Off The Wall Idea Off The Top Of My Head

cscarpero · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 22

I was at a conference a couple of weeks ago for another industry and there was a guy there selling pre built websites. He was selling these templates for I believe $2000 down and $79 a month. Ridiculous if you ask me.

I noticed a few things about the people there:
They know they needed a website but had no clue what to do
They wanted something easy and non techy

The problem is the regular template sites are cheap, but hard to customize, usually not much in the way of options available.

So here is my idea. Use rapid niche websites to build template driven Word Press based websites for certain small business people like insurance agents, Realtors, mortgage etc. Sell the templates to those people and show them how easy it is to make updates themselves with Word Press.

You could easily get $20-50 for the templates.

But the back end potential is huge. They still need:
hosting (at least $65 comm)
autoresponder
marketing books and advice

It could add up fast! But, they would still get a better and cheaper deal than what's on the market right now.

boysbach · Joined: 27 Dec 2005 Posts: 195

It's a great idea but also you could be looking at even some of the adsense websites doing the rounds, change them by adding in some ebooks to start them off, but also guiding them how to get the site uploaded etc. For many people they have no basic knowledge of computers and are wanting to learn.

cscarpero · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 22

Yeah, that would be a way to work it too, but completely different than what I'm thinking. There are plenty of mom and pop small business owners that know that they need to be online, but have no idea where to begin.

I'm thinking like insurance agents, realtors, mortage brokers, real estate investors etc etc.

I have been someone who has hired web designers and have been a web designer myself, so I know that people don't want to be involved with the technical aspects of web design, but everybody wants to be able to update their website quickly, easily and effeciently.

boysbach · Joined: 27 Dec 2005 Posts: 195

Yes there is a whole market out there waiting for someone to help them. I am just starting with rapid niche websites, hence the basic question. Would they need the software or would the templates be a plug in for them to use?

cscarpero · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 22

Well, for the market you are looking at, which would be internet marketing newbies, I would think that promoting the affilaite program, along with some how to videos, some articles, and backending it with autoresponders, hosting etc. would be the best approach.

Your audience might not know how to set up c panel, ftp, cmod setting or any of that kind of stuff, but I would assume that they would be willing to learn.

You could even give them both options: here is how you do it, but if you are still clueless, pay me a consulting fee .

The business I'm thinking is small business professionals who don't know how to set up ftp and don't care to know. They just want it up there already. But, they would love to be able to make updates on the fly, which would be my USP over them hiring a traditional web design service. In my version, a set up fee plus flat fee per month with hosting included would probably make the most sense.

blackstone · Joined: 05 Dec 2005 Posts: 13

Depending on how you do this, you may be in violation of Jeff's license.
You can't sell your RNW sites.
What you can do is build the price of RNW into the site building and get your clients their own copy for updates.
They then have the capability to update their own as well as all updates.
You can make the affiliate commission.
I am fortunate to be in a small mastermind group with Jeff and I had the same idea until he he pointed that out.
What I have been kicking around is owning the sites myself. What I would do is register the domain, provide hosting build the sites and update for a set up fee and monthly charge.
I like residual.
I haven't run that past Jeff to see if that's within the license terms. But since you brought it up, I'll do that and post back here.

cscarpero · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 22

Thanks for the heads up on that. I will have to keep that in mind. Now that I have used RNW for a couple days now, I realized that its not exactly a newbie program. So your full service route makes a lot of sense. Actually, that's more the direction I have been thinking lately anyway.

If and when I pursue this route, I will run it by him to make sure there are no violations.

Carlos

blackstone · Joined: 05 Dec 2005 Posts: 13

No problem, Carlos.
Hated to throw water on your idea. Just wanted to make sure you didn't run into problems.
I think it is fairly newbie friendly and I base everything on the "if I can do it, it's simple"concept.
You see, when you look up "techno-dunce" in the dictionary, my picture is there.
However, I think your potential clients, generally, want results and would rather someone do it for them.
If there are some that like to get their hands dirty, then set them up, sell them the software and offer a little customer service until they get up to speed.
Actually, I was just getting ready to ask Jeff the question I posed above when the notification came in about your response.
I'll post it when I get it for your info.

zaba99 · Joined: 19 Dec 2005 Posts: 27

I am not familiar with the Rapid Niche Websites, but how does it rate to XsitePro?

Thanks
Duane

blackstone · Joined: 05 Dec 2005 Posts: 13

Hi, Duane.
Xsitepro creates static html pages while RNW creates Word Press blogs that look like web pages.
In addition, you get search engine benefits by pinging.
Traditional blogs post articles in chronological order and users have to search for posts that are archived.
RNW has user defined categories that are keyword friendly to help with your optimization.
Rapid Formatter, a feature included, allows you to customize your look and feel quickly on your desktop, change it with a few clicks or change back.
I am a techno-dunce. If you look that up in the dictionary. you'll see my picture.
My definition of how good a product is includes "even I can do it."
I only use RNW to build sites.
I own Xsite pro and it is a great tool but I never finished any sites with it. Too many features that were too hard for me to find.
I'm not bashing XSP, just that RNW has mmany advantages that include ease of use.
Hope this helps

richerbrat · Joined: 12 Feb 2006 Posts: 137

Sounds like a great idea. I bet many businesses would like a website built for them, with idiot proof updating. You would need to sell them on why it is important to update it tho.

I would also target businesses who already have naff websites with no traffic. Explain to them where they're going wrong and put it right for them.

Rosalind Gardner · Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 2:01 pm Post subject:

HI All,

Definitely a great idea, and quite a few companies are making serious dough selling packages like that to 'offline' people (unlike us online people).

My concern would be for the amount of support that would need to be given.

You'd need a great 'team' in place to handle all the 'how do I?' questions if you didn't want to handle it yourself.

Marketing 'web hosting' and 'web sites' might be interesting as well... tons of competition out there... unless you do it offline - the way that you saw at the conference.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers,
Ros

blackstone · Joined: 05 Dec 2005 Posts: 13

Thanks for weighing in on this topic,Ros.
This has been on my pile of things to get around to for some time.
Here are some random thoughts from that pile.
1. I definitely agree that your marketing has to be done off line. Many small businesses have no web presence and don't know the benefit of having a site.
2. Just making a site is not a service. I have heard that the only reason to have a site is to sell something. The hard part will be to convince your prospective clients that it needs to be a marketing site and not something that has their smiling face and says "shop at Joe's"
3. All offline marketing from the business needs to have their address.
4. Lead generation and capture are important. You can then use email to offer specials to through an email club. This will allow the business to reduce marketing costs or increase the effectiveness through targetted leads.
5. I might create "how to" videos for the business to be able to view to accomplish simple tasks in order to reduce customer support. And/or a good FAQ.
6. Direct response marketing principles for the client and your own business. Read Dan Kennedy's Ultimate Marketing Plan.
This is a short list. Maybe no one is interested but I would be glad to add or see someone else's ideas on this.