Starting a web design business in high school

[Richard Gao]

Hey guys, I'm a 16 year old in Canada and I've just started a web design business. My updates were originally posted here. But the thread didn't quite fit the content, so I'll repost the posts I already had up there and continue my updates from here. Here are my updates on progress so far:

Update 1:

I've just started sending out consistent cold emails every day (around 5/day) to businesses. Not all of them are local, but they're all in Canada. Also, learning more stuff, Javascript, SEO, etc.

Here's how my cold emails look, any advice?

Subject line: Hi, from Richard, Hey <name>, found you through <media>, Hey name, about <company> and Etchedy, etc

Email 1:

Hey there <could also be person's name>,

Just came across <company>, congrats on the Google reviews!
I'm Richard from etchedy.com and I'm in charge of developing websites for auto repair shops like <company>.

A large chunk of customers could be lost from a business's website, or the website could rank so low on Google that nobody sees it. In the case of <company>, we can help.

Anyways, if you're interested, shoot me an email and we can discuss some ideas. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Do you have a preferred contact method?

Thanks,

Email 2:

Hey there <could also be person's name>,

Just came across <company>, congrats on the Google reviews! I'm from etchedy.com and I'm in charge of developing websites that increase clients of businesses like <company>.

We do this by optimizing your website to rank higher on Google and improving the overall design to increase clients, so in the case of <company>, we would get your website up to modern web standards.

If you're ready, shoot me an email and we can talk. I'm also more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

What is your preferred contact method?

Thanks,

Richard

Do you guys have any advice on the cold emails? Also, what would I say when I approach a business? Just coming in and saying "hey, do you need web design" sounds a little strange.

Thanks

EDIT: I'm doing web design for auto and car repair shops.

UPDATE 2

The couple of days after my first update I got into cold calling my web design prospects, I realized the cold email wasn't going to cut it and stopped being lazy. I did 5 cold calls the first day and got rejected. Then upped my number to 20 cold calls and got 2 potential clients who were interested out of 20, I was quite surprised.

One of them apparently got scammed by some web design company and now pays $16 a month to maintain his site, since I usually just got rejected after mentioning i do web design, I really didn't know how to progress the conversation so I just said I'll call later at a better time.

The second said they might call me if they're interested and they'll take a look at my site, they're a decent sized auto repair shop to with 30 employees.

The rest either said no, or said their boss wasn't there yet (granted, i did call quite early, or they just wanted to be polite lol)

Overall, I was quite surprised I wasn't rejected for all of them.

I will definitely keep doimg cold calls everyday, plus, I have 2 potentially warm clients. So I'll keep you guys updated on this thread and to keep myself accountable.

UPDATE 3

So it's been 3 days since I've upped my cold calls from 20, to 40 a day. It's still summer so I have time off school to cold call.

So far I've gotten 3 people that were not only interested enough to check my website out, but warm enough to give me their personal email. I followed up with a mock homepage for their website in the emails, as well as a few tips. (trying to offer value) Unfortunately, none of them have responded.

My cold call is fairly simple, something along the lines of "Hey, this is Richard, I'm from <where I live> and I noticed <something about their site> and I wanted to see if I can assist with web design."

They usually reject me at this point, but some are interested and ask me about what I do. Those interested usually ask for my contact info, and sometimes my price (I just give it to them) then they give me their email (or I ask for theirs) and we hang up.

My cold calling skills are still pretty poor, so I can understand why my warmer leads might not have followed up. Do you guys have any advice on what I should say after they're interested? (I also left my follow up email in attachment)

What I noticed is, the more I cold call, the less interested people I get for some reason. What I assume is happening here is when I increase my calls to 40 a day, I have to lower my standards for prospecting, so instead of having 20+ prospects who already have (bad) websites, I'll also have some in there who have NO websites, (and those usually reject me more often, likely due to the fact they're convinced they don't need a website,) so I get more rejections.

Right now I've mainly been focusing on marketing: cold calling and prospect finding. I might try Linkedin as well.

It feels like I'm getting diminishing returns from cold calling, but I'm keeping "the desert of desertion" from TMF in mind, so I'll keep at it and continue to refine until I get some leads.

Thanks for the advice guys! (don't worry, none of you are too harsh on me I'll be back with another update in a couple of days or a week.

More posts below

 

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[Richard Gao]

UPDATE 4:

I just got my first client! I was so surprised, it was not from one of my cold calls, but from one of my cold emails where I sent them a homepage mockup. It was a local auto shop and apparently the guy has called me many times, but I never received his calls, so he emailed me and we eventually set up a meeting in his office.

