I need someone to build my website. My budget is $200 and I need it ASAP.
10 comments
I am either giving up a huge secret or revealing how little I actually value my time...
You guys are giving up a huge opportunity.
It is easy to make a thousand or more per week from these types of jobs. A thousand isn't a lot, but it is easily done in a few hours.
If they are paying commodity prices, then you give them a commodity.
The key? Boiler - Plate. Have a standard contract. Have a standard website theme, perhaps with multiple skins. Make it easy for them to enter their own content. You can build a decent CMS in a few hours or a great CMS in 10-15 (for clients like this that don't need extensibility). Amortize it over the 5-10 websites you're selling each week and you're time costs go down drastically.
I stumbled onto this strategy accidentally.
I had nothing else to do for a few hours.
My BATNA was earn $0/hour. I wasn't going to let my pride get in the way of easy money.
So I took a small "build me a website" job. Knowing they had small requirements, it was easily done in a few hours. I kept getting more requests, I kept sending out virtually the same website, over and over. I was getting them onto the host I use also and making an additional $50-$100 for each client as well.
Eventually it was only a matter of explaining how hosting works and how to add new pages and content. After the 30-45 minute explanation, it was coming out to move like $400/hour rather than $200 for a website.
Big Tip: Record your phone calls and meetings when you're explaining how hosting works and how to work your CMS. Go over what you said each time and work to actively improve it. Take 30 minutes, record screen capture videos with voice over. Give these to the client when you give them the minor training required.
You guys are giving up a huge opportunity.
It is easy to make a thousand or more per week from these types of jobs. A thousand isn't a lot, but it is easily done in a few hours.
If they are paying commodity prices, then you give them a commodity.
The key? Boiler - Plate. Have a standard contract. Have a standard website theme, perhaps with multiple skins. Make it easy for them to enter their own content. You can build a decent CMS in a few hours or a great CMS in 10-15 (for clients like this that don't need extensibility). Amortize it over the 5-10 websites you're selling each week and you're time costs go down drastically.
I stumbled onto this strategy accidentally.
I had nothing else to do for a few hours.
My BATNA was earn $0/hour. I wasn't going to let my pride get in the way of easy money.
So I took a small "build me a website" job. Knowing they had small requirements, it was easily done in a few hours. I kept getting more requests, I kept sending out virtually the same website, over and over. I was getting them onto the host I use also and making an additional $50-$100 for each client as well.
Eventually it was only a matter of explaining how hosting works and how to add new pages and content. After the 30-45 minute explanation, it was coming out to move like $400/hour rather than $200 for a website.
Big Tip: Record your phone calls and meetings when you're explaining how hosting works and how to work your CMS. Go over what you said each time and work to actively improve it. Take 30 minutes, record screen capture videos with voice over. Give these to the client when you give them the minor training required.
I tried something similar. I designed websites for five local restaurants, all at the same time, then SEO'd them into top positions on Google. Then I went door to door to each restaurant and showed them the websites, live online.
The restaurant owners wouldn't need to do anything. They could assume possession of the website that very day (I would only need to change some pictures and change the website name from "Your Family Restaurant" to their name).
Guess what... I only moved one, and even that one was a special deal. I couldn't even rent the other websites out for a small monthly fee.
I figure it wasn't a price point as much as they just didn't see the value in having a website. If they did, they'd already have a website.
Lesson: Let people come to you. Let them have the need first.
BTW: Every now and then, late at night, I'll get a takeout order for lettuce wraps and fried rice (sigh).
The restaurant owners wouldn't need to do anything. They could assume possession of the website that very day (I would only need to change some pictures and change the website name from "Your Family Restaurant" to their name).
Guess what... I only moved one, and even that one was a special deal. I couldn't even rent the other websites out for a small monthly fee.
I figure it wasn't a price point as much as they just didn't see the value in having a website. If they did, they'd already have a website.
Lesson: Let people come to you. Let them have the need first.
BTW: Every now and then, late at night, I'll get a takeout order for lettuce wraps and fried rice (sigh).
>"Lesson: Let people come to you. Let them have the need first."
That is not the lesson your experience. The lesson is the make sure there is demand before putting in a ton of time, especially when you're going to be bitter about it later.
