Legality of emailing businesses

shane001daly

Hi all,

I recently started a small web development/design company and am currently in the advertising for clients stage.

I'm looking for either new businesses which have no website or for businesses which have old/outdated websites.

I was just wondering about the legality of directly contacting some businesses by email about their websites/my services.

I've looked online and I think that contacting a business (not a person) is opt-out and not opt-in, does anyone know this for sure?

The emails I would be using would be from either their website contact page/facebook page/ maybe yellow pages business section.

Thanks for any advice!

sysprogrammer

Hi Shane,

I get a few emails a week on some of my static wordpress sites telling me how I need to update and get better SEO.
I delete them all.

Also if you register a new business name with the CRO you get a few 3rd party letters, offering everything from accounting to web hosting , so people are watching new business registrations.

Again , burn them all

After attending a few meetups (see meetup.com) centered around start-ups I found one or two web-site builders , and because they were there to answer my questions face to face & talk to people , they got business.

By all means send out your spam , but anyone who tells me that my profit making website is crap , hasn't really got the bigger picture.

Long and short of it is to get out there yourself , help start-ups from the beginning and see how that compares to your email campaign in terms of new customers

shane001daly

Thanks for the reply.

I'll have a look at meetup.com and see if I can meet some people face-to-face that way. I know that face-to-face is always best but it's been hard to get direct contact with the type of people I'm targeting.

I currently have google ads and a facebook ad running consecutively. And I intend to run an ad in the local paper next month, but I'm just trying to make sure that I'm doing all that I can to attract business.

I know that no one likes spam, but I had intended to send specialised emails to each business detailing the exact parts of their website I would change and why, as opposed to the generic 'Use SEO to rank today!' type emails.

I was just curious about the legality aspect of initiating contact.

I do appreciate your meetup.com suggestion though!

sysprogrammer

I like that you are concerned about how you contact people , it shoes a bit of thought about the other person.

you said " but it;s been hard to get direct contact with the type or people I'm targeting" then also " run an ad in the local paper ".

I think these two statements contradict each other a little . Do the 'type of people' your trying to contact read your local paper ??

And writing personalised emails will be a waste of time , imho, as they will forward to this to their cousin / friend / whoever does the site and ask them to implement the changes, at an already agree'd rate.

Business networking events , meetups for start-ups, will get you in front of a lot of your type of client. And if you are as considerate when speaking as you are when writing , I think you'll do far better than okay.

shane001daly

In regards running newspaper ads and wanting to meet people face-to-face, I realise that they are two different ends of the marketing spectrum!

The way I was thinking was that each advertising medium might reach a slightly different audience, and then afterwards I could see which mediums had the best return. Then focus on those for future campaigns.

So far what I had planned was:

1. Face-to-face meetings to promote myself and my business to any and all possible customers. (I signed up to meet.com and am currently looking for opportunities to meet people)

2. Google and Facebook ads to target entrepreneurs with no website or that are using Facebook to market their needs.

3. Newspaper ads to target older people/businesses that either have no website or have an old/outdated website and may want an update.

4. Direct contact with businesses through email promoting my services. I thought that this might be good as it would target people that I know for a fact either have no website or could do with an updated website.

However, I've gotten the impression that you really don't think an email campaign is the way to go!

How do you feel about making calls to/calling into businesses instead of emailing? Or a combination of an email followed up with a call/drop in?

Thanks again, for any advice!
I'm really eager to get some advertising started and some business coming in!

CeilingFly

If you do send emails make sure in the first sentence that the person you are sending it to knows you are based locally.

90% of the spam "help with website" emails are from India / China

"Hi, I'm Shane from webdirect and we're based just a few minutes away in xxx."

shane001daly

Thanks for the tip! I do think that the locality aspect could help getting people to read the email.

If I go the email route I do intend to make the email as personalised as possible; show that I've spent time looking at their website and how it represents their business, and explain what I could bring to the table for them and the business.

To further emphasise the locality aspect I was going to include a closing paragraph about being able to meet in person to discuss anything further.

Any other suggestions or tips for me?

Buttercake

If you are new to this game, you will need to take a significant "hit" on building up a strong portfolio, I would be doing the work for free instead of cheap.. do sites for the local solicitor, baker and candlestick maker, ask family and friends do they know anyone self-employed that needs a website.. this is all easy to do.

Once you have a strong portfolio, referral work will start appearing. While email spam is definitely frowned upon, you could phone the local businesses and offer your services.. if you are building up your portfolio and offer them a free website, they wont say no.

1. Face-to-face meetings to promote myself and my business to any and all possible customers. (I signed up to meet.com and am currently looking for opportunities to meet people)

Also check your local council they usually have networking events, Chamber of Commerce have events for members and non-members.

2. Google and Facebook ads to target entrepreneurs with no website or that are using Facebook to market their needs.

If they have no website its for a reason, they dont see the value in it, dont have the money or dont want to be visible. They are quite happy with their eircom.net or iol.ie email address, they know they can install wordpress anytime and get their nephew Johnny to dress up a theme.

3. Newspaper ads to target older people/businesses that either have no website or have an old/outdated website and may want an update.

I find this a false economy, older people will be a significant challenge unless you are Saul Goodman and take up a lot of your time from pitching to developing to training.

Same as the entrepreneur with no website, they dont want it for a reason. They will have their sons & daugthers jumping up and down to get them online when they moan that business is slow during sunday dinner.

