Template Sites and Web Designers

[Brian S]

Two quick questions...

On your hosting site, do you offer links to or affiliate with any template sites that you refer customers to? Are there very good ones to work with?

Have you experimented or been successful with affiliating with a web designer so you could offer design services on your hosting site? For example, someone you outsource to for a referral fee or something similar.

As you can see, I'm looking to shore up design offerings with my hosting business. Ideally, I thought to offer both template and custom design options -- two price points.

Your comments, suggestions, or experience are greatly appreciated.

Happy Holidays,

Brian

[jon]

Have you experimented or been successful with affiliating with a web designer so you could offer design services on your hosting site? For example, someone you outsource to for a referral fee or something similar.

We have done this a little but do most of the design internally. Working with outside designers can have positives and negatives. If you can find a reliable Designer and work out some kind of split with them then it may be a good starting point for offering design services. I recommend asking them for references, checking out their current work and finding out before hand what they charge for certain projects. After you figure out what they currently charge then you can negotiate from there.

Good luck with it!

[NickDev]

You could hire a designer to work for your company, Which would probably be more profitable in the long run.

[Brian S]

We'd probably have this request only once every few months. Hence why I was more interested in some kind of commission or referral type deal.

Thanks,

Brian

[brevig]

A few months ago a designer posted on WHT wanting this situation. We dialogued back and forth, and I'm happy with their abilities. We're getting ready to launch that part of our business, so I'll be contacting them. They have already expressed the want to create a general rate card so you can guesstimate prices. Haven't done business with them yet, but http://logicalmedia.tv is their website.

Templates are good in that it's already done, there's a set price, and you know your profit immediately. They're bad in that they are what they are--templates. Offering both may be a good solution...for those who don't want to pay to have a custom site, and want a template, they can pay less.

Richard