I'll admit, I made many mistakes with this deal. I was pretty nervous during he meeting and my main mistake was quoting too low. I offered $50 for my website and the guy claimed I deserve more so he's paying me $100. It went along even better than I expected and he wanted me to keep up his site for $25 a month.

I was so shocked and surprised by this. He wants to have another meeting with me on Wednesday to discuss everything.

I was just on a roll that day, since 2 auto shops I called told me to call back in the afternoon, when I called back one of them gave me their personal email and the other said they would email me. They both ended up flaking but it's better than a "no thanks"

What I learned:

1. I need to quote higher.

I learned that lesson after my meeting with the first guy, so I quoted $200 for my calls during the afternoon and none of the guys said it was too high, (although they did flake on me) so I now know lowballing isn't the way to go.

2. Most web designers suck a$$.

During my meeting the guy said he paid some web designer to do his site and she ended up abandoning him. He doesn't know how to edit the site and was not left with clear instructions, so now he's been stuck with an outdated site for many years.

It was the same with the other guy I called mentioned in one of my earlier posts, he said he was scammed by some company and can't edit his site now.

Pretty interesting to learn all that, will keep it in mind, it seems the biggest problem is communication for web designers and clients.

Conclusion:

Whew! What a long post! My next goal is to get a few more customers in my home city, I have a feeling the auto shops I contacted outside of my home city flaked on me because they saw no actual site examples in my portfolio, and local businesses seem much more forgiving in terms of portfolio items since I can actually meet them. I've learned so many things and I look forward to my next clients!

 

[Richard Gao]

UPDATE 5:

Since we had Labour Day this week I couldn't send out any calls, so there was not much to update, but not much has changed, I've somewhat maintained my 40/day call consistency since school started.

I had one call where I tried to set up an appointment and it worked quite well. I just forgot to explicitly mention it was a call I was setting up and not an actual meeting as the guy was outside of my province. Unfortunately when I called him back he was busy and said to come at lunch, that's when I realized I messed up.

An update on my first client: I did the meeting with him on Wednesday and he responded pretty well, he agreed to the website and even wanted for me to fix his Facebook! Unfortunately, he is not responding to my emails for some reason, but he has basically already agreed to do the site, I tried calling him today and he wasn't there, got his employees to leave a note. I don't know what is happening but I'm sure I'll get a hold of my first client without too much issue.

What I noticed recently is that I really suck at cold calling. Although I didn't record myself (I should have) I speak too fast and too nervously, and I noticed I actually get rejections that are a lot less harsh when I'm calmer.

What I need to improve: I've also noticed in my calls that I'm not very assertive, some people I call do not reject me outright, they'll say something along the lines of "we don't really need a website right now." or "Call us back later" "the boss isn't here." I've recently read Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount and it says that setting appointments or calls when it comes to objections like the ones mentioned above is the best way to convert them.

I am doing very poorly on both of these things; vocal cadence when calling and assertiveness. so my main goal is to improve them as of now. I will do this by recording myself when I call, practicing, and improving based on that. I might even post some recordings (edited of course) for critique on here.

Overall, I think I can do much better, I see other guys on here who spent much less time and calls getting clients, so I must be doing something wrong. I think refining my calls will help me get my second client but the most important part is still perseverance.

Thanks for the support guys!

 

[Richard Gao]

UPDATE 6:

It's been quite a while since my last post, so here is update 6.

Things haven't been changing much lately, my old potential client still hasn't responded, however, I've called and his employee says he will call me and will email me, but none of those has happened. I will leave a physical note at his shop, if I still get no response, then I'll move on.

My cold calls and email have still returned no results. I notice there were so many calls I left on the table which could have possibly been turned around to a second call. I still handle objections very poorly, and to be honest, I think it's the fear holding me back from handling an objection, the fear of a harsh angry rejection. I will need to keep calling and take more notice of when I've hit an objection or a rejection, and either move on or handle the objection instead of saying goodbye.

I won't make excuses but school has hit pretty hard these past few weeks. I've cut back on sending emails almost to 0 since every one of my emails contains a mockup of the potential client's website, and that usually takes quite a while to produce. I think cold emails are important because my first potential client was converted due to a cold email, not cold call. What I will do to combat this is to send out more emails without the mockup to save more time. Cold emails have a low conversion rate anyways, so I'm guessing my low numbers might be taking a toll on effectiveness rather than the email itself.

