Sell Your Freelance Web Services to Businesses That Don't Have a Web Site

Written by Rachel Goldstein


Continued from page 1

B: No, we don't need one. I can't really see how it would do us any good since we are a local company. If someone wants something from us they just walk on over.

A: Well, Mr. or Mrs. owner's name, I spent some time thinking about your business before I called and I came up with a few ideas that would raise your profit line. For example, a similar site to yours, name a domain, started a web site how long ago and developed your idea into their site. Within how much time, they increased their profits by this much.

B: I don't know, it sounds expensive to me.

A: I amrepparttar most reasonably priced web designer around, I could designrepparttar 132793 entire site for only dollar amount. And if you still aren't sure that you just want to jump in, I will give you two free hours of consultation in which I will bring you a mockup design of what I visualize for your site. We can then talk it over. You won't have any commitment to continue, I just want to show you that you can have a profitable online presence. Is 10 o'clock Monday morning a good time to meet ... I want to share with you all ofrepparttar 132794 ideas for your site that I have typed out for you?

B: 11 o'clock is better.

A: Great, I am excited to meet you.

B: I am looking forward to hearing your ideas.

A: Thanks. I will see you Monday at 11:00.

You should always create a positive, but assertive, tone and try not to sound like a telemarketer. The difference between you and a telemarketer is that you have educated yourself aboutrepparttar 132795 prospective client. You are way above this level so try to make a good impression. You will need to be ready for a negative response and rude replies. Not every call goes this well. Try to figure out ahead of time what kind of objections you might receive. Always respond with a polite business response. Never curse or say rude things back. Negative responses aren't always a bad sign. Ifrepparttar 132796 potential client says " I don't need a web designer now, I need brochures not banners." Maybe your expertise includes print design too, go in forrepparttar 132797 kill and getrepparttar 132798 gig. Maybe you want to educaterepparttar 132799 potential client onrepparttar 132800 need of a web site to promote his or her business. If you think ahead and know your responses beforehand, you will do great.

Good Job! You have just landed your first consultation. Now you will need to prepare yourself for this important meeting. You will need to take onrepparttar 132801 role of an expert in your field. You need to make sure that you understand that you ARE an expert. Otherwise, if you don't have self confidence,repparttar 132802 prospective client won't trust you either. Look and feel confident because you can and you WILL build a great web site for this client ... you WILL knock his socks off.

Use all ofrepparttar 132803 ideas that you had mapped out earlier and create a mockup a sample web site in Photoshop. This is how you should create a professional mockup:

1. Take a screen shot of your browser. 2. Bring this image into Photoshop and save file. 3. Layout all design elements into layers for home page of site first. 4. Go to your local service bureau to print out 2 copies of each design, one for you and one forrepparttar 132804 prospective client. 5. Go to a business supply store, like Staples, and buy black board, a portfolio case big enough to hold several black boards, Utility knife, Exacto knife, spray adhesive, labels, and a straight ruler. 5. Use an Exacto knife and straight ruler to cut off excess paper. 6. Measure width and length ofrepparttar 132805 printout. 7. Cut black board to be about 4 inches taller and wider thanrepparttar 132806 printout is. 6. Sprayrepparttar 132807 back ofrepparttar 132808 printout lightly with spray adhesive. After sprayingrepparttar 132809 back ofrepparttar 132810 printout, put one corner down about 2 inches fromrepparttar 132811 top and 2 inches fromrepparttar 132812 left ofrepparttar 132813 black board. Then pull printout taut fromrepparttar 132814 bottom right as you slowly press downrepparttar 132815 paper fromrepparttar 132816 upper left. This will keep bubbling from happening. There should now be 2 inches of blackboard framing each side ofrepparttar 132817 printout. 7. Place a label onrepparttar 132818 back of black board with copyright information, your logo, and a place for client to sign off.

You should also organize your thoughts by creating an organizational chart. This way you can showrepparttar 132819 client what rough ideas you have for their business web site. Take a blank piece of paper and place your pen inrepparttar 132820 center ofrepparttar 132821 page. Write down a word or two that matchesrepparttar 132822 subject of your previous notes. Branch out with lines to related topics. Make sure that all navigational routes have been mapped out. After you have completed this process, I suggest taking it into Freehand or Illustrator and clean uprepparttar 132823 organizational chart. You should also place this on blackboardrepparttar 132824 way you did above. Once you have completed this step and typed out any further notes, you are ready for your presentation.

Being a good sales person doesn't depend on talent, although this obviously helps. What you need most is confidence, and portraying that confidence will rub off onrepparttar 132825 potential client. Follow these important points and you will most likely generate your first order:

1. Never stop selling. Get used to rejection and understand that you will eventually make a sale. You should try to find an average that you can attain. One out of five people that you talk to will order.

