Rollin with Google Pages

They're out there. Free services. Let that sink in.

Things that used to be available only to paying clients are now being offered at no charge. That makes an obvious argument in most people's minds for at least examining the service.

This is a good thing.

I'm sure that as a web developer, you've been in a similar situation: A friend of a friend strikes up a conversation with you. "Hey, you're that guy that's good with Internet stuff, right?" Yes. Yes, I suppose that's me. "I've been wanting to sell some things online..." Oh boy.

You know they aren't ready to invest in a data-driven, custom web solution. You know they will probably earn less than you charge for one hour's worth of service. But still, somehow, they believe that you owe it to them to become the entrepreneur through whom they become vicariously rich. They're certain they will hit it big, if you just hand them their slice of the pie. (Wouldn't us developers be rich already if it were that simple?)

Enter free services, stage left.

Sites like eBay, pages.google.com, and PayPal can be the hero in these circumstances. And for services that offer referral rewards (think Google ads, LinkShare, etc.), you may even earn a penny or two passing along the good news.

I have made several observations over the years based on my clients' budgets. $200 - $1,199 clients always seem to be interested mainly in *having* a website, and rarely seem to know why they want and/or need one. If they are in the $1,200 - $6,999 range, they're looking at a good solid business tool and, more importantly, are taking that tool seriously enough to benefit from having it in the first place. $7,000+ shows a committed attitude towards the Internet as an element of their business, and these are the clients that are most likely to see good revenue as a direct result of their web efforts. Under $200? Let me tell you about a wonderful little company called Google...

So many thanks to all the free services out there. I don't see anyone becoming wealthy from their efforts with you guys, but boy am I ever glad they can play with all the cool toys you're giving them! I believe that giving a person an answer to their "needs" in this manner is a responsible means of helping those who would otherwise be sure they had simply been "left out of the club" we net geeks are apparently in. ;]

I am creating diversion paths in my service descriptions for people who realize they aren't ready to invest in their digital dreams, but still want to toy around with them. I have created a Google Pages site [ http://spiderbyte.googlepages.com/ ] to test the service there, and also to have an example up in case I refer somebody to the service and they want an introduction.

I think this is a great way of building "muscle-memory" with potential future clients. You helped them find an answer once for free; when they are ready to invest in their pursuits, they'll remember where to go for answers once again.