Anyways, I'm still going to cold call and cold email, but I've scaled it back to 20 calls per day instead of 40 due to time constraints and running out of leads too quickly. Hopefully, improving my objection handling skills and cold emailing more will lead to some responses at least, and we'll see what I can take it from there.

If I keep on returning empty handed, I may need to change my strategy, but for now, 100% of my marketing focus will be on cold emails and calls.

I've recorded some calls and taken out any sensitive information, can you guys critique me on my calls? Any advice is welcome and don't be afraid of being too harsh.

Calls - Google Drive

Thanks for whoever takes the time to read these lol.

 

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[Richard Gao]

UPDATE 7:

Since I'm busy with school, I've cut down a lot on the cold calls, about 20-30 per week are being done. I've also started to notice that I've been getting more people interested in hearing what I have to say with this line: "Hey I'm Richard from (business), I'm working with auto repair shops to improve their websites. Do you have a few minutes to talk?" a primary issue I now have is progressing with the script, I still feel like there is a large chunk of my calls that could lead to clients that I am just throwing away.

My objection handling is still the same: nonexistent. I don't know why, but whenever I get on the phone and remind myself to handle objections instead of just saying bye, my mind just decides to reflexively say bye and end the call. Another problem I have is never calling back, I need to solve this issue and call them back. I am aware of my problems with cold calling and how to solve them, and all of this is my own fault, I need to stop.

Good news: My non-responsive potential client emailed me back, we had another meeting discussing the issues with his website. My client has very little technical know-how (struggles to use Google) and I not only helped him with his website that meeting, but also with some of his computer issues. Once I have his website up I can use it in cold emails.

His website is going to be up soon, so that's some good news.

I don't know what to do at this point, I know what I'm doing wrong with cold calls, but I refuse to improve, (probably out of fear) I'm going to solve this by just being more aware of my need to objection and handle and call back instead of being a slacker.

Thanks for reading guys, sorry this is a short one and was a long time since I last posted an update, I've been quite busy lately.

 

[GWan]

UPDATE 7:
I don't know what to do at this point, I know what I'm doing wrong with cold calls, but I refuse to improve, (probably out of fear) I'm going to solve this by just being more aware of my need to objection and handle and call back instead of being a slacker.

Have you tried writing down scripts for common objections? Might help if you have all the scripts in front of you when you're calling!

 

[Richard Gao]

Have you tried writing down scripts for common objections? Might help if you have all the scripts in front of you when you're calling!

Indeed, I have some scripts in front of me for the objections, but I always forget to use them lol.

It's not a big issue though, after thanksgiving weekend I'm going to do a re-call for many of my prospects that either said maybe or call back, so far I've only called 1 prospect back in all of my cold call history, so I have a long ways to go.

Thanks

 

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[Real Deal Denver]

Indeed, I have some scripts in front of me for the objections, but I always forget to use them lol.

It's not a big issue though, after thanksgiving weekend I'm going to do a re-call for many of my prospects that either said maybe or call back, so far I've only called 1 prospect back in all of my cold call history, so I have a long ways to go.

Thanks

What are you selling? A website? If they don't have one, or the one they have isn't doing anything for them, what do they need to talk to you about?

Exactly. Nobody needs a website. Everyone needs more customers though! Reread that.

So change. You're NOT selling a website. You're selling a way to tap into the internet market which is a 24/7 marketing machine. Who needs a 24/7 marketing machine? Anyone and everyone with a business - that's who.

Ask the ones that have a website how many customers they get from it. Ask them if they have analytics to even know if anyone is looking at it. Ask them if they can swing $50 a month for your to manage it for them, of which you will post one super special deal a week to drive traffic them. Ask them if they could handle an extra 25% boost in their business. Their answer: hell yes, tell me more!

That is such a super deep subject that I'm going to leave it right there. I'll just wrap that up by saying that you are NOT selling anything. You are an order taker and your 100% failure rate should tell you something. That something is that it's not working at all - it's dead. You're trying to sell someone a marketing system and you don't even know HOW TO MARKET what you're selling to them? Of course they're not interested. You might as well offer to make sale posters they can put in their store windows. That would be more effective, but they might say they are doing just fine without them, so no, they don't need them either.

Research some marking information and slogans. One I like is "what goes untold goes unsold." PROVE to them that the market is out there and tell them HOW they will BENEFIT! Why would you guess ANYONE in business has a website? It makes money. It's NOT an expense - it's an ATM machine that makes money every hour of the day, every day of the year IF it is used correctly. That's the marketing part, and that's the part they NEED and WANT. What business would say NO to me if I said I could make them an extra $2,000 a month profit - but you have to pay ME $50 a month to do it for you? How many would say, "you just get the hell out of here - I don't want any more money!!!"

