After people wanting Ebay for £50 and stealing images from other websites, there's the wonderful nephew's who can build a website for £50 and those that expect to be top of Google within a week. What's next?
Well put it all together, and you've got the people who arrive with massive ideas and no money at all, expecting you to take a share of the income from the website. I've never advertised as a budding money lender wanting to invest in people's ideas, so why assume I'll start now?
Yes, I have built sites without a fee and in return for a share in the profit, sites such as CompareMortgageRates and Holiday Cottages. But what is different about these is that I've decided to build them, then I've gone out, found someone who can pay for the business generated and I am in full control of the site. If I decide to send the leads elsewhere, then that's my decision and their loss. They have no say in the matter.
People asking for me to partner them on a profit basis don't have any cash to put into the website and aren't giving me the reassurance they have a good idea and know what they are doing. If they had the right marketing ideas, they would be able to put together a business plan and sell the idea to a reputable bank. They would then be able to arrange some decent business finance, possibly coming to me before they seek finance so that they can show a draft of the website to their future lender.
The problem is with a lot of these ideas, the entire risk of the venture is being shoved over to the web designer. The website owner gets the site built, registered in their name and then complains that their great idea isn't working because of the lack of skill on the part of the webdesigner.
But any great idea has to be accompanied by an equally great way of marketing that idea. Friends Reunited, Ebay, UTube, Facebook and the likes all started off as that great idea, but with an even greater marketing idea behind them. They have quickly got known in the real world as a website that's fun to use and people talk about the sites.
Come to me with your great website ideas by all means. But make sure that you have the cash to pay for it and a great marketing idea to back it up. Speculative sites built in the hope of a small income in future years if the customer bothers to market the website harm us more than they do us good. They may be fine for webdesigners starting out without a portfolio, but when you can barely handle the work on your books, there's no point in them.
If you aren't willing to invest any of your own cash in the idea, but expect me to produce a site for you, it shows a lack of ownership of the idea. Put some thought into the site then come back.
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