Will this biz idea work??

[xxweekxx]

Here's what im thinking of doing with my boy..

Call up small companies on the phone, (i got access through salesgenie), then tell them that we'll build a website + domain for them for free, and in return all they have to pay for is hosting/server and what we get out of it is that we increase our exposure by putting the site is designed and maintained by xxxx at the bottom..

Basically the money will come from selling the hosting for $50-100, while my true cost is like $5/month..

It sounds difficult but we will be targeting very small businesses, so most of the sites we'll do will be a small template.. My friend is REALLY good and can knock out 3-4 simple websites day..

The point is that if we do this for a while, we can get up to 100' companies signed up paying $50-100/month, and then the money starts adding up.

It might look like we are taking a loss by offering the website for free, but if they pay $50 a month for hosting, thats $600 a yr, profit of $500/yr for us.. In 2-3yrs thats way more than they woulda paid for a regular website..

WIll also pitch that we maintain the website, make sure it stays up, etc,

Tell me legal issues/problems i might have..

The website wont be too fancy, just simple layout with info about company, contact us, our staff, etc..

[polle54]

I will probably work but you dont seem to consider how much work there is in building a medium sized website.

It takes too much god damn time.

[xxweekxx]

Originally Posted by polle54

I will probably work but you dont seem to consider how much work there is in building a medium sized website.

It takes too much god damn time.

simple templates bro.. target: very small companies.. mom n pop collision stores, dentists,etc..

There is no fancy php involved, Just set them up email/act using cpanel, then a functional website kinda like this one:

http://www.impressiveauto.com/

etc

[Sly]

So your target market is small businesses that are not willing to spend a one time fee of $500-1000 for a website, but you expect them to spend $600-1200 yearly for a basic website and “hosting"?

By the way, they are going to have no clue what a "control panel" is.

What are you going to do when they call you up asking you to change things on the site or add new pages?

[Steve Awesome]

Originally Posted by xxweekxx

simple templates bro.. target: very small companies.. mom n pop collision stores, dentists,etc..

There is no fancy php involved, Just set them up email/act using cpanel, then a functional website kinda like this one:

http://www.impressiveauto.com/

etc

This was a great idea in 1997.

[Sly]

Originally Posted by xxweekxx

simple templates bro.. target: very small companies.. mom n pop collision stores, dentists,etc..

There is no fancy php involved, Just set them up email/act using cpanel, then a functional website kinda like this one:

http://www.impressiveauto.com/

etc

Have you ever tried working with small companies? They are the biggest pain in the ass. Do you know why? Because they don't know anything! it is a double edged sword.

[xxweekxx]

well im mostly doing this for my friend. he just graduated and got madd skills.. no they wont have access to control panel.. they will just know how to check their EMAIL.

yeah it could be a pain in the ass but MANY companies think that a website will cost them $500/month just to maintain, or $5k to design,

The small company my gf works for pays some NJ company $350/month for hosting.. and they have a virtual hosting with 1andone.. i figure worst case you get a bunch of no's or something, but all you really need is a solid 50-100 companies and you are good to go.. there are hundreds of thousands of businesses around 100 mile radius from me tha have no website, when people see a product they are more inclined to buy.

You pitch free website, they say WHY NOT. they see it, they like it.. you pitch that your only gain is you promote your link at bottom, and they pay COST of hosting only, $50/month. the company will still come out thinking its a good deal..

[xxweekxx]

Originally Posted by Sly

So your target market is small businesses that are not willing to spend a one time fee of $500-1000 for a website, but you expect them to spend $600-1200 yearly for a basic website and ?hosting"?

By the way, they are going to have no clue what a "control panel" is.

What are you going to do when they call you up asking you to change things on the site or add new pages?

by the way i asked for a quote for my website from a local web design company, they quoted me $7500,

The $500-1000 you are talking about is cause you are "aware". Many mainstream local companies still charge low-high $x,xxx to their customers for their websites.

[Sly]

Sounds like you have made up your mind. Go for it.

[xxweekxx]

Worst case is I waste a day or two dialing companies, and my friend loses 2 days doing few websites, i already have an LLC. In my opinion its a small investment.. By the way we'll also give them domain name, like JohnsFuneralHome.com, etc

Makes it sound like they getting so much for their money.. $50/month is affordable to busineses. They dont look at it yearly, they look at it monthly. If you looked at shit yearly you do realize you spending more than $500/yr on your cellphone, but when they pitch oH only $40/month , people forget it costs $500/yr.. make sense?

[xxweekxx]

yeah i was just wondering legal issues and the sorts, i figure u spend a day and talk to over 100 companies, one will at least say yeah, plus this is nice recurring..