Uh huh. NOW do you see what you should be selling?

I just finished my own website. Damn thing took me a month, but I had to learn the "how to" of building it, in addition to designing it. I could do it now in maybe 3 days. I'm very happy with it though, and I'm launching a major blitz on Monday. The website will be part of my marketing - but not all my marketing. But it will be a "arm" of my marketing. The more arms I have, the better, of course. You are selling ARMS that will do marketing and make money.

Knowing now what I know, and how much work a website is, I would not even CONSIDER building one for less than $1,000 - and for that price you better catch me on a GOOD day. I have a friend that may want me to make him one - and for a friend I will charge $2,000. Everyone else will be $3,000 or more. And you're doing one for $50? My lowest fee on the earth would be $1,000 - and it better be easy for that price.

You're not in business. You're a 16 year old kid that has a hobby that can make money. I don't say that as an insult, but if you want to know how business works, BUY SOME BOOKS. Amazon has hundreds of them on how to build a website or how to start a business selling websites. You can work up from there. Since you ARE selling websites, it should be easy for you to sell THROUGH your websites. Throw out 20 landing pages. Use your talents. Cold emails and/or cold calling is useless. Not to insult you, but try NOT to meet someone to discuss business. If I met a young eager 16 year old, I would be very suspicious. If he offered to build me a website for $50, I'd say no. Why? For $50 he is obviously not professional. I'm in business, and I need things done right. Don't feel insulted - I'm just telling you the way things are. Besides, there is absolutely NO need to meet anyone. Show them your website - make a mock up for them - email them - call them. Set up billing through your website. You're selling website marketing - well then, USE IT!

I say all of this so you can benefit; not to insult you or to argue. When I was 16 I sure wished someone would have clued me in. I was mowing lawns and delivering papers for money. I should have been doing something that was building skills and knowledge at least - so good job on improving your knowledge and skills!

Good luck ~

 

[Richard Gao]

What are you selling? A website? If they don't have one, or the one they have isn't doing anything for them, what do they need to talk to you about?

Exactly. Nobody needs a website. Everyone needs more customers though! Reread that.

So change. You're NOT selling a website. You're selling a way to tap into the internet market which is a 24/7 marketing machine. Who needs a 24/7 marketing machine? Anyone and everyone with a business - that's who.

Ask the ones that have a website how many customers they get from it. Ask them if they have analytics to even know if anyone is looking at it. Ask them if they can swing $50 a month for your to manage it for them, of which you will post one super special deal a week to drive traffic them. Ask them if they could handle an extra 25% boost in their business. Their answer: hell yes, tell me more!

That is such a super deep subject that I'm going to leave it right there. I'll just wrap that up by saying that you are NOT selling anything. You are an order taker and your 100% failure rate should tell you something. That something is that it's not working at all - it's dead. You're trying to sell someone a marketing system and you don't even know HOW TO MARKET what you're selling to them? Of course they're not interested. You might as well offer to make sale posters they can put in their store windows. That would be more effective, but they might say they are doing just fine without them, so no, they don't need them either.

Research some marking information and slogans. One I like is "what goes untold goes unsold." PROVE to them that the market is out there and tell them HOW they will BENEFIT! Why would you guess ANYONE in business has a website? It makes money. It's NOT an expense - it's an ATM machine that makes money every hour of the day, every day of the year IF it is used correctly. That's the marketing part, and that's the part they NEED and WANT. What business would say NO to me if I said I could make them an extra $2,000 a month profit - but you have to pay ME $50 a month to do it for you? How many would say, "you just get the hell out of here - I don't want any more money!!!"

Uh huh. NOW do you see what you should be selling?

I just finished my own website. Damn thing took me a month, but I had to learn the "how to" of building it, in addition to designing it. I could do it now in maybe 3 days. I'm very happy with it though, and I'm launching a major blitz on Monday. The website will be part of my marketing - but not all my marketing. But it will be a "arm" of my marketing. The more arms I have, the better, of course. You are selling ARMS that will do marketing and make money.

Knowing now what I know, and how much work a website is, I would not even CONSIDER building one for less than $1,000 - and for that price you better catch me on a GOOD day. I have a friend that may want me to make him one - and for a friend I will charge $2,000. Everyone else will be $3,000 or more. And you're doing one for $50? My lowest fee on the earth would be $1,000 - and it better be easy for that price.

