I cant even give them away!...

[Primeperiwinkle]

I know, I just like to keep bringing it up. lmao I'm dang proud of myself because 10 years ago I couldn't even spell SEO.

Yes well, until we get you to show for a meetup I refuse to toast your SEO successes. Lmao.

 

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[minivanman]

I didn't know I was under any pressure to show up anywhere..... Been busy with my grandson's driving school and teaching him to drive/been to Florida for a week/wife went to Russia for 12 days so had to take care of her mom (92 years old) at her moms apartment/took grandson to K1 Speed, Top Golf, Main Event, 6 Flags & Grapevine Mills Mall (LOTS of things to do in the mall)/moved her mom in with us last Sunday and still trying to set up the house/going to St Louis to I55 Raceway on Thursday until Sunday night/Then gotta get things ready for grandson to start school/then to Nebraska for a week of racing..... And between all of that, I've still been busy with business and even made a few websites.

And I guess, not to be rude, but I didn't know I was here to win anyone over or that I needed to prove myself. From day 1 on here I've never been here to impress anyone (I'm minivan man, not Lamboman). I've made it to where I am because I have never given a f()ck about what others thought of me. If I would have cared, I would have never gotten in to the house cleaning business because let me tell ya..... being a guy, your friends can be harsh when they find out you own a house cleaning business.

As far as my SEO success, I could care less if anyone toasts to it or not..... I am kicking everyone's @SS all over the map in SEO with WEEBLY sites in many types of businesses in many different cities across the US! Watch all the video's, listen to all the 'professionals', pay all the money....... apparently all of that stuff isn't working most of the time, but my way is. There are also some high profile bloggers that are doing things my way.... or they call it their way, but either way, it seems to be working for both of us (even though they do use Wordpress but still make their sites like I always have). Their way would work with Weebly, they just don't know it.

I may or may not show up to a meeting, I have a lot of stuff happening in my life, I'm not sitting here and letting it pass me by. Hell, the earlier post took me probably 2 hours to write because I was busy with other things. I don't always just sit here and type like I am tonight at midnight.

This might sound rude but it's just the truth.

Sorry for the rant and hijacking the post

 

[Barry_M]

You're trying to transition from selling a service to selling a product.

When selling a service, YOU are the product. You are good at selling you, because selling you is easy. You have been selling you for much of your life, and you've gotten good at selling you.

Now you're trying to sell a product, and I'm guessing you don't know how to do that. Maybe you're trying to sell the product the same way you sell YOU...and that won't work.

Learn how to sell products.

You know what, this is the best answer I have read. You are 100% right. People buy websites from me because of my up front honesty about me and my services. I have tried to sell a product with no ME in it. I have been doing a redesign of my site now for a while and I think you have made the direction clear. No more trying to give away from sites. I should be selling ME!

Onwards and upwards.

 

[Paul Burrows]

I use Wix, it's just no cheap and easy. It's just a fact that if you offer a local service (as I do) a Wix template, follow their seo guide and buy the cheapest hosting package and boom your done. Keeps me in appointment's and I don't have to liaise with developers, try to translate what I want or spend time emailing or skyping. My last site took maybe 6 hours. Can you make it easier or quicker?

 

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[Barry_M]

I use Wix, it's just no cheap and easy. It's just a fact that if you offer a local service (as I do) a Wix template, follow their seo guide and buy the cheapest hosting package and boom your done. Keeps me in appointment's and I don't have to liaise with developers, try to translate what I want or spend time emailing or skyping. My last site took maybe 6 hours. Can you make it easier or quicker?

Hi Paul. Yes sometimes I do. I can make decent sites in around a couple of hours and they cost.. well lets just say you can buy a shed load of wix sites for the prices I charge. My website design system is semi automated so making new sites is very quick.

 

[ChrisV]

Listen, almost everybody here said the same thing and I agree. If I came across an offer like that my first thoughts would be "what's the catch." They're either gonna spam me with email, or take my CC info, not charge for 6 months then force me to cancel, or something. Not saying that's your business model, but that's what most people are going to think. Or the websites aren't of great quality and they think it's going to hurt their bottom line. I mean it's 2019. Everyone has a site unless they're new.

Even if there was no catch, most people would feel guilty having you work for nothing.

And then even if they didn't feel guilty, people don't value free. Take the following scenario. You're buying a car. You tirelessly pour over the custom builder on their site to make your perfect car. You finally get the right car, and call the dealership. The sales man pulls all sorts of strings to get you your car shipped as quickly as possible and you couldn't be happier. You LOVE it. You get it, bring it home and as soon as you open your mailbox there's a letter from Publisher's Clearing House. WTF You just won the same exact car. Same interior, same options, same tires, everything.

