The New Way to Sell Websites to Local Businesses

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you sell websites to local business owners who already have one?

Most local business owners already have a website, a Google Business Profile, and a Facebook page, so offering those services falls flat. Instead of pitching the asset, ask about the results they aren’t getting. That moves the conversation from something they already own to a system they’re missing, and it gives you something to sell.

How do web designers land high-ticket clients instead of $500 projects?

Stop leading with the website. Ask three questions about getting found, nurturing leads, and bringing customers back. Most owners aren’t doing any of them, so you become the expert with the answer. That framing supports annual web design packages at $5,000, $10,000, and $20,000 instead of one-off $500 jobs.

Is Google Business Profile optimization worth selling on its own?

Not really. About 60 to 70 percent of the power that ranks a profile across a service area comes from the website. Without website access you can tidy the profile and gather some reviews, but you can’t grow the Map Pack much, so selling profile optimization alone caps your results.

How do you sell web design at a networking event?

Meet a local business owner and ask the three questions instead of pitching services. You usually won’t close at the event itself. Suggest a dedicated call, and by the end of that one call, with no proposal, about one in three people buy, often the $10,000 package.

Is selling high-ticket web design harder than selling cheap websites?

No. It takes work and it isn’t easy, but it isn’t harder, and it may be easier. Cheap projects push your price down and invite haggling. The three-question approach puts you in the room as the expert with answers, which makes a $10,000 package an easier sale than a $2,000 one.

TL;DR

The old way of selling websites, leading with the service, no longer works because local business owners already have a website, a profile, and a Facebook page. The new way is to ask three questions that show owners what they’re missing, which lets you sell high-ticket packages instead of $500 projects.

• Stop offering the thing. Owners already have a website, a Google Business Profile, and Facebook, so leading with services leaves you nothing to sell.
• Ask three questions. Getting found, nurturing leads, and bringing customers back. Most owners aren’t doing any of them.
• Own the website. Most of a profile’s ranking power across a service area comes from the website itself.
• Sell high-ticket. Three annual packages at $5,000, $10,000, and $20,000, with about a one-in-three close from cold networking conversations.

Let’s talk about a new way to sell websites, because the old way isn’t working anymore. Every website I’ve sold to a business owner over the last decade came from asking the same three questions. I’ll share those three questions here, so you can compare the new way to the old way that has stopped working.

Why the Old Way to Sell Websites Stopped Working

The old way is all about offering the thing. Do you need a better website? Can I optimize your Google Business Profile? Can I run some SEO? Can I set up your Facebook page? Whatever the thing is, you lead by offering it. That approach doesn’t resonate with local business owners anymore.

I know because I talk to a lot of business owners. I’m in my local Chamber of Commerce, I go to two networking groups, and I’m the founder of DoubleStack, where I mentor some of today’s top web designers and work with their clients through our community. So I’m in front of business owners and designers all the time.

Here’s what I keep seeing. Local business owners don’t care much about what an old-school web designer has to offer. Most of the time, business owners already have a website and a Google Business Profile and a Facebook page. When you offer those things, most people say they already have that stuff. Even if they do want a website, it’s usually just a small $500 project. So you hear the same thing over and over. I already have all of that, so I don’t need you.

Why Google Business Profile Optimization Alone Falls Short

A lot of web designers try to get a foot in the door by offering Google Business Profile optimization as an entry-level service. Here’s the catch. If all you do is set up service categories, fill out the fields, and help the client get a few reviews, that helps a little. But somewhere around 60 to 70 percent of the power that gets a profile ranking across the client’s service area comes from the website itself.

So I never say, let me just optimize your Google Business Profile, I don’t need to touch your website. Even if the owner says yes, I can’t do much. You know those geogrid reports, the ones with the colored dots that show how your profile ranks at different points across your service area? Without access to the website, I can’t turn those dots green across the map or grow your spot in the Map Pack. (This is exactly why I treat the site as the engine behind lead generation for high-ticket web design.) I can optimize the profile and help with reviews, and that moves the needle some. But almost all of my real levers come from managing the website.

You’re Not Getting Rejected, You’re Hitting a Wall

Here’s what makes this so frustrating. Ask, can I help with your website, and the owner says they already have one. Ask about the Google Business Profile, and they already have that too. So you get stuck. You’ve probably felt that wall yourself.

But look at what’s really going on. If we went to lunch and you told me about all the things you could be doing for these owners, they aren’t sitting at home deciding against them. They don’t even know those things exist. It’s not that they’re choosing not to do what you offer. They don’t understand what you’re talking about. So when you offer it, you don’t get a no. You hit a blank wall. That’s why it feels impossible to break through.

Ask These Three Questions Instead

So stop doing that. Don’t offer the service packages or the profile optimizations. Don’t offer the thing at all. Instead, ask three questions. They point to a system, not an asset. They’re how I show up as a marketing partner instead of just another vendor.

Here are the three questions I ask:

Notice what happens with each question. I have something they need, and they realize they don’t have it yet.

The Old Way vs the New Way to Sell Websites

Put the two approaches side by side.

The old way: can I help with your website? They already have a website, a Google Business Profile, and a Facebook page. They have everything, and you have nothing. The new way: three questions about getting found, nurturing leads, and bringing clients back. They don’t have any of it. Now you have everything, and they have nothing. That’s the whole trick, and that’s the new way to sell websites.

Why You Can Sell High-Ticket Website Packages

When you sell with this system, you can land real web design packages that actually sell. We offer three price points, and only three. A $5,000 package, a $10,000 package, and a $20,000 package. No $500 one-time offers. The pricing is annual, which is the heart of value pricing for web designers, so every new client is worth at least $5,000 in the first year alone. The average client stays with us almost five years, which is the difference between repeat business and recurring revenue, and I’m not even counting those extra four years here.

The conversion holds up, too. If I went out and tried to get a stranger to spend $2,000 on a website, I don’t think I could do it easily. But when I ask these three questions, about one in three says yes. That’s strangers at a networking group, not referrals. I usually won’t close at the event itself. I’ll suggest we schedule a call. By the end of that one call, with no proposal and none of the usual hoops, most people have bought the $10,000 package. Most start in the middle.

Selling High-Ticket Websites Isn’t Harder

Here’s the part most people get backwards. Selling high-ticket services isn’t harder than selling cheap ones. I won’t say it’s easy. Selling anything expensive takes work, and there’s no easy button for it. But it isn’t harder. If anything, it might be a little easier. The old way pushes your price down and leaves you fighting over a few hundred dollars. The three questions put you in the room as the person with the answers. That’s the new way to sell websites.

If you want the full playbook for landing local clients this way, start with the free Local Legends training, and when you’re ready to build a business around it, take a look at how DoubleStack stacks the deck in your favor.