Will the link back to my site be worth building them one for free?

[Mrupp44]

To clarify, I am in the running to be awarded a project by a college in my area.

They want to pay NOTHING for me to have my designers and developers build a site for them. If I don't want it several other companies will do it (or so they say).

This site will be used to promote an event that is held annually in different major cities around the world. (online registration, pay online, etc)

The weird part to me is the governing body of this event has the hosting city build their own website and promote the event on their own so every year they reinvent the wheel with a whole new website (not smart I know).

**Is this worth it for me? **

• The attendees will be almost exclusively from colleges and all have edu. websites and emails they will be using to register.

• There will be about 1,000 attendees

• I do get a link giving my company credit for building the site at the bottom of every page BUT.....

• I realize any love my site gets from the search engines will be next to nothing, right? (its a BRAND new domain and by the time it start getting any recognition the event will be over and it will be abandoned plus it will be watered down bcs they can tell its a site I built).

Is it possible that when one of the attendees tweets or links to the page my site could get a little love?

If I impress my contact that is sending me this 'business' I know it will turn into more paying work..............

**Thoughts? Opinion? Is there a silver lining i'm missing? Is this a dumb move? **

Thank you for your time and any response!

Matthew

[Mrupp44]

I am meeting w them tomorrow afternoon and that is a GREAT idea. I will propose a link at the bottom of the home page to 'site credits' and that page will have information about my business and what we do and how we were honored to be a part of the event, etc.

Excellent idea! thanks Davinia

Thank you for the other 2 great responses. Wasn't sure if I was missing anything but it doesn't seem like it.

[Unity]

With the information provided it doesn't appear to be a fair exchange and the SEO benefit to you, I'm imagine, would be minimal.

Branding benefits and network opportunities are limited to a footer link - who's going to find that? How will it grab peoples attention? Why don't you have a whole page about your business with a paragraph of text, links and images - this would be better than a footer link (for SEO) and better branding and networking. Make sure that the page isn't an orphaned page (i.e. needs to be linked from main navigation or a high level page).

[edwardrj]

Personally, I would do it, as I'm always on the lookout for extra ways to market my services. There's also the networking factor, which can reap an endless stream of benefits down the road.

But all in all, there are too many factors to give a definitive answer. For example, how much time will the project require? Can you afford to work X number of hours knowing that the payoff may be gradual or may not come at all?

I would also avoid the link at the bottom of every page.

And on the flip side, there's the Harlan Ellison philosophy that seems to work for some folks

[CMC-SD]

The SEO benefit seems minimal, so I would make the decision based on #RCS. Does this enhance your brand? Can you brag about it? Will it lead to referrals? Hopefully some other web designers can weigh in on when it's worth it to design and build a site for free; it seems to me that if you're not an up-and-comer trying to build a portfolio, it's rarely worth it.