A week later your girlfriend asks if she canuse the car. You say "sure, the keys are on the table." Two hours later you get a call with her really upset. "Omg hun, I have some bad news... I'm completely fine and not hurt, but I got into a bad accident and the car is destroyed." Now here comes the irrationality.

Which car would you have rathered get destroyed? The won you won, or the won you slaved over trying to get just right. They're the same exact cars. Not one difference. But people don't really value free.

 

[Paul Burrows]

I don't think I'd have a site built unless I needed it to do something very unique. To be totally honest my previous site I did the seo, submitted to search engines and added to maps in week one. 5 years later the phone still rang. I don't use fb or Twitter and it was costing me £19 a month. Every week somebody came along claiming they could do it better. Still the diary was full! No ad words or Google lottery.

 

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[George Appiah]

Couldn't resist the temptation. Sorry!

 

[Roli]

Why wont people take free sites from me? Do they think that Free is too good to be true? Do they not want to be embarrassed by a free website?

There are a couple of things at play here; first I want to quote @Walter Hay's experience in his industry. He says that when he gave away free samples of his superior cleaning product, the factories just didn't use them.

However when he charged a small sum, the samples were used (and orders were made), because nobody likes to waste money, especially in business.

Point 2.

You are walking past a bike shop and a smiling salesmen says to you; "come and claim your free bike sir!"

Honestly; what's the first thing that goes through your mind?

"This guy is trying to scam me."

"Why don't you just come in and check it out sir?"

"Because once I'm in there, you are going to sucker me into a deal I don't want, and the bike will end up costing me more, and I don't even want a bike anyway, I've got one..."

Solution Suggestion

Instead of giving your websites away for free, charge a small fee, or even better...

Make a website for someone, put it on your server, contact the business and say they can try it for a few days, if they like it they can pay you.

That one is straight from the @Fox school of web design.

TL DR: People are naturally suspicious of strangers trying to give them free things, as we are geared up to believe nothing in life comes without a price. Free now, just means pay later.

Charge something for your services, even a nominal fee thus repositioning yourself from a place of no value, to great value.

 

[ChrisV]

Which car would you have rathered get destroyed? The won you won, or the won you slaved over trying to get just right.

lmao, one of the mods had to have edited that in there

assholes

 

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[COSenior]

I'll tell you why I wouldn't take it, and this is just me. I doubt I speak for everyone. First, I'm as jaded as the next person and forgive me if you've answered this already—I didn't have time to read all the comments. I would assume that I would need to pay you to maintain it. Not only do I not want an ongoing payment for something I could do myself. I'm an independent sort, and I want what I want when I want it. I will never have someone create a website I can't maintain on my own.

Now this one has been answered. People don't value free. Gurus are still telling people to give away content, but the trouble is, there's so much of it now. You can get anything you want free, but most of it is junk, and you end up on an email list that may spam you forever. What people get with Wix, etc., may be free, but a) there's their advertising on it and b) they bombard you to upgrade. I would assume you'd have to do the same, since I doubt you're in business as a hobby.

You'd do better to get out and network, help people begin to know, like and trust you, and THEN offer them a website analysis and proposal for how you'd improve it. (You can offer the analysis free if you want, but I'd charge a small fee for it myself.)

 

[FierceRacoon]

I used to do street sales and sell tickets to a particular entertainment event. We used to sell the tickets for as much as $20 or more. It was not possible to give them away, however; we have tried: it killed the perceived value. I have also tried giving cash away as a social experiment. Literally, at a train station. Not to beggars, but to well-dressed people. It is possible, but takes a lot of effort and dedication, even with a $10 or a $20 bill. Try it tomorrow and see if you can manage.

A practical technique is 100% commission. Basically, you set the price at say $1000, and then you hire sales people who get up to $1000 commission on each sale, and who work for commission only. I have seen this method do miracles in terms of the number of customers, at least in the entertainment vertical.

 

[Walter Hay]

There are a couple of things at play here; first I want to quote @Walter Hay's experience in his industry. He says that when he gave away free samples of his superior cleaning product, the factories just didn't use them.

Just a little correction here. The chemicals I produced and sold were extremely complex. I would never try to sell cleaning products because every man and his dog gives away free samples due to the fact that they have no real USP and the product doesn't fill a need.

After all, in every business establishment, club, hospital, etc., they have been using cleaning products for years, and mostly they work. Free samples were a waste of time and money because there was no perceived need.

I found a real need that was a result of complacent multinational companies selling inefficient and long outdated aids to manufacture. Their big problem was they had not understood that the manufacturing processes for which they were supplying expensive products had changed, and the nature of the industrial problems had changed.

Their sales reps, mainly because they didn't understand the new manufacturing processes, were not interested in the side effects that their old products were causing, and couldn't be bothered.

