59 replies to this topic

[Scottie]

Welcome to the forum, Anthony!

Australian spelling is welcome- I even added it to the spellchecker! (If I missed any, PM me and I'll add them.)

[Jill]

Welcome, Anthony!

Jill

[Haystack]

Welcome to the forum, anthonyparsons.com.

I used to try that method but didn't have any luck with it. In my experience, it's basically impossible to sell search engine marketing (PPC or SEO) to a business who doesn't understand the concept. However, it sounds like you've had better results with that approach than I did. If it's working for you, run with it.

[OldWelshGuy]

HI Anthony welcome to the forum,

I almost conned my wife into going over to Australia so we could 'have a great holiday, and look at the possibilities of working there'

Then my Cousin who is high up in the rugby world, opened his big mouth and told her that the rugby world cup was on while we were due to go over there she cancelled and said we will go another time..

I am trying to get her to go in 2005, thing is just by chance, the British Lions are touring New Zealand at the same time bit of a co-incidence that eh mate lol

[anthonyparsons.com]

Thanks all for the warm welcome and I look forward to future discussions.

OWG, look forward to seeing you down-under one day mate and catching up for a beer.

Thanks Haystack, and absolutely true, what works for one may not work for another.

[deborah2002]

Hi Anthonyparsons!

Wow--you get a 50% hire rate for doing that? It must be some incredible letter you send out. How do you get them "tackled" in one letter? Do you go into what you do or what they need or what? Do you give them just enough to where they want more info or just conversions (I know that sounds like the same thing--sorry if I'm not coming across very well this morning..)?

deb

[qwerty]

I'm wondering the same thing, Anthony. When you posted that you do this, the first thing I thought of were those spam emails we all receive that say something like, "I just took a look at your site. Did you know that it can't be found on the major search engines?" Of course, these emails are sent out whether a site can be found or not, and I think most webmasters know to delete them right away.

So my question is how you differentiate your services from those of the spammers.

[deborah2002]

Qwerty, my point exactly....I get those all the time. Problem is, they usually send me the url to the page I ALREADY rank in the top 5 for!

No matter, I delete them anyway. Geez, I can't imagine how 50% of his contacts are even READ, much less not deleted!

deb

[dragonlady7]

I'd read one-- if I knew it was handwritten and true! But you're right-- most of the time those are autogenerated and have nothing to do with my actual site. Maybe if it's addressed to my correct name and mentions my actual site's Real Content or something... I dunno. It sounds challenging.

[OldWelshGuy]

This has been suggested to me by a few of my customers in the past, contacting way down websites that is, with a view to doing business, and using the customers as an example.

It is a challenge, to get the mail opened i grant you, I am forever getting legitimate mail I have sent filtered out, especially when i am sending them to government bodies.

Recently i was told that ALL unknown mail (ie. e-mail addresses not on their database) gets binned, and i was told this by the Welsh Development Agency, so unl;ess you use their enquiry forms then your mail gets filtered out, crazy seeing as i was replying to an email they sent me .

Anyhow, I would say that the title of the message has to be killer to get opened, as most simply get the bin treatment.

This comes back to the question posed by someone earlier, 'how do you stand out from the others'?

[mcanerin]

I've discovered that if you are a member of the local chamber of commerce, and mention that while contacting another member, you get a much better reception.

Ian

[bwelford]

Congratulations, anthonyparsons.com, that's a great approach.

I've tried this on a very small scale by pointing out that their rankings aren't so good and that I could help. The successes have been few and far between. However I didn't think about giving away some useful free information.

I think on any e-mail approach you have to be working on the percentages. Only a small fraction will actually be read after:
- the spam filter deleted some
- the potential reader deleted some because they had never heard of the addressee
- the potential reader was too busy that day so never got around to looking at it

Given this natural weeding out process, only a certain number will be read. However to give something that attracts attention should give a high conversion rate. Even to point out some typos and the effect on Credibility (à la Stanford) could be enough to suggest you could do so much more for them. Of course you don't want to give away very valuable advice (such as you're not in ODP and it is very useful to be there).

You might consider modifying the e-mail message slightly and sending out a second time for those who did not reply. You may be more lucky and get through the weeding-out process. Who knows, the recipient may say, "I've seen that name somewhere before ..."

