Marketing A Web Development Company

[ukwebdev1984]

Ok so i have been in a thread for the past couple of days and gained some great insight here

So as a web development company how do we market? I understand that i should be "doing something" all the time. PR, Blogs, Social networking etc which is all great.

But...what would be the target audience for web development? There isn't one that I can think of as over the years I have taken on projects for many different kinds of companies, there does'nt seem to be any kind of focal point.

If for example i sold Bikes, i would be easily able to find a target audience; or shoes; clothes basically any SINGLE physical item is easy. But for a multi-purpose service I just can't get my head around it.

Would I be placing advertisements as a general market?

 

[RockYourWings]

That's a tough one, what specifically would be your USP - how are you different from all the other website developers out there? Customer Service? Clientele? Location? Accessibility?

I suppose a good place to start would be investigating start-ups? I'm sure you'd be able to get a list of companies in the UK at least that had formed in the past year, understand their requirements and whilst it may take time - write a letter to each one (or an email) asking if they'd like to have a meeting to discuss any online needs that they may have?

For me personally, I use SEO - no advertising, although in a different arena - supplying digital products for online use only.

Hope this helps, best of luck!

 

[ukwebdev1984]

That's a tough one, what specifically would be your USP - how are you different from all the other website developers out there? Customer Service? Clientele? Location? Accessibility?

I suppose a good place to start would be investigating start-ups? I'm sure you'd be able to get a list of companies in the UK at least that had formed in the past year, understand their requirements and whilst it may take time - write a letter to each one (or an email) asking if they'd like to have a meeting to discuss any online needs that they may have?

For me personally, I use SEO - no advertising, although in a different arena - supplying digital products for online use only.

Hope this helps, best of luck!

That's the thing there isn't really much i can think of that makes any web developer stand out. It seems more based on the individual you are speaking with and based on your knowledge and how you present yourself. I am pretty good at selling to potential customer as i know what i'm talking about.

I have been reading and I think a great starting point would be to call 100 local companies that have websites already (small businesses such as accountants) and ask them (as a survey) where they found out about the people who made their current site. I am sure I will see something after calling 100 people.

I have also noticed that there are some small business areas that hardly have websites. It may be worth writing to them and explaining how a website could benefit their business. Such as holiday flats, accountants etc...but again, paper, ink, stamps, envelopes will mount up after sending off 100s of them and may end up with no return at all! I just don't have the money to throw away like that right now.



SEO Is good, but takes a lot of time.

 

[RockYourWings]

That sounds like a great idea, I think people/businesses view online as a plethora of different job positions, and perhaps sometimes don't quite understand who they need to hire to achieve what they're after?

I.e. do they hire a C# Web Developer to make a basic 5-Page HTML website? No.

Selling yourself is key it sounds, and part of this is going the extra mile - I believe it is all too easy to go down the same route as every other web developer - I guess you could compare it to using an A-Road VS using a quiet empty country road.

but again, paper, ink, stamps, envelopes will mount up after sending off 100s of them and may end up with no return at all! I just don't have the money to throw away like that right now.

In reality you won't send hundreds of them - at least not all at once, and yes it will be a drawn out process but in the same vein - you will get returns, even if it just a case of 'Sorry, we got your letter but we don't need a website right now' - they will come back to you.

You can buy 50 envelopes for not much money, and high-grade GSM printer paper for around £5 - you're not throwing away money, you're investing.

If you send letters to businesses explaining how cheap it actually is to go online, then I'm sure you're far more likely to get a bite than if you just emailed invidiuals or businesses who are already online.

Sending letters will also be setting yourself out from the crowd, I've never got a letter from a web developer, yet I get a couple of emails from them per week.

Gotta stand out from the crowd, and for the lowest cost - this could be one of the better ways to achieve that.

 

[ukwebdev1984]

That sounds like a great idea, I think people/businesses view online as a plethora of different job positions, and perhaps sometimes don't quite understand who they need to hire to achieve what they're after?

I.e. do they hire a C# Web Developer to make a basic 5-Page HTML website? No.

