Doing Business by the Pound

In the past I’ve always quoted prices in US dollars. I have no idea why I got into this terrible little habit but I’m guessing it’s because the net as a whole tends to operate based on the US dollar. Link sales over on Digitalpoint are always quoted in US$, online products and membership fees are in US$ and programmers, content writers and designers always seem to be after the not so mighty green back. I’m not a fan of the US$ right now. It sucks and continues to suck and will potentially suck for many years to come and if I can avoid it by dealing with other currencies, I will.

Fortunately, I get contacted several times a month by companies looking to get their greasy little text links onto my websites. Most of my sites are aimed at UK residents and I’ve noticed that more and more companies that approach me are UK based as well. I recently realised that there’s no reason to quote prices to these people in US$ so I’ve started giving my link prices to them in the £. The trick is that I haven’t been converting.

If I would normally sell a link for $10 per month and I get contacted by a British company then I’ll tell them it’s £10 a month. Considering the US$ is worth about half of the pound, I’ve just doubled my monthly earnings to $20. A couple months ago I sold a yearly link to a UK company for £200 where normally I’d have asked for $200. Presto! I’ve just doubled my earnings by doing nothing more than being cheeky.

Does that mean that I’m undervaluing my links and could ask for double in US dollars? I don’t think so. I’ve had no luck selling links for $20 per month but £10 is no problem. Maybe $20 just seems like a lot more to advertisers than £10 even though it’s the same amount? Who knows.

So if you get the chance to deal with companies in the UK, try putting your prices in pounds. So far it’s working for me and it’s always great to be able to double your money without doing a thing!

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