A client sent us through a video for uploading to his web site.
So we did that.
The video had backing music – music that was already ripped from his CD collection and was copyright.
* Should we tell him he shouldn’t use the music?
* Should we just do what our client asked us to do?
1. Once we start giving him legal advice on what he is doing then that’s a whole new ball game. We should be charging extra for that.
We’re not his web consultants – we were just asked to get video prepped for web use.
2. But then again, we don’t want to be doing stuff that is illegal.
Cheers
Brendon
I was recommended a copywriter last Thursday.
On Friday morning I rang the copywriter and asked a few questions and asked for a few samples/portfolio examples to be emailed through.
The guy I spoke with said “Yes, no worries. I’ll email them to you this afternoon.”
I Didn’t Get Them In The Afternoon
I didn’t receive the info that afternoon.
The copywriter sent the info through the next day (Saturday) with his email saying “It was great speaking with you yesterday and my apologies for not getting back to you as promised…..”
I must be getting grumpy in my old age because I emailed him straight back letting him know we wouldn’t be using him. I didn’t even bother looking at his samples.
You see, no matter how good they are at copywriting, they’re crap at keeping promises. And if that’s the way they start a relationship it will just get worse.
As a busy web firm we just don’t have the time to be chasing up guys like copywriters to provide the information they were going to provide last week. We just can’t trust these guys to be useful to us and help us grow our business.
The best indicator of future performance is past performance.
If he doesn’t keep his promise the first time, he more than likely won’t keep them in the future.
Cheers
Brendon “Grumpy” Sinclair
I have a client.
She had a web site.
It had not made 1 sale in 1 year. Not 1.
She agreed to a redesign with new copy.
She agreed to our well-thought-out web marketing strategy.
We did the redesign. She signed off on it the whole way.
1 hour before we launched the site she rang me.
She’d changed her mind.
She didn’t like the redesign.
She preferred her ‘old’ site.
She want us to put that back up.
After wasting a couple of weeks trying to get the site different enough so she liked it enough to launch, I’d had enough.
“Try our site for 3 months. If it doesn’t work I’ll give you your money back and redo the site like the old one,” I said.
I promised her 2 sales a day by the end of 3 months. She thought I was way too optimistic.
We put the new design up (with all new copy).
We implemented our web marketing plan.
Today was 3 months after the launch.
Today she had 21 sales.
Those 21 sales today made her twice what I charged her for the new web site.
And I Thought It Was Her
All along I thought she was the moron.
When actually I think it’s me.
Brendon
Want to know the secrets of getting $10,000+ web development jobs?
Check out Show # 39 over at Tailored Podcast.
Cheers
Brendon
I just took a look at another web developer’s web site.
His designs look fantastic. He has a much more creative mind than us. Man, they are beautiful sites he does.
Why, then, do his client’s sites fail?
Easy. Because it’s not about design.
Web development is about design AND marketing AND conversions AND follow up AND lead generation AND usability AND….the list goes on.
Don’t be the designer who thinks designer is everything. It isn’t. And it never will be.
Business is about results – get those and your client couldn’t care less what the site looks like.
Brendon
Over on our podcast at Tailored Podcast I’ve interviewed a guy called Billy.
If you market a web development business it is well worth a listen.
It’s show # 35.
Cheers.
Brendon
I get a lot of questions from web developers asking how they should go about redeveloping a web site.
Here’s the top tips:
1. Add a stats package/Google Analytics to the site
2. Do a survey of current web site visitors – we use OneMinutePoll.
Only when you have some data can you make decisions.
Brendon
Here’s the first: www.google.com/trends.
Use that to compare searches for various keywords. Extremely useful for seo.
Google Keywords Traffic Estimator
This tool allows you to check your keyword positions and approximate clicks in AdWords without adding them to an AdWords account.
Cheers
Brendon
Managing Pay Per Click advertising campaigns can be lucrative work for web developers. Here is a letter we have used previously.
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Dear Name
My name is Brendon Sinclair and I amd the Executive Director of Tailored Consulting, one of Queenslands leading Pay Per Click (such as Google Adwords) experts. I am writing to see if you you would be interested in more targeted visitors to your web site, a wider market reach and a better return on your web site investment.
Per Per Click advertising is growing tremendously fast because of 1 simple fact – it works. You get people who are actively searching for your product or service at that precise moment to click on your ad and visit your web site. Simple and very, very effective.
I have just returned from Londo where I held meetings with one of the biggest Pay Per Click advertisers in the world. My friend spends $41 million per annum on Pay Per Click advertising and the secrets and knowlegde I gained was amazing.
By engaging us as your Pay Per Click advertising manager you get access to that knowledge. We charge a simple 15% fee on your advertising spend – that is, if you spend $2,000 on Pay Per Click advertising we charge you just $300 for the month for managing the advertising (there is also a small initial set up fee – a one off).
We believe it is fantastic value for the benefits we provide. For example, we will almost certainly save you our fee and more by using our expertise to get the cheapest pay per click ads.
If you would like to have a chat about Tailored managing your Pay Per Click advertising for best results, then we would love you hear from you on 07 5598 4898.
Yours sincerely
Brendon Sinclair
====================
Feel free to adapt that letter for your own use.
Yesterday I had a couple of calls from possible clients who found us in different ways and decided to call us for different reasons:
Caller 1: Found us in the Yellow Pages online. Decided to call us rather than competitors because most of our competitors have only a mobile/cell phone number as the contact.
That didn’t inspire confidence in this person.
So they called us.
Caller 2: Found us through a web search and liked our blog and articles. Was most impressed that not only do we design and market web sites for others, but that we also do it for ourselves.
Different Strokes For Different Folks
All of the above reasons are perfectly valid and show, I think, a very small snapshot of the different factors that come into marketing a web development firm.
Reduced Perception Of Risk
But all of the reasons boil down to this one factor – both guys perceived less risk in dealing with us. That’s what it is really about.
Cheers
Brendon