Selling yourself is key it sounds, and part of this is going the extra mile - I believe it is all too easy to go down the same route as every other web developer - I guess you could compare it to using an A-Road VS using a quiet empty country road.



In reality you won't send hundreds of them - at least not all at once, and yes it will be a drawn out process but in the same vein - you will get returns, even if it just a case of 'Sorry, we got your letter but we don't need a website right now' - they will come back to you.

You can buy 50 envelopes for not much money, and high-grade GSM printer paper for around £5 - you're not throwing away money, you're investing.

If you send letters to businesses explaining how cheap it actually is to go online, then I'm sure you're far more likely to get a bite than if you just emailed invidiuals or businesses who are already online.

Sending letters will also be setting yourself out from the crowd, I've never got a letter from a web developer, yet I get a couple of emails from them per week.

Gotta stand out from the crowd, and for the lowest cost - this could be one of the better ways to achieve that.

Thanks for the positive feedback. I tend to agree here that a well written paper letter goes down better than email. I know for a fact that many people will just class and email as junk, whereas a letter is much more personal and more likely to get their attention.

I believe £1000 would be a good price for a brochure website by selling to local business which i would include design, logo if they need one, development on a CMS and 12 months hosting (hosting would then be a yearly cost of around £200). This SHOULD sell quite easily. I would probably write to 100 companies in one field, 100 in another and so on.

The rest of the marketing can be done line with social networking, seo,blogs and press releases. This would bring in the more technical business such as back end systems, which to be frank would be where the most money is; although the website package idea would sustain the business.

 

[businessfunding]

Most business start-ups believe that their target is universal and that they will be missing out if they select a focused target.

To cite your own examples, bikes might be bought by pensioners as transport, by children as toys or by adults as a hobby - all have wildly different requirements and different buying criteria.

You cannot market effectively until you understand who our target audience is an what they are actually buying (which will mostly be different from what you believe you are selling)

There are many ways to select your niche which might be natural such as your specific sill sets or sector in which you have specific knowledge, or selective - which can be as random as simply choosing a business sector and engaging with it

The mental challenge is not to worry about the prospects you think you are missing but to focus on those which yo can actually get.

 

[S-Marketing]

As Kickstart says, dont worry about alienating most of the market. The trick with marketing is to find the most lucrative niche within a market, then tailor your business to best meet the needs of this niche. The more of the market you alienate, the more highly targeted your marketing will be. This will make penetration of a particular sector much easier.

A word of warning though, just make sure the small target you select is large enough to sustain your business. Also make sure it is a fairly easy market to gain an advantage in.

 

[ukwebdev1984]

As Kickstart says, dont worry about alienating most of the market. The trick with marketing is to find the most lucrative niche within a market, then tailor your business to best meet the needs of this niche. The more of the market you alienate, the more highly targeted your marketing will be. This will make penetration of a particular sector much easier.

A word of warning though, just make sure the small target you select is large enough to sustain your business. Also make sure it is a fairly easy market to gain an advantage in.

Thank you both again for your input. I think my target right now is small businesses that currently are not online. I would like to broaden the target once I start to have some income into the business which can be separated from my own living expenses entirely. I will then expand to focus on the small business website development as well as looking into giving a more targeted programming service (probably starting with just back-end coding for people looking for a PHP developer).. thats what you mean i think, a PHP Developer is a very targeted niche on it's own. The problem is my development skills personally extend much further than just PHP lmao; however PHP is one of the most sought out languages online.

So two focus points for now:

1) Small Businesses that want websites developed - I can tailor to their exact needs per individuals case. (some may want eCommerce, some CMS etc)
2) PHP Development Services


Sound ok?

 

[ukwebdev1984]

Thank you both again for your input. I think my target right now is small businesses that currently are not online. I would like to broaden the target once I start to have some income into the business which can be separated from my own living expenses entirely. I will then expand to focus on the small business website development as well as looking into giving a more targeted programming service (probably starting with just back-end coding for people looking for a PHP developer).. thats what you mean i think, a PHP Developer is a very targeted niche on it's own. The problem is my development skills personally extend much further than just PHP lmao; however PHP is one of the most sought out languages online.

