Want more clients and sales?

Because I have several websites, I get a lot of emails.

Most are from SEO people and web designers.

Today's first SEO person's subject line was: Want more clients and sales?

And, my answer is, Yes.

But not from her.

The message itself sucked. Not because it was bad; because it was the exact same message I got from 3 other people this week.

Looks like somebody bought a WSO and didn't understand that templates are meant as guidelines.

The 2 or 3 I got yesterday proposed to get me to page 1 in Google, which will mean more traffic, which will mean more inquiries, which will mean more sales.

All good, but none of them had anything that even remotely built credibility.

On the other hand, I got yesterday an email message from someone who wants to redo one of my sites.

I'm not going to use him, but his message was much better than what I usually get.

What I usually get is:

I wonder if you'd consider making changes to your site. I can make some changes (aesthetically / design) that would improve your conversions.

Then they ask something lame: would you be interested in getting a quote...
(I'm never interested in getting a quote from a stranger I can't check out first.)

Then they sign with something like
Dave
Master Web Designer

and the email is masterwebdesigner@gmail.com.

Not this time:
This time he was proposing changes that will increase conversions.

Then HE told me he's got 5 steps to achieve that, and he listed them, and described them briefly, and they make sense.

He invited me to check out a video about his process or to call/email for a free consultation.


Then he signed
and under his signature were links to
his website
his linkedin profile
and a phone number
then a link to a second site, his portfolio site.

He has credibility because he described a process that seems like it would achieve what he proposed and because, by giving me his linkedin profile and the portfolio, he removed credibility issues (I have not checked them, the reviews and websites could suck to high heaven; but, at this point, he's got credibility... If I were in the market for web redesign, I'd consider him).

Last thing:

yesterday, one of the lame messages stood out. It was for web redesign.

It was the almost 100% identical to a dozen or so messages I got this month, except she added one paragraph to the WSO template.

The dude added a sentence at the end that, in essence, said he'd looked at my site.

Now, you might think, what's the big deal; don't they all?

Even if all do, this one said it and no one else said it.

Peeps, you and me got competition. I know email is cheap and easy, but so is adding a link to your LinkedIn profile in your signature, or stating that you've actually looked at my site before you bothered me.

Okay, I'm done venting.