Your project was doomed from the start.
You committed the time to build 5 websites and SEO them to the top spot before you had any demand.
If you had waited until a restuarant actually wanted a website, and then realized that even a small application can be made in a few hours for a few $hundred, then you may have had better results. Pre-emptively making websites or scripts is the opposite of what I've suggested.
So the next lesson is to not do work before getting paid (unless it is also a hobby - like building a database class that you will use in freelance projects).
I would have also approached selling the websites differently. Showing someone a website you're trying to sell them and then finishing with "I just need to change some pictures and stuff" isn't that compelling. You have 5 websites. Customize one for each restuarant you're talking to. They pass? Change it up with different pictures and titles. Let the customer see what they're buying, not some representation. This is more time consuming, but it will help sales. You already sunk time to designing, building, and SEOing the sites, so an additional unpaid 20 minutes probably won't hurt you too much.
Also you can't just assume why people didn't buy the websites. You should have done some random calling after the fact to determine why people weren't buying. But I will throw out a few ideas on that too.
You approached restaurants trying to sell them a commodity without knowing what they want. They could have not bought because of the price, because they didn't like the colors, they were intimidated by it's complexity, underwhelmed by its simplicity, or because they didn't think they needed a website (you really need to be making calls).
When someone comes to you with a budget and a need for a website, you are in a position of power. You can dictate more terms. Building a random websie without requirements or a scope and then approaching people takes the power out of your hands.
Finally, there are thousands of companies that don't have a website because they don't know how to make one or think they cost tens of thousands of dollars. These are the types of companies you can be trying to advertise to (but not cold call/approach).
That is not the lesson your experience. The lesson is the make sure there is demand before putting in a ton of time, especially when you're going to be bitter about it later.
Your project was doomed from the start.
You committed the time to build 5 websites and SEO them to the top spot before you had any demand.
If you had waited until a restuarant actually wanted a website, and then realized that even a small application can be made in a few hours for a few $hundred, then you may have had better results. Pre-emptively making websites or scripts is the opposite of what I've suggested.
So the next lesson is to not do work before getting paid (unless it is also a hobby - like building a database class that you will use in freelance projects).
I would have also approached selling the websites differently. Showing someone a website you're trying to sell them and then finishing with "I just need to change some pictures and stuff" isn't that compelling. You have 5 websites. Customize one for each restuarant you're talking to. They pass? Change it up with different pictures and titles. Let the customer see what they're buying, not some representation. This is more time consuming, but it will help sales. You already sunk time to designing, building, and SEOing the sites, so an additional unpaid 20 minutes probably won't hurt you too much.
Also you can't just assume why people didn't buy the websites. You should have done some random calling after the fact to determine why people weren't buying. But I will throw out a few ideas on that too.
You approached restaurants trying to sell them a commodity without knowing what they want. They could have not bought because of the price, because they didn't like the colors, they were intimidated by it's complexity, underwhelmed by its simplicity, or because they didn't think they needed a website (you really need to be making calls).
When someone comes to you with a budget and a need for a website, you are in a position of power. You can dictate more terms. Building a random websie without requirements or a scope and then approaching people takes the power out of your hands.
Finally, there are thousands of companies that don't have a website because they don't know how to make one or think they cost tens of thousands of dollars. These are the types of companies you can be trying to advertise to (but not cold call/approach).
Where can I find these jobs?
In my opinion, SquareSpace (and others) is missing the boat by not having a white-label system for web developers to resell their services invisibly.
People pay web devs because they don't want to take the TIME to learn it and do it themselves.
The reason people offer $200 is because they really want to pay someone for 8 hours of work for $200, it has NOTHING to do with web design.
If you are starting a candy store, that's the business you are in. Candy. They don't want to be web developers. At the same time, they don't have much money.
A hired hand who can do the work, manage the content, setup the design, but still use the easy tools available would be perfect. Then we COULD charge $200, be done in a few hours, and have happy clients.
Most people won't care what you use to create their site as long as you get it done and it was affordable.
People pay web devs because they don't want to take the TIME to learn it and do it themselves.
The reason people offer $200 is because they really want to pay someone for 8 hours of work for $200, it has NOTHING to do with web design.
