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Need some advice/suggestions on new client

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octobergal
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Hi there,
Just got my first client, but I have a few questions. Hoping some experienced offline consultants can help me here. This client is new to the area with a renovations business, doing kitchens, bathrooms, etc. He has had 2 sites made and isn't happy with them at all. The site he has now is only 1 page, nothing special about it at all, no call to action, email capture, he also doesn't have a FB Fan Page which he said was suppose to be part of the agreement.

He said flat out he doesn't have a whole lot to spend on a new website. Should I charge him a couple of hundred dollars up front then a % of his sales. He said he would be willing to give me 15-20% of his sales for 30 days. I would draw up a contract about getting a %, too. Just not sure what to charge him up front. Also, should I just scratch the website he has now and creat a brand new one? He told me he paid for hosting for a year through yahoo. I have only used hostgator. Thanks for any advice or suggestions.
#advice or suggestions #client
  • Profile picture of the author perpetualmike
    perpetualmike
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    Hi Octobergal,

    Congratulations on getting your first client.

    I think that if he hated his first two sites, there could be a lot of reasons
    for this. If the site wasn't set up correctly, email capture, seo, etc. ,
    he probably had no visitors so he felt like he wasted his money.

    I had a similar situation. I told the customer to look at other sites in
    his niche and pick out one that he really liked and made a similar looking
    site. This turned out well.

    As far as not having funds you can make a site for him and rent it to him.
    See how it goes. I would use wordpress so that he can update himself.

    Sounds like he can be a pain in the a**. Be careful

    Mike
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  • Profile picture of the author ifeanyiboy
    ifeanyiboy
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    Congratulations on your first new client!! Good luck and I wish you the best for any future endeavors.
    I would recommend in the future offering your services for free for at least the first 2 weeks to a month. Once your client sees the boost of revenue upon having you work for him/her, they will see that your presence is needed so that when you eventually begin to charge him/her, you can charge much higher. Hope that helps.
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    • Profile picture of the author SgtBadass
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      Whenever you offer to take a cut in a fee or offer free up-front work or even take a percentage of what's made, you are effectively investing in their business.

      If someone came up to you and said "give me $400 a month for three months and I'll give you a cut", would you do it? Depends on the business I guess and also on how you value him as a businessman.

      I meet many people who are 'unhappy with their website' and they usually really mean "I'm crap at selling stuff so I'm blaming everything else".

      Beware of getting into any agreements with people. If there is the potential of him making money from your work then ask him to invest in that, he's essentially investing in himself that way which is surely a much better proposition?
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      • Profile picture of the author octobergal
        octobergal
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        Very true and great advice Sgt Badass!

        Yeah he said he only needed 3 pages Web Junkie and that his current website has only 1 page. 3 pages doesn't seem like enough to me, either.

        I'll have to see where this goes. I'm going to offer him my services for the regular price and if he wants to invest in his business then I'm willing to help him. I am not interested in doing work for free even if for only a few weeks. People just take advantage of that. You all have helped me a great deal, thanks!
        • Profile picture of the author edakehurst
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          Originally Posted by octobergal View Post

          Very true and great advice Sgt Badass!

          Yeah he said he only needed 3 pages Web Junkie and that his current website has only 1 page. 3 pages doesn't seem like enough to me, either.

          I'll have to see where this goes. I'm going to offer him my services for the regular price and if he wants to invest in his business then I'm willing to help him. I am not interested in doing work for free even if for only a few weeks. People just take advantage of that. You all have helped me a great deal, thanks!
          Sarge's advice is solid.

          If possible, I would take some time trying to educate them. Teach them what it takes in order to get and maintain good search engine ranking and why that's important. Show him the long-term value of a website compared to traditional advertising, that once you stop paying the monthly fee, it ends.

          I would also let them know that if they really wanted have an effective website that will bring them business month after month after month, they not only need to invest in a decent website (means lots of good keyword optimized content) but they should also begin a good SEO campaign.

          Some simple education and showing the advantages of what you can do for him versus what he's done in the past. I would sympathize with him and teach them why what he's been doing is not effective and show them that what you have to offer will be, or at least has great potential to be.

          Good luck!
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