So two focus points for now:

1) Small Businesses that want websites developed - I can tailor to their exact needs per individuals case. (some may want eCommerce, some CMS etc)
2) PHP Development Services


Sound ok?

Or pehaps just focus on number 1 for the time being. Move on later in the year to point 2, then extend into front-end development such as CSS, XHTML, Javascript etc

 

[ukwebdev1984]

So 3 services/packages to offer to small businesses :

1) eCommerce Websites
2) Content Managed Websites
3) Brochure Websites

I think this is a good starting point to build from. I can go more into bespoke later down the line. For now i need something to bring in the money quickly and push the work out in 2-4 weeks per site.

eCommerce - Can be designed and ran on Magento
CMS - Designed and ran on Wordpress
Brochure - Designed with flat html pages

Any complex programming work such as php projects etc I will work on myself. The above I will outsource to my designer friend and a capable developer or two to make the code.

 

[S-Marketing]

Thank you both again for your input. I think my target right now is small businesses that currently are not online. I would like to broaden the target once I start to have some income into the business which can be separated from my own living expenses entirely. I will then expand to focus on the small business website development as well as looking into giving a more targeted programming service (probably starting with just back-end coding for people looking for a PHP developer).. thats what you mean i think, a PHP Developer is a very targeted niche on it's own. The problem is my development skills personally extend much further than just PHP lmao; however PHP is one of the most sought out languages online.

So two focus points for now:

1) Small Businesses that want websites developed - I can tailor to their exact needs per individuals case. (some may want eCommerce, some CMS etc)
2) PHP Development Services


Sound ok?

In my opinion businesses who are not online are a poor target market. Much better to focus on businesses who already have web presence. Dont worry, everyone makes the same mistake. A perfect example of this is usually gardeners. Most people who want to start a gardening business go out leafleting all the houses with gardens that are a mess and need work, thinking these are a good target. They soon realise, however, that its the gardens which are already immaculate that make the best prospective clients. The same is true for the vast majority of service based businesses (with obvious exceptions) including yours.

I currently have 2 clients who are in similar business to you. One is a web designer who specialises in PHP, and the other is the owner of a much larger software development company. From my research for both of these clients I can tell you that although the markets are crowded, there are still many lucrative opportunities available to you.

 

[ukwebdev1984]

In my opinion businesses who are not online are a poor target market. Much better to focus on businesses who already have web presence. Dont worry, everyone makes the same mistake. A perfect example of this is usually gardeners. Most people who want to start a gardening business go out leafleting all the houses with gardens that are a mess and need work, thinking these are a good target. They soon realise, however, that its the gardens which are already immaculate that make the best prospective clients. The same is true for the vast majority of service based businesses (with obvious exceptions) including yours.

I currently have 2 clients who are in similar business to you. One is a web designer who specialises in PHP, and the other is the owner of a much larger software development company. From my research for both of these clients I can tell you that although the markets are crowded, there are still many lucrative opportunities available to you.

Why would a business already online want to buy a website package if they already have one? Please elaborate on this idea.

 

[S-Marketing]

Why would a business already online want to buy a website package if they already have one? Please elaborate on this idea.

In my experience, those who dont have a site are poor quality leads. Those who already have a site are much more likely to value an online presence and may be eager to upgrade whatever they currently have.

It's exactly the same as the gardening example. If you find potential clients who already have a nice site they will be more likely to spend a decent amount of money making further improvements. The fact they have a decent site also proves they see value in spending money on web dev.

Personally, I dont think basic web dev. is the best or most lucrative use of your skills, but that is another topic.

 

[ukwebdev1984]

In my experience, those who dont have a site are poor quality leads. Those who already have a site are much more likely to value an online presence and may be eager to upgrade whatever they currently have.

It's exactly the same as the gardening example. If you find potential clients who already have a nice site they will be more likely to spend a decent amount of money making further improvements. The fact they have a decent site also proves they see value in spending money on web dev.

Personally, I dont think basic web dev. is the best or most lucrative use of your skills, but that is another topic.