If you are starting a candy store, that's the business you are in. Candy. They don't want to be web developers. At the same time, they don't have much money.
A hired hand who can do the work, manage the content, setup the design, but still use the easy tools available would be perfect. Then we COULD charge $200, be done in a few hours, and have happy clients.
Most people won't care what you use to create their site as long as you get it done and it was affordable.
Aren't all the web developers just white-labelling WordPress these days?
On the money part, you're right. Small businesses that are used to paying their staff < $10/hr aren't used to paying the prices for a pro.
For some reason, devs aren't in the same mindspace to these potential clients as lawyers, dentists and architects.
On the money part, you're right. Small businesses that are used to paying their staff < $10/hr aren't used to paying the prices for a pro.
For some reason, devs aren't in the same mindspace to these potential clients as lawyers, dentists and architects.
I like this white-label idea... It's essentially what most web designers do now for static websites, just using a 3rd party system. I'd bet money that most of the sites using SquareSpace, etc. have been sold BY the web designer. If you win over the hearts of the web designers, then you'll win the clients...
Our startup has a product that does that :). Admittedly, the designers have to work with us to set them up, but once they are set up, we don't have to do anything more.
http://www.usearabella.com/
http://www.usearabella.com/
So I'm going to be brutally honest with you...I was a freelance web designer in college and I completely agree with what you're saying. The trouble is, the solution is already out there...
www.vistaprint.com/websites.aspx
DISCLAIMER: Yes, I work for them, and yes I built that page. But you guys aren't our market (too savvy) so I posted it because you probably didn't even know we made websites.
If I were still a freelancer THAT would scare me. The price point is exactly in the budget of your stereotyped user - $200 is like the price of the PROFESSIONAL package, you could go even cheaper for the simplest stuff. As SHOwnsYou pointed out, paying commodity prices is using boilerplate, and that is EXACTLY what we use...there's no magic tricks here: we make it easy for non-technical baby boomers and older (the LEAST tech savvy) to have a website at a price they can afford. The UI is simple enough for a 40-yr-old business owner to make a site. And to the point of the original poster, yeah we are capitalizing on a booming market.
I think the problem is that people want what they can't have: a beautiful looking site at a great price. As I said, speaking frankly, you get what you pay for with our templates. I would never have created those templates and called them my work as a freelancer, but I think the HN community of aesthetically-seasoned designers/developers/entrepreneurs generally forgets that the overwhelming majority has NO IDEA what good design is like and truly DOESN'T need it. This is perhaps the BIGGEST lesson I've learned about business, and truly echoes the sentiments of the greatest creed in marketing, "KNOW YOUR TARGET MARKET."
I guess in the end, the problem from a web designer is that they refuse to produce commodity work, and justifiably raises their rates, when they COULD be making money hand-over-fist if they just kept a slew of simple, cheap templates and just did the labor of porting them to a website for their customers and charging next to nothing. Each transaction would seem like peanuts to most freelancers, and they would feel like they aren't earning anything, but this is a numbers game, and the numbers don't lie.
www.vistaprint.com/websites.aspx
DISCLAIMER: Yes, I work for them, and yes I built that page. But you guys aren't our market (too savvy) so I posted it because you probably didn't even know we made websites.
If I were still a freelancer THAT would scare me. The price point is exactly in the budget of your stereotyped user - $200 is like the price of the PROFESSIONAL package, you could go even cheaper for the simplest stuff. As SHOwnsYou pointed out, paying commodity prices is using boilerplate, and that is EXACTLY what we use...there's no magic tricks here: we make it easy for non-technical baby boomers and older (the LEAST tech savvy) to have a website at a price they can afford. The UI is simple enough for a 40-yr-old business owner to make a site. And to the point of the original poster, yeah we are capitalizing on a booming market.
I think the problem is that people want what they can't have: a beautiful looking site at a great price. As I said, speaking frankly, you get what you pay for with our templates. I would never have created those templates and called them my work as a freelancer, but I think the HN community of aesthetically-seasoned designers/developers/entrepreneurs generally forgets that the overwhelming majority has NO IDEA what good design is like and truly DOESN'T need it. This is perhaps the BIGGEST lesson I've learned about business, and truly echoes the sentiments of the greatest creed in marketing, "KNOW YOUR TARGET MARKET."
