Need Advice on my Sales Letter

[khalid]

Hi all,

I've built up a couple of geo sites and popped out a sales letter and just wanted to get some feedback on it....

Good Morning,

I'm e-mailing you regarding listing your KEYWORD services on CITYKEYWORD.co.uk

We've recently launched out website focusing purely on KEYWORD in CITY and are already on page 1 of Google.co.uk. Type in "CITY KEYWORD" or "KEYWORD in CITY" to see us.

We don't have any irrelevant adverts or such, just 4 spaces for local businesses to showcase themselves, each with their own dedicated page which can include pictures and your website address.

Would you be interested in listing your business on this site? At only £10 per month we're 24 times cheaper than Yell.com for a similar listing and you're not tied into a contract (you can cancel at any time).

Why not give us a try? Afterall we are one of the first websites potential customers see when they search for an KEYWORD in CITY.

Please get back to me at your earliest convenience as we're only allowing four companies to advertise so spaces are limited.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Khalid.
Managing Director
CITYKEYWORD.co.uk
Part of Ethan Hardy Ltd

Any advice would be appreciated. I have BCC'd this to the relevant companies but think a phonecall might work better - trouble is I work full time so cannot sit and do my own stuff during business hours!

 

[bb99]

I think you need to tell them how much traffic you're getting. If you can tell them you get 50 people a day looking for KEYWORD in CITY then this is far more persuasuve.

 

[khalid]

I think you need to tell them how much traffic you're getting. If you can tell them you get 50 people a day looking for KEYWORD in CITY then this is far more persuasuve.

I see, good idea

 

[bensd]

We've recently launched out

Is that a typo?

 

[khalid]

Is that a typo?

yup well spotted!

 

[golddiggerguy]

This is something I'll be looking to do after Christmas with all mine, and so find this interesting.

Emails arn't great and bet you only really get one shot at getting your point over to the RIGHT person ONCE.

Yes I think real hard stats will be the best bet and list the "top 10 phrases" the site shows up on page 1 of Google for. How you contact them is a hard one I think.

An old fashion letter with printed stats and a good business card may work better.

For businesses that do have shops or walk through the door premises and it isn't a big outfit you might get a better response popping in with a print out of details.

Maybe say you started it because you was sick of the big boys cold calling you and want to better than them by offering a better service! Service/Product targeted and local. As this I'm sure they will be able to relate too.

Another option which I'll be doing is listing say 10 companies on your site as posts with all their details, services, products etc but NO contact details at all.

Then have a "Contact Us about xxxxxxx" page, any leads that come in give away free to each of the companies and say you can buy any future ones for £15 a pop after that one or rent a spot on the site with your own contact form or link for £15 per month.

Just a few ideas

If I could make £2k a month from just 2 Ad's on only 100 of my Geo sites in Jan / Feb ........... I'll be happy.

 

[khalid]

Some good points there.

I think you really need a dedicated sales person but I've had difficulty recruiting one who wants to work on a freelance basis.

What I intend to do is have an xmas meetup with some guys who own big sites and/or geos and see if they would each put in £100 - £200 per month for a sales person to ring full time.

That way we each get a few days per week dedicated to our sites without the big cost of having to pay someone a full time salary.

It is just an idea so if anyone else wants to join in then pm me.

We'd need to address how payments were taken etc too.

Khalid.

 

[julian]

mostly a waste of time in my experience.. I find you need to show them physically.

 

[accelerator]

At only £10 per month we're 24 times cheaper than Yell.com

Are you sure the 24 times multiple is right? Yell would then charge £240 per month?? I thought they charged around £240 per year.

Rgds

 

[khalid]

Yup, a yell highlighted listing for a tradesman in e.g. falkirk is £2830 per annum, see attachment...

 

[retired_member12]

A track record would be helpful, but this is diminished somewhat by the age of the company (just 10 months old). Be sure to refer to previous experience in this field prior to the company formation. Alternatively, and this will cost you £200-£400, purchase an of the shelf company that's maybe 3-4 years old, then do some name changing to the aged company. You wouldn't be lying when you say you were established in say 2005, it'll give the impression you've been successful at what you do.

 

[khalid]

A track record would be helpful, but this is diminished somewhat by the age of the company (just 10 months old). Be sure to refer to previous experience in this field prior to the company formation. Alternatively, and this will cost you £200-£400, purchase an of the shelf company that's maybe 3-4 years old, then do some name changing to the aged company. You wouldn't be lying when you say you were established in say 2005, it'll give the impression you've been successful at what you do.

tbh i never thought about that. i think it is a case of physically showing them as previously said.

 

[springer]

Putting that you are on page of 1 of Google is OK, until they look and don't see your site. Especially if the site is new, it may be going through the google dance (I can't see your falkirk electricians site on page 1).

 

[khalid]

Putting that you are on page of 1 of Google is OK, until they look and don't see your site. Especially if the site is new, it may be going through the google dance (I can't see your falkirk electricians site on page 1).

True but google dances a lot so sometimes you have to just go for it

 

[websaway]

We don't have any irrelevant adverts or such, just 4 spaces for local businesses to showcase themselves, each with their own dedicated page which can include pictures and your website address.

Would you be interested in listing your business on this site? At only £10 per month we're 24 times cheaper than Yell.com for a similar listing and you're not tied into a contract (you can cancel at any time).


As per above- are you saying that total income from each site would be £480 per year?

4 x advertisers @ £10 x 12 months = £480 per annum

 

[bb99]

It's going vaguely off topic but I reckon you'll soon get bored of invoicing £10 to each advertiser each month and then spending ages chasing them to pay it.

Going back to the main question though, these small businesses you're targetting get called / emailed all the time asking for them to advertise in this/that/whatever. So you need something really special to convince them as it is a very hard sell. Traffic is one thing I suppose. Perhaps you could have a testimonial from a happy advertiser. Or maybe do some sort of cost analysis comparison between your offer and Google Adwords's average CPC for that term.

 

[websaway]

We don't have any irrelevant adverts or such, just 4 spaces for local businesses to showcase themselves, each with their own dedicated page which can include pictures and your website address.

Would you be interested in listing your business on this site? At only £10 per month we're 24 times cheaper than Yell.com for a similar listing and you're not tied into a contract (you can cancel at any time).


As per above- are you saying that total income from each site would be £480 per year?

4 x advertisers @ £10 x 12 months = £480 per annum

What my point was going to be, apart from the inadequate income, is that as soon as they see "citykeyword" they will register "city-keyword" "city-keywords"or suchlike.

 

[khalid]

@websaway yes

@bb99 it is automated payments

 

[dashu1]

My 2 pennies are that we need to remember that Joe Public and even Joe Business Owner often know diddly about the net, and so I think you need to sell them what it's going to do for them.

I think you need to turn it into a "how would you like more business for only £10 per month" type affair.