Just starting out, need to know if I'm on the right track...

[ArthurM]

Hello everyone,
I'm brand new to the world of website design, and hoping to offer something a bit different, but I don't know if it's a good idea or not.
I plan to create simple websites for people who have little or no technical knowledge or interest, or have perhaps tried Wordpress etc, and found them too complicated - which I know many people do.
To get the site built, they have to sign up for hosting through my affiliate link, which earns me about $10, and I then build the site for 'free.' Being simple sites, it only takes me about an hour to create one, and the upkeep of the sites is very simple.
Let me know what you think.

[Web Outsourcing Gateway]

It seems that you already have clients, so I don't see anything wrong with your business strategy... Good luck to your business, you're just starting anyway

[ArthurM]

Thanks. I wish I had clients! The sample sites are my own, built using the same system, so I 've yet to build one for a client. Early days still.

[TheGAME1264]

Having clients doesn't necessarily make for a sound business strategy. And they don't look like "clients", anyway. At least one looks like a thin affiliate blog.

Here's the thing, dude...if you're new to design and development, I get why you'd want to do things this way. But working for $10 an hour (by your math) is just plain silly unless it's a loss leader and you're going to charge more to do more complicated stuff. Even that's iffy, but at least it's understandable.

You're also offering "SEO" services that not only aren't SEO services, but can actually do damage to your clients. Google in particular took a hardline stance against directories in about 2009, article farms last year, and unnatural links as a whole earlier this year. As soon as your first semi-aware client gets his/her first unnatural links warning because (s)he signed up for Google Webmaster Tools (and this will happen at some point if you grow), you're going to have a very difficult time explaining yourself.

Let me put it to you this way...you're going to have to go back to the drawing board on this one.

[Webzarus]

I have to Agree with theGame

Here's the problem as I see it. The only "clients" you will ever get are the ones that want a cheap website and don't really care much about anything else. Forget about charging more for any other add on service, the clients you get with this wont want any extra.

I have clients that I provide "turn key" services to, about the only thing I get from them is a little bit of info that I can pry out of them, they have no desire to learn anything about this stuff, but they already played your route and got no where ( meaning they got zero leads, zero interest in their site ), they came to me recommended by previous clients because I can get their site listed and noticed and actually get traffic that interacts with their site. And I don't do it for $10 ...

I'm getting ready to walk out the door to meet with one of my clients that I've been providing this service to for 3 years, they are wanting to take their web presence up a notch and become more involved ( meaning they want to do some industry articles, press releases, monthly sales promos ), for $10, I would not have even spent time to develop a plan for them.

You might try this, and you might actually get some leads to better projects with this, but I wouldn't base a business on this plan or strategy on this model, it sounds like you would end up working more for free than actually making money at it

[ArthurM]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I need to start again.

[TheGAME1264]

Good call. It's always wiser to start again in a situation like this than to try to bulldoze your way through it because someone said something not so kind to the ears. That will serve you well later on.

One thing I would suggest when you do start again...question everything, especially when it comes to SEO "advice". When you do that, you'll find that most of it is garbage and you'll be a lot more likely to find your true path.

[RDesignista]

I'd like to see a more pronounced front page. Less words, more headings, and a better layout of content. There are a lot of empty spaces. Not white space, but empty spaces caused by the way you laid things out.

-R

[FatalPriapism]

I'm going to echo RD a bit. While a minimalist approach can work well when applied properly, this is a bit too minimal. The layout looks like it was thrown together in a hurry.

Your contact page is a PHP page, but uses no real PHP functionality (ie embedded contact, like you have on the main page)

I don't like the usage of "cheap". There are other words with much better connotations - value, economic, budget, etc. Cheap implies a low quality of work.

[DamienDarwick]

Totally agree with the above posts. Working for $10 is just plain silly and will get you no where fast. Plus if you want good clients they will not even bother to have anything to do with you because they will figure that you do not know what you are doing at all. By the looks of the site it does look like you just threw it together with little to no thought what so ever. It does not look professional. If you want professional clients then your site will have to look professional to begin with. If you plan on doing web design for a discount then do yourself a favor and find out what the going rate for design is and then charge a little bit lower. You still get clients, you get clients who are not "I want something for nothing" types. Trust me those are a bigger PITA than any thing else.