I guess in the end, the problem from a web designer is that they refuse to produce commodity work, and justifiably raises their rates, when they COULD be making money hand-over-fist if they just kept a slew of simple, cheap templates and just did the labor of porting them to a website for their customers and charging next to nothing. Each transaction would seem like peanuts to most freelancers, and they would feel like they aren't earning anything, but this is a numbers game, and the numbers don't lie.
You're right in that its not completely just the issue of technical solution or implementation.
When your friends come to you, they trust YOU to understand their problems, and know that they can lean on you (ahem, extra features please!) and that you won't run them wrong. It may be a matter of intimidation; they're too scared to ring up a web design/consulting place because of embarrassment, price rates, whatever. After all, if they really just wanted the site done, they'd have already looked at some solutions before coming to you, but often, you're the first stop.
So I wouldn't go ahead and necessarily say that their needs are being unmet, and that this is a billion dollar untapped market. I'd say your friends are ignorant of a bit of knowledge, and simply exploring their relationship network. Its the same way we'd go to our mechanic friends for an idea about getting our engines fixed, or the same way we'd ask other expertise friends for their advice.
When your friends come to you, they trust YOU to understand their problems, and know that they can lean on you (ahem, extra features please!) and that you won't run them wrong. It may be a matter of intimidation; they're too scared to ring up a web design/consulting place because of embarrassment, price rates, whatever. After all, if they really just wanted the site done, they'd have already looked at some solutions before coming to you, but often, you're the first stop.
So I wouldn't go ahead and necessarily say that their needs are being unmet, and that this is a billion dollar untapped market. I'd say your friends are ignorant of a bit of knowledge, and simply exploring their relationship network. Its the same way we'd go to our mechanic friends for an idea about getting our engines fixed, or the same way we'd ask other expertise friends for their advice.
True, but most of the referrals I get are friend of a friend (or more layers). However, if my mechanic friend said "Here's a really easy way to figure out the problem yourself" I would definitely take it.
I get this kind of thing all the time from friends and family mainly, almost always it is someone who "just needs something basic" and "it shouldnt be a big deal" however, I am a perfectionist and everything is a big deal lol so inevitably i spend time on it making it perfect and they go on thinking that what I did it for is what those services cost. most of the time I feel I am simply doing a disservice to people who actually have to make their living designing sites, however at the same time I have a problem saying no and throwing together a website in a couple hours typically just gives me a break from whatever coding project i am currently working on ... I guess to each their own, but I dont mind this kind of thing as something to pass the time.
Although to share a recent favorite, my Dad owns a company in which he sells gate operators and automated entry systems and he had a client that wanted to be able to bill every month by how many times an individual went in and out of the site, after explaining a few options to him i decided it would be easiest just to write a batch file that dumped the transactions form the controller into a CSV and from the CSV into access which would then generate the reports for billing with memorized reports.
I told my dad that which he understood (barely) but when the job was given to another vendor he called dad to ask what software he needed to purchase to do this, when dad told him i was just going to write a batch file to do it he responded "Oh yeah, well I could do that but I really dont have the time, so ill just let zach do that if he wants to then, let me know what I owe ya"
lol dont you just love the guy that doesnt have enough time to use the switches in a batch file?
The nerve of some people...
Although to share a recent favorite, my Dad owns a company in which he sells gate operators and automated entry systems and he had a client that wanted to be able to bill every month by how many times an individual went in and out of the site, after explaining a few options to him i decided it would be easiest just to write a batch file that dumped the transactions form the controller into a CSV and from the CSV into access which would then generate the reports for billing with memorized reports.
I told my dad that which he understood (barely) but when the job was given to another vendor he called dad to ask what software he needed to purchase to do this, when dad told him i was just going to write a batch file to do it he responded "Oh yeah, well I could do that but I really dont have the time, so ill just let zach do that if he wants to then, let me know what I owe ya"
lol dont you just love the guy that doesnt have enough time to use the switches in a batch file?
The nerve of some people...