You've really got me thinking, anthonyparsons.com. Thanks for setting me off on what should be a fruitful train of thought.

[anthonyparsons.com]

I knew this was coming. If I miss anything, I am sure you will tell me. Sorry for the length, though this will hopefully kill many birds with the one stone.

Deb
> No it is not an incredible letter, just honest and personal
> I never said that I "tackle" them in one letter, compared to my words of, "I guess the success is within the letter". The success could just be in my approach, my follow up, my services, honesty, integrity, ???????
> I tell them what I see within their website, what their competition are doing, what they can achieve and how to achieve it, and
> I do not give out information to lure a person, I simply give them an honest, non-biased opinion, all the information they want and the option to do it themselves, with or without my help. You would be surprised how many will buy something when a FREE sample or time is given. You do this yourself when you shop. Two products, identical, same price; though one has a free gift attached! I know I would take the one with a free sample or other product, just because it is free.

Qwerty
Yours is easy. If everyone here is professionals, then we all know there is a big difference between spam email and a personal email . I send personal email, one on one, with their name and actual website details because I have been at their website evaluating it. I pick and choose the websites that I contact. Who has the most to gain from ranking highly? Generally, small business has the most to gain from targeted cost effective marketing (ranking).

dragonlady7
Thank You. My wife is the actual marketeer of my work. If something does not appeal to her, then I don't do it. Good reason for this, females tend to have a more sensible approach to likes and dislikes. If is appeals, women buy it; if it does not, they do not buy. Men approach women more often than not to ask for opinions before buying, regardless of business or personal. So, the wheel goes round. My wife is my biggest critic and greatest asset to success. Basically, my wife is the one who started me on that approach that works very well when done right.

OWG
Hopefully this has answered yours. I try and stay away from government anything. I work for them; and let me just say, they are in no rush for things to happen.

bwelford
Mate, as stated before, something for nothing is what everyone wants. I market differently to conventional means I guess, in that if Jill for example approached me, said I can do "x" for you at this price, I would probably say, prove it. With this many responses can come, previous work, references, recommendations, etc. Who says this isn't friends, family, associated, partners, etc. What about a personal demonstration? Here are my details, you improve "x" with half an hour of your time and if it does what you say it will do, no problem, you got my business.

Mate, as for the giving of important information reference ODP, why not? Why not include, you can do this yourself though you may have trouble achieving listing if your not fluent with writing descriptions for ODP. I can package this with "x" & "x" to ensure you achieve "big X" not just ODP listing. Outcome is, substantially higher ranking in the engines which delivers the traffic, not the listing itself.

Summary
I hope this clarifies most of the questions and gives some of you prospective ideas for the future. I am impressed with the feedback though. I was hoping for further ideas from yourselves. I honestly thought that the honest and personal approach thing would have been done before. Maybe not? Maybe it is just the difference between the society and cultures that makes the acceptance easier within Australia?

Edited by anthonyparsons.com, 30 October 2003 - 11:18 PM.

[Scottie]

You may be on to something there... I believe Americans may be more skeptical? I know I am.

We tried a similar approach at my old firm and got blacklisted for spamming! Totally personalized e-mail with researched info sent to maybe 20 prospects that were highly qualified. So, I'm a little gun-shy.

I think I mentioned this in another thread, but offering to speak for business group meetings is a great way to drum up prospects. They are typically focused on marketing and somewhat pre-qualified. By positioning yourself as an expert, you gain their trust in things they really don't understand.

I don't have time to do that much anymore because you do end up with people calling for advice and not taking the next step... and I hate the phone. But if things slow down, I'd send another e-mail off to a few hand-picked chamber of commerce or BNI groups and see what I could line up. It never hurts to get some local press about those kinds of things as well- send out a press release if the organization approves. Usually they do!

[deborah2002]

Again, I find this fascinating (no sarcasm here). The 50% just blows my mind. I guess I'm with Scottie on this one, cuz here in the US, we'd get slammed for the whole sp@m thing.

I totally agree on the personal touch, as that is what makes me open email (unless the subject line has my name in it I don't open it).

Congratulations on a job obviously well done!

deb