You will probably make this money for years and years

[Loki]

My first thought is that you must be mad at your boy lol, to make him "cold call" a bunch of small biz's and deal with people who are barely bright enough to turn ON their computer.....

ALL JOKES ASIDE:

This is REALLY allot more pain then it's worth, I've been dealing with "mom and pop" clients since around 1998 and damn near EVERY ONE of them I'd love to shove a spike through their collective heads....

When you "give them something for free" you open up a HUGE can of worms, your boy will be working NON STOP for pennies pretty much, and ANYTIME someone who "knows about computers" talks to his clients they will be calling him up DEMANDING some sort of trivial updates and NOT want to pay what his time and skills are worth!

Case in point...

As far as I can tell, the GOING HOURLY RATE for a "good" designer is around $45.00 per hour, no matter how "Basic" these sites are, lets say the client "demands" a site wide change that will take say 10 hours to complete, do you think they will pay $450.00 for that? NOPE!

Another nice thing to take into account, is that IF your telling them they pretty much get a site for free, they will think it will either be sub-standard or some type of scam at best, not to mention these days, they can have their own kids or friends kids build them a site for "free" and get their own $5.00 hosting account.

THEN....

The site goes down, Your kid's phone rings off the hook

Someone tells the client their paying WAY to much for hosting your kid's phone rings off the hook, or worse yet his name gets drug through the mud as a thief around your local community.

Bottom line, (imho, and experience) it's not worth the chump change to deal with all that hassle and bullshit. I sacrificed all of my free time and made little to no money when I went the same route (and for the record I had over 100 active clients in my 'hey-day") and my phone never stopped ringing and the checks would never come either lol

-Loki-

[Defiance Inc]

"Have you ever tried working with small companies? They are the biggest pain in the ass."

Dead on! Loki has it right. I've been there done that also. Small companies are CHEAP! They
And some rightfully so because slim margins, but hey, not my problem. Then you have the ceo with huge ego's! UUUGGGHHH!!!! A scam small companies like to pull is... they hire you on and claim that you have to do the 90 day "probation".
Pump as much code out of you as possible, or add complex code their in house crew doesn't have time or knowledge to figure out, then dump you just before benefits kick in.
That way they look good for the upcoming release and they got it cheap cause they didn't have to pay contractor rates.
Loki has it dead on bro...

[xxweekxx]

Originally Posted by vdc-Loki

My first thought is that you must be mad at your boy lol, to make him "cold call" a bunch of small biz's and deal with people who are barely bright enough to turn ON their computer.....

ALL JOKES ASIDE:

This is REALLY allot more pain then it's worth, I've been dealing with "mom and pop" clients since around 1998 and damn near EVERY ONE of them I'd love to shove a spike through their collective heads....

When you "give them something for free" you open up a HUGE can of worms, your boy will be working NON STOP for pennies pretty much, and ANYTIME someone who "knows about computers" talks to his clients they will be calling him up DEMANDING some sort of trivial updates and NOT want to pay what his time and skills are worth!

Case in point...

As far as I can tell, the GOING HOURLY RATE for a "good" designer is around $45.00 per hour, no matter how "Basic" these sites are, lets say the client "demands" a site wide change that will take say 10 hours to complete, do you think they will pay $450.00 for that? NOPE!

Another nice thing to take into account, is that IF your telling them they pretty much get a site for free, they will think it will either be sub-standard or some type of scam at best, not to mention these days, they can have their own kids or friends kids build them a site for "free" and get their own $5.00 hosting account.

THEN....

The site goes down, Your kid's phone rings off the hook

Someone tells the client their paying WAY to much for hosting your kid's phone rings off the hook, or worse yet his name gets drug through the mud as a thief around your local community.

Bottom line, (imho, and experience) it's not worth the chump change to deal with all that hassle and bullshit. I sacrificed all of my free time and made little to no money when I went the same route (and for the record I had over 100 active clients in my 'hey-day") and my phone never stopped ringing and the checks would never come either lol

-Loki-

hehe thanks for the advice.. was looking for something like that. im not worried about them paying too much.. $50/month isnt too much at all.. Also if you had 100 clients, shoulda been netting $50k/yr easy from it..

Contract will say any change that takes more than 1hr will be charged at a rate of XX or the change won't be made.. I still want someone to convince me that if you have 150 clients, and netting $6k profit a month, that you cant handle the clients?

Also wont be doing site modifications.. Will be selling website/domain to companies WITH no website, and this will be basic as they come..

[kane]

Here is the one problem I can see from it. The sites will get little or no traffic and depending on the company will be worthless to the client. If the client wants the site to give information about their business to people, cool. But if they feel it is going to bring them more business then you have to start to wonder if they will still use it.