When we started Webvanta (a hosted CMS), we spent quite a bit of time talking with small business owners, understanding their web needs, and trying to figure out if we could provide them with a "do it yourself" solution.
Our conclusion was that, for the vast majority of small business people, there is no such thing as a do-it-yourself solution that is going to yield a quality site. They need help with their writing, marketing strategy, and approach, even if all the technical issues go away. And most of them need help with email marketing, social media, and so forth.
For the $200 customer, they're just going to have to figure it out on their own, using something like Wix, or Weebly, or -- if they have a little budget -- SquareSpace, GoDaddy Website Tonight, or Intuit Sites, or something like that.
For anyone who wants a quality site, and wants to have an effective Internet marketing strategy, they should hire someone to help them. That someone typically goes by the name "web designer", but a good one is as much a marketing consultant as a designer.
Typically, this is going to cost at least 10 times the $200 figure, but that's life. Most business people undervalue design and undervalue the web, and that's what needs to change if they are going to use it effectively.
So with the Webvanta hosted CMS (www.webvanta.com), we have focused on serving professional web designers, to give them a powerful tool they can use to deliver great sites to their clients. We did not attempt to make it easy for a business owner to create their own site; instead, we made it easy for a designer to create a great site, and for the business owner to then be able to add content and maintain the site.
Our conclusion was that, for the vast majority of small business people, there is no such thing as a do-it-yourself solution that is going to yield a quality site. They need help with their writing, marketing strategy, and approach, even if all the technical issues go away. And most of them need help with email marketing, social media, and so forth.
For the $200 customer, they're just going to have to figure it out on their own, using something like Wix, or Weebly, or -- if they have a little budget -- SquareSpace, GoDaddy Website Tonight, or Intuit Sites, or something like that.
For anyone who wants a quality site, and wants to have an effective Internet marketing strategy, they should hire someone to help them. That someone typically goes by the name "web designer", but a good one is as much a marketing consultant as a designer.
Typically, this is going to cost at least 10 times the $200 figure, but that's life. Most business people undervalue design and undervalue the web, and that's what needs to change if they are going to use it effectively.
So with the Webvanta hosted CMS (www.webvanta.com), we have focused on serving professional web designers, to give them a powerful tool they can use to deliver great sites to their clients. We did not attempt to make it easy for a business owner to create their own site; instead, we made it easy for a designer to create a great site, and for the business owner to then be able to add content and maintain the site.
Every project has overheads, and when you squeeze the budget very low, the overheads can outweigh the budget itself.
Websites require a lot of communication as overhead - and cheap labor will only get you so far.
Considering the ONLY value proposition you will be providing is 'price', its a difficult business model. Any business with extremely tight margins and price as their only competitive point is an uphill battle.
Keep in mind the service you will be providing will generally be poor - because your price is low, you need to keep customer service time to a minimum - leading to a poor service.
Its better to reject these clients, rather than try to adopt them.
Websites require a lot of communication as overhead - and cheap labor will only get you so far.
Considering the ONLY value proposition you will be providing is 'price', its a difficult business model. Any business with extremely tight margins and price as their only competitive point is an uphill battle.
Keep in mind the service you will be providing will generally be poor - because your price is low, you need to keep customer service time to a minimum - leading to a poor service.
Its better to reject these clients, rather than try to adopt them.
The hosted market is not failing, it's just that these socalled technical inept people have an entitlement problem.
The options in our society are very easy, either one does it him/her self or one pays another person a fair fee.
The options in our society are very easy, either one does it him/her self or one pays another person a fair fee.
Well, one solution is to point them to that freelancers site. There's always people there who are willing to put together some sort of solution for the bottom dollar. I went digging around there the other day and was completely appalled at all of the budgets I was seeing. Some of them wouldn't even cover the cost of writing a proposal for the solution.
In one sense, yes, they deserve a solution to their problems, but one can always hope they learn a bitter lesson by going with the lowest possible bidder on that site.
In one sense, yes, they deserve a solution to their problems, but one can always hope they learn a bitter lesson by going with the lowest possible bidder on that site.
