One of the things I do after meeting with anyone, on the phone or in person, is write a custom followup email. I do this for a number of reasons. One, it helps keep a record of the things the potential client is interested in. Two, it makes sure we are on the same page and I didn’t miss anything. Three, it sets expectations for next steps. Below is pretty much an exact replica (including price points specific to the potential client’s needs) of one of the followup emails I recently wrote with the only things removed being personal details about the company I was writing to, and I have italicized the email content so you can easily see where it begins. Below the email, I include some additional information.
Great chatting with you earlier today. Based on our conversation, it sounds like you need a new website that is:
- Clean, modern and showcases your company’s best qualities – quality, service (going above and beyond), Hoosier/American-made, etc.
- Easy to update and much more secure.
- Has a great foundation for search engine optimization (so you can be found more easily for keywords that matter to your business).
- Mobile friendly – looks great on a desktop, tablet and mobile device.
- Able to help you generate more leads (phone calls and website forms).
Our standard website fee is $7,000 for a website like this. It generally takes 2-3 months from start to finish but can be finished quicker with good communication. My clients typically pay half upfront and half upon completion.
Our clients do not have to pay an ongoing fee if they choose not to. They own 100% of the website’s we build and other than hosting and your domain name, have essential no ongoing fees. All clients receive full training on how to update each part of the website (I make a personal video that shows clients how to do this). However, we do have an ongoing WordPress maintenance plan available. It is $230/month and includes an hour of support/work each month along with a number of other items.
As part of that service, we keep your website backed up automatically and updated, so you won’t easily fall victim to being hacked. We also create a video that show you how many people have been coming to the website and what things can be done to improve website traffic. We have a service monitor the website for downtime. If at anytime the website goes down, we get a text notification and can begin working to get it back up. I try to be proactive about helping clients with issues so they always have a great running website.
As for search engine optimization, as I mentioned on our call, this requires more of an ongoing commitment and is a pretty time consuming thing. While the new website will give you a great foundation for success, ongoing search engine optimization means creating ongoing content until Google has seen your reputation improve. Our lowest package for this service is 6 months and costs $1,000/month (which includes the website maintenance listed above). To set expectations, after 3 months, our clients are typically receiving web-based leads. After 6 months, they are typically receiving at least several per month. At the end of the 6 months, most companies have no need to continue using this service and can simply go back to the ongoing maintenance plan (if they need it). I’m happy to pass along some current clients you can chat with about their experience going through this search engine optimization – just let me know.
Our goal for search engine optimization is doing better within search results, yes, but the primary goal is to help you bring in new leads that will lead to revenue. If we are able to help you begin getting 5-10 web leads per month and you end up closing two at your average sale price you mentioned during our call of $15,000, you will not only pay for the new website but also the full six months of the search engine optimization. And once our search engine work is done, you should continue getting new leads each month going forward as long as you continue creating new, relevant content.
As I mentioned, I really enjoy working with local businesses and would love to work with you. I only take on a few websites at any one time and do all of the search engine optimization myself as well. While I am not the cheapest solution, I will work hard to make sure your project is successful all the way through. If you have any questions at all or are interested in me pulling together a full proposal for either the website or the ongoing options, please let me know.
As you can see from the above email, I try to set up expectations throughout the process. In some markets, like the one from the email above, a limited SEO engagement of 6 months may allow us to create a process that reaps ongoing benefits. In the above case, the market the client was in was relatively easier to make large SEO gains compared to a mature market with major players (like Amazon, SalesForce, Ford, etc.). However, in many competitive markets, that may not be the case. It may take a longer amount of time or it may not be feasible for SEO to pay for itself. It is important to calculate a potential ROI. If a sale is only worth $10 for example, then a $5-10k SEO campaign will take many sales and a long time to pay off. When I have a call and discuss these things with the potential client, I always want to be frank about the likelihood of SEO being a good fit. While all companies can benefit from SEO, not all of them can afford the short term costs of building up their online reputation.
If you are interested in having a quick call, shoot us a message using the contact us form.
