Starting my second business - help with webdesign for trademen and small business owners

[stocks1j]

Hi everyone, first post on this forum so 1) I hope this is in the right thread. 2) I hope someone can help me here / has experience in similar business.

So I started my first business last year hiring out camping equipment in the UK. Started in August and by the time the year ended I had made around £1000, not enough to cover my expenditure but a great start. I had projected to make around £3k this year and already have around £2k worth of bookings, considering its only April I think I will smash this target.

So now for business number 2, I have friends who are tradesmen, from locks and alarms, electricians to plumbers, none of them have a website! Which I find crazy, I also have 2 friends who own food trucks, they advertise on facebook but again, no website, I see this as a huge opportunity and they are all on board with me creating sites for them, so first 6 clients are already sorted.
I have experience with designing sites and will only be asking these friends to cover what it costs me to create the sites plus maybe £5 a month profit (mates rates). As I would like to then use their sites to built a portfolio...I hope I am making sense so far!

My question is, what would be the best hosting platform to host domains and create the sites, I see hostinger has the ability to host 100 sites with their most basic package, but I would like to understand what is the best platform / if anyone has any experience in doing this.

Thanks in advance.

James

 

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[Dark Water]

Welcome, have you read the books?

You are at step one of your journey which requires you to do the most basic research - figuring out things like hosting, which platform you want to use, how you want to design the website - these are things you have to do on your own and the forum cannot solve for you.

With that said, it doesn't make sense to give away free websites in the same sense it wouldn't make sense to go cut your friend's grass for free. The amount of actual work that has to go into a quality website is high even after you've optimized your process and workflow (never mind just starting) and it's always an ongoing battle.

 

[Spenny]

My question is, what would be the best hosting platform to host domains and create the sites, I see hostinger has the ability to host 100 sites with their most basic package, but I would like to understand what is the best platform / if anyone has any experience in doing this.

I used cloudways and it was all fine. I don't believe it matters what you pick since you can change it all later. Just get something out there.

So now for business number 2, I have friends who are tradesmen, from locks and alarms, electricians to plumbers, none of them have a website! Which I find crazy, I also have 2 friends who own food trucks, they advertise on facebook but again, no website, I see this as a huge opportunity and they are all on board with me creating sites for them, so first 6 clients are already sorted.

Some thoughts overall:

• I'd be cautious of mates' rates. That only works well if it's a symbiotic relationship, e.g., a plumber helps out a sparkie and vice versa. Each has skills the other doesn't. If you discount the burger van as part of mates' rates, best hope they give you burgers for free. Don't just wack out discounts everywhere.
• Another thing I'd do is total up the costs of your time, hosting, and maintenance, add some profit, and then pitch to those prospects again. Make some money dammit, you're not a charity.
• They're only clients if they've handed over the money to you, especially if they are friends. Many friends will nod their heads along, but real confirmation is if someone pays you.
• Another thing I would ask is how it will benefit the client by having a website. Somewhere to run Google ads? Somewhere to fulfil inquiries/jobs? If you answer that question you have a clear need that you can pitch.

 

[StrikingViper69]

I think getting started on the cheap is great - do some work, get some proof and testimonials, then you have proof your service delivers value. Then charging money is easier.

 

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[EMH]

Hi everyone, first post on this forum so 1) I hope this is in the right thread. 2) I hope someone can help me here / has experience in similar business.

So I started my first business last year hiring out camping equipment in the UK. Started in August and by the time the year ended I had made around £1000, not enough to cover my expenditure but a great start. I had projected to make around £3k this year and already have around £2k worth of bookings, considering its only April I think I will smash this target.

So now for business number 2, I have friends who are tradesmen, from locks and alarms, electricians to plumbers, none of them have a website! Which I find crazy, I also have 2 friends who own food trucks, they advertise on facebook but again, no website, I see this as a huge opportunity and they are all on board with me creating sites for them, so first 6 clients are already sorted.
I have experience with designing sites and will only be asking these friends to cover what it costs me to create the sites plus maybe £5 a month profit (mates rates). As I would like to then use their sites to built a portfolio...I hope I am making sense so far!

My question is, what would be the best hosting platform to host domains and create the sites, I see hostinger has the ability to host 100 sites with their most basic package, but I would like to understand what is the best platform / if anyone has any experience in doing this.

Thanks in advance.

James

Hi James - sounds like you at the start of what will be an exciting business journey for you. I also started down the web design / development / SEO rabbit hole not that long ago so can relate. Have done a couple free portfolio projects and working on those initial paid projects... At this point I am willing to do one or two projects for a low $200 / $300 just to get the ball rolling and will adjust up.

Started using Webflow to build and host and so far I like it so can recommend it. Check it out, you may like it too.

-Edward

 

[Paydette]

My first agency basically did the same thing but I never went with friends discount. Hate the idea bc the cheapest clients are the worst and you feel super obligated to give them your best.

Instead, I just created 20 websites as my samples. It didn't matter that they weren't real businesses. I use namecheap for my domains and hosting. They have a hosting package that you can get for about $60/year that has unlimited hosting and comes with 50 free ssl certificates. So, just pay for your domains and you're good to go. For less than $300 you can have 20 websites up and running. I also recommend Oxygen builder.

 

[MichelleWood]

I never went with friends discount. Hate the idea bc the cheapest clients are the worst and you feel super obligated to give them your best.

Welcome @stocks1j !

I'm not in the web building business, however I agree with @Paydette - never discount from the get-go (regardless if friends or not). Your time is valuable! When starting out it's inevitable you'll make errors, underestimated time, resources, etc. That will eat away at your profit margin, causing you to make losses and end up working for free. Instead, once completed, (assuming the job goes well) you can always provide a discount saying something along the lines of: 'here's a discount of $200, I actually got it done quicker than anticipated' or 'hosting service was cheaper, etc'. If the client is already happy, this will make them even happier - it's a little bit 'under promise / over deliver' - everyone loves a surprise discount right?

With regards to doing work for friends, I try to avoid this like the plague. Sure sometimes they're truly grateful and want to help support your venture. From my own experience I have found 'friends' often don't know what your product/service's true value is. So for example, I may quote a landscape job that's true value is $7k discounted for a friend to $3k - my labour free, no margins on anything. Yet said friend may think this is expensive, it gets awkward. Friend doesn't think their getting that good a deal and you end up pissed that you're making $0. 'Friends' can also be really fussy and question things. Where as, an organic client off the street, if they choose to do business with you, they trust you're a professional and know what you're doing.

Just my 2c worth.​

 

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