Strangely, even though so many manufacturers were experiencing those problems, my free samples, which I promised would fix them overnight, were mostly left untested - a 5 minute process! And yes, when I charged for larger, production scale samples they were used.

Walter

 

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[Roli]

Just a little correction here. The chemicals I produced and sold were extremely complex. I would never try to sell cleaning products because every man and his dog gives away free samples due to the fact that they have no real USP and the product doesn't fill a need.

After all, in every business establishment, club, hospital, etc., they have been using cleaning products for years, and mostly they work. Free samples were a waste of time and money because there was no perceived need.

I found a real need that was a result of complacent multinational companies selling inefficient and long outdated aids to manufacture. Their big problem was they had not understood that the manufacturing processes for which they were supplying expensive products had changed, and the nature of the industrial problems had changed.

Their sales reps, mainly because they didn't understand the new manufacturing processes, were not interested in the side effects that their old products were causing, and couldn't be bothered.

Strangely, even though so many manufacturers were experiencing those problems, my free samples, which I promised would fix them overnight, were mostly left untested - a 5 minute process! And yes, when I charged for larger, production scale samples they were used.

Walter

Thanks for the correction Walter. I say I have a photographic memory, but sometimes the photos are a little faded and scratched

 

[Walter Hay]

Thanks for the correction Walter. I say I have a photographic memory, but sometimes the photos are a little faded and scratched

I also have a photographic memory, but as I am not infallible, the images do occasionally get out of order. Our inbuilt computers do suffer from little glitches every now and then.

Walter

 

[evelynthomassez]

I DO NOT MAKE WORDPRESS! THIS IS NOT A WORDPRESS POST.

I have been making websites for many a long year and making a decent living doing it (made over 400 websites all with my own CMS - I do every thing from the hosting to the graphic design and everything in between). Thing is, for about 8 or so years I have wanting to starting giving away free websites and letting people add unlimited content, unlimited pages and get office hours support for the site. I want to charge a small fee for the sites monthly hire and localised SEO. I already do this with my current clients and they are all happy. But I charged them for their original site design so they expected the monthly fee as I explained it to them during our consultations.



So the free sites. About 8 years ago, (around then not exactly sure when it was) I built load of templates and started offering companies free website through my own site. I got no takers.. never have had any through the site! I still offer paid sites through my site and I get people phoning me and emailing me looking for websites.

The free and paid offers were in the same menu. Why do people not take the free site?

I have a small portfolio of free sites that I persuaded people to take. They wanted paid sites but I told them they didnt need to pay for the design as I could provide a good enough site for free for their business type (dog walker, painter and decorator etc etc).

I have been trying to get in to the "free site" business for years and yes I know that their are wix, square space and all these big dudes doing this but I provide sites to my local market and pretty much always have. So what is so good for the local market from my services ? Well I am shit hot at local SEO and for a local companies this is probably mostly more important to them than having an all singing all dancing website as they get calls and emails from them. No point having the best looking wordpress site on the block if you on page 3! Local market is a page 1 only competition and I get all of my clients up there! (my city has around 100k people in it so not huge)

I have put out leaflets, had one of my old staff cold calling hundreds of businesses, had a dedicated page on my website (btw i am at the top of the Google for "Web designers" in my local area so I am getting regular hits naturally).

Why wont people take free sites from me? Do they think that Free is too good to be true? Do they not want to be embarrassed by a free website?

A little info about my system. I make bespoke CMS and have done for a very long time (almost 18 years). My current CMS runs all of my clients websites and they love it! Very simple to use, intuitive, mobile friendly, SEO friendly, Google loves it (normal Google normal Lighthouse scores are around 98). The free version of the system is the standard install that ALL sites start with. The person who is using it can then select a design from inside the admin section and start to add their own content with my help as part of the FREE set up! If they have any issues, they can call me during office hours to help. BTW my current clients rarely call me as the system they have in place is dead simple to use and so they very rarely break anything and even if they do, as I made the system from scratch, I can fix pretty much any bug in around 10 minutes.

Why do people not like FREE!

If anyone has any pointers, I would be grateful.

--

Edited spelling mistakes out

I would love to have a look at it...
Some of my clients are local business, they usually are a group of people working together. If you honestly want takers, I might have a few people and not just from US.
Could you share the name of your website.

 

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[evelynthomassez]

thats not what I asked. If I cant give away free sites as people do not see a value in them, why do Wix make so much money from giving away free sites if they have perceived value?

Websites like wix don't give you all the features for free.
They have some features which are paid if you want to use them you gotta pay.
They have hosting cost and etc.
I remember because we had a client with a wix website which was on freemium before but later when they started SEO and marketing they went on for a paid one.