I know it's not the best use of my skills, but i want something i can produce massive turn around rather than one or two things at a time. I may have some larger, more complex tasks, for example that may pay £5000 each...but will take me a long time. On the other hand the quick setups can maybe sell for £400 and turn over 10 - 20 per month or even more.

 

[S-Marketing]

I know it's not the best use of my skills, but i want something i can produce massive turn around rather than one or two things at a time. I may have some larger, more complex tasks, for example that may pay £5000 each...but will take me a long time. On the other hand the quick setups can maybe sell for £400 and turn over 10 - 20 per month or even more.

You need to remember that having a low turnover with high profit is preferable to having a higher turnover with lower profit.

Doing one 5 K job is a lot less hassle, and a lot less time consuming than 10 500 quid ones.

The biggest advantage you could find for your business is an in depth understanding of marketing. This is what the vast majority of web designers and developers lack. My advice would be to find out everything you can about proper strategic marketing, and more specifically advantage based marketing.

 

[ukwebdev1984]

You need to remember that having a low turnover with high profit is preferable to having a higher turnover with lower profit.

Doing one 5 K job is a lot less hassle, and a lot less time consuming than 10 500 quid ones.

The biggest advantage you could find for your business is an in depth understanding of marketing. This is what the vast majority of web designers and developers lack. My advice would be to find out everything you can about proper strategic marketing, and more specifically advantage based marketing.

Your exactly right, marketing is not one of my strong points at all. I will look into advantage based marketing, thanks for the tip I am now lost again in which direction i should go.

 

[S-Marketing]

Your exactly right, marketing is not one of my strong points at all. I will look into advantage based marketing, thanks for the tip I am now lost again in which direction i should go.

If you find you are struggling get in touch and ill try to point you in the right direction.

 

[ukwebdev1984]

If you find you are struggling get in touch and ill try to point you in the right direction.

I am already finding it a struggle. Once i find my target niche i should be ok. It's finding it in the first place I struggle with lol

 

[Alan]

I believe £1000 would be a good price for a brochure website by selling to local business which i would include design, logo if they need one, development on a CMS and 12 months hosting (hosting would then be a yearly cost of around £200).

You need to research what your competition is doing, what they are charging and what makes your offering different.

I think you are well off target at £1,000 for a brochure site, unless it is completely unique bespoke design.

Most web companies targeting companies without websites have offerings in the range £75-£400.

Hosting for brochure sites would range from £50 - £100.

In my experience.

 

[ukwebdev1984]

You need to research what your competition is doing, what they are charging and what makes your offering different.

I think you are well off target at £1,000 for a brochure site, unless it is completely unique bespoke design.

Most web companies targeting companies without websites have offerings in the range £75-£400.

Hosting for brochure sites would range from £50 - £100.

In my experience.

Thanks for the insight. £75 is ridiculous however, there is no way that would be possible from my point of view (and experience as a developer) that wouldn't even pay the designer!

I have been doing quite some research over the past couple of days, and if the sites i have looked at for small, local businesses cost anything like that I can see why. Many of them are out dated and not very professional in appearance. Almost like they have all been put together by an amateur, or cowboy.

I am currently putting some lists together and 2 surveys. The first will be to determine the pitfalls in websites that already exist. The second will be to work out why the businesses that don't have a site, don't.

With this i am hoping to come to a conclusion as to what my target audience will be and what service i can offer to them to get them online, or improve their current systems. Hopefully i will find a few types that will benefit the most and stick with them...maybe ill end up proving web services for cleaners, accountants, builders, locksmiths for example. Maybe even a number of them targeted separately.

One question though that is playing on my mind: When I call the businesses to do my survey. Who do I speak to? I mean for example the secretary isn't really the one i want to be having this conversation with. Business owner? What if they won't talk to me? etc Won't really help!

 

[ITsoldUK]

My advice once again would be do not call anyone yet.

Do your marketing plan first.

If you dont you will be shooting at random targets and can waste time and erode your confidence.

