I work for someone who is shockingly ignorant about what it takes to build a profitable new online business. He wants to pay once to create a nice looking site providing an interior design service and expects the traffic and sales to flow, with no additional expenditure and minimal maintenance from me. Does anyone know of a good non-commercial, unbiased article or resource that can impart to a layman the time and effort necessary to create a profitable online business? Thanks.
Wealth of Nations . But: marketing.about[dot]com/cs/internetstrategy/a/aanetmarketinga.htm Just a quick find. I'd make your partner do the work, then they might think differently, though you're probably not in a position to do that.
get quotes from people from DP that explains to him that it just wont work that way? make it clear that if you create a site for him and do minimal effort (and he quits paying) that any resulting traffic to the site (or lack there of) is of no fault for you and his responsiblity?
I haven't really had any clients that expected me to build and market their website, but I would just try to be blunt about it. Let them know that marketing is a continuous effort and often requires additional monthly investments.
When I was doing outside work I always told my clients that "if you build it they will come" only works for baseball fields in Iowa. That usually at least gets them receptive to input and ideas you may have for them.