An interesting discussion at Cre8asiteforums on the ethics of finding work offers some food for thought and varied opinions. Fishing For Work begins with someone’s frustration over the thousands of web sites he finds that are “awful”. He wants to contact them and offer his services.
Is this a good way to do business?
Is it ethical to approach companies without an invitation to solicit web design work because you don’t like how their web site looks or performs?
I don’t see anything unethical about it; although I think that the idea, like just about any cold-calling method, is likely to have a fairly low rate of success.
First, there is a fairly low overall awareness level of design and development issues about what constitutes a great website, which makes many people relatively unaware of what you may be offering them, however great it could be. Second, you don’t know what went into the existing site — whatever you think of it, it’s entirely possible that the site was designed by the company owner, that it was designed by a very expensive (albeit incompetent) design firm and there’s NO WAY it’s going to be redesigned right away.
If anybody is going to take the tack of actively looking for work in this manner, they have accept the likelihood that buy-in will be very, very difficult to get, even if the person IS interested in having their site redesigned. When you’re contacting somebody to offer them your services, you’re inevitably in the weak position for negotiating any kind of contract.
Comment by Joe Dolson — January 3, 2008 @ 5:23 am
I don’t see this as an ethics issue, and I’m not sure the point would to approach someone because their website is ugly. Approaching a company because their website is falling apart and you’ve got the skills to fix it seems like a helpful and good thing to do.
That being said, rejections are likely to form the major part of the response to such approaches. So much of the time, websites are awful because of lack of budget. A professional was never hired in the first place and the result is a website without basic SEO or Usability practices implemented. If the business owner starts out with an awful site and doesn’t make any money, chances are, they still can’t afford professional help.
The obvious road out of that is education where funds are lacking. The business owner can spend the time to learn all they need to in order to improve their site. But, when lack of funds are coupled with lack of time, it’s a recipe for anonymity on the web, right?
Though the original poster may, indeed, be able to pick up some work from cold calling businesses with failing websites, chances are slim that this will lead to truly lucrative contracts, I’d say.
Miriam
Comment by MiriamEllis — January 3, 2008 @ 9:21 am
I don’t see an ethical issue with cold calling business owners with “bad” websites. Keniston & Company utilizes a variety of lead generation methods including cold calling.
No one likes rejection, therefore, cold calling gets a bad name. It’s much more tolerable to “pick off” leads from your website or get referrals, but cold calling has it’s place as well. Making personal contact with other business owners or marketing professionals can be scary, but the possibilities are what you make them.
When you are cold calling you can aim for the best companies with the biggest budgets. Don’t rely too much on leads generated from your website. You’ll get a lot of “tire kickers” who are, in effect, looking for a free consultation.
Set your sights high and go for it. Make the cold calls. It’s my experience that in order to make money, you have to go where the money is.
Comment by Denise Keniston — January 28, 2008 @ 9:55 pm