4. Direct contact with businesses through email promoting my services. I thought that this might be good as it would target people that I know for a fact either have no website or could do with an updated website.

Updating websites, sure there is a market there, some businesses are "Ah shure we are happy with whats there.." but you could use some scare tactics like google search ranking dropping because the website is not responsive, no ssl cert, losing customers every day, competitors doing great business online etc

Mrs OBumble

shane001daly wrote: »

2. Google and Facebook ads to target entrepreneurs with no website or that are using Facebook to market their needs.

3. Newspaper ads to target older people/businesses that either have no website or have an old/outdated website and may want an update.

You will have a significant challenge getting either of those groups to actually pay you.

Doing a free portfolio-building site for your own cousin (or whoever - so long as they have plenty of business contacts) is likely to be the best return.

shane001daly

Thanks for all the input. I'm currently building up my portfolio by working with friends and family, but I'm at a stage where I would like to start earning some money. Plus I just want to work with people based purely off of my own skills as opposed to family doing me favours.

I think I will keep the google and Facebook ads running, as if nothing else it will be getting my name and brand awareness out there, plus compared to print they are quite cheap to run and very targeted.

But based off the response here I think I will hold off on a newspaper ad and the emails and focus instead on face-to-face meetings.

I have business cards and brochures ordered so once they arrive I think I'll start calling into local businesses and start offering cheap packages. Hopefully some referral work will come my way soon then!

Thanks again everyone, it's a bit daunting when you don't know what route to focus your energies on, having a bit of focus really helps!

jacksn

shane001daly wrote: »

I'll start calling into local businesses and start offering cheap packages.

Good luck OP but i would be cautious about offering cheap packages, hardest thing to shake off is doing work for cheap then charging the next guy full rate.. web design is all about referrals and if someone refers you they will refer your price too.

You could say its a Summer Special offer or something like that.

shane001daly

When I start calling to businesses I was going to have cards and a brochure with a limited time coupon code, to try and explain the low prices that way. I was also thinking that 'limited' might encourage some action?

On my website and online ads I'm calling my current prices a July Special.
Standard prices are also listed on the website to show that it is an offer.

I know that cheap prices = cheap customers, but it's hard to get that first one or two paying jobs!

Axwell

As per above offering cheap packages will make it harder to then shift towards your normal pricing later on but it also depends what your target market is and the sort of pricing you plan to charge going forward.

If you want to be seen as cheap affordable web design then maybe that's fine and works for you - if you want to be seen as bespoke and high quality then its not the way to go.

But based on the type of clients you mentioned above that dont have a website or have an old one, they aren't going to spend big money when they haven't up to now. Getting a few done as part of an offer will let you build your portfolio but if you want to be seen to be higher quality etc then you should make sure your website, branding and pricing reflects that and people dont think you are a cheap offering from day one.

ironclaw

I'm going to throw a spanner in the works here perhaps and offer alternative advice:

1) Don't do portfolio websites, they are a dime a dozen. Rinse and repeat. You should specialise and offer a full business development package. For example, your local dentist, imagine clients could book online or chat to the receptionists online? Wow eh? As opposed to a 5 page WordPress install and a phone number. The difference in what you can charge here is huge and you have the added bonus of maintenance which is where all the major firms make their money e.g. Microsoft, Salesforce, SAP etc. So if your install was 1000EUR (Lets pluck a figure for example) You could easily charge 50EUR a month to maintain the system. Thats 50EUR a month for potentially doing very little, depending on your contract agreements e.g. No design changes, but tech support for up to 2 hours worth of issues etc.

2) Offer a full suite, not just a website. Most business owners have no idea how to run or operate a site. So why not help them? If you had a small pool of 20 clients paying you 1600EUR a year (1000EUR install and 50EUR per month each), you'd be making an above average wage (32kEUR per year) This can easily be achieved with some basic digital marketing assistance and face to face time.

The downshot is, a lot of people are doing this and they do it cheap, so you need to stand out and the best way to do this is to get in front of the customer. Emails and calls don't work, been there for my own businesses. All our business came from getting in the car and walking up to them, plus a follow up.

Graham

ironclaw wrote: »

1) Don't do portfolio websites, they are a dime a dozen.

This

You're also competing with every schoolboy, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year IT student on the planet trying to sell a product into a market that sees very little value in it.

Unless you're churning out dozens of them for with recurring revenue, it's barely a pocket-money gig.

shane001daly

Thanks for the feedback and ideas guys.

I got some pretty good feedback (both here and through private pm) regarding the packages that I'm trying to offer and how best to market myself.

I'm going to take a few days to rethink how I'm going about everything and hopefully have a new website and marketing plan ready by the end of the week.

If anyone is still around then I might come back for some more feedback!

I really do appreciate everyone taking the time to give me feedback and ideas (even if did mean I had to go back to the drawing board!)
and hopefully you'll all still be around for round 2!

Thanks again guys.

_Brian

Get unsolicited emails about website all the time, never read them, always delete.
Get the odd cold call, always fob them off.

When I want a service I research and see who is about and best recommended for what I want.

Provide a good service, advertise.

mneylon

Marketing a business takes time and energy.
Unsolicited emails are a terrible idea. Don't do it.

Cold calling is labour intensive and has a low return.

If you want to get your name out there then you'll need to invest time in networking and advertising.

Unless you're offering something specific then you're going to be competing against every other web designer targeting SMEs.

You might be better off focussing on a specific industry niche.