Selling Websites To Small Businesses

Selling websites to small businesses: 5 tips to get you started

Think about it, most small businesses need to have a website, and although more and more do have website, there are still pockets of resistance with no websites whatsoever.

And for those that do already have a website, many of these websites are outdated, either technically, aesthetically or they lack basic conversion funnels, good copy, and so on.

So even though there are many tools out there to help even a 6 year old start building a website, when it comes to what makes a website an investment instead of an expense, professionals are still needed.

And if you’re interested in embracing that career, here are 5 tips to get you started!

Selling websites to small businesses : Educate yourself (tip 1)

Educate yourself and keep on doing it.

It kind of make sense, but the first thing you should do is to educate yourself.

Now I’m not talking about spending years studying web design and web development. Because that, in my opinion, is the old way of doing things.

But I’m talking about the core minimum principles that you can either learn for free here on Youtube or for a very democratic fee on online learning platforms.

See I’m part of a few private groups on Facebook, and everyday I see people that want to start a business selling websites for a living, but they lack the minimum knowledge required to get started.

In my opinion, you can learn basic html and css in less than a week.

We’re not talking about building fully functional complex websites, we’re talking about knowing how a web page works at its core and how to style different elements on a page.

It does not mean you need to create websites with html and css each and every time, but, if you know how the engine works, it will be easier to fix, even when you use other systems later on.

Never stop learning

And creating websites is an ever-evolving craft, so you must be ready to continuously keep on learning.

Now personally that’s something that is getting me excited, because I live learning new stuff.

Once you start mastering the art of creating websites, the learning process is much lighter than at the beginning of your journey.

Websites don’t change that much, but just like fashion, there are new trends all the time, new techniques, and new tools, and just like a fashion designer, it’s your job to mix and blend all of that with your own subjectivity.

I remember one of the agencies I used to work for. At one point, we needed to recruit an additional web designer.

We received a ton of resumes. And most of the resumes mentioned years and years of studies, but I couldn’t care less.

All I wanted was to see a good looking portfolio but unfortunately there was none. We would have hired him even if he did not finish primary school.

What the agency wanted was someone that could prove he or she had the skillset to work on real life client projects.

So in our line of business, always look for the kind of education that will produce tangible results.

And don’t forget to educate yourself about selling and marketing your services.

Because even if you create beautiful websites, if you don’t know how to market yourself or how to actually convince a small business owner to do business with you, then you’re going to have a hard time making a living out of it.

Luckily for you, I’m sharing a ton of tips to help you with that.

Selling websites to small businesses : Master an eco-system (tip 2)

The next thing I would focus on, is choosing an eco-system.

And that starts with choosing a Content Management System platform. I’m using WordPress, which is one fo the most popular platforms, but even if you choose another one, they key is to learn how to use the platform.

And the best way to do it, is to create real or fake projects. That in my opinion is the best way to learn.

Next, choose a front-end framework that you will learn to use and master. If you create your websites from scratch you could use one of the popular solutions like Bootstrap or Foundation, just to name a few.

If you’re using WordPress, then pick a theme and a page builder, learn the ins and outs and you will see that you work much faster on your new projects.

Also you’ll be able to achieve a lot more by focusing on one theme and page builder instead of switching themes for each and every projects.

My WordPress eco-system

Now some of the most popular themes are Astra, Ocean Wp, Generate Press, and Divi.

And when it comes to page builders, the most popular are Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, Thrive Architect and Brizy.

Now if you’re familiar with my content, I love the Astra Pro and Elementor Pro combo, because Astra was made to work with Elementor, it’s very lightweight, very modular.

That means you can easily de-activate elements you don’t need and reduce the bloat.

And I recommend Elementor Pro because not only is it a page builder.

It is also a theme builder, so you can also change headers, footers, archive pages, Woocommerce pages and many more features like the powerful Elementor Popups and the Motion Effects.

But whatever you choose, do your research and choose a combo that works well together.

Selling websites to small businesses : Develop your brand (tip 3)

Every day, there are newcomers on the market, willing to be selling websites to small businesses.

So how do you stand out?

Simple: by developing your brand and your unique selling proposition.

You need to differentiate yourself from your competition. And I’m not only talking about a nice logo and a nice visual identity.

I’m talking about what makes YOU different.

Why should a small business owner in your area choose you over the Web Design company next door?

Is it your design skills? Is it your unique experience in a very specific skills? Is it your outstanding services? What is it?

If you can’t answer that question, neither will the business owner in front of you.

You never want to be selling everything to everyone.

You want to be laser focused what you’re the best at, and that conveniently matches what your idea customer is looking for.

Selling websites to small businesses: Get the right tools for the job (tip 4)

Stop looking only for free stuff and start developing an entrepreneur mentality.

Yes, I get that when just getting started you may want to bootstrap as much as you can. But when you purchase tools that will help you better sell your services to small business owners, this is not an expense: this is an investment.

And if you don’t want to invest in yourself, guess what? Nobody else will!

Sometimes people wonder why others succeed while they don’t, but one of the key difference is that although entrepreneurs hate spending money like water, they hate even more wasting opportunities.

And they know that investing the smart way means big returns on investment.

So if you’re selling websites to small business, invest in a stock photo service, invest in a content management system to track your leads, invest in premium addons for your page or theme builder, and the list goes on and on.

Now it’s not about getting every shiny new object, but it’s about getting the right tools for the job.

You can probably build a house with a hammer and some nails but that’s going to take you a long time, and I wouldn’t want to sleep in that house on a windy night.

So change your mentality, start investing in yourself, and if money is an issue, start with the free stuff and as soon as you make money, use some of that money to get the right tools for the job.

Selling websites to small businesses: Start networking face to face (tip 5)

Although I’m all about digital, one of the best advices I can give you is to stat networking face-to-face.

Physically go to your local Chamber of Commerce and ask the contacts for the various local meetup business groups in your area.

Then start visiting those one by one, and see which one seems a good fit for you and also which one you can afford.

Because some are free but most are not depeing on where you live.

Once again, this is just a matter of perspective. You can see it as an expense, or you can see it as an investment.

Many business owners have had less than ideal experiences with people selling the digital services.

So you must understand that a lot of the convincing will not be related to your skillset, but more to the trust that you can communicate to your potential clients.

Imagine someone that has already paid thousands of dollars only to get a crappy looking website that nobody’s visiting.

How do you think that person would react if you contacted them out of nowhere ?

That’s why face-to-face networking is so powerful, because:

1. they get to see you face to face and get that crucial first impression
2. if you are part of a local business group, it means you can be endorsed and hopefully trusted.

Selling websites to small businesses: You turn

So I hope that these 5 tips will help you get started selling websites to small businesses. Please let me know in the comments!

If you watched the companion video and if you like it, please give it a thumbs up, as it really helps growing the channel and if you know someone that could benefit from it, I’m going to ask you if you’d like to share it now.

Because let’s face it, there are so many things to do in a day that if you don’t do it now you’ll probably forget.

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So, that’s it for this episode, I hope to see you around here or on the Youtube channel, and in the meantime, don’t forget to invest in YOUR success