You're not in business. You're a 16 year old kid that has a hobby that can make money. I don't say that as an insult, but if you want to know how business works, BUY SOME BOOKS. Amazon has hundreds of them on how to build a website or how to start a business selling websites. You can work up from there. Since you ARE selling websites, it should be easy for you to sell THROUGH your websites. Throw out 20 landing pages. Use your talents. Cold emails and/or cold calling is useless. Not to insult you, but try NOT to meet someone to discuss business. If I met a young eager 16 year old, I would be very suspicious. If he offered to build me a website for $50, I'd say no. Why? For $50 he is obviously not professional. I'm in business, and I need things done right. Don't feel insulted - I'm just telling you the way things are. Besides, there is absolutely NO need to meet anyone. Show them your website - make a mock up for them - email them - call them. Set up billing through your website. You're selling website marketing - well then, USE IT!

I say all of this so you can benefit; not to insult you or to argue. When I was 16 I sure wished someone would have clued me in. I was mowing lawns and delivering papers for money. I should have been doing something that was building skills and knowledge at least - so good job on improving your knowledge and skills!

Good luck ~

Thanks, lots of value here! Just a question though, when you mean cold calling and emailing is useless and mention to throw out 20 landing pages, what do you mean? SEO?

 

[Real Deal Denver]

Thanks, lots of value here! Just a question though, when you mean cold calling and emailing is useless and mention to throw out 20 landing pages, what do you mean? SEO?

SEO is important, but can be expanded.

Say you have one website. Your SEO incorporates a few keywords in it. Good.

Now add 5 landing pages that are directed towards a direct topic - for example, "How Car Repair Shops Use Websites" - which has its own SEO support, of course. Do this five times, with each landing page pointed to your full website for "more information."

Now you have a library of information that is valuable to your customers. Instead of calling them with an closed end question like "do you have a website?" you can show them the benefits of having a website. So you can start out with, "I noticed you don't have a website, or if you do, I couldn't find it. Is that right?" No, we don't need a website. I build websites that help businesses just like yours get more customers, and most of my customers said that exact same thing when I first introduced myself to them. Today, however, their tune is completely different because they are making money from their websites and they can't imagine not having them! I tell you what - I can send you an email with a link that you click on that will take you to a website that will do a lot more than just tell you that - it will show you exactly how they work. What email should I send that to? Notice you do NOT give them the web address - you get their EMAIL so you can keep in contact with them.

From there, it's holding their hand and taking them through the process...

So cold calling is good IF you use it to open doors and start a relationship. If you have something that can make them money, they need to hear about it. Push some buttons. Tell them this is a great tool to gain a huge competitive edge in their market and it's already prepared for them - all they have to do is click on the link. Then follow up and lead them to understanding what you are selling and HOW it will benefit them. It's not a website - it's a marketing machine that will make them money.

Restaurants don't sell food. Grocery stores do. Bars don't sell drinks. Liquor stores do. Movies don't sell popcorn. Grocery stores do. All of these places sell the EXPERIENCE of having a good time. You are not selling a website - you are selling a great opportunity for them to tap into the market and make more money.

Rethink what you're selling and how you're doing it. Put yourself in the place of the customer and figure out WHY they would pay you money. What can you do for THEM that will get them excited?

 

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[Richard Gao]

SEO is important, but can be expanded.

Say you have one website. Your SEO incorporates a few keywords in it. Good.

Now add 5 landing pages that are directed towards a direct topic - for example, "How Car Repair Shops Use Websites" - which has its own SEO support, of course. Do this five times, with each landing page pointed to your full website for "more information."

Now you have a library of information that is valuable to your customers. Instead of calling them with an closed end question like "do you have a website?" you can show them the benefits of having a website. So you can start out with, "I noticed you don't have a website, or if you do, I couldn't find it. Is that right?" No, we don't need a website. I build websites that help businesses just like yours get more customers, and most of my customers said that exact same thing when I first introduced myself to them. Today, however, their tune is completely different because they are making money from their websites and they can't imagine not having them! I tell you what - I can send you an email with a link that you click on that will take you to a website that will do a lot more than just tell you that - it will show you exactly how they work. What email should I send that to? Notice you do NOT give them the web address - you get their EMAIL so you can keep in contact with them.

From there, it's holding their hand and taking them through the process...

So cold calling is good IF you use it to open doors and start a relationship. If you have something that can make them money, they need to hear about it. Push some buttons. Tell them this is a great tool to gain a huge competitive edge in their market and it's already prepared for them - all they have to do is click on the link. Then follow up and lead them to understanding what you are selling and HOW it will benefit them. It's not a website - it's a marketing machine that will make them money.

