The Webmaster BUSINESS Masters Course was written for Webmasters who are ready to stop dreaming and | Page 8

assembled a
decent portfolio, secured some testimonials, and honed your skills, you can then
move on to mid-range, custom design work.
You may, of course, decide to stick to making lower-cost Web sites because you
enjoy that type of work and you find the income level satisfactory. Or you could
go for the combo. It’s up to you. It’s your business (literally) as to which
segment of your niche market you want to target.
The SBI! system will increase your profit margin for every contract, regardless of
which price range it fits into. With SBI!, you will be more productive. It will help
you build sites faster and make more money per site. (SBI! looks after the time-
consuming, tedious tasks involved in traffic generation.) You can have more
happy clients with less effort on your part! See http://webmaster.sitesell.com/
And now it’s time for the final marketing secret for your Webmaster business to
be revealed. It’s short and sweet.
Always write content directed at your primary clients. This applies to all your
promotional efforts -- Web site, direct mail, phone calls, print advertising,
You might be tempted to make your copy appeal to other groups that you think
may want to hire you. Don’t. When you identify other potential markets, run a
separate advertising effort for them.
The most profitable marketing is specific to a clearly identified market. If you try
to make it appeal to everyone, it will appeal to no one. And your site will be in

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the Search Engine hinterland, far away from those traffic-producing first-page
search results positions.
For the best ROI, don’t dilute your marketing efforts. Keep your focus on
people who already want/need your services -- your niche.
It’s a good time to note that sometimes you will attract prospects within your
niche that are definitely not your ideal clients. People will contact you who want
very complex Web sites for a cheap price like $200 or $300, or by people who
believe that everything on the Internet is free, and/or by people who do not
realize the distinction between a Web site and an effective Web site.
Your first response will be to try to sell the value of your services to these
people. You will spend precious time sending/answering e-mails and writing
proposals. Then, without any warning, there is a break in communication and
you don’t hear from them again. What a waste! These people were not your
target market in the first place.
After you have done this a few times, you will realize that people with unrealistic
expectations almost never become paying clients, even if they appear to be part
of your target market. What’s the solution?
In this case, respond to their e-mail (or follow-up phone messages) with a
standard e-mail (customize the template as required). Clearly outline your
services and price ranges. Then wait for a response. The ball is in their court.
It’s important to educate potential clients, but for the most part, be very selective
with your time. You will almost never get certain prospects to sign on the dotted
line. Try not to show impatience or frustration. Treat all prospects with courtesy
and professionalism. Even if they don’t hire you, they may pass your name to
others. “Word of mouth” promotion can go either way… positive or negative.
The latter is preventable.
If you walk away from this Course and forget everything else, remember these
three important marketing concepts or secrets. They will make the difference
between the success and failure of your business...
• Web sites are marketing tools.
• Identify your most profitable niche (including a particular segment within that
target group). Find the balance between being too broad or too narrow.
• For the best ROI, don’t dilute your marketing efforts. Keep the focus on your
niche.
The next chapter, “Designing for Success,” crosses the line between design and
marketing…

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4. Designing For Success
When inexperienced designers start a Web site design, they typically begin by
laying out the major functional blocks of the home page or by doing a color and
graphic layout.
But designing a site is just the same as building a house. You have to start with
the foundation and work up.
If the foundation isn't solid, it will need reinforcement work later on. If the
foundation isn't the right shape, then the final form of the house will not be what
you need. Trying to fix a foundation after it has a house built on top of it is an
expensive and time-consuming process.
A Web site is the same way. The functions of a site will drive its final form. You
need to define the requirements as completely as possible before you start the
site layout.
Why? Because if you don’t, you may have to throw away what you have done
and start over.
Not defining the requirements early can easily double the amount of work you
have to