Notetaker: Jennifer Astone
People in the room: coach, outsourcing engineering, artist, tech support engineer, business development, selling data mining services, writer & editor, sell web consulting, technical writer, photographer, web design, hi-speed internet to rural communities, grow businesses, philanthropic advisor 1. It is important to distinguish yourself as a unique service as opposed to a commodity. Everyone provides services where there is a lot of competition. If the client views you as a generic commodity, they want to know how much you cost. Successful freelancers provide added value. 2. Technique: Be really clear on what your structure is in terms of what you are selling. You give them the framework & the skeleton, not the guts. 3. You need to provide them with your unique brand. They are buying you. You want to be the Nordstrom not the Walmart. If they are viewing you based on quality and uniqueness, price is less an issue. 4. Start building value when you first meet a client. You need to build a relationship with a client and trust. Do they want more of this experience? If you give them the plan, you have devalued myself. 5. Technique: The $97 strategy session. There are the “free samplers” people. Don’t be that for them. Charge someone for a strategy session charged at $97 an hour and then talk. If the client is not satisfied with your work, provide a money back guarantee and/or apply the fee to your future contract. It is easier to sell something small and build from there. 6. Qualify the lead, (aka judge the client) what kind of client is this? You need to know if this is a “free sampler” type versus someone who is really serious. Also, find out how the decisions are made and who makes them. 7. There are 5 emotional stages that people go through during the sales call. See Lydia Snider for MeetUp Group where she will share these tips in a group called: Advanced Business Strategy and Networking MeetUp, Wednesday October 20th covering: Audiologo. 8. The #1 reason most businesses fail is lack of planning. It is pretty easy to frame that. My value in this planning process has got to be defined and I need to get that person to understand the value of that. 9. Price with numbers that end in 7. People buy products that end with numbers in “7” – this is scientifically tested in the US, e.g. $97 or $197. In Asian cultures, someone said “5” works best. 10. There are clients who are not going to be happy with anybody. Don’t take them. 90% of your aggravation will come from 10% of your clients. Cut them loose. The worst clients are the ones who want to pay the least. 11. In initial interview, find out what the client needs, don’t talk about yourself much. Ask the client to do some work. Another way to qualify the client is to ask them for information. They don’t always have their requirements together. I tell them I need the answers to X, Y, & Z so that I don’t have to do it. I am guiding them. I have become the expert that they are looking for. It took me 5 minutes to put out the first questions and put value on the planning phase. I didn’t need to talk about price. They are happy. Move focus away from the money they pay to the value they get. Ensure you know what the client needs. 12. Technique: The more questions I ask, the better the client likes me. It sets you up as the expert and the planning is key. Remember: Every business relationship is a personal relationship.Ask how they started, be curious, people like this.
2:40- 3:40 pm
WordPress 101 Session with Chris Burbridge – chris@chrisburbridge.com
Notes by Jennifer Astone – jen@ebold.com
What people want?
· Susan wants to write for wordpress sites but doesn’t know enough to talk with clients about WordPress.· I am migrating joomla to wordpress, how should I do this?· What is Genesis?· What is wordpress? · Can you build me a wordpress website and manage the content?· How does it fit into a freelancing business?· I want to work freelance developing content for K-12 students.· What are the beginner questions?
How do I make this WordPress design work for the client and embody their business?
Note: WordPress has 100s of themes available for a limited amount.
My advice, if someone had a few $1,000 to spend, then spend $70 on writing and good content.
Before you start ask the basic questions
What do you want people to do when they get to the website?
What is the purpose of the website going to be?
What is your target market?
WordPress is simple code for doing simple things. You can add themes, content etc.
WordPress is an open source. There is a blogging software that started to go dormant, Matt X started it, it is a collectively managed open source piece of software.
Overview
Start for free at WordPress.com, you sign up and start. (Prefab Condo)
Second, download WordPress & host your own website. (House)
Third, work with a designer like Chris, you pay for the development. (Custom Home)
Site Hosting – There are different reasons to pick Cruzio, MediaTemple or GoDaddy, i.e. walk into the office or call someone 24 hours per day. Chris likes MediaTemple, BlueHost is good as well. All of these hosts will enable you to download wordpress. They will have their own domaine name and will be able to do plug-ins etc. For $10-20 per month.
SEO – search engine optimization – is the study of how google finds your site. If you are selling vintage wines from Texas, how high do you show on the web site? There are a few things you can do for cheap and other things that cost you a lot.
Themes & Plug-ins Tips
I have heard many good things about Thesis. Atahulpa is a flexible theme.
I found a plug-in called “simple portfolio.” We all want an ideal portfolio. Upload pictures, make a slideshow, etc. What did the client say about the work and navigate between them. You can add many as you want.
Finding the right theme:
Watch out for poorly designed themes. Because it is open source, they are not always well-made. Something might breaks in a weird way. It may not take advantage of the new features. Graphic design viewpoint may not look good.
Resource: Smashing Magazine – Website for designers of info about good design and designers with freelancers in mind. Go for the best quality.
Thesis, Themeforest and Woothemes are of high quality. They will display a demo of that theme and how beautiful it will look. You will want to buy the one with the beautiful photos, you need to work backwards and figure out what info you have (content) and sketch it out and then decide upon a theme.
Themes can be updated, themes may not be as compatible with new versions of wordpress. What site are you getting it from? Do they have a support forum? How often does the theme get updated? How reputable is it? “Child themes” references a theme framework, this enables easier updates.
All of the content is stored separately from the theme. You can change your look and feel and run it through a series of different themes. You might that simple is fine. One of the beauties of WordPress, you can switch around and look at it. It is a lot of fun!
Remember Content! – If the words aren’t right or the font not big enough who cares about the images!
Slideshows – Nextgengallery is extremely flexible for managing slideshows and other good stuff.
Other Resources: Sara Eisenberg teaching a wordpress blogging course through Parks & Rec on Oct 12th. WordPress TV on line.
Speed – A plugin called wpsupercache that speeds things way up! Also w3totalcache also speeds things up.
Images – Free: Search Google: Advanced search images, option licensing “creative commons” Old paintings & engravings.
Medium Price: istockphoto, dreamstime,
Costly: If you don’t want to work hard getty images get a lot of money
Shopping cart add-on: There is a preeminent wordpress – wpecommerce – has bugs – is a bad plug-in, wpshopp that plug-in is quite good, a newer one phpurchase that is supposed to be excellent – people are loving it!
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