How I Made $1,100 Selling Websites in Two Weeks (October Update)

Quick update. The first half of October went better than I thought it would.

I made $1,100 from my website work. That's from 2 websites I sold, plus one monthly marketing deal. It's not crazy money. But I'm pretty proud of it, so I wanted to share how it went.

The numbers

Here's the breakdown:

• $300 was the final payment on a website I built for one client.
• $650 was a new website for another client.
• $150 a month is for social media marketing for that same new client.

So that's $950 from the 2 websites. Add the $150 for marketing and it comes out to $1,100 for the first half of the month.

The sale that surprised me

The $650 one is the one I keep thinking about.

When I contact a business, I show them a template website. It's a ready site I set up for them. That way they can see it right away, instead of just hearing me talk about it.

Usually that's just the start. Most clients get really into their website. They want lots of changes from the template I showed them. That's fine, it's their business and they care about it. But it means more time and a lot of back and forth.

This client was different. They didn't ask for a bunch of changes. So it went really fast:

• It took less than a week. I think it was about 4 days.
• I only put in about 2 hours of work.
• I got paid $650 for it.

Honestly I was surprised how quick I sold it. That was an easy $650.

And then it got even better. The same client signed up for monthly social media marketing from me. That's another $150, and it comes every month.

That part is a really nice bonus. A website is paid for once. Monthly marketing keeps coming in, as long as I keep doing a good job for them.

What I want to get better at

I'm happy with this. But I also know I can do more.

There are two things I want to work on:

• Pitching. I want to get better at how I talk to owners when I show them their site. A better pitch means more people say yes.
• Calling more. More calls means more chances. It's pretty simple. I just have to actually do it.

If I get better at pitching and I make more calls, I could make more than $1,100. That's the goal for the rest of the month.

But for right now? I'm pretty proud of myself.

If you sell websites to local businesses too

Here's what I'd take from my first half of October:

• Show them a ready site first. Don't just tell them what you could build. Show them. When they can see a real site, it's way easier to say yes. And sometimes they barely want any changes, like my $650 client.
• Offer a monthly add-on. Once the site is done, ask if they want help with something ongoing, like their social media. One sale can turn into money every month.
• Make more calls. I'm saying this to myself as much as to you.

Need businesses to call? A good place to start is businesses whose website is broken or down. They already paid for a website once, so they know why it matters. I wrote a step-by-step guide on how to find local businesses with broken or down websites.

That "show them a ready site first" idea is what Locasly is built around. It's the same way I work with my own clients. Locasly finds local businesses on Google Maps. It flags the ones with no website or a site that's down. It scores the sites they do have. Then it makes a website mockup from a template, with a link you can send to the owner.

Locasly is free right now while we launch. If you want to try the same way I sell websites, start with Locasly for free.

Talk soon,
Gerardo