The margins are just too low on these, hell a decent copy writer is going to cost you half of that if not more. If it needs to have a polished look add a graphics person to that. And that's just to get all of the creative done. I just don't see how on the thin margin of $200 to $500 it can be done. Even with offshore labor the onshore management would eat it up to the point that it would not have a value proposition worth perusing. With canned text, stock images, and a stock template, sure it could be done. But these people never look for a just add water site. They want the "make it like x" twitter, Facebook whoever they want to knock off that week.
I have a friend who owns a vending operation and I promised to sit down with him and show him how to design his own site with GoDaddy's tools and how to use Ad Words to market his service online. He was actually surprised at how easy it was to do. Now he wont win any design awards but for his market something that disseminates some simple info is all he needs. $200 is really a DIY budget and that is all I could really see that someone could do to service this market. It took me 3hr to teach him how to handle it himself. And if someone where instructing people how to do it themselves with these simple site builders they could make a decent freelancing salary. I just don't see a product here that could do better than the existing watered down site builders. Without professional a copywriter and graphic design you will get the same results, offshoring copywriting seems like a bad idea and offshoring graphics requires some management oversight. Until these can be automated I dont see the margins.
The reality is $200 barely covers 2hrs labor for a good mechanic. Developers require a lot more knowledge and skills than mechanics. For some reason people get the idea that this should not be the case but $200 for professional services set's up unrealistic expectations.
I have a friend who owns a vending operation and I promised to sit down with him and show him how to design his own site with GoDaddy's tools and how to use Ad Words to market his service online. He was actually surprised at how easy it was to do. Now he wont win any design awards but for his market something that disseminates some simple info is all he needs. $200 is really a DIY budget and that is all I could really see that someone could do to service this market. It took me 3hr to teach him how to handle it himself. And if someone where instructing people how to do it themselves with these simple site builders they could make a decent freelancing salary. I just don't see a product here that could do better than the existing watered down site builders. Without professional a copywriter and graphic design you will get the same results, offshoring copywriting seems like a bad idea and offshoring graphics requires some management oversight. Until these can be automated I dont see the margins.
The reality is $200 barely covers 2hrs labor for a good mechanic. Developers require a lot more knowledge and skills than mechanics. For some reason people get the idea that this should not be the case but $200 for professional services set's up unrealistic expectations.
First of all, this market would never hire a copy writer. They would throw some of their own words together. Hell, I don't even think this market knows what copy writing is.
You illustrated an excellent point though: It took 3 hours to teach someone how to use a "teach yourself" product. Amazing!
You illustrated an excellent point though: It took 3 hours to teach someone how to use a "teach yourself" product. Amazing!
My point was this request always comes with, I want professional services on a shoestring. They want you to build Facebook for $500. Facebook required a professional graphics team and a professional marketing team that has copywriters. That is before you ever get to code. My point is they expect Champagne on a beer budget.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if Facebook never had copywriters. You live in a stratified branding world my friend.
I would go even further and say, they're expecting Cristal for the price of tap water.
> Developers require a lot more knowledge and skills than mechanics
Oh? Care to elaborate on this statement or stop while you're ahead.
Oh? Care to elaborate on this statement or stop while you're ahead.
Yes I can, my grandfather, my father and myself (in my early life) where all Aircraft Mechanics. I am still a motor-sports mechanic (hobbyist for off-road motor-sports team) and restore old Jeeps, Bronco's and Scouts. From Frame to finish. I can tell you emphatically that software development is more complex than Mechanics. Further, I do hobbies work in the automotive electronics space and develop software that uses CAN, OBDII and hack ECU's. The development environments and list of technologies required are far more spare because it is an fairly heterogeneous environment but I did not say anything about automotive programming (though I do believe that it is less complex than web, mainly because it is not cluttered by technology soup) I was speaking specifically about pull a part off, replace it, run a diagnostic machine on it mechanic. I specifically chose mechanic because it is a trade I know a lot about given that it is the family business.
Was thinking the same thing, and it also reminded me of a scene from "Seinfeld":
Jerry: So, Puddy, this is a pretty good move for you, huh? No more "grease monkey".
David Puddy: I don't much care for that term.
Jerry: Oh. Sorry, I didn't know...
David Puddy: No, I don't know too many monkeys who could take apart a fuel injector.
