I have a complex about my location

[bluecorr]

Hi everyone,

I'm from Romania and yes, I've got a complex about it. I feel it is always putting people and potential clients off because of the country's bad reputation online (and sometimes offline). I also know it doesn't mean everyone from Romania is fraudulent.

I know my value, I know I can provide excellent services to customers and be a true professional but in the back of my mind there's always this little birdy telling me "just how damaging is your location to you?".

Sometimes I think it's just in my head but because I'm relatively just starting out and haven't had many clients it's hard to judge.

I focus on the UK market most of all mainly because of a personal interest, but what do I have to do to make people see beyond my location. I don't want that little bit of contact info at the bottom of the page to put people off.

How do I overcome this hurdle?

Thanks for all your help

[pleeker]

Hi bluecorr --

What about just addressing the issue head-on? I'm assuming you have a web site for your own business, and that you've had successful projects with clients outside Romania in the past.

Maybe you could put something on your home page to address this issue that some prospects might have: "Afraid to work with a Romanian company? These clients weren't." or something like that, and link it to a page where you assure the prospect it's safe to work with you, and include some testimonials from past clients that specifically include their comments on your location and how it wasn't a problem.

That's the first thing that springs to mind. If you sense that prospects have built-in negative notions like this, I think you have to work hard and go out of your way to change those notions. Good luck.

[Jack_Hughes]

bluecorr,

if you use a country neutral domain (like .com) then don't have your address on every page (just have it in the contact us page) then the quality of your services should become apparent before the (possibly) negative connotations of working with someone from Romania becomes apparent.

customer testimonials are also a killer on a website too.

cheers,

Jack

[bluecorr]

Thanks for the suggestions. My site already appears in the UK results as it's hosted in the UK but this could bring up another problem.

What if someone goes through the sites, likes what they see, pop over to the contact page and see the address and then they think they've been had "hmm, I thought this was a UK company.... ". The last thing I want is to deceive users or should I say, make something that makes them feel deceived.

[Jack_Hughes]

I don't think that scenario is a problem. You are not hiding the fact that you are in Romania you are just making sure that that is not the first thing they see. Once people get the impression that you are a straight up kinda guy offering quality services then I don't see a problem with someone then finding out that you are in Romania. Hek you could very easily make it into a benefit. you should be able to undercut the uk market substantially because you don't have to pay UK prices for stuff like accommodation. if you do this right you could not only negate the negetives about people perceiving a security problem with dealing with people from romania but actually sell it as a benefit (ie your prices are lower as a consequence of you living in a place where prices are lower).

[anallawalla]

Bluecorr,

I admire your candidness in airing this issue. It is always harder to sell a service to someone outside your own city, never mind another country. Yes, you may lose many prospects who don't want to deal with a foreign entity, but it's a lot easier to work on your positives.

Google's telling us there are at least 5B web sites out there. Even if 1% have the capacity to hire a web designer or SEM, that's more business than we can handle . :)

I am in Australia and this is how I signed up clients mostly outside Australia - mainly in the US, and fewer in India, UK, and Australia:

• Participating in Google Groups (2 clients wrote to me)
  
• Participating in a volunteer body (referral to biggest client)
  
• Participating in Ryze (1 client)
  
• Being #1 in my SERP (1 client)
  
• Networking at trade shows (1 client, more to come)
  
• Writing articles and delivering presentations on SEM (1 client)
  
• Personal contacts (2 clients)
  
• Participating in WW (lots of hits on my profile; no clients) :)
  
• Responding to advertisers in Forum 29 - Commercial Exchange (Total waste of time - most never replied)
  

I'd be hungry if I had relied on SE traffic alone - the personal, proactive efforts paid off.

Spend an hour each day participating in an area where your prospects are likely to visit, e.g. Entrepreneur forums and become the resident expert on <your specialty> and soon you will get nibbles.

Good luck
Ash

[bluecorr]

anallawalla, those are very good suggestions. Thanks for that. I also want to write some articles of interest to business owners to try to have them published online and offline (although offline might be a bit more difficult).

I have had several clients from abroad which have been very pleased but the problem is they were companies that outsourced work to me and I cannot include that work in my portfolio.

[Hawkgirl]

I've seen some situations where the site has played up their 'perceived deficit' to their advantage.

You know, hype that you're from Romania. Instead of trying to hide it, share it openly.

"The number one Romanian site in the world."
"This site was built following the world-renowned Romanian traditions of Peace, Love and Understanding."
"Southeastern European charm, international internet hospitality."

(You get the idea! :))

I don't know that this will work for your particular product area - but I'll say one thing: it might be worth a try. The beauty about web design is that you can always try something, test it, and fix it if it doesn't work. Good luck.