And as for £75 sites. Yup. Bottom feeders exist in all industries but do not let your competition dictate your price...you do. It will all come clear in your marketing plan when you will calculate a pricing strategy.

Just remember you do not want to be price sensitive nor do I think that this industry should be.

There are too many bedroom 'experts' who think pricing is key...it isn't. Quality and service dude!

 

[ukwebdev1984]

My advice once again would be do not call anyone yet.

Do your marketing plan first.

If you dont you will be shooting at random targets and can waste time and erode your confidence.

And as for £75 sites. Yup. Bottom feeders exist in all industries but do not let your competition dictate your price...you do. It will all come clear in your marketing plan when you will calculate a pricing strategy.

Just remember you do not want to be price sensitive nor do I think that this industry should be.

There are too many bedroom 'experts' who think pricing is key...it isn't. Quality and service dude!

Thanks I always provide quality over price with my services...however, if a client tries to reduce my price too much i just wont allow it.

Don't call anyone? Well i thought that would be part of my research that would build the marketing plan. Jesus this marketing stuff is really confusing.

 

[patientlady]

Hi webdevuk
Know nothing at all about web dev but found the thread interesting. You mentioned earlier in the thread wondering which direction to take and how others found there current developer etc and you are putting together a survey to find out.
For direction, why not take a very serious look at all your work you have taken on already. Dissect every job on a spreadsheet (do not pick and choose) How you got the job, style of website, cost, time taken, profit, any referal, business sector, startup, and so on...
I think from this you might find your natural direction
Survey know what do you want to actually achieve from making 100 survey calls. Just mentioning the word makes me run for the hills. Business owners run out the door and give the job to the office junior

As to designing 10 to 20 template websites per month, as a humble sales rep I would have thought that to be some going, if you intend to get that business, design it and get paid

Good luck for 2013, wishing you you great success... p/l

 

[ukwebdev1984]

Hi webdevuk
Know nothing at all about web dev but found the thread interesting. You mentioned earlier in the thread wondering which direction to take and how others found there current developer etc and you are putting together a survey to find out.
For direction, why not take a very serious look at all your work you have taken on already. Dissect every job on a spreadsheet (do not pick and choose) How you got the job, style of website, cost, time taken, profit, any referal, business sector, startup, and so on...
I think from this you might find your natural direction
Survey know what do you want to actually achieve from making 100 survey calls. Just mentioning the word makes me run for the hills. Business owners run out the door and give the job to the office junior

As to designing 10 to 20 template websites per month, as a humble sales rep I would have thought that to be some going, if you intend to get that business, design it and get paid

Good luck for 2013, wishing you you great success... p/l

Interesting point you made there. Will look into it more.

10-20 templates would be pretty easy with outsourcing as discussed above

 

[Alan]

My advice once again would be do not call anyone yet.

Do your marketing plan first.

If you dont you will be shooting at random targets and can waste time and erode your confidence.

And as for £75 sites. Yup. Bottom feeders exist in all industries but do not let your competition dictate your price...you do. It will all come clear in your marketing plan when you will calculate a pricing strategy.

Just remember you do not want to be price sensitive nor do I think that this industry should be.

There are too many bedroom 'experts' who think pricing is key...it isn't. Quality and service dude!

I agree with ITsoldUK, you really need to get your marketing plan sorted.

But first you need to fully define your (potential) product (as a website means so many different things). If you know what product you are producing (is it templated or custom, does it contain content or empty, will you seo optimise the content or not etc) and then know the cost of the product, you will then be able to set your price. Once you have defined your product/price offering you can then examine your (potential) market. Who is likely to buy this product, how many, how often etc. what sectors are they in, what common factors do they have (e.g. startups, existing businesss without websites, existing business that have poor websites that need improving etc)? And put some estimated sales to that based your research.

Putting the cost of production togther with your potential market and you start to form the significant part of your buisness plan. You can then see if the plan is viable, profitable and what investment (if any) is needed. And tweak your product /pricing or re-think, if appropriate.

