1) They don't have their own domain.

If you knew that you were going to the primo networking event of the year, would you bring business cards printed with your neighbors telephone number? Heck no!

So why would you waste your time and energy building a reputable web site design firm, under somebody else's domain? Somewhere down the road you'll eventually get your own URL, so start your business the way you want to finish it.

It costs just $8.95 to register your own domain with GoDaddy.com for a year. Reliable hosting service can be had for less than $20 a month.

I gleefully pay $18.95 a month for my service, and they include all sorts of neat perks. That's just 5 bucks a week, less than a dollar a day. If your biz isn't worth a $1 a day investment, then you should be looking for an alternative line of work.

2) They don't offer any indication of their price range.

Even if you don't want to give up the entire farm, always give your sites visitors some sort of indication of what your prices are like. This way if your design skills match what they're looking for, they have an idea on whether they can afford your services or not.

The best way to do this, is to simply give a price range on your 'Request a Quote' page. Here's a brief blurb that you can use:

"Each web site we design has unique elements specific for that particular company. Therefore we do not have set prices. However, just to give you some indication, our rates for complete site design basically range from $250-$10,000, depending on the complexity of the job.

If you'd like a precise quote for your Web site, please fill out the following form."

3) They use cool techie terms to motivate the prospect.

Let's say I'm relatively new to the Net, and I'm looking for a decent site designer. Somehow I stumble across your little home on the web. Your site looks good and it loads fast.

Then I and click on the link that describes your services and you have something like this:

"We use Java, Javascript, CGI-BIN and Perl programming, Cold Fusion, and DHTML to build your site."

Duh! I can barely figure out how to configure my e-mail filtering program, and now you're giving me a cold rundown of your technical capabilities. Assuming I'm not a technophobe, you're still bombarding me with too much techno-babble!

A better way to handle this situation is to tell me 'why' I'll need all this razmatazz that you're offering. Give me benefits on why Java is a good thing for my site, and not in my coffee cup. Tell me 'how' DHTML is going to make my life easier. Make believe I'm a client who has more than enough money to spend, but needs a little hand holding to understand all the technical terms.