2. Don't lie about your skills or abilities if you want repeat business. If you are good, other local businesses will be knocking down your door in no time.

3. Open up with an attention-getting statement. Try to walk inrepparttar 132826 business owner's shoes, what would be important to him. Find this answer and start off by bringing this to his attention.

4. Portray benefits of building a web site with complete confidence and excitement. Try to be overwhelmed with excitement.

5. Be ready for objections. Think of any objection thatrepparttar 132827 business owner could possibly come up with and brainstorm for answers before they are asked. This should be done in practice.

6. Closerepparttar 132828 deal by asking when you should get started working onrepparttar 132829 web site, this week or next? In other words, don't giverepparttar 132830 business owner a yes or no question, giverepparttar 132831 customer a choice between two positive alternatives.

Now that you know how to attract local clients, you should have no problems creating a successful freelance business. When working within your community, word spreads like fire. In fact, once you have a few dependable clients, you should have no problem finding new clients. Good luck.

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Make a Winning Home Page

Written by Les Goss


Continued from page 1

Many search engines also give more points to words in headlines, so place your keywords there as well as inrepparttar body ofrepparttar 132789 text.

Now, placing a key phrase once inrepparttar 132790 title and once on your page won’t be enough to get you torepparttar 132791 top ofrepparttar 132792 charts. Onrepparttar 132793 other hand, repeating it too often can get you banned fromrepparttar 132794 engines. Ideally, each phrase you’re trying to optimize your page for should make up 1-7% ofrepparttar 132795 text onrepparttar 132796 page, which should contain 250-700 words.

Userepparttar 132797 free Keyword Density Analyzer (http://www.keyworddensity.com) to dorepparttar 132798 math for you.

Moving fromrepparttar 132799 Robots torepparttar 132800 Humans

OK, now, we’ve gotrepparttar 132801 search engines covered andrepparttar 132802 visitors are pouring in. What do we have for them?

In a word: Benefits.

Your home page must entice your visitors to linger on your site for awhile. To make this happen, don’t forget their favorite radio station: WII-FM, or What’s in it for Me? The person in Cheyenne looking for a landscaper first wants to know how I can make his life easier while making his home more attractive. When he first arrives at my site he’s not interested in me; he’s only thinking of himself. I’d think he was selfish if I didn’t actrepparttar 132803 same way when I’m surfingrepparttar 132804 web!

So, to write my home page, I’ll take my key phrases and put them into headlines. I’ll make sure they each scream out a benefit to my visitor. I know that he'll scanrepparttar 132805 headlines before he’ll read my text, and if his first impression is how many ways I can help him, I’ve got him hooked.

Here’s a partial list of headlines I might use:

Relax this summer--We’ve got Your Lawn Care Covered

Save Water with a Beautiful Xeriscape Garden

Your Flower Beds Can Berepparttar 132806 Envy of Your Neighborhood

Throw Away Your Ladder--Let Us Trim YourTrees

Fall Asleep torepparttar 132807 Soothing Sound of Your Pond’s Waterfalls

Didn’t those sound good? And did you notice they each contain a key word or phrase?

Next I’d write several short paragraphs under each one, using keywords to further explain how my services can benefit them. Now my home page is a grabber both forrepparttar 132808 search engines and my new customers.

The absolute master at writing forrepparttar 132809 web is Dr. Ken Evoy. I strongly suggest you visit his site and download some of his excellent, free resources for Doing Business onrepparttar 132810 Web (http://www.zmoon.com/cgi-bin/pl.pl?site).

The Next Step

Now that I’ve optimized my home page, I’ll use similar tactics on each additional page. These will still featurerepparttar 132811 appropriate keywords inrepparttar 132812 title, headlines and text, butrepparttar 132813 content can move a bit away fromrepparttar 132814 benefits and more toward solid information. I hooked my visitor onrepparttar 132815 home page, so now I need to reel him in with helpful free information, testimonials from satisfied neighbors, and a bit about my background and experience.

Conclusion

Your home page is arguablyrepparttar 132816 most important in your site. First it has to be found by visitors usingrepparttar 132817 search engines. Then it must show them enough personal benefits that they will click a link to go further into your site instead of clickingrepparttar 132818 back button. Followrepparttar 132819 guidelines I’ve presented here and you should be off to a good start. Good luck!

Les Goss is the head honcho at ZebraMoon Web Design, where he educates his business clients as he builds their web sites. To subscribe to the free email newsletter list or to find out more about how they can serve you, please come to: http://www.zmoon.com/.


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