Making extra money at home
by building websites

In these times of recession we are all interested in making extra money at home, aren't we?

Have you considered building websites for local businesses? If you have already created a site for your own business, you will understand the power of being "online". However, many businesses today still do not have a web presence and are being left behind!

The "big boys" have seen the light and they often have sophisticated sites that run alongside their core businesses. Those sites may not add greatly to their profit margins, but if all they do is help maintain market share then building them has certainly been a worthwhile investment.

First there was the market place...

Smaller businesses have been slower to see the benefits. They tend to operate with much tighter financial restrictions, but conversely, they are the ones most at risk.

So there is a huge potential market, who are often more likely to listen to an older person than a youngster, when it comes to "all things technical". They may already see the need for a website, and are "pre-sold" on the idea, they just need someone they can trust to convince them that now is the time to go ahead.

So why haven't they done anything about getting online yet?

Common reasons put forward include...

• "It's just too expensive!"
• "We don't have anyone in-house that knows how to do it."
• "It will take too long!"
• "My competitor hasn't got one either."

Do these sound like excuses to you? The truth may be that building a website scares them. They don't know how to do it, or how it will impact their bottom line. So it has been put to the back of their mind, occasionally rearing its head when a customer asks for their web address.

If you can offer them an economical package and show them how much they will gain from being online, you are on the road to making extra money at home. A win-win all round.

Do they already have a website?

How do you find out whether a company has a current website?

A good starting point is to look through the advertising section of any local newspapers or magazines. Look carefully at each advert and check to see if a website is mentioned. If not, then do a quick Google search to see if their company name brings up any results. Still nothing? Then add them to your list of potential people to approach.

If you do see a web address, go check it out online. See how many pages they have, whether it has any interesting content, and if they are already selling products online.

If the site looks as though it may be doing a good job already you can do one last check before moving on. Go to this page and do the Alexa Point test on their domain name. This will give an indication of how much traffic their site is getting. If the number given is in the millions, then that company could probably do with some help! If on the other hand it is in the top 1,000,000 then they are probably not going to be your target customer.

What package to offer and how much to charge

Price, of course, will play a part in whether the customer is interested in your offer to create a site for them. This is where you will have to make a choice between using a cheap website host or something that is more likely to increase their business (read on for my recommendation).

On top of the basic hosting costs you will need to charge them for your time. After all the whole idea is that you end up making extra money at home creating the site.

"But how do I know how much to charge?" I hear you asking.

Before you quote a price, try to find out how much work will be involved. Talk to the potential client and ask them what they would want to offer on their site. Will they want to sell products online or just give information? Will they want lots of pages or just a few? Their answers will give you an initial idea of how much work is involved.

For a small site it might be best to just give an overall price for the job. Do stipulate how many pages will be included in that fee, however, in case they decide they want extras later on.

For a potentially larger site you might prefer to charge by the page or by the hour.

Updating the site

It is also important to discover how they intend to keep the site up to date. Will they want to take over running the site and uploading changes once it is complete? Or will they prefer to leave that up to you?

If they would like to take over at some point, then it is wise to build the pages via a simple to use system such as the SBI! concept. Then it is just a case of them adding simple building blocks to a page to add in extra information or new pages.

If they are happy to pay you on a continuing basis, then you have more leeway. You could still use the system above, which has many benefits, and upload your own HTML files. Then you have the best of both worlds.

Potential for growth

If you do a great job of the first few sites, then word of mouth will probably play a big part in your making extra money at home plans. In fact, you could end up working more hours than you had in mind!

What if you would rather find the customers, sell them the idea of their own website, and then let someone else do the work?

The system I mentioned above can help you here too.

They offer a site building service where they will actually build the site for a set price depending on the number of pages required, and will PAY YOU a commission on every order you take. Ideal if you prefer the social aspect of going out and visiting people to talk about having a site, but don't want to do the building yourself.

I think you will agree, that the potential for making extra money at home is only limited by the number of people you talk to!

If you're looking for solid, no-nonsense information on starting and running a real home business, my friend Colin shares some wonderful advice on his site www.eaziHOMEBIZ.net.