Restaurants don't sell food. Grocery stores do. Bars don't sell drinks. Liquor stores do. Movies don't sell popcorn. Grocery stores do. All of these places sell the EXPERIENCE of having a good time. You are not selling a website - you are selling a great opportunity for them to tap into the market and make more money.

Rethink what you're selling and how you're doing it. Put yourself in the place of the customer and figure out WHY they would pay you money. What can you do for THEM that will get them excited?

I didn't want to spread myself out too thin, so I'm only focusing on cold email and calls as of now to acquire customers, but it looks like I need to do more research into SEO.

 

[Real Deal Denver]

I didn't want to spread myself out too thin, so I'm only focusing on cold email and calls as of now to acquire customers, but it looks like I need to do more research into SEO.

How's that working? You call 40 businesses and you lose 40 businesses.

They need to be educated. You need to help them make money.

They don't need a cold call. Do you know how many cold calls they get a week from somebody wanting to do something that is going to cost them money? They have too many expenses now as it is.

But someone calls them and actually knows who they are and has done some research on them? And you have a plan that you can send them a link to see how your service works?

This may be too much for you. What I'm talking about here is world class salesmanship. You are talking about setting up an automatic business by the numbers. Call 40 people and you get 4 to sign up. It's a lot more than a simple numbers game. You should stick to web design and partner with someone that knows how to push buttons to get people to act. It sounds simple, but it is the key to success in any business.

We have a restaurant in town called Ci Ci's. I believe it's a chain. They put out tons of pizza and you serve yourself in a buffet. It's cheap. Their goal is to do volume, which they do. That's the mindset you have right now.

You are in a one on one business but you're treating it like a mass market commodity.

Good luck. I'm outa here.

 

[100ToOne]

How's that working? You call 40 businesses and you lose 40 businesses.

They need to be educated. You need to help them make money.

They don't need a cold call. Do you know how many cold calls they get a week from somebody wanting to do something that is going to cost them money? They have too many expenses now as it is.

But someone calls them and actually knows who they are and has done some research on them? And you have a plan that you can send them a link to see how your service works?

This may be too much for you. What I'm talking about here is world class salesmanship. You are talking about setting up an automatic business by the numbers. Call 40 people and you get 4 to sign up. It's a lot more than a simple numbers game. You should stick to web design and partner with someone that knows how to push buttons to get people to act. It sounds simple, but it is the key to success in any business.

We have a restaurant in town called Ci Ci's. I believe it's a chain. They put out tons of pizza and you serve yourself in a buffet. It's cheap. Their goal is to do volume, which they do. That's the mindset you have right now.

You are in a one on one business but you're treating it like a mass market commodity.

Good luck. I'm outa here.

Dude. This guy is a boss ^
I like your style @Real Deal Denver. It sounds like you went through real hardcore life before posting...

 

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[Richard Gao]

UPDATE 8

I really have to thank @Real Deal Denver for his posts. The past few week I've stopped the random cold calling and decided to write 3 very targeted emails per day, as well as a few blog posts on my site.

I have gotten 2 very interested responses. Given, there was no response when I replied back to the responses, but i will "warm" call them, soon, so that will be quite interesting.

I've also tried putting a craigslist ad, however, I get rejected instantly saying my post violated the TOS. So I've rried Kijiji in my local city eith no luck. I think this has to do with my city's low population (sub 80,000) more than anything, so I'll make a post soon for my surrounding area or nearby large city.

Secondly, The guy who Ignored me and then decided to resume his website design has his website finished now. Although there were some small hiccups due to him not responding, I got his website up.

What do you guys think? Buy new or used tires

Recap:
So far in the past week I've completely dropped cold callong, i was getting to the point that it woulf give me anxiety half the day before I called, and yielded no results, and surprisingly, cold emails have worked better.

Further action:

Obviously, I'm going to continue my cold emails. However, I'm a bit worried about diminishing returns, since the first time i cold called I got 3 interested people, but had since declined after that. I will probably continue cold calling somewhere in the future. I have a belief the email website example to their website is what really converts them, and i can't shoe that with a cold call.

I'm also going to test ad variations in different locations on Kijiji, so any other website of that nature. People say they've had results from posting ads on sites like those, so I'll give it more of a try.

Lastly, surprisingly. my first blog post had gained some decent SEO traction. If you search up "why you auto repair shop website needs a re-design" (must be exact words and characters) my blog post comes up third. This may not seem like a lot, but I'm sure SEO begins small and has an eventual snowball effect, I'm mostly targeting very specific keyword with low(er) competiton, (eg: Auto repair shop + website instead of one or the other)

I'll keep you guys updated in the next while or so.