For example if you build a site for a local auto body shop. They like the site and never need it updated and pay you $50 a month for hosting, things are good. Then 2-3 months down the road they see that they have gotten zero business from the site they start wondering why they are paying you that $50 per month. So I have a feeling there will be a lot of people that will end up canceling on you.

Also when someone is paying you $50 a month for the site, they will want something in return. When they decide they want a picture of their son's little league team up on the site and they want to change this and that and you tell them you want to charge them they will say, "I'm paying you $50 a month for this site already." If they are not computer savvy they won't fully understand what hosting is.

All that said it could work. You would just need to target businesses that would use it more as an information resource for their customers as opposed to something that will get them more sales. Also you will want to tell them to put the web address on all their stationary and cards and whatever other ad material they have.

Good luck, it won't be easy, but it could work.

[xxweekxx]

Originally Posted by kane

Here is the one problem I can see from it. The sites will get little or no traffic and depending on the company will be worthless to the client. If the client wants the site to give information about their business to people, cool. But if they feel it is going to bring them more business then you have to start to wonder if they will still use it.

For example if you build a site for a local auto body shop. They like the site and never need it updated and pay you $50 a month for hosting, things are good. Then 2-3 months down the road they see that they have gotten zero business from the site they start wondering why they are paying you that $50 per month. So I have a feeling there will be a lot of people that will end up canceling on you.

Also when someone is paying you $50 a month for the site, they will want something in return. When they decide they want a picture of their son's little league team up on the site and they want to change this and that and you tell them you want to charge them they will say, "I'm paying you $50 a month for this site already." If they are not computer savvy they won't fully understand what hosting is.

All that said it could work. You would just need to target businesses that would use it more as an information resource for their customers as opposed to something that will get them more sales. Also you will want to tell them to put the web address on all their stationary and cards and whatever other ad material they have.

Good luck, it won't be easy, but it could work.

Thanks for the advice. Yup im thinking of doing that already.. The website is just to give them a presence. Maybe their $50 will include 1hr of work on the website per month? Im giving this a thought because frankly, i dont have much to lose.. The contract will say I can terminate the partnership whenever I want.. I see a small risk here thats why the biz sounds good to me..

[d-null]

why do you have to have the 'deceptive' slant to it.... why not be upfront and tell them what they are getting for $50 per month... they have no clue what "hosting" is, so your attempt to play games with the whole pitch is only something that will backfire on you some day

[xxweekxx]

Originally Posted by jetjet

why do you have to have the 'deceptive' slant to it.... why not be upfront and tell them what they are getting for $50 per month... they have no clue what "hosting" is, so your attempt to play games with the whole pitch is only something that will backfire on you some day

wasn't going to be deceptive.. Hosting means website being online/tech support incase website goes down, and maybe include 1hr of website updates per month, Will work out details later.

But nah no lying to get customers here. I just think some people misunderstand the power of "free". You call company 10 companies, chances are 50%+ will agree to have a FREE website, then just gotta sell the hosting. Also no complex websites, just simple templates that will take my designer partner 1hr to do..

I have access to sales genie and that makes finding small companies with no website a piece of cake.. ALso provides info like revenue, staff, directors,managers,etc.. Good info.. Will probably give this a test run on monday or tuesday

[woj]

Originally Posted by xxweekxx

But nah no lying to get customers here. I just think some people misunderstand the power of "free". You call company 10 companies, chances are 50%+ will agree to have a FREE website, then just gotta sell the hosting. Also no complex websites, just simple templates that will take my designer partner 1hr to do..

50% close rate? 1 hour to do a design? you are out of your mind...

[xxweekxx]

Originally Posted by woj

50% close rate? 1 hour to do a design? you are out of your mind...

going to sleep now but people are missing the point..

a site like
http://www.gentilefuneralservice.com/

would take him few hrs.. he is already doing template/basic sites for money and he can do 3-5 a day..

Nothing advanced, no php, just simple buttons that work

[woj]

Originally Posted by xxweekxx

going to sleep now but people are missing the point..

a site like
http://www.gentilefuneralservice.com/

would take him few hrs.. he is already doing template/basic sites for money and he can do 3-5 a day..

Nothing advanced, no php, just simple buttons that work

yea, few hours to do the actual design, but then you need to visit the actual business, get some info from them, prices, menu, services they offer, maybe take some pics, etc etc that's probably another few hours right there... then when all is done, you show it to a client, and they will probably want some corrections, figure another hour or 2 for that... so add it all together, it might end up as much 8 hours per client...

And that's just the designing of the website part, acquiring customers isn't exactly THAT easy either, you think you will just call up 10 businesses and 5 of them will say "ok, lets do it, where do I send the check to?" ??

