In the Website Wilderness Series I share my experiences and insights as I try to build a successful web site for my computer consulting company.
I’ve reached the stage in the development of my computer business where I think it’s time to start constructing a website. Over the last few weeks I’ve been tinkering around with different layouts for the site. In doing so I realized that before I bother with the design I really need to pin down the content that I intend to include. The content will then dictate the layout and design of the website.
Some questions I’ve been considering for my website content include:
- What do I want the customers to focus on when they first visit my website?
- What message do I want to convey?
- What aspects of my business do I want to feature?
After visiting dozens of local and national residential computer consulting business websites that do similar work as I do, it appears that most of the content is pretty similar from site to site. They include a listing of services, contact information, reasons why a customer should choose that company over another, blogs/news, about/company info, etc. However, there is one bit of information that seems to have a strict division of preference from site to site: the inclusion of rates.
It seems to me that there are an equal number of websites that have their prices displayed as those that do not. In conducting a quick informal poll of my twitter followers I found that this division holds true for them too. Some folks say it’s okay to display rate, some say they choose not took, while a good majority of my peers say it depends on a number of factors.
After some consideration, I’ve decided to include rates prominently on my website for two main reasons:
1. Transparency - I feel like getting the price out of the way up front helps provide a level of transparency that will instill some confidence in the average residential customer. Since my business is not yet established in the community, I will be an unknown entity to the typical person who stumbles across my website. Displaying my price shows the customer that I’m not hiding anything. They’ll have piece of mind knowing that I wont blind-side them with hidden fees or charges after the work is done.
2. Targeting - I’m targeting two types of customers in the initial stages of my business: residential computer users searching the web seeking professional, friendly, local service and those who are referred to me via friends/family/word of mouth. My website will be specifically geared towards those customers that are seeking local service via the web. They’ll be typing in search terms like “my town computer repair” or “computer help in my county“. Once they click on my website in the search results, they will immediately see the price listed. There’s no guess work and no grey area. I only want people who can afford my service to call me. I’m not the cheapest in town, but I’m also not as expensive as most franchise and nationally known computer repair shops. And my website will be designed in such a way so as to portray my business in a professional light, in stark contrast to the less-than-professional websites of many other local consultants.
With a part-time business, I’m seeking only residential customers. My whole strategy would change if I were running my business full-time and/or targeting primarily small businesses.
Should YOU display your prices?
Now that I’ve explained why I decided to display prices on my website, I’d like to offer some advice and food for thought for those of you who may be facing a similar situation.
Things to consider about pricing:
- Who are your target customers? – Are you selling to residential customers or businesses? Displaying pricing is appropriate for residential customers because they are normally more concerned with price up-front. Businesses, on the other hand, tend to be more concerned with results than price, especially the larger the business. In that case, it may be more appropriate to concentrate on a results-oriented website and skip price negotiations for later.
- Are your prices competitive? – If your price is higher than most of your competition, you may want to skip displaying them on your website. Customers may be turned off by the high price before they get a chance to see what you are offering. On the other hand, you also want to avoid displying your price if it’s considerably lower than most of your competition. This guarantee that you’ll be called by people who will try to find ways to squeeze work out of you for as little money as possible. It also gives off an unprofessional vibe, screaming “my service is not worth much!”
- How does your rate structure work? – Charging per-service is the easiest rate structure for clients to understand. They expect to pay $xx for x service. This makes it easy to display on your website. Hourly rates may seem relatively simple too, but keep in mind you may also need to explain if you charge on a pro-rated basis for any time over an hour. Also, it might be a good idea to give an estimation of how long some common services take, so customers can get an idea of what the final price might look like.
Finally, if you plan on charging on a per-contract basis, mostly for businesses, then you’ll probably want to avoid displaying prices all together. Contracts are usually unique business arrangements that are negotiated based on the project or work being requested.
Ultimately, the choice of displaying rates is a personal one. However there are many best practices and considerations you should take into account before making the decision to share your prices with the world.
