people share! “Wow, where did you get that great website?”
“You’ll never believe this, but I got it for FREE from this local guy”.
OK. Now I have 50 sites up and running. So, I offer a mobile version as well. I’ll charge for this though. Let’s say an extra 10 bucks a month. (All I need to do is switch on the mobile version in my template! A one-off 30 second job.)
So basically, I’m bringing in $1500+ per month without even getting out of bed.
I use these templates on a lot of the sites I build
View vol 1 - Pizza Restaurant; Attorney; Florist; Landscaper; HVAC
View vol 2 - Golf Club; Chiropractor; Coffee Shop; Pest Control; Contractor
View vol 3 - Taxi; Kitchen Remodeling; Dentist; Veterinarian; Locksmith
View vol 4 – Pediatrician; Computer Repair; Real Estate; Towing Company; Painter
View vol 5 - Handyman; Accountant; Electrician; Hair Salon; Nursing/Elder Care
But why stop there. Build 100, 200 sites. Scale it up by using an outsourcer to build the sites for you!
And I’ll offer maintenance packages, emails, autoresponder services, social media management, reputation management and all sorts of other services a little down the line.
And what about the people who already have a decent website?
Do they have a mobile-ready site? Or a decent social media presence? Do they collect visitor email addresses or mobile numbers? Maybe they have bad reviews on their G+ listings. Perhaps they haven’t claimed their listings….
OR
Just maybe, they’d like the idea of having an entry on a local directory, or a niche directory. With the right WordPress themes it’s pretty easy these days to put together a decent local directory site and optimise it to your town. Or just pay for an Adwords campaign. Get 50 people on there at $20/month and that’s another grand in the bank for you. Don’t forget, your very first customer is paying for your hosting!
And, hey, if the directory is mobile enabled, that can open doors for you! “Hey look Mr Business-Owner, here’s your cheap n cheerful entry on our local directory. Did you know people can use our website on their smart phones? Trouble is, when they click through to your website, it just doesn’t look right on a phone”.
All of a sudden, giving away a free website isn’t looking so ridiculous, is it!
I’m not afraid of hard work. And it does take some hard work to get to this point, but hey, if I can make a regular income without even getting out of bed, then I’m all for it!
Click here to see what WP Directory Theme I use?
If you’re happy getting lots of rejections, trying to sell expensive websites or complicated SEO services, good luck. There are lots of different ways to build a business.
And I’d love to know how you go about it. Please leave a comment below.
Oh, and if you found this post useful, please be kind and share it!
Be awesome
Dave
As a foot note to this….
I don’t just give sites away. I sell web design services too, but this is an extremely easy way to get your foot in the door and get up and running.
Another way to ramp things up a little is to explain how your normal fees are, let’s say $2000 for a website, but they can have one at 90% off if they promise to give you a testimonial, or recommend you to a friend.
You bank $200 and get valuable recommendations and testimonials that you can use on your sales material. And they feel like they got a bargain.
There’s an interesting discussion on this topic on the Warrior Forum where they refer to this blog post. Makes for interesting reading.
http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-marketing-discussions/687274-free-website-business-model.html#post7111136
I know this model isn’t for everyone, but it has enabled me to quickly break into new market places – either niche industries, where from my point of view, it doesn’t matter where the companies are located. But for me, more importantly into a new location – I’ve moved 2 twice in the last 2 years!
What it has done for me is get local businesses talking to me, and talking about me.
Whilst I agree of course that getting 50 sites done at 2 grand each is far preferable – and I do sell premium site packages for these sorts of numbers – actually getting 50 of these clients is not easy, as I’m sure you can attest.
My free site model is just one way that I get new clients into my funnel. But it’s a very easy way. The sites are template-based, for sure (but high quality templates), but this is all explained to the “client” from the get-go.
I also get them to provide all of the content via a simple “Registration” form. I will normally make small alterations to make it more Google-friendly…
And they pay for their domain (though I normally offer some advice on what they should consider).
Occasionally though, they will say “Dave, I’d like a website, but I want something more bespoke”. Great. At least the dialogue has been opened, and I can then go through the options with them.
As for how I get them, I am very targeted as to the businesses I approach in this way. Businesses without websites, preferably who rank locally very well in G+, but then the trail runs cold – i.e. they have no real presence other than G+ where people can find out more.
As for the clients being high maintenance, I do write into the agreement that fees are charged for anything other than really minor changes, but because I have reached out to help them in the first instance, there is more a feeling of gratitude and several of these “clients” have become firm friends.
But, of course, we’re all trying to run businesses, and these are foot-in-the-door methods I *sometimes* use, which serve to get me testimonials, referrals, and ultimately higher paying customers down the line.
It was something I tried after my previous house move to break into a new area, and it reaped rewards, not only in ongoing hosting payments, but also additional maintenance packages, social media services, autoresponder-type services, mobile etc, and several clients who – once they had seen the power of having a website – wanted to upgrade to one of my premium packages.
By keeping in touch with clients and explaining the latest developments to them, I am able to convert a lot of them into much higher paying clients. So where I go about getting 100 takers initially to pay the bills and allow me to get the kids nice stuff, etc, I know for sure that I’ll be able to upgrade many of them to much higher-paying clients.
I’m not saying this is the right way to go about building up a business, BUT, it has worked for me and a good way to get up and running to allow you to inject more funds into your business so you can start to scale up.
http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-marketing-discussions/687274-free-website-business-model.html#post7111136
TEACH ME HOW TO GO ABOUT THIS BUSINESS>outsuccess@yahoo.com
Hi Dave,
This is a great post and very timely as I am thinking how to drive more leads into my new web services company. Would like to hear more details about the up-sell conversions & pitfalls of using this particular strategy. Thank you.