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There are 2 things: 1. Commoditized website development where any tom dick and harry can setup a quick website on wix/squarespace etc because frankly, they don
by codegeek 7y ago
There are 2 things:
1. Commoditized website development where any tom dick and harry can setup a quick website on wix/squarespace etc because frankly, they don't need more than that. It is really hard to compete against tools like these because they sell $2/Year websites (or something low enough)
2. There are businesses (small-mid sized) that have built something way back (read:late 90s-early 2000s) who are struggling with their in-house system and looking for a better solution. But they are too scared to think about changing because they don't know who to talk to and what it will cost. You need to find those businesses.
Source: My company finds the #2 and it is a gold mine.
- pragmaticlurker 7y agofor the 1., it depends on the quality you want to achieve. A business that relies on those platforms can't be called business.
- Legogris 7y agoI'd argue otherwise. For example, my sister just opened a local swimming pool for dogs and using one of these platforms is great for her so far. A presence with opening hours, pricing and contact details are all many small businesses need.
- pgeorgi 7y agoWe have such "lego block" website builders in Germany since $forever, and while with some experience you can easily tell which builder (and therefore hoster) any restaurant or hairdresser used for their site, it's good enough for their purpose: get the word out there, announce their services and opening times, have something to point at from Maps.
- dejesus4695 7y agoThere's also a chrome extension called Wappalyzer that can help you determine what was used to build the sites if its something you check often. Works pretty well in my experience.
- robjan 7y agoDepends whether the website is your core competency. If it's just there to display your rates or a bit more about your business then there is no need to have anything more. For instance, I operate a bar as a side business. I just knocked together a WordPress site in a few hours because I don't want the website to suck up too much of my time or to become a cost centre.
- justaguyhere 7y agoHow do you find customers for #2 though?
- codegeek 7y agoNot easy. We found out that most of the #2 types are not necessarily looking so the whole "let them find me through inbound marketing" doesn't work on them for the most part. You really need to come up with an outbound strategy i.e. how to hunt for those clients. It comes down the niche that you are interested in. If you are a generic web dev. shop, it is harder. The client has to really understand why you could make their business better and get them a better ROI. For us, it is easier in the sense that we only deal with one specific niche. So we use things like linkedin sales navigator, hunter.io (to find emails)and plain old google.com. You ill be surprised how many prospects will actually give you 15 mins of their time if your call is well researched and relevant to their needs. This is not something you can do in your part time though. Requires a lot of research and execution. More about quality than quantity.
- justaguyhere 7y agoI'm guessing you don't want to share your niche. Broadly, is this how you find clients? 1. Find businesses in your niche with not-so-great websites 2. Find their contact details 3. Contact them with specific action items that can improve their SEO, sales funnels, conversions etc That still doesn't explain how you can find clients with poor in-house tools, unless they are talking about it publicly? Thank you for answering, this sounds like a lot of work - no wonder prospects are willing to talk to you!
- codegeek 7y agoI don't mind sharing the niche:edtech. Your guess is a good start but that is just the website part. I m talking more about web app i.e complex dynamic business applications. But yea, finding the gems requires a full time effort. We have a sales and marketing team.
- 7y ago