Thinking of hitting up local businesses that don't have websites.

efeezy

efeezy

Well-known member
Oct 5, 2007
5,250
136
63
51
I'm working on a project right now with local restaurants & bars and in my research I'm realizing how many of these business have absolutely no website or online presence whatsoever. It blows me a way that a pizza joint or Chinese restaurant or sports bar doesn't have a web site, facebook page or anything.

I know quite a few of you have solicited local businesses to build small sites for them, and I'm looking for any opinions or feedback on how you did it, best practices, pricing, etc. Do you cold call these places or send out a mailer? Any info you could share would be great.

I've got to think I could charge a couple hundred bucks to set up a basic site for some of these companies and it would be shooting fish in a barrel. Maybe give them a flat fee for a simple 3 page site and if they want to add a menu or photos, etc., then charge more for those upgrades. Maybe it's more hassle than it's worth, but seems like it could be pretty easy $$ if you turn & burn them fast.
 


PITA. But go do it. You'll quickly learn 75% of the biz you would pass if you had the chance again lol
 
Possibly, although most don't think they need a website. IMO a Google Plus local page (or whatever) might be better to set up for them. You could show them what happens when people type in "Chinese Restaurant [Location]", and how their competitors show up higher than them.
 
I usually find that there are two main reasons places like those don't have sites or have really shitty ones. 1. They are either financially in trouble or 2. They don't believe in the internet.

If it's one of those reasons, I recommended not even trying to sell them on it. You will never meet their expectations and your value of the money they spend with you is a lot less than their value of the cash.

What I have found is it's purely a numbers game. You have to contact enough of them in a direct sales approach to find the one that is already wanting a website and has a better reason for not having one or having a crappy one.

In addition to contacting these guys, you need to work referrals. You need to meet the people that know your target clients and push them to introduce or vouch.

We have contacted 50+ local business owners in the restaurant/bar field in my local area over the last year and have closed 6-7 of them with 5 being referrals. We no longer target that industry for web sales.
 
Just be sure to set the right expectations. Cheap clients are the worst because they want the world, they want it fast, and they don't want to pay for it.
 
The only times I've done it is when they've approached me, and even then it's usually a total pain.

And really a lot of businesses don't need a website anymore. Yelp and Google itself have made it sort of unnecessary, IMO. But if you're a good salesman and you keep your prices high, could be worth it.
 
Take a cue from Google people... SOcial LOcal MObile... sell MOBILE sites!

1) Open UrbanSpoon App on smart phone
2) Search local area restaurants
3) Visit website from UrbanSpoon listung
4) 85% don't have a mobile optimized site or site at all
5) Sell mobile site to owner
6) Outsource monkey work to Filipino
7) Profit
 
Yuma504 said:
Take a cue from Google people... SOcial LOcal MObile... sell MOBILE sites!

1) Open UrbanSpoon App on smart phone
2) Search local area restaurants
3) Visit website from UrbanSpoon listung
4) 85% don't have a mobile optimized site or site at all
5) Sell mobile site to owner
6) Outsource monkey work to Filipino
7) Profit
Click to expand...

Hmm, I like this idea.

After reading what you guys have said it almost sounds like you can't charge enough to make it worth the pain in the ass.
 
efeezy said:
Hmm, I like this idea.

After reading what you guys have said it almost sounds like you can't charge enough to make it worth the pain in the ass.
Click to expand...

I get around $250 for a mobile site. SUPER EASY to build by the way. If the restaurant doesn't have logo's already designed then the price goes up. They may have a sign -hurr durr - and a logo they use for print ads, but if they don't have an EPS available for me to work with, they pay for one.

Forward the server login info to your VA along with the graphics and basic info(NAP) and move onto the next one.

I have a basic template with location, menu and click to call buttons. There is no need to get anymore elaborate than this. Once the graphics are forwarded my VA uploads them into a folder, matches color scheme and he gets paid $50.

Rinse and repeat.

EDIT: CHARGE FOR HOSTING ON A MONTHLY BASIS TOO! Many of these people don't have a host for obvious reasons.
 
Do other shit for them too and you can get a big check. As long as they see it as worthwhile which they can easily be led to as you create pain via; the competition outranking them, all the keywords they're not showing up for and all the searchers looking for their business. Also most retail sucks at customer retention, you can really help them out.


