Ideas for cheap web design?

[dwdgroup]

Hi All,

New member and this is my first post.

I offer small websites for new starts/small businesses and organisations and I am trying to think of a way to target these kind of people.

Due to the low cost of the sites, it is not cost effective to do PPC and SEO takes a few months to kick in.

I also tried local newspaper advertising which lead to no business at all - not even a visit to my website!

I have also tried cold calling local businesses from the local press and as soon as I mention I am calling about websites (even if they don't have one) I get told they are not interested. I've done a lot of cold calling in the past and have not experienced this level of resistance before.

It's very frustrating as I believe I have a great product for the right people (though I suspect everyone else feels the same too!).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[marketingquotes]

Hi There,

We may be able to help you out with this - as we do get enquiry from clients that have low budgets and cannot find designers to help them.

Will drop you a PM.

Regards,

Marketing Quotes Support.

 

[newwavecreativemedia]

This is just a though, but do you think people think your offer is to good to be true?

Remember people associate quality with price. In most cases people are not looking for the cheapest price, they're looking for something that seems reasonable against the amount of value they percieve to get in return.

For example if i'm selling to a business and I say this is the answer to your prayers this will generate you leads beyond your wildest dreams (which i don't say this btw) already I have built up the value, and when I say it's for £50, it just looks to good to be true for what i'm promising in return.

When I look at your site and I see £100 free google advertising for £50 I think, where's the catch.

You really need some strong testimonials on your site saying how people have got exactly the services you offer at your low price.

Then you can use these in your sales presentation.

Your biggest job will be getting people to trust what you are offering.

So my advice get some testimonials, preferable video testimonials of genuine customers. Put them on your site, on youtube etc

I would even consider putting your prices up.....

 

[adamvaldez]

First you need to know who the buyears is. In your case small business etc..
Do you really think they will spend even 50 bucks for it? You know today the small website world is dominated by wordpress and joomla. What you need is 10-15 bucks template and a cheap hosting and domain. So you can say everything is drag and drop.

My recommendation is that change your targeted class. Secondly if you offer a product that is good but it is chip, than people will think it doesn’t have quality. This is what a human tendency is. So what you need to do is play the game tactfully. Say for e.g. Offer Website for 85 bucks than keep it 125and offer 30% off. (Saying that it is just for this month)

 

[jonmcculloch]

I would even consider putting your prices up.....

Lord, Yes! I think this is the first thing he ought to do. If you're not getting business, you might as well be not-paid well for not doing it.

Price for most business owners and consumers isn't usually the issue (and when it is, it's often because you've not shown the value elsewhere).

You will, I suspect, find it easier to sell one £1,000 website (say) than to sell twenty £50 websites.

Warmly,

Jon

 

[ESSindia]

Your challenge is not about website being resisted, it is about the selling style being resisted! Instead of focusing on price, make a list of reasons why your prospective customers should need a website. Do FAB (Features, Advantage and Benefits) analyses before you call!


Engage customers in the business talk before you actually sell them. Instead of saying “I can create cheap website” start with "I can help you connect with your customers and improve sales." If they ask you how and why - tell how a website can make a difference.

 

[Antony Warnes]

I gotta agree with Jon.

I produce video content and a couple of years ago my business partner came up with the idea of trying to selling a budget video testimonial package.

He went door to door with it and had some interest but no conversions.

Though i the same timescale we had plenty of productions involving testimonials which all had at least 5 times the budget of the packages he was trying to pitch.

Having had a nosey at DWD's portfolio I think there are some great sites which should be used as examples instead of the slightly less impressive ones chosen (the computer repair 2u site is a great example!)

There is also no mention of social network integration on your page either is this not something you could offer at least as an extra? I'm sure if you doubled the asking price but set people up to blog tweet and poke you'd attract more business customers as we are being told every day that we have to be on Facebook or risk certain doom!

If that is something you can do drop me a PM as i may require your services in the not too distant future

 

[keyideas]

We are India based software development and outsourcing start up company and providing cheap and affordable services to people in given time frame because we value time

 

[Simply Clicks]

DWD,

£50 is too low a price to be taken seriously except for one man bands.

 

[Antony Warnes]

DWD,

£50 is too low a price to be taken seriously except for one man bands.

I agree but there are a lot of one man bands out there!

Shouldn't we applaud DWD for not being greedy as he's offering the same budget website service as countless others but at half or even a third of the price?

 

[jonmcculloch]

I agree but there are a lot of one man bands out there!

Shouldn't we applaud DWD for not being greedy as he's offering the same budget website service as countless others but at half or even a third of the price?

Does he want to be a charity or a successful business owner?

There are some strong arguments about why a higher price is actually in your clients' best interests, but let's not even go there.

Warmly,

Jon

 

[dwdgroup]

thanks for all the replies. some good tips there. i am actually trying to target one man bands and i know that i could easily turn around about 4 or 5 small sites a day to an acceptable standard.

i often hear my customers say that they can't believe they are being quoted up to £1,000 for a small website elsewhere which is way out of these guy's budget. this is one reason i think i can be really helpful to these people.

its just getting those 4 or 5 orders a day!

 

[Sage1974]

Never say cheap as it sounds trashy. Rather say great value for money. Or unbelievable value for money.

When they say not interested, you say.....Exactly what is it that you are not interested in?

Get the conversation flowing.

 

[Christine Hough]

Why not instead offer something else (traffic, sales, enquiries) which will use your website, To the buyer, the value is in what it will do for his business.

For example if you sell on increased traffic, charge on the basis or what it will do for them
If we don't double your traffic in the next month then it is free.
If we do it is £100
If we treble it is it £200
And so on.

Or something like that.
That reduces the risk to the buyer and you could use the FREE IF angle to catch their attention.
'Test drive your own bespoke site'

 

[dwdgroup]

thanks christine. i really like your idea! has certainly given me food for thought. i should concentrate on what's in it for the customer instead of simply tying to sell a website.

 

[fisicx]

i am actually trying to target one man bands and i know that i could easily turn around about 4 or 5 small sites a day to an acceptable standard.

Have you actually tried to do this?

Each client is going to want to discusss the site, you will be negotiating content, images, contact details and all the little niggles that everyone has.

So allow an hour on the phone, two hours for coding, another hour of email/phone feedback with the client. Then upload, sort out the invoice and get payment. If you do nothing else except the bare basics you are unlikely to manage more than one site a day.

As suggeasted, up the costs. Charge £300 for a basic site and you then only need 2-3 clients per week. That means 1 day for marketing, two days of coding and 4 days off.

 

[Target]

At that price (which is quite remarkable), I reckon start-ups would be a good market. I'd suggest getting in touch with your local Business Link (or equivalent) and speaking to the start-up advisors about them making your services known to their clients. You could try upping the price a little to £75 or £100, then discounting it by 25-50% as an 'exclusive' deal for Business Link clients.

As an ex-Scottish Enterprise advisor myself, I always welcomed something like this, because we had damn-all else to offer clients in terms of funding.

You could also ask about offering free short seminars on web business to these clients. Set yourself up as a trusted expert, don't sell but educate, and business will naturally come to you.

George

 

[dwdgroup]

i thought the business link was another good idea however i've just spoken to them and it seems they are closing down in november and no longer referring any businesses which is a shame.

 

[Target]

Shame. Probably because they have damn-all to offer clients...!

Might be worth a similar approach to the Princes Trust and Shell Livewire?

George