Jerry: So, Puddy, this is a pretty good move for you, huh? No more "grease monkey".
David Puddy: I don't much care for that term.
Jerry: Oh. Sorry, I didn't know...
David Puddy: No, I don't know too many monkeys who could take apart a fuel injector.
Sorry to disappoint you, but here in the 3rd world, "$200 for professional services sets up unrealistic expectations." well... for U$ 100 an hour you can get world-class services here in Uruguay.
I get paid U$ 8/hour (I'm not that bad a developer, but probably below average and nowhere near world-class). For comparison, a good mechanic costs U$ 20/hour.
There are several companies here that thrive on the "too-low-margin-for-the-US" market, I should set up one too...
I get paid U$ 8/hour (I'm not that bad a developer, but probably below average and nowhere near world-class). For comparison, a good mechanic costs U$ 20/hour.
There are several companies here that thrive on the "too-low-margin-for-the-US" market, I should set up one too...
Once the American manager and sales team eats up $150 of that then you have $50 for at least 3 days work. Unless you are planning on having no US sales presence.
Yep that's too little even for us.
And your point is that the kind of "I need a website for U$ 200" don't know how to get to rentacoder or equivalent.
I wonder if they get to craigslist, or if you could have a high enough volume with a very small US presence.
One of my first jobs was for a small company that outsourced, it had an US phone, an Uruguay-based sales rep that spoke very good american-accent English.. maybe that's enough for the sales leads?
And your point is that the kind of "I need a website for U$ 200" don't know how to get to rentacoder or equivalent.
I wonder if they get to craigslist, or if you could have a high enough volume with a very small US presence.
One of my first jobs was for a small company that outsourced, it had an US phone, an Uruguay-based sales rep that spoke very good american-accent English.. maybe that's enough for the sales leads?
I just don't see it, I could be wrong it happens more than I would like. But I don't see how you can have a US presence. If someone can figure out that part they will have a big piece of the puzzle solved.
"I really don't need anything too advanced. Just a simple ecommerce/wiki/forum/community website. With a blog. It shouldn't take you more than a few hours. I actually could even do it myself no problem, but its just not worth my time. You know, I used to be the #1 COBOL programmer in the 70s."
At this point, I sarcastically interrupt "Would you like me to program your website in COBOL so you can maintain it?" They never get the satire...
"Oh, and really important. I like this website (shows random crappy website) that my friend has. Can you make it like this? You know, but different? We're ready to launch, all we need is the website, and we need it done ASAP. If you say its going to take 8 hours, I expect that you could get it done by tomorrow."
I usually respond to this with "Sure thing, if you pay in full now, I'll have it ready tomorrow morning." I'm never serious, but no one ever pulls out their checkbook either. Usually this ends the conversation, as if the website were so trivial, it doesn't warrant compensation.
My Analysis:
This happens to me almost weekly. I never accept these jobs obviously, but I find the apparent, almost desperate, need fascinating. Despite the plethora of "do-it-yourself" website builders (weebly, SquareSpace, Clover, heck even WordPress.com) these "small business" minded people aren't having their needs met. In fact, they are generally so technology inept (despite their COBOL tenure) that they wouldn't be able to navigate the "3 easy steps of building a website" on any hosted CMS if their lives depending on it.
I think this is where the hosted CMS market is failing. These companies are trying to make a CMS so easy, it's like making a Facebook fan page. The problem is, these small business people can't even make those! They usually hire a student to do that as well. What they really need is someone to hold their hand through the entire process. They demand the service of a $10k+ project budget with a top design firm, but have a $200 "I can do it myself if I wanted to" budget.
If someone could figure this out, they'd be siphoning up a billion dollar market easily. I don't think technology is the sole answer. I think it's a combination of extremely lean business processes with technology. Get cheap labor to do the hand holding while using the 3rd party CMS solutions. The small business wants to send an email describing what they want the homepage to say. They don't want to use a website builder to edit text. They don't want to do anything but talk to someone. The cheap labor can do the transition, and margins can be high.
I'd REALLY love to hear your thoughts on this. I never leave a problem as big as this just complaining. I always race to come up with a solution, and this one is a toughy.