[Method] Give Away FREE Websites and Make More Than You Would Selling Them

[il0v3y0u]

thank you very much

[Southern Man]

Karma tacos4san. You will be repaid many times over.

-SM

[happyifthi]

Wow...a great concept...Giving you rep for this idea...like you said plenty of ideas around for people to correctly implement...

[kriendor]

How are you presenting them your monthly retainer?

[lunap]

Nice explanations! I read a long time ago one thread kind of similar as you said but the guy was offering hosting through HG in order to get the commissions. Thanks for sharing your version tho!

[GMAN100]

Great Share... many thanks for information... Please include me on your "coaching list" if you decide to go forward ... rep +5,

WISHING YOU MANY BLESSINGS, LIVE LONG AND PROSPER, AND MAY ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE.

[tacos4san]

(12-01-2017 07:03 PM)smithnowt Wrote:  This world is a better place for the presence of such folks as yourself.

Thank you. I have my fair share of things I need to improve to be a better human being myself. But I do believe in, and enjoy, helping and being kind where I can.

fanstin Wrote:I don't know what to give away, can you give some ideal?
Sorry because I'm newbie and don't know what to to

Did you actually read my original post? I tell you exactly what to give away. Heck, the THREAD TITLE tells you what to give away.

I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but as nice as I am and as much as I am willing to give away very valuable information, I can't read it for you too.

bluenose10 Wrote:Had a long conversation with OP on his online ventures and mine the other night. The guy is full of good knowledge and advice, I would definatley buy any BSO he decides to create and sell.

No problem man. It was great to help you and get to know you. Remember, I believe in you. You just have to believe in you too! Wishing great success to you and your daughter bro.

il0v3y0u Wrote:thank you very much

You're welcome very much.

Southern Man Wrote:Karma tacos4san. You will be repaid many times over.

-SM

I prefer to think of it as 'The Golden Rule' rather than karma, because even if it doesn't come back to benefit me, I still want to be the guy who helps others.

happyifthi Wrote:Wow...a great concept...Giving you rep for this idea...like you said plenty of ideas around for people to correctly implement...

It's made me a lot of money for sure. Back when I was selling websites, I was flat broke. Now that I give them away, not so much. Best of luck to you!

kriendor Wrote:How are you presenting them your monthly retainer?

I assume what you're asking about is my pitch technique. Should I make that BSO, I'll probably go into greater detail, but for these purposes I'll say to review the THIRD BONUS TIP again. And I start that process very early in the call or messenger chat. I tell them everything they are getting for free, and then I simply do the turn, "And all that's needed from you to secure the work is for you to cover the costs of hosting and maintenance. Are you prepared to do that today?"

What comes next is obviously influenced by their answer to that question. But as the pro tips outline, I'm not looking to help business owners who aren't willing to invest in their own business or expect me to beg to work for them while starving. If they aren't interested in paying for ongoing fees, I "fire them" before we get started.

lunap Wrote:Nice explanations! I read a long time ago one thread kind of similar as you said but the guy was offering hosting through HG in order to get the commissions. Thanks for sharing your version tho!

Yes, I think that was the other method I referred to having seen before. Although, this method is vastly superior for multiple reasons. First of all, the income potential is much greater. Secondly, by BEING THE HOST, your customers are more reliant on you, and you broadcast greater authority because they don't have to turn anywhere else.

And not that there was anything inherently wrong with the other method, and I don't remember every think it said cause I've slept since then. But it had a lot of room for improvement, and I think I go into a lot greater detail here. Granted, I could be wrong. I'm stating that out of memory.

GMAN100 Wrote:Great Share... many thanks for information... Please include me on your "coaching list" if you decide to go forward ... rep +5,

WISHING YOU MANY BLESSINGS, LIVE LONG AND PROSPER, AND MAY ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE.

It sounds like there is some demand for an ongoing program/platform. I might do that early next year after we get through the holidays. We'll see what my schedule permits. Glad you enjoyed the information.

P.S. Wishing you great success as well!

[Family]

Great. Thank you for sharing.

[i_Love_Knowledge]

Much respect @tacos4san

If you do decide to create some sort of video bso I'd be all over it.

I think the problem @fanstin was having, and I'm pretty sure the same with others is the "where to start" bit. Like... great, you have a website, or you're out putting in the sweat equity trying to build up your client profile, now how do you decide which market to target, and how can you learn more about chat bots to bring in leads. I know you can't answer that specifically, but I think people are looking for examples (even though you listed two.) or even inspiration to get going.

You certainly captured my attention, and I hope you don't mind, but I turned what you said into a PDF and saved it, because I want to spend more time researching it more. I certainly don't have the expertise, but I like money, I like people, and I like being helpful to others. I'll check back here at a later date to see what happens. Thank you again, and have a great weekend!

[k.jagadeeshjaga143]

(11-26-2017 01:21 PM)tacos4san Wrote:  I believe there's a similar post like this one here. I think I saw it earlier in the year, and I meant to comment and explain my take on how I've been doing it for over ten years now, and I never did. My method is a little different than the other one that was explained here, but it's still super simple, and the potential for revenue is much greater.

Here's my "secret!"

1. Create your own "agency" site AND Facebook page.
I build using wordpress+Divi, so I'm biased and recommend that everyone uses it. But feel free to use whatever you're comfortable with. Fill it with photos of your past work (assuming you have some, I had years of examples to pull from), if not fill it with dummy content from the themes (if you have the money, I highly recommend picking up a few child themes... it will speed up your design work and give you more examples to use) you'll be using to build.