By the way creating a £75 website is not ridiculous if you have the tools to do it and you don't do any design or programming. Its just not the sort of business you intend to be in, all I'm saying is if you target clients that don't have much money or not currently prepared to take a big step with their website and are happy with a customisable theme and providing their own content, then you would be completing with the likes of us and 100s of other 'template solution' website producers.

 

[ukwebdev1984]

I agree with ITsoldUK, you really need to get your marketing plan sorted.

But first you need to fully define your (potential) product (as a website means so many different things). If you know what product you are producing (is it templated or custom, does it contain content or empty, will you seo optimise the content or not etc) and then know the cost of the product, you will then be able to set your price. Once you have defined your product/price offering you can then examine your (potential) market. Who is likely to buy this product, how many, how often etc. what sectors are they in, what common factors do they have (e.g. startups, existing businesss without websites, existing business that have poor websites that need improving etc)? And put some estimated sales to that based your research.

Putting the cost of production togther with your potential market and you start to form the significant part of your buisness plan. You can then see if the plan is viable, profitable and what investment (if any) is needed. And tweak your product /pricing or re-think, if appropriate.

By the way creating a £75 website is not ridiculous if you have the tools to do it and you don't do any design or programming. Its just not the sort of business you intend to be in, all I'm saying is if you target clients that don't have much money or not currently prepared to take a big step with their website and are happy with a customisable theme and providing their own content, then you would be completing with the likes of us and 100s of other 'template solution' website producers.

Im just getting totally confused now. I thought finding out what people want is mark of making the marketing plan, i.e the research?

I have just quickly looked at the clients i have now and the ones from the past year and there is nothing really substantial about them that defines a maket. They are all in different business such as Printing, Sporting Events, Travel services etc. They are all male mostly late 20s early-mid 30s but the demographic is all over the place, Uk, Netherlands and USA mainly. They all want some way to present their business in a unique way online but as I said each one is completely different! They were all found either by referral or from developer forums, so people who are actively looking for help getting their web stuff up.

In my mind i have this idea of providing a "product" so to speak for a set price based on CMS allowing a user to setup a website by simple register form, pick a template and fill in their content. Providing custom theme design as a service...but where on earth do i find out what people would buy this and where the hell they are.

totally confused!!!

Another point to add here, my current clients want something specific, which only a coder can do. But i want to move to provide the product mentioned above to sustain a subscription fee perhaps.

 

[ukwebdev1984]

Maybe i should just stick to what i am good at, contracting as a web developer! This marketing stuff just won't click it seems people have so many different views on how it should go, i can't seem to get a focal point or a direction to go in....

 

[Alan]

Don't get too dis-heartened. I'm sure you will get there in the end.

I have probably confused things by bringing in 'product' into the mix.

A 'product' (in my own terminolgy) is anything you sell, that can be a service (like coding or SEO), a custom design, or a repeatable product (like one click install CMS's, which by the way I think is a great idea [but I am biased, check what we produce] ).

And there is nothing wrong with experimenting to find out what works. I'm sure that not many business wrote down their business plan, and then stuck to it and never changed their product mix of strategy. I think a key component it to do it - then learn from it IMHO.

 

[AlexanderR]

How about just start with networking? Once you have a network of people talking about you, you can then look at your brand image, what makes you stand out. Step 3 would be more networking, but on a new level, try attending events, exhibitions, hospitality packages in your local sports venue etc. Step 4, repeat the process.

When your selling services, you need to be constantly pitching people, because you don't have a product which will do your pitch for you.

There is also no point in doing market research, there are over 50 million people in the UK, surely 50% of those would have benefits from having a web page, site or shop. Get pitching!

 

[ukwebdev1984]

How about just start with networking? Once you have a network of people talking about you, you can then look at your brand image, what makes you stand out. Step 3 would be more networking, but on a new level, try attending events, exhibitions, hospitality packages in your local sports venue etc. Step 4, repeat the process.

When your selling services, you need to be constantly pitching people, because you don't have a product which will do your pitch for you.

There is also no point in doing market research, there are over 50 million people in the UK, surely 50% of those would have benefits from having a web page, site or shop. Get pitching!