(PS: Do you think $300 is too much for a website at my stage? The email replies asked for price and I gave them $300, my email tracker read no views after that, so I assume they moreso just didn't read rather than have a problem with the price)

 

[100ToOne]

G

UPDATE 8

I really have to thank @Real Deal Denver for his posts. The past few week I've stopped the random cold calling and decided to write 3 very targeted emails per day, as well as a few blog posts on my site.

I have gotten 2 very interested responses. Given, there was no response when I replied back to the responses, but i will "warm" call them, soon, so that will be quite interesting.

I've also tried putting a craigslist ad, however, I get rejected instantly saying my post violated the TOS. So I've rried Kijiji in my local city eith no luck. I think this has to do with my city's low population (sub 80,000) more than anything, so I'll make a post soon for my surrounding area or nearby large city.

Secondly, The guy who Ignored me and then decided to resume his website design has his website finished now. Although there were some small hiccups due to him not responding, I got his website up.

What do you guys think? Buy new or used tires

Recap:
So far in the past week I've completely dropped cold callong, i was getting to the point that it woulf give me anxiety half the day before I called, and yielded no results, and surprisingly, cold emails have worked better.

Further action:

Obviously, I'm going to continue my cold emails. However, I'm a bit worried about diminishing returns, since the first time i cold called I got 3 interested people, but had since declined after that. I will probably continue cold calling somewhere in the future. I have a belief the email website example to their website is what really converts them, and i can't shoe that with a cold call.

I'm also going to test ad variations in different locations on Kijiji, so any other website of that nature. People say they've had results from posting ads on sites like those, so I'll give it more of a try.

Lastly, surprisingly. my first blog post had gained some decent SEO traction. If you search up "why you auto repair shop website needs a re-design" (must be exact words and characters) my blog post comes up third. This may not seem like a lot, but I'm sure SEO begins small and has an eventual snowball effect, I'm mostly targeting very specific keyword with low(er) competiton, (eg: Auto repair shop + website instead of one or the other)

I'll keep you guys updated in the next while or so.

(PS: Do you think $300 is too much for a website at my stage? The email replies asked for price and I gave them $300, my email tracker read no views after that, so I assume they moreso just didn't read rather than have a problem with the price)

Good progress keep going don't quit.

As for your website it looks good for a basic website and getting him on the internet.
I'm no pro at this but couple of notes:

* Google maps now requires API key but that costs money to get now - i think it's a new update since july - that's why many people recommend waze as a offline free maps app. As you will see on your page google gives you an error: "This page can't load Google Maps correctly."

* Your business timings:
MONDAY - FRIDAY 8:30 - 5:30
SATURDAY: 9-1
SUNDAY: CLOSED

It's common sense I guess but it would still be better to make it clear PM or AM.

* Adding a favicon would be nice
* Your gallery doesn't load correctly.
"Please Check: images/portfolio/grid/large-margins/project-15-landscape.jpg" ??
* He should at least put up a non pixely picture as his picture lol - use any mobile...

Anyway that's my comments ;p



[COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)][/COLOR]

 

[Real Deal Denver]

(PS: Do you think $300 is too much for a website at my stage? The email replies asked for price and I gave them $300, my email tracker read no views after that, so I assume they moreso just didn't read rather than have a problem with the price)

The map not loading correctly is a big thing. The email in the header does not link to send an email. I'd also have a "call me" app so cell phone users could tap and call. If you built this on wordpress, there are good apps for that. The picture of the business looks like it's in a bad part of town. I might not go there based on the picture alone. The testimonials, however, were solid gold, so they should be highlighted somehow. More on that in a minute...

One more thing - the header block with the pictures of tires? Dull. Show something impressive. A car - the owner stranding in front of a rack of tires, smiling. Something interesting. They already know he sells tires - that's why they found the website. It wouldn't hurt having a couple of images in a slider. Is that minute up? Along with some INTERESTING pictures in a slider, put a testimonial in each picture as well. Why NOT kill two birds with one stone? A thumbnail picture along with each testimonial would make it much better still!

Now the good news. Your price is way too low. The website is a good effort, and is about 70% there. Spruce it up and make it exciting and then at least DOUBLE your price. That would still be a bargain. I wouldn't do it for under $2,000 and that's only IF they paid me a monthly fee to maintain it.