What is your opinion on prices being displayed on a computer repair business website? I want to hear both from seasoned consultants and regular computer users on this one!
Good article and food for thought. Personally I don’t like the prices on the website. If you list Virus removal $85, then the system comes in and there is any vairance the customer wants an explanation as to why when your prices said otherwise.
I would rather establish a rapport with a potential customer and from that they can see you are honest and get a feel for what kind of person you are. As long as a customer is comfortable with you then price is an after thought.
Hey Dan,
Yeah, I would probably not put a static price on virus removal, there’re way too many potential problems with that one. But how about straight forward services like OS reinstall, replacing a hardware component like RAM or optical drive? Or just showing the hourly rate you charge?
Good point about rapport. I guess I’m looking at this from the perspective of a brand new technician, with no established client base. I want my new potential customers to feel at ease when they find my website by seeing my prices displayed up front. I feel as though once I get a good client base established, then I can cut out the prices from my website.
Speaking as a consumer, I love seeing the price up front. If there are several choices once I’ve done a search, I probably wouldn’t take the time to call different places to get their prices if I didn’t have to. The fewer steps for us consumers, the better!!!
Thanks for your input!
Yes, I have a feeling that potential customers who stumble across my website will have a better chance of giving me a shot if, among other things, they see prices displayed.
That just means I’ll need to concentrate on good SEO (search engine optimization) to get my website to be one of the first one’s to show up on the appropriate google searches. That’ll be another blog post!
You should read Value-Based Fees by Alan Weiss (in addition to some of his other books, too.)
Excellent recommendation! I’d heard of Million Dollar Consulting, and now looking at the description, I’ll definitely have to add this author to my ever-growing list of must-reads!
Right – actually Million Dollar Consulting is the first one to read. I would bump that up to the top of your list and read it this week.
You point of “I want my new potential customers to feel at ease when they find my website by seeing my prices displayed up front”….If I am a new customer and I see your prices on your website it really does not matter to me. I am going to call and if I don’t like what I hear on the other end then they are not getting my business no matter if they had prices listed or not.
You will put them at ease when you talk to them, that is first and foremost. Prices come after that.
Very true, couldn’t have said it better myself.
We cater to residential and small businesses, right now we offer on-site in the local Toronto area to both but our main business is remote support. Our prices are online for exactly what you stated…transparency. Our Business Premium rates are not listed because they are customizable.
very useful for all online business owners.your 3 steps have been simply explain how to Things to consider about pricing.
Another great article! It really helps me with my Palm Coast Computer Repair. business.
Great post. Like the points you bring up.
I like to be up front with my customers and post my prices on my website. I also believe that most repairs have an average repair time that you can predict (for example, some virus removals are very easy, and some are very hard, but overall they average out) therefore flat rates are good.
I always keep my options open when looking at new phones, but my first choices seem to remain Apple . I feel they are the best choice for what AT&T has to offer. If I had Sprint 4G coverage in my area, I would seriously consider an Evo or another 4G device. Who doesn”t want the next generation of wireless in their hands?Am I missing something. I”ve be editing Google doc spreadsheets for a long time. It”s just done line by line.I”m happier that all the devices are finally on the same iOS version than I am with the actual improvements.I”m happier that all the devices are finally on the same iOS version than I am with the actual improvements.
I am always one for displaying prices. It does show you are honest and that is a good way to demonstrate it to people. Also, if your rates are competitive there won’t be any problems. You can focus on demonstrating why you provide something of quality, more so than your competition.
As a regular computer user I really like if the price is displayed on website, It save my money and time to try contacting the company asking for the price.
Always good to hear the perspective from actual computer users! Thanks.
I’ve never displayed my rates on my website as I’m one of the most expensive in Cambridge, UK.
You can compare this to the car mechanic, check out a lot of their websites and they don’t mention hourly rates at all.
It surprises me how many people don’t ask my rates until after job has been completed and they just ask what the final bill is.
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