Get people to interact (customer interaction)
- Using the website, get people to fill out a survey of your services
- Using the website, get people to review you via google places
- Reward people for their feedback

Get people to return (customer retention)
- Coupons / Discounts
- Membership club
- Specials of the week / day
- Encourage referrals

Keep people updated (following)
- Get them following your facebook
- Get them following a twitter
- Get them involved in an SMS campaign

Branding (rememberability)
- Write interesting content on the blog about who you(the business) are, what you do, and what you can do for your clientelle

Search engine dominance (visibility)
- Dominance in the search engines and reeling in any local prospect looking for your services online

Cross Selling (joint venture)
- Use your website space as an advetisement for another business your clients will have an interest in
- Give other businessnes a good review on your blog to use as leverage to ask them to display some of our advertisements in their storefront

Marketing funnel (leads)
- Using the site to get information from our prospects
- See what the client is comfortable contacting (direct mail, phone, email)


And you have to make it worthwhile, target the businesses that can really find this stuff useful:


Service Businesses:
Accountant
Carpet/Upholstery Cleaning
Dog Trainer
Mover
Automotive Detailing
Insurance Agent
Locksmith
Pool Maintenance
Lawn Care Service
Landscaping
Party Rentals
Automotive Repair
Boat Dealers
Roofing Contractors
Security Systems
Swimming Pools
Used Car Dealers
Handyman
Transportation
Bridal / Wedding Planner
Home Decorating
Financial Advisor
Fitness Trainer
Gardener
Printing
Carpenter
Clown
Woodworking
Dating and Escort Service
Event Planner
Music Lessons
Remodeling Contractor


Helper business:

Note: With these niches, they're pretty small searches but I was thinking of starting up a local directory that would rank for all these terms and the 10's of longtails accompanying each search and just making it into a site with a nice marketing funnel for each business that wanted to list with me. The branding would be quite easy to do and quite effective. You could even advertise a site like this offline. "[Town] Helpers"...

Personal Chef
Personal Fitness Trainer
Personalized Stationery
Pet Food and Supplies Delivery
Errand helper
Car washer
House cleaner
Pool Cleaning
House sitting
Maid
Secret Shopper


Retail Businesses:
Restaurants
Massage Therapist / Day Spa
Weight Loss Center / Exercise Centers
Golf Courses
Beauty Salons
 
The biggest thing you can do for any business is sign them up to an email autoresponder service and help them build their list, and literally write all their copy for them. I am willing to bet unless you're working in the insurance niche or car dealership niche, they don't know how to sell their shit properly.
 
Btw my 2 cents on it.

I usually only hit up business who are advertising on local newspapers, leaflets, directories and stuff.

Small businesses door to door sale is a pain and doesn't work very well for me. They are like no, we don't need it. They are idiots and do not know the value they are losing. When I do go to clients I usually do a lot of indepth competitive intelligence and present to them so I can show them what they are losing and how they can make money.

Few things I have done is researched a business with no website, researched that niche, put together a leaflet about their industry (inflate some numbers of companies having sites) and hit them up in person. When they say no don't care, don't need it, I was like ok and gave them the leaflet, smiled and walked out. Few hours later, I get a call because asshole read the leaflet and they are like oh we should talk about the site. I don't like doing this too much though as takes too much time to put together leaflet (2-3hours). I will only do it for clients I know have money and will pay me well ($599+).

There are other stuff which works and which doesn't work but it differs city to city.

I have learned hard way that providing service service doesn't pay off long term. Hit up few clients, close the deal with them but charge them higher amount.

I also talk to them on per day how much its costing them. When I say it is only $3 per day instead of $90 per month they like it better.
 
^ just tell them, that the last business that you helped increase monthly sales/revenue thought they didn't need it too :p

But yes, they will be much more warm to your offer if they are already advertising.
 
I've been in exactly your shoes before. I honestly recommend avoiding it. Think about it this way: it's 2012...if someone honestly believes they don't need a website for their business, they're a lost cause anyways. No point trying to squeeze a few hundred bucks (and a few hundred headaches) out of them to show them the error of their ways.
 
Find locals that are advertising with Adwords and have complete shit websites. I'm seriously like 5/6 on that.

Start with a new design > Take over and optimize Adwords > Reocurring SEO > Add Fanpage + Online Rep Managment

Fuckin money and shit.
 
You can charge a profitable local business (who doesn't have a website) $1k+ for a simple wordpress site + a few hundred $ a month for "maintenance"/hosting. These people know absolutely nothing about building or maintaining a website. They only know they need one, and that's where you come in like a white fucking knight.

Don't work with pain in the ass or cheap local clients. It's not worth the headaches, as many above me have already pointed out. Treat the big spenders like gold and they will tell all their friends (most likely other business owners). Just recently I did a quick site for a business owner and he told a few of his friends, who ALL ended up getting their sites done through me. One little contract turned into 3 more instantly.

You can tell if a client is going to be a pain in the ass within the first 2 minutes of your initial conversation anyway. If they ask you why they need to be advertising on the internet, then just move on. Let me emphasize this again: these people are not worth the hell they are about to put you through. Period.

tl;dr: You want to go for the tech-savvy business owners who realize the importance of an online presence but don't have the resources or contacts to build their own site out.
 
MyOwnDemon said:
tl;dr: You want to go for the tech-savvy business owners who realize the importance of an online presence but don't have the resources to build their own site out.
Click to expand...

Good place to find leads like this is Groupon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom