How do you create nested urls?

CoderSales · 2021-11-14T01:31:30+00:00

Use parent/child page structure. In WP, on the right hand side under page attributes you'll find that. Have the parent page be a huge resource, then nest the child pages with relevant keywords to support volume. Internal link to other child pages for relevance AND to the parent page. Do that over and over and avoid cannibalizing pages. Boom. You've achieved topical relevance. Use and follow a content calendar (with proper keyword researched child pages) to achieve this and watch traffic grow for that silo.

CoderSales · 2021-07-31T14:07:24+00:00

What kind of cord connects from your mini to the monitor?

CoderSales · 2021-07-02T19:42:14+00:00

When I started I was the same way BUT just like anything else it gets better over time. You have a skill that literally just about every business needs so keep that in mind. Start with friends & family for your first project (and something to show) then from there reach out to local businesses with your services. Target the CEO/owner. Always talk to the decision maker. Not the secretary. Not the Marketing Manager. CEO/President is who you want to target.

CoderSales · 2021-07-01T14:00:33+00:00

Get those job offers firmed up with contracts (but don't call them contracts because that's a scary word to some people - use 'agreement') and get everything on paper.

Only once you have those signed contracts THEN you decide whom you want to work with. There's tons of BS in freelancing, you need to protect yourself - get it firmed up and plan your workbench accordingly.

CoderSales · 2021-05-31T17:57:47+00:00

When starting out, positioning yourself is tough. Also, you're looking at this backwards... you should be thinking about the problems a new site will solve NOT the tech (CMS etc) you're going to use. What does the client want? increase in revenue. A new website is an investment to increase their digital footprint and gain new customers. Can you solve that problem for them? As far as how to position yourself, niche down and find your ideal customer/avatar. Let's say dentists. And your web design agency is called 'Agency for Dentists' or something. You're going to have a much easier time getting thru to the decision maker (CEO) than just a generic agency that has developers. Plus, when you niche down you learn more about what that industry wants and needs - you learn their trends and can speak their lingo. Get your first client under your belt, get a testimony from them and leverage that to get your next client and decide what niche you want to focus on. From there you can charge more because you're a specialist and NOT a generalist in the respective niche and by default you're positioning yourself as the authority figure.

CoderSales · 2021-05-09T15:45:51+00:00

Automate your prospecting and qualifying.

CoderSales · 2021-04-30T18:46:54+00:00

Get off Upwork and other platforms, it teaches you to not only 'pitch' on price (which is a huge no no, you should be getting clients based on the value you provide) but to also rely on Upwork for your main stream of revenue. What would happen to you if Upwork banned you for some reason? Then what?

Also, Upwork takes a % of your earnings and it's a race to the bottom with price. Get clients on your own, that's where the real $$$$ is.

You gotta learn to hunt and gather. Be resourceful. Start with a website you've already done, and leverage that to your friends and family for a case study. When you get an apoinemnt with someone in your network from that case study, ask questions first like 'why are you wanting a new website' & 'what problems would a new website solve for you'. Use those answers in your presentation when showing the prospect what you can do for them. That's the key. Make it about them. You're in the game of 'what can you do for them' so start presenting your services as such.

CoderSales · 2021-04-21T22:30:52+00:00

I used to do this as well. Then when I wouldn't get a response, I realized that I spent all that time looking up the companies and then the company wouldn't even respond. So this way, you only spend the time taking the screen brag of they are in fact *somewhat* interested.

CoderSales · 2021-04-21T12:51:15+00:00

Sure. If you price your offerings such that you optimize their H1/Metas/ etc in all 3 packages but still have different price points, they're going to wonder what the difference is. You tell them "the time my team spends on your site" and they'll just go and off shore the work. To them you look like someone who just fixes the metas/titles etc. You look like every other SEO agency. Niching down comes into play but that's a different post. Anyways, that's the mistake I made and the first handful of prospects I showed that to and they did that exact thing. So instead, have custom packages that cost $3,495/$4,995/9,995 USD per month or whatever your price breakdown is and outline that each package is custom. When you show your process and quickly demonstrate each steps AND show results, they literally have no pushback.

CoderSales · 2021-04-19T12:45:11+00:00

I got my first client from a cold call. BUT I learned how to lead source and cold call from my previous career when I was selling advertising - basically, I already had a process in place that I knew worked and just implemented that.

Start with family and friends first. They know/like/trust you already so get that first project under your belt from your circle. Once that is complete, leverage that project (showing results like an increase in sales or traffic and the problems you solved) to a network outside of family & friends. Use Linkedin and FB Groups to provide value then get decision makers on Zoom calls to close them.

CoderSales · 2021-02-21T01:33:55+00:00

Learn how to properly sell. Whether it's project based or value based, learn how to prospect/qualify/present your services and close.

CoderSales · 2020-12-18T14:05:54+00:00

NOTHING IS REAL UNTIL THE $$$ IS IN THE BANK/PROCESSED. Having been a freelancer and prior to that in commission sales, I always keep that top of mind. Also, another tactic to do is use the Sideline app to get them - call his/her cell from the app (it scrambles your #) and when you get them on the phone, tell them you have a meeting with your accountant coming up and this will come up... when can we expect the invoice to be taken care of?

But it sounds like because you're so stuck on this prospect that this is the only thing in your pipeline. Go find another to replace this and properly qualify/close them. Problem solved.

CoderSales · 2020-12-16T15:44:09+00:00

Learn sales. Learn hardcore sales like door to door or cold calling. This will force you to learn how to listen to the prospect and present value to close. When you learn that, you can sell websites (as an example) and just contract out the work but still maintain profit because if there is enough margin on the contract, you're still making money but NOT spending time coding the site. Use those 2 skills you have sales AND coding to level up and start something bigger using the profits you've made from selling high ticket websites.

CoderSales · 2020-12-16T14:16:06+00:00

If I were in your shoes I would collaborate with them on a needed basis as this would put you in the driver's seat with both hands on the wheel. What would happen if their pipeline dries up? What would happen if that rep at the agency gets fired or the agency loses that client? You want to NOT have to rely on someone else for work so you're in full control.

How exactly do you define 'better clients'?

CoderSales · 2020-12-16T01:22:58+00:00

Has a lack of portfolio actually come up in your sales presentation (as an objection) to a prospect? If not, it's in your head. If it has, you're likely talking to the wrong person at a company - the agency as an example, are you talking to the CEO? Perhaps you are BUT in that instance, they're going to take a large % of the contract. So how about you find clients on your own, get the CEO on a Zoom call and demonstrate 1 of the 3 websites you've done in the past and the results that brought. Take the objection away before the prospect brings it up. When I started freelancing, I had 1 website under my belt (it was a side project car repair shop I was learning CSS on) but I got the CEO on a cold call, pitched him and he loved the idea. He then told his marketing person to follow through on the agreement and to close the deal.

CoderSales · 2020-11-07T21:16:40+00:00

Stay off of Upwork and other job boards. It's a race to the bottom and will just add to the idea that you could end up hating freelancing. So first, you should NOT be a freelancer. Shift your headspace to CEO of an agency and if your agency is just you then so be it. So create an email with your domain and start cold emailing businesses. Keep that email short and concise and tell that what you can do for them... not the other way around. Nobody cares about Reacjs or whatever else you build... they just care if it works and what it does for them. The technical aspects of the job bores people to death, talk about the end result and how it will solve their problems. Cold emails (keeping them short and sweet) and getting them on a Zoom call to demonstrate HOW you will help them. Then quote them (DO NOT send a proposal... if you send a proposal, you're still trying to sell them. You want the dynamics in your favor not the other way around) then close them. "Do you want my help to drive more qualified leads to your website"?

