Ask HN: Finding small, local companies who need websites? I want to stop doing overly complicated freelance jobs and just stick to small mostly static websites for local businesses. Instead of doing 1 or two big projects a month, I just want to do 4 small sites for a fixed price. Any idea on where to find small companies in need of a websites locally? |
Here's a good read on why people buy > http://www.gitomer.com/Jeffrey-Gitomer-Little-Red-Book-of-Se...
Where ever the restaurant's name was supposed to be, I put "YOUR NAME HERE".
After I completely finished the websites (it was a lot of work), I SEO'd them for local search.
Once all five websites ranked in the top 10, I went and visited every Chinese restaurant in town with a pitch and printed screenshots of each of the websites.
I told the owners if they wanted a website, they could choose one of the five. They were already online, ranking high on Google, and phone calls for orders like sweet and sour pork were already coming in on my personal line!
Their new website was ready for them to take over, right away. No waiting, no cognitive dissonance, they could have it same-day. Instant gratification!
I priced the websites cheap too, several hundred bucks. A steal.
Surprisingly, I didn't sell one. Not one. I practically gave one away for a bubble tea (I was so thirsty from pounding the pavement). Maybe Chinese restaurants weren't the right market. Should have gone with lawyers.
So I tried to rent the websites for only $25 a month. Their company name would be on the website as long as they kept up with the monthly payment. I thought it was a novel idea.
Again, not one order.
Moral of the story? There are two. 1) Wait until you get intent to buy and a deposit before working on a website and 2) don't put your personal phone number on a fake Chinese restaurant website unless you want phone calls from drunk people at one in the morning.
I design social games and write ebooks, among other things.
Yeah, it was a hard lesson to learn. I guess I was venting ;)
Having dealt with some small business owners this past year, I know they get hounded all the time by people trying to sell them stuff (advertising, marketing services, SEO, etc.). One fairly new (in business for 2-3 years) owner told me that it just becomes the default to say no, unfortunately.
On the other hand, this guy already did the work and proved that he was getting orders for their restaurant. It seems like very little risk.
On the other, other hand, restaurants do have razor-thin margins and a lot of small business owners really don't like paying for marketing.