How to Start a Home Based Web Design Business » Clients

Should You Use a Pay-Per-Lead Service?

Allan Collins — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:20:08 +0000

Generating new business can be a difficult task at times. Aside from freelance bidding sites, general advertising and word of mouth marketing, there are pay-per-lead services available to help you land more clients. These services may seem quite convenient to use, but are they worth the time and money?

Generally, a pay-per-lead service will give you information on prospects that may be interested in your services. They acquire these leads mainly by huge pay-per-click campaigns targeting prospects looking for web designers. By paying a certain amount per lead based on the prospect’s budget, you and four other design firms are competing for the prospect’s business.

“So let’s get this straight. These companies will send you potential clients and all I have to do is sell them my services and get them to sign a contract? This sounds pretty easy to me.”

Well, not exactly. Factoring in your niche, products or how you compare to the other four firms, you may be in a situation where you will be competing by price alone. Not every lead from these PPL services is legit. Many of which are simply curious about costs to start their stay at home business, which means that the lead you just paid for was a waste of time and money.

Be Quick

But, every now and then there may be a legit lead that you can pounce on. The one thing to remember about using a PPL service is to be quick to dial. Every single prospect that I’ve spoken to told me that they were overwhelmed by the amount of calls they had received. One lead had told me that she received over twenty calls in the past hour alone. By the time that I got a hold of her, she did not want to talk and was no longer interested.

Be Competitive

Nearly every lead that I received, I found myself competing with Heritage Web Solutions. Heritage has a large sales department and has a reputation for spending nearly $80k a month on PPC ads alone. Heritage has also been categorized as a “website mill”. One former client of theirs had told me he felt that his site was a cookie cutter template of another Heritage site. The company focuses on being low priced, but they make up the difference by a $50 per month hosting package.

One prospect, an esteemed salesman himself, had told me that the Heritage sales representative had told him that they would “submit” his website to thousands of search engines every month and that he needed unlimited bandwidth to handle all of that new traffic. So remember, price and value are key players when competing against the other four firms.

Final Thoughts

From my experience with using PPL services, I was only able to find five legit leads out of 100. This has given me the impression that spending over $2k on leads can only get you a 5% return. After lost money and time, I feel that these services don’t compete with traditional marketing and word of mouth. Stick to what works!

I didn’t mean to completely bash Heritage in this post, I am just repeating some of the items I have heard about them.

If you’d like to try out some PPL services:
Resource Nation
VendorSeek

Politics: The Untapped Niche

Allan Collins — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:00:01 +0000

Photo By Mr. Wright

It’s getting close to local elections here in my area, mainly because there are many political ads flooding the local newspaper each slandering the candidate’s opponent. These ads in my area run for $500 per week. With that kind of advertising budget, why aren’t you cashing in on these local politicians?

It’s no surprise that a voter will visit a candidate’s website to find more information. The voter needs to be informed on the issues and the solutions that each candidate is providing. So by having a website, the candidate can have the key advantage of providing information to their respective voters. It even allows them to accept donations easier, from there website.

Going back to how Barack Obama utilized web 2.0 to fund his presidential campaign makes it almost certain that many other politicians will soon follow this strategy. A visually appealing website that is user-friendly and provides easy to read information is what these campaigners need. Why not get started?

Be Different and Get More Clients

Allan Collins — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:52:01 +0000

Photo by Rico-san

Many web designers out there are in it just to make a quick buck. They get the client, rush through the development of the site, make it live, get paid and move on the next client. Designers like these give the web design industry a bad reputation and make our next prospects very gun shy. A good chunk of business owners feel that a website is more of a gamble than a true marketing investment. Here is how you make your web design business stand out from the rest…

The Sales Process

Undoubtedly, the sales process is one of the most important areas that shouldn’t be overlooked. Developing a solid and trusting relationship with the prospect is all it takes to get that big contract. The more contracts you get, the more steadier your paycheck will be.

Start by first listening to the prospect. How do they feel about their current site? How do they feel about their current web site company? Take the information in and never bash their web site or the firm they are currently working with. Remember, you are better than that.

Next, focus on their problem. Nearly every TV commercial starts out with a problem and then it will show you how their product will fix it. You will do exactly the same thing. If the prospect’s web site isn’t performing the way it should and not getting results, show the client how you can solve these issues.

Remember the prospect’s name. Everyone loves it when they hear their own name. It’s much more personal this way and the prospect will feel more comfortable working with you.

Ask questions that you already know the answer to. Remember the part about listening to the client first? Here’s where it will pay off. Take the information that you received earlier, and form it differently in a question. This will allow the prospect to confirm that you have an understanding about the problem.

Thank the prospect for their time and be sure to send them a thank you email. Then compile all of your notes together and draft up a proposal. Send the proposal to the prospect and follow-up with a phone call. If the prospect is convinced that your business is focused on them on a personal level and that you have the best solution to their problem, you should be signing a contract in no time.