The networking is a good plan. I have been looking into venues for businesses but they are always so spread appart, i want to attend at least 1 per week lol. Linkedin would be a good start, facebook, twitter etc i think that could really help! I also still think calling local small businesses with my "survey" could help find out potential opporunities.

roibot: Thanks for the encouraging thoughts on a one click CMS setup. I have been thinking of setting up wordpress multisite that can be almost completely automated from register , template chosing etc. Skinning the wordpress dashboard here would be essential i think. Offering services such as plugin development, custom themes etc would probably work well there. I think maybe it should start out small, as in only allowing CMS brochure type sites, and expand into allowing memership (buddypress) and maybe some basic ecommerce.

 

[AlexanderR]

Try to avoid internet networking as your first port of call. Meeting in person is still much more presentable, and professional than a private message over a networking site. Plus while your there in person you can converse, and swap ideas.

As for the template design, there are a few out there already, but they all exist on subdomains. If you can provide template style web design for individual domains, you'd be on to a winner.

 

[S-Marketing]

There is also no point in doing market research, there are over 50 million people in the UK, surely 50% of those would have benefits from having a web page, site or shop. Get pitching!

IMO thats the worst piece of advice I have read on this forum for a while. There are many posts on this forum which display a complete lack of understanding of marketing, but that one is pretty special.

Op, ill reply to your pm in detail later.

 

[AlexanderR]

IMO thats the worst piece of advice I have read on this forum for a while. There are many posts on this forum which display a complete lack of understanding of marketing, but that one is pretty special.

Op, ill reply to your pm in detail later.

Not sure I understand why it's bad advice. There are no demographics to web design, anyone and everyone can have a website, why bother researching who to target when you can target everyone?

If I was selling a new drink however, market research would be one of the most important things to do, but for web design, really?

 

[S-Marketing]

I'm honestly not sure if you are joking or not. I really hope you are.

Not sure I understand why it's bad advice. There are no demographics to web design, anyone and everyone can have a website, why bother researching who to target when you can target everyone?

If I was selling a new drink however, market research would be one of the most important things to do, but for web design, really?

 

[ukwebdev1984]

Try to avoid internet networking as your first port of call. Meeting in person is still much more presentable, and professional than a private message over a networking site. Plus while your there in person you can converse, and swap ideas.

As for the template design, there are a few out there already, but they all exist on subdomains. If you can provide template style web design for individual domains, you'd be on to a winner.

By individual domains do you mean the user can have their own domain? That would be part of my plan anyway, allowing them to have their own domain used without charge, or a sub domain if they don't have one. Perhaps offer a free domain if they want a custom design for example.

 

[Alan]

As for the template design, there are a few out there already, but they all exist on subdomains. If you can provide template style web design for individual domains, you'd be on to a winner.

Template designs don't all exist on subdomains, except the free ones. Templates with individual domains does exist and is not uncommon.

 

[ITsoldUK]

There is also no point in doing market research, there are over 50 million people in the UK, surely 50% of those would have benefits from having a web page, site or shop. Get pitching!

Wow...

you have just saved me countless man hours with that nugget.

I shall now proceed to chase sales blind and waste 99.9% of my working day calling random numbers without structure or focus.

 

[ITsoldUK]

As for the template design, there are a few out there already, but they all exist on subdomains. If you can provide template style web design for individual domains, you'd be on to a winner.

Come on old bean, stop it now...

Do you know what a template is and why it is used???

 

[S-Marketing]

Wow...

you have just saved me countless man hours with that nugget.

I shall now proceed to chase sales blind and waste 99.9% of my working day calling random numbers without structure or focus.

As I said above, I don't know if he's joking in the threads he talks about marketing in, or whether this marketing lark simply goes straight over his head.

 

[businessfunding]

Not sure I understand why it's bad advice. There are no demographics to web design, anyone and everyone can have a website, why bother researching who to target when you can target everyone?

If I was selling a new drink however, market research would be one of the most important things to do, but for web design, really?

Proctor & Gamble have a $26 billion marketing budget to 'go for everyone'. I'm not sure the op is in this league yet.