Darren Jamieson: On this week’s Engaging Marketeer podcast, I wanted to do an episode aimed at web designers. If you’re not a web designer or a digital marketing company, this might not be of interest to you, because it’s really aimed at new web designers—people getting into the business for the first time. I want to go through three things we’ve done over the years that we regret; mistakes we’ve made—things we wouldn’t do again. I’m not saying that you, as a web designer or digital marketer, shouldn’t do these, because you might feel they’re right for you and they might work out. But when we’ve done them, they haven’t worked out, and I’m going to explain why.
At some point, you will get people coming to you offering these three things, and they’ll think it’s the first time you’ve ever heard it. I still get offered these now. In some instances—like the first one I’m going to cover—I know what they’re going to say before they even say it.
The first one is when a business owner wants a website but doesn’t want to pay for it. That’s the first red flag. They want to “partner” with you. They want you to build a lead-generation website: you design it, build it, host it, manage it, and all the leads go to them for whatever their industry is. They’ll then close those leads or sell those leads or whatever they do—and split the profit with you 50/50. Sounds fantastic, right?
I’ve had that pitched to me probably 20–25 times over the 16 years we’ve been at Engage Web. Most recently it was last year—a financial adviser not too far from our office. He emailed: “I’ve got an idea I want to go through with you. Can we have a one-to-one?” I knew immediately what he was going to say because that’s how they broach it: “I’ve got an idea I want to run by you.” Oh yeah—you want me to build you a lead-gen website for free and share the profit? “Yeah—how did you know?” Well, this isn’t my first rodeo, pal.
Here’s why it doesn’t work. We actually did this about 15 years ago in the equity-release industry. Someone came to us: “I’m in equity release; the leads are worth this much; here are my competitors. Build the site, optimise it for equity-release search terms, get inquiries coming in, I’ll handle the calls and the mortgages, and we’ll split the commission.” It seemed like a good idea. The SEO was done internally; “it’s just time,” right? What could go wrong?
Firstly, when someone suggests this, they usually have no money—no skin in the game. They’re not investing anything: no money, no real time. You’re doing all of that.
Secondly, because they’ve invested nothing, they don’t value it—your effort, your work, or sharing profits. In their head you’ve “thrown a website together that takes five minutes.” Thirdly, if it doesn’t work in the first month or two—and something like equity release will take far longer to generate quality leads—if they get offered a job, they’ll disappear. Which is exactly what happened. They took a job, we were left with a site that was starting to get inquiries—and we got nothing because they were gone.
If you build a website for somebody and they don’t pay for it because they’re “partnering,” they won’t value what you’ve done, and they can walk at a moment’s notice for the next shiny penny. Don’t do it. Caveat: it might work for you if you truly trust the person and they’ll see it through—you might get a success. I can only say we would never do it again. We’ve been pitched the same idea many times since, and we say no because we know what happens.
The second one is similar, and we did this around 2010–2011. You’re hungry for new clients as a startup. You reduce costs; maybe you even do a website for free for someone because they’re a startup. That’s the worst thing you can do. We were on a panel of business advisers for a nonprofit—there was a business coach, someone in offline marketing, us for web design, someone for paid ads. Businesses would come for advice: how to start up, what insurance they need, how to get the website running. We decided we’d do three or four free websites for startups deemed the most worthy ideas. These were simple brochure sites: we did the design, build, hosting, and management for free.
How many of those startups lasted 12 months? [expletive] all. Here’s the problem: the clients who pay the least cause the biggest headaches. The clients who pay the most value your time, expertise, and what you can do for them—they don’t cause big headaches. The clients that pay nothing don’t value you at all.
You’re just a tool to them—no better than a spatula
They don’t care how you did it. You did it for free; therefore your service must be worth nothing.
So my advice to every new web designer: if you get involved in nonprofit advising, great—give advice. Help them. But don’t do free websites for startups. They won’t grow with you and then start paying you for marketing. You won’t make a profit; it will be a headache, and you’ll get nothing in return. By and large, those businesses won’t value what you’ve done.
The third one—something I’ll cover in another podcast, and I’ll probably have to run it past legal first—goes like this: a business owner says, “My previous website was built by another company. I’ve lost contact with them or fallen out with them.” First red flag. “I like the site as it is. I want you to recreate it—copy it.” Do not do that. Or they’ll say, “Here’s a competitor site I love—copy it but change to my brand colours.” Don’t do that either.
Whenever someone says, “Copy this website,” or “Copy my previous website; it doesn’t need changing,” run a mile. We had a tender a couple of weeks ago from a company who’d looked at a site we did for the same charity in another area. They said: “We want you to tender. Our existing website is really good; it doesn’t need changing.” What do you want then? If you copy a site or just swap the colour and logo, where’s the value you’re adding? You’re just a copy-and-paste merchant. Any idiot can do that. You’ll be on a hiding to nothing.
We did that last year. I didn’t realise that’s what had been agreed—someone on our team had said yes—and it was a disaster. I’ll cover that in another podcast once it’s been legally checked. But as a web designer, if someone says “copy this site,” don’t do it. You’re a creative. Their goals might be different now; their customer flow and usage might be different. Web design evolves—systems and platforms change. Don’t copy a website—ever.
We now have a golden rule: if a client asks us to copy a site, it’s not happening.
So, for web designers starting out: never do these three things. If you do, it’s on your own head. If someone wants a collaboration where you build a site for free in exchange for revenue share, don’t do it—they won’t follow through because they don’t value you. If a startup wants a free site with a promise of future work, don’t do it—they won’t value you, and the business probably won’t last. And if a client asks you to copy a website, don’t do it—it won’t work and you’ll add no value.
That’s been the Engaging Marketeer podcast. Thanks for listening, and I’ll catch you on the next one.
About your host:
Darren has worked within digital marketing since the last century, and was the first in-house web designer for video games retailer GAME in the UK, known as Electronics Boutique in the States. After co-founding his own agency, Engage Web, in 2009, Darren has worked with clients around the world, including Australia, Canada and the USA.
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/engaging-marketeer/id1612454837
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenjamieson/
Engaging Marketeer: https://engagingmarketeer.com
Engage Web: https://www.engageweb.co.uk