[Marky333]

I thought about this like 2 years ago and back then after analyzing the market I decided it was not worth the trouble.
But to start a business of your own it requires balls and dedication - so don't mind me - if you really have your head up straight - the Sky is the limit!

[the content guy]

I tried this concept many years ago at a much lower price and it failed miserably. I had both telemarketers and outside sales reps cold calling businesses. The closing ration was horrible and as others mentioned the small business owners are the biggest pains in the ass in the world. Your phones will be ringing off the hook and expect to make total modifications to every design. Also, there are many advertising companies like the phone book and local newspapers that offer free websites when they advertise a certain amount.
Go ahead and give it a shot if you are determined but get ready for a let down... sorry

[Sly]

I just remembered something very important that will totally screw you. Small businesses do not know what Web hosting is, and when you explain it to them, you will only further confuse them.

I sold Web hosting for five years. I know many, many off-line business owners... big and small. They have absolutely no clue what Web hosting is. You are fighting an uphill battle. If something seems so easy it's stupid, it's probably just stupid.

[payd2purv]

All of the issues people have presented in this thread can be dealt with... This idea needs to be tweaked slightly but that comes with ANY business idea.

Wanna know how I know?

BECAUSE THERE'S HUNDREDS OF WEB DESIGN FIRMS IN BUSINESS.

rofl.

You talk to 90% of business owners today they know what a website is and 89% of them will want one.

Those of you who did this 6 years ago were just too early... 6 years ago was a whoooleeee other world...

90% of the time I design a website for a business I hook them up with hosting... If they say fuck the website and cancel a month later whocares because I replaced that client with 2 more...

[payd2purv]

Also have you seen a lot of small business websites?

A lot of the sites I design the client just wants to have something online to give contact info and general company info..

If a company doesn't have a website these days people will generally assume the company is bogus.. weird but true..

So a lot of the time the business owner isn't really concerned about the profits directly related to the website it's a pay for it and forget it type of thing...

But then you get the buisness owner that is in tune with marketing and branding and wants to keep his website updated and have more info...

well we like these guys because they end up paying more

[payd2purv]

The key thing to this working is having dedicated and efficient employees.
You ain't going to get rich by just the two of you doing this.

[JamesK]

So basically your idea is a free design and overpriced hosting? I think small companies are very careful with their money and if they know anyone in the online business it'll take them a minute to figure out $50 a month is too much for a newly started site of a small business.

Anyway, if you promote the concept well and manage to convince (dumb) people to buy it, it could be worth doing. Good luck.

[payd2purv]

Originally Posted by JamesK

So basically your idea is a free design and overpriced hosting? I think small companies are very careful with their money and if they know anyone in the online business it'll take them a minute to figure out $50 a month is too much for a newly started site of a small business.

Anyway, if you promote the concept well and manage to convince (dumb) people to buy it, it could be worth doing. Good luck.

That's where marketing and sales skills come in to play.

It could be $50 a month but it doesn't read $50 a month to the client.. it could be $500 a year. That sounds a lot more appealing already...

You don't want to get $50 a month anyways you want a large lump sum sooner.

[IllTestYourGirls]

just be up front. You get a design, hosting for $50 a month, updates to the website are xx an hour. lots of companies would pay for that. They dont have to touch a thing.

[GrouchyAdmin]

If you have a million Phillipinos to implement, you'll still fall behind their new specifications. Just wait until this small business wants you to encode and put up a movie so people can see it every time they visit the home page! (Yes, this has happened.)

[payd2purv]

Also $50 a month INCLUDES a "professionally designed" website it's not just hosting.

What does GoDaddy charge for this type of service?

[Violetta]

go for it... How bad can it be?

[xxweekxx]

Originally Posted by payd2purv

Also $50 a month INCLUDES a "professionally designed" website it's not just hosting.

What does GoDaddy charge for this type of service?

hey payrd. do u have icq so we can talk more..

people keep missing the point, WE ARE TARGETTING SMALL ASS COMPANIES that dont even have a website.. They wont wont no custom flash embedded videos,etc

Also i could include only x hrs of updates per month..

Payd so you saying its better to charge bulk upfront? that to charge monthly?

[Barefootsies]

Originally Posted by Sly

So your target market is small businesses that are not willing to spend a one time fee of $500-1000 for a website, but you expect them to spend $600-1200 yearly for a basic website and “hosting"?

By the way, they are going to have no clue what a "control panel" is.

What are you going to do when they call you up asking you to change things on the site or add new pages?

Exactly.

There is a much better idea I had some years back and still have not gotten around to it.

But it's along the same lines, but offering free website template, hosting, domain services to small, and medium business in exchange...