The Design Phase

Keep the client informed in all stages of the process. Remember to keep that personal touch when communicating and explain everything in layperson’s terms. If the client calls, make sure you are there to answer the phone, if you are not, be sure to call them back in a timely manner.

When you are done with the project, walk the client through each page and explain the details of each. Remember, an informed client is a happy client. Keep them happy and you will be happy as well. Be responsive to complaints and problems. The quick they get resolved the better.

Added Value: Return on Investment

Many web designers don’t care about ROI or Return on Investment. Here’s the real kicker that will set you apart. Use tools like Google Analytics to view conversion rates. This way you will have something to show the client in regards to how you helped them. If you can prove that the work you’ve done for the client has helped them out in a good way, tell the client, write a case study and get a testimonial.

For example: let’s say that client A runs a bed and breakfast. You will want to track how many people go to their book online page. Let’s also say that the client spent $1,500 on a new website. If you figure the average nightly stay is around $100 and the B&B gets 30 visitors in a year, then the return on investment for the client is 200%. This case study can be a good selling tool with your next bed and breakfast prospect.

Being different and stick out from the rest can make your business successful. By establishing a solid and trusting relationship with your clients and working towards making them successful will pay off greatly in the end. Whoever said being different was a bad thing?

Project Management: Managing the Client

Allan Collins — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 05:28:20 +0000

Photo by saschapohflepp

Managing your team is one thing, but what about managing the client? Getting the client involved in your next project can be very beneficial to the overall success of the project. To keep your project running smoothly and to avoid any miscommunications, here are a few tips on how to manage your client.

Know Your Role

In the beginning stages of the project, it is imperative to have the entire project team meet with the client. Explain to the client the roles of each person involved. Also be sure to explain the role the client will have during the process as well. By letting everyone know what they are doing throughout the project will allow less confusion down the road.

Keep the Client Involved

By keeping the client involved in the process will prevent any surprises or unexpected reactions down the road. Be sure to give them the role of providing feedback on your work. Have them throw some creative ideas into the mix. Remember this is their project. Always make the client feel that they are part of the project team.

Milestones

Set task deadlines as milestones throughout the project. This will allow you to inform the client how close you are to the project’s completion. For example, if you have five web site design tasks (mockup, homepage, interior page, build-out, testing and go live), and you just completed the interior page’s design, you can inform the client that the project is roughly 60% completed. Of course this all depends on the project’s scope of work. Setting milestones is not only helpful for the client, but helpful for you, since you know what still needs to be completed.

Creative Conflicts

Ever hear the phrase “the customer is always right”? Same goes for web design projects. It is important to remember that this is the client’s web site and not your own. When speaking the client’s over the phone it may be difficult to fully understand some creative requests. That’s where web conferencing software comes into play such as GotoMeeting. With GotoMeeting, you can show the client your computer screen during a live conference call. This way, both of you can see and discuss the same thing.

Although calling up a client and scheduling a GotoMeeting can get very time consuming. You can use ConceptShare, which is a great online project collaboration tool that allows you to setup a concept and allow the client to login, write comments or even draw their intentions. This is a great solution for team members that are not on the same schedule.

Closing the Project

All good things must come to an end. Make sure that the client is satisfied with the end result. If the client hates it, they probably won’t be spreading much praise about your company. Double check everything to avoid anything falling through the cracks. Once you have passed quality control, it’s time for the project to end and the site to go live.

Be sure to thank the client for being a great addition to the project team. This can be done with a simple letter or card signed by everyone involved in the process.

Conclusion

First you let the client meet each team member and explained their roles in the project and the role of the client. You’ve kept your client involved and by doing so you have shown that you truly care about them and their project. Then you set goals or milestones to show the client your progress. Next, you have avoided any misunderstandings that would have held the project back by utilizing web conferencing and project collaboration tools. And finally you brought the project to a successful closing.

By managing your client throughout the process, you’ve eased up the headaches and gained your client’s trust. Hopefully, their involvement in this project will allow them to spread praise about your services to everyone they meet.

New Year… New Clients… More Work!

Allan Collins — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 02:50:33 +0000

Well it’s a new year and now is the time for you to set your new year’s goals or resolutions. My resolution, which is probably the same as yours, is to gain new clients. But how do you gain more clients and more work?

Putting out an ad or a press release.

Try putting out an ad in your local newspaper, or perhaps writing a press release about your services. Many newspapers need space filled to complete their latest edition. You will be doing them and yourself a big favor.

Feed the search engines.

Learn some ethical search engine optimization techniques. (Remember information is always free, but the quality will vary.) Do some keyword research on your niche. Build some quality backlinks to your website and work to get your site to appear on the top of major search engines such as Google.

Join your local chamber of commerce.

Network with the local businesspeople. Let them know you are there and what you can accomplish.

Contact your current clients and past clients.

Give them a call or send them an email wishing them a new year and ask if there is anything that you could do for them. This is also a great time to ask for a referral. Remember: it never hurts to ask.

What are your resolutions?

Please comment below on your freelancer resolutions for 2008 and ways that you will gain new clients.