2. Create three to five "base templates."
These will be what you GIVE AWAY. I always go with the same setup... Home Page, About Page, Contact Page, and a Services/Projects/Products Page. That's it. 4 pages. They can have a Services, Projects, or Products page for free -- but only one. Not all three. The reason being UPSELLS for your FREE PACKAGE. Every additional page they wish to have in addition to the 4 free pages costs extra. I charge $125 for each page "ON SPECIAL" and tell them that's HALF of what I usually charge. Which is what my Agency site says... $250 per page. The nice thing about that is it makes it super easy to advertise that you are giving away a $1,000+ Web Design package.
BIG HINT!

Magic Button :

If you're VIP, I actually share some premium DIVI child themes that should help you with this too.

3. Decide on a cost for domain, hosting, maintenance, security, and MINOR UPDATES.
I charge $100 per month if they go month to month, with a 3 month minimum. If they decide to pay every six months, I charge $500, and I'll do an entire year for $800. That's me, and it's proven EXTREMELY effective; but no doubt, other pricing plans would work as well. You go with whatever you think is applicable for your business. One thing to keep in mind here is where I said that I include "minor updates." You don't have to do this, and you may want to avoid it altogether. You definitely will if you don't have the ability to be upfront, authoritative and walk away like I can. I say that because I offer minor updates as way to BUILD VALUE and provide more service for their money than just regular old hosting which can be had for a lot less. But I make it VERY CLEAR that "minor updates" means things like changing their address or number if there's a change. Or including the name of a new service/item that they offer or something. Basically, small little textual changes I can do it 2 minutes or less. It doesn't include reworks, or holiday theming, or whatever. If they want DESIGN work, they need to PAY for design work.

4. Create a set of ads, a budget, and a landing page.
These days I only run a single video ad and blast it on Facebook. My monthly ad spend only runs between $200 and $400, and I make... well, I make considerably much more than that. LOL -- I don't do any other advertising at all. But you certainly could if you're ambitious. Drive the traffic from your ad to your landing page. Collect data. Follow-up.

5. Let the customer choose between your list of templates.
I explain to them that I can swap out the design layout colors, text, and photos. But any additional design work will require an additional fee. In addition, they have to furnish the text and images to qualify for the free offer. If they need me to handle content creation, I can do so, but guess what... RIGHT -- Additional Fee.

6. Make the customer aware of my additional services.
I handle things like social media management, SEO, graphics, video production and marketing, etc. "I'd be glad to add these for your Mr/Mrs Customer for either a one time take it all price or an ongoing plan if you want to ensure long-term success." If they say, "Yes." Great. If they say, "No." No big deal. We're still going to get some money.

7. Continually follow-up with existing clients.
Create specials each month highlighting a specific service you offer and make them aware of it by email blasts and your Facebook page.

8. Keep them happy and keep cashing checks.
Basically it means don't just read step 7, actually DO step 7. It's highly important. A lot of people worry about becoming a "pest." DON'T! The fact of the matter is if you do a good job, they are going to WANT to hear from you. Furthermore, unless you do something really bad or stupid, you're not likely to upset them so badly with an email or Facebook post that they decide to go find somewhere else to host.

BONUS: PRO TIPS
Alright guys, that's it! You really don't need to do anything more than what is explained in those 7/8 steps above. You also don't need to spend $200 a month either. You can start out with $50 or $100 and scale up later. You could actually start with nothing if you're willing to invest the sweat equity into manually finding clients. I wasn't. LOL

Costs aside though, there are a few things you can do to make those steps above work like steroids, and they're all simple.

First... incorporate Facebook messenger or another Live chat (or simulated live chat with a bot) into your landing page. This will give your customers an opportunity to claim their FREE OFFER now, and for you to secure that hosting money. Building a list is not only nice, it truly is vital. That being said, if you're not following up with these people pretty quickly, don't be shocked to find that they are either A) no longer interested or B) found another solution.

Second... target specific niches and focus on solely that niche for a month or two. What I mean is make a conscious decision... "I'm going after dentists this month." Or "I think it's time I built a following of Chiropractors." This simple tip will accomplish MANY things for you. First, it will allow you to create more targeted ads. Better ad targeting means less money going out, more money coming in. In addition, it's much easier to make yourself an "authority" by being an expert (even in design) who specializes in helping specific clients than being a general, run of the mill, department store Web developer. Lastly, if you build your lists accordingly, you'll have better targeted lists to sell them specific products/services related to their own niche. This gives you the ability to make money outside the Web/Marketing niche if you want. I do! It also allows you to make money this way even from people who did NOT take your FREE OFFER and become clients. So maybe you didn't build Mr. Dentist a free site. You still have his contact info, and you know what he does for a living. Do you think he might be interested in that Clickbank product aimed solely at dentists you saw yesterday? Yeah, I think so too!

Third... Don't be afraid to tell someone no and walk away from a deal. If in your initial consultation the person you're GIVING A FREE SITE to acts like you owe them something or need to "sweeten the deal" a little more (TRUST ME, IT WILL HAPPEN), don't be afraid to tell them... "Ya know, I don't really think this offer is right for you. I'm looking for people who want to grow their business and to do that you have to be willing to take a little ownership and invest in it yourself." If that turns them off, GOOD! You just saved yourself a lot of headache and hassle. And if it didn't, GOOD! They now understand that you have a FAIR and MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL relationship that won't see you being bullied nor begging for dollars afraid to lose them.

Fourth... Rather they have content to furnish you with or not, secure that first hosting payment immediately. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not "just as soon as we can get that to you." If you play that game, here's what is going to happen. They will either NEVER give you the content, and you will NEVER get paid. Or you'll spend more time trying to get them to give you content so you can get started than you will actually talking to new customers. Do yourself a favor, and don't play that game. Get paid now, or treat them the same way you did the folks in PRO TIP 3!

Clone it! I don't care. There's enough to go around.