The Web Design Business Kit by Sitepoint is lauded to give great insights into how to run a web design business.
Its high price is due to the fact that it is a kit – as opposed to a book – and so it contains extras such as templates for contracts, letters etc. At a cost of £130 (at the current exchange rate) is it worth buying?
The case for
This kit gives some genuinely useful tips and information that you can’t find elsewhere. The source of the content, Brendon Sinclair, is a reputable Australian web professional and, as such, all the tips he gives are relevant to the web design/development industry.
I’ve followed Brendon’s tips via his weekly Sitepoint e-newsletter and I’ve found his style to be informative and entertaining. His writing style certainly makes the kit more interesting.
The case against
I’ll summarise what’s wrong (or should I say, isn’t great) with the kit:
- The book portion of the kit comes in a ring binder which is awkward and heavy – it makes reading it quite difficult.
- Some of the advice can be found for free or cheaper on the web.
- It’s quite expensive. This kit costs about £100 more than book would (although a book comes without the kit’s extras)
The cost factor
£130 is a lot of money, but if the advice and templates contained help me to make £131 revenue then the book is worth the price. Also, as a freelancer in the UK, with sole trader status (as opposed to being a Limited company) I can put this cost into my expenses and effectively get it a bit cheaper.
Summary
So is it worth the money? Yes, for me – its already paid for itself 5 times over.
This week, in between first starting to write this piece and finishing it, I scored more than one job using some of the techniques described in the kit. The kit didn’t help me to land those jobs, this blog did that, but what did it did do was give me the confidence and techniques to charge a fair price and secure the work.
In the past I’ve always struggled to come up with good prices and often end up working for less than I should – now, thanks to what I’ve learnt from this kit, I won’t be undercharging again.
Not to sound big headed but ive probably got more info than this locked in my head… people just need to ask the right questions :)
Anything you want to know thats not covered… ask away!
Mark, maybe you should write your own kit so everyone can benefit from your expansive knowledge.
Yes, it is *absolutely* worth the money. Besides the well organized chapters, light and humorous writing style, practical tips, and real-world examples, the CD that comes with the kit contains oodles of very useful templates and forms that any web design startup can use immediately. I’m only about 25% of the way through reading the kit, but I’ve noticed another benefit is that it’s made me feel really motivated to get my web business going. As I read the chapters, I consistently think, “I can really do this!”. One of Brendon Sinclair’s posts at Sitepoint talked about a great way to make prospects feel more at ease: offer an unconditional 100% money-back guarantee. Ironically, it was the unconditional 100% money-back guarantee on the Web Design Business Kit that made my purchase feel less risky. But after just looking at the table of contents, and skimming through it, I knew I would not be asked for a refund. And despite my comments here, I have no affiliation whatsoever with Brendon or Sitepoint, other than as a longtime reader of the site.
Your average client can’t determine the difference between a good and a bad web site. They can’t really look at your portfolio and say: “This person makes profitable web sites.†Instead, they consider other factors when evaluating you for the job. For example: recommendations from other people, the quality of your brochure, the way you dress or simply your handshake. In the kit, Brendon shows how to make the client very confident that you are the best choice they can make.