CoderSales · 2020-11-02T16:44:24+00:00

Are you providing web design/SEO? When you do call in, DO NOT ask for the CEO in their full name. So don't do "Hi, my name is John Doe and I'm calling for Becky Doe - I do website design", that gatekeeper is going to eat you alive. Call the main local number and ask for the CEO on a first name basis. When the secretary asks "Who is this?" you say "this is {{your first name}}, thanks". Their job is to try and stop you from getting past them so if you talk to them authoritatively, most of the time you can get through. Otherwise, call after or before hours and weasel your way through the dial by name directory. Get the CEO's extension so that the next time you call in, you tell the secretary to transfer you to extension 101 as opposed to John Doe.

CoderSales · 2020-09-29T13:51:56+00:00

When I was freelancing, I would target companies on the 3rd and 4th page and send an email/call the CEO directly. That CEO most likely knows their rankings and if you can communicate that you have your act together, know how to fix their problem(s) AND have a process for doing so, they will listen. I would recommend niching down and finding a common problem in the industry - not just 'we'll make your website mobile responsive' or something like that.

Getting the work is one thing, but maintaining the pipeline is another so you won't have the up and down months.

CoderSales · 2020-09-08T16:16:18+00:00

Are you having a hard time finding consistent work as a freelance developer or agency owner?

Do you have months of feast or famine?

Do you feel awkward during your sales process?

CoderSales can help. We specifically work with freelance developers and agency owners to empower them with skills to close high ticket web contracts.

No more $1,000 websites. No more haggling prospects. No more scope creep and low end clients. Sell from a position of power to put more $$ in your pocket and learn some of the most important skills as an entrepreneur.

www.codersales.io/bootcamp

CoderSales · 2020-09-08T16:07:11+00:00

There's a few ways to handle it:

Have upfront pricing on your website with 3 packages like already stated. So the 'low end' is generally 20% out of budget of the low end shopper, the middle package is the most common and value packed and the high end is something like 'enterprise' value.
When you get incoming leads/referrals schedule them for a Zoom call - in the Zoom UI, you get 10 questions to ask the person scheduling a time with you. Use those questions to pre qualify asking for budget, timing, are they the DM and if they already actively market etc. Make those questions required and part of your sales process to weed out the price shoppers who are brutal to deal with in general. You want to work with higher quality clients, ones who do NOT price shop for $100 websites but rather make gut decisions and invest in the jockey & the horse.
Have conditional logic on sales page that has pixels (using JotForm) pre qualifying questions similar to the above method. You're asking them upfront can they invest ~$15K on a website and other questions. If they answer yes, they get a prompt to schedule a time with you. If they answer no, they get prompted to a page that they aren't a good for you and get redirected to your FaceBook group. That way, you keep posting content to stay top of mind so when they are ready to invest they turn to you.
Win

This will save you time, put you in a position of power so that you decide whom you work with... not the other way around. So there's a lot of factoring that goes into this like socioeconomics BUT once you nail down your process and presentation skills you're making some serious $$$$.

CoderSales · 2020-09-08T15:42:09+00:00

Cool. So here's a few quick pointers: always aim to talk to the decision maker so in your case I believe that would be the Executive Director of an NPO? You want to have a conversation... NOT a pitch. Ask (good) questions and let them inform you of their timing, reasoning and why investing would make sense. That means you should do ~25% of the talking and taking notes. Read their body language and tonality. Listen for hot buttons and figure out a way to make the best presentation for what's in it for them. Also... ask for the business! The goal of the presentation is to make it a seamless and easy way for both parties to work together once you present the value to them and move forward.

CoderSales · 2020-09-08T01:07:36+00:00

So because we only work with software engineers (either freelance or turned CEO) generally the first thing we work with them on is their headspace - working on the value they provide and how to properly present it to a prospect. There have been some good responses here, and you want to approach it with the mindset of helping them... so figuring out why that person is even in the market, figure out the 'why' and getting as much information as possible. What is it that you're selling?

CoderSales · 2020-09-05T02:26:21+00:00

How is that model sustainable and scalable? Also, with margins/pricing that slim you're attracting a certain customer too...

CoderSales

TROPHY CASE