Don't be afraid to charge for your work. This was a good learning experience and now you've got something to show in your portfolio.

Good job.

I wouldn't call you back because your price is way too low. It SCREAMS that you're an amateur. Well, you are, but you are a good one. Up your game by studying other sites and raise your prices. Get a testimonial from this customer and put that on YOUR website - with a thumbnail of his website and his smiling face next to it!

Work it baby!

 

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[Richard Gao]

UPDATE 9

I was quite surprised, but I got my second sale. I sent an email to a general auto shop in Alberta and got an interested reply back. They didn't respond to my other emails, so I called them. I had a chat with them, asked them some questions and it was an easy close for $300.

I have another interested email in queue that I will call sometime, but I have a new client on my hands as of now.

Old client:
My old client's website is completely done, there are just some issues with his hosting provider I need to solve, and he'll be good. He seemed to have a lot of computer related issues. He even said something about me helping him with his Facebook in the future.

When I was in my old client's office, I had an interesting conversation with him, he said something about why college is better than university and working for yourself. His friends came out of university 2 years after him yet were making the same amount with much more debt. Although I'm still going to university, I think my client's points play into MJ's books about not needing higher education to be successful.

General:
Other things have been pretty uneventful, I've been sending 2-3 targeted emails per day with website examples. I recently stopped due to schoolwork and my new client. I have an email tracker and some of the emails have been read multiple times, but there where no responses, I will call these people also when I have the chance.

I've also had my Craigslist and Kijiji posts up for quite a while, those yielded no results so far.

A less related note:

Some of my classmates found my website (the domain name is actually my nickname) and began spam calling me as a joke and shouting random stuff when I pick up the phone. I was afraid they were going to keep it up and basically flood my calls so my actual clients couldn't get through, I had 20 calls in a single class, they also said they would post my phone number on one of their 30,000 follower Twitter pages.

Luckily, they only spam called me for a single class, and they had the conscience and morals to not post my number on their Twitter page. Other than receiving a barrage of "Verification code for TikTok" text messages a few days ago, they haven't bothered me since.

That pretty much concludes this update. Things have been going pretty well. I would still not consider myself a legitimate business; there is no consistent flow of sales. But I'm getting closer every day, so wish me luck. (and hopefully those goons from my class don't call me again)

 

[GWan]

Great work man, I wish I had your drive at 16 years old. Your old client seems like he could be a good mentor for you. I would recommend keeping in touch with him as much as possible, and becoming his go-to guy for anything digital related (website, seo, social media, etc.)

Your classmates teasing you about this is good indication that you're on the right track.

 

[Richard Gao]

UPDATE 10

Many crucial things have happened. I got another client on the hook and 3 more lined up.

The Alberta dude has some large demands for his website, he insisted on making it look worse, but as of now, only small changes are being made. I still have a long ways to go with him, but his site is pretty much done. What do you guys think autofiction.000webhostapp.com

To my surprise, 2 people have contacted me for web design. I don't know if these are organic traffic or from my kijiji and craigslist. I assume its definitely not organic, as the text on my website states I focus on designing auto repair websites (I don't even think that's a good idea now) and these people sound like they've never seen my site.

One of the people who contacted me was a small local consulting business, and another was a fishing resort, also around my area.

The consulting business texted me on halloween, i called him back and he said he was busy with the kids at his door. I called him the next day and the day after that but with no response. It was pretty late each call anyways (7:00 pm) so Ill give the guy a chance sometime later.

The fishing resort called me at school a few days ago, I called him when I got back and he agreed for a demo site that is in the process right now.

Although the "sale" went well, i feel like a complete moron on the phone. I think my cold calling phase only allowed me to practice "hello i do xyz are you interested" "no? Ok have a nice day bye" so I still need more practice in actually displaying value and closing the call, but at the moment i am completely booked so no marketing efforts like cold calling or emailing are being made.


Ok here's the big one, when i went last Wednesday to get paid by my last client at his shop, he reccomeneded me some real estate dude who is a millionaire, and told me to call him for web design.

He is a lined up client and I will call later, but I'm not sure what to charge him and what new template to use (I can't take use template for his website I use for all my other sites)

One of my friends said I should charge him $1000 upfront and then $300 per month for his real estate updates, but I needed a new template and to make the site look the best I've ever done.

I'm still not sure about him yet since my hands are full at the moment. But what do you guys think?

And once again I have another tire shop that emailed me a while back as a lined up client.

That pretty much sums up my past week or so, I never knew I'd be drowning in clients. Ill keep you guys posted on what happens next.

 

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