Getting Clients by Writing Cold Email
Does this describe you?
You have utilized freelancing websites like Upwork.
You enjoy a steady supply of work that has allowed you to develop your skills as a writer.
You have an extensive portfolio that spans many industries, but you have also found a niche that you most recently have focused all your efforts on.
You write all the live-long day, but you don’t seem to be increasing your income.
If this describes you, it may be time for you to be more proactive. After all, you have a skill that few people have. There are struggling business owners who need someone to bring in clients. Instead of waiting for those business owners to come to you, perhaps it is time to sell your services directly to them.
To begin the process of finding such clients, perhaps you want to try a cold emailing campaign.
Here are some things to consider as you attempt to grow your SEO business.
1. Start with your niche.
In the process of developing your business, hopefully, you have found your niche. As you attempt to find higher-paying customers, your niche is the best place to start.
Before you send a copy and pasted email to all the local businesses in your niche, you should develop a plan. Instead of finding new clients who will pay you a similar fee to what you have been earning, why not focus on clients who can pay you hundreds or thousands a month for an effective SEO strategy?
For example, if your niche is lawn care, you should focus your efforts on lawn care companies that could afford to pay a substantial amount for your services. You probably want to avoid the small mom and pop business that can’t afford a large SEO budget. You don’t want to work longer hours. You want to work for more money.
Instead, try to find lawn care companies with regional, state-wide, or national presence.
2. Find large or profitable businesses within your niche that need your assistance.
The next step is to do a Google search for businesses in your niche in a specific area. Instead of picking the companies that appear at the top of your Google search, scan the list to find businesses that appear near the bottom or on page two or three. Again, your goal is to look for large enough companies that can afford to pay you decently, but at the same time, companies that are struggling with their current (or non-existent) SEO strategies.
Besides using a basic Google search to get ideas on who to reach out to, you will also want to spend time with your favorite keyword research software. Whether you use Ahrefs, Moz Pro, or Google Keyword Planner, look for a keyword related to your niche industry. Find sites that have a domain rating between 0 and 10. You may also want to see how much traffic they actually get.
Finally, also pay attention to the companies that appear as a paid ad for a specific keyword. If those companies do not rank organically as well, they may also need the SEO expertise that you can provide.
3. Send a personalized email.
Once you have the names of the target companies based on your research, find the contact info and name of the owner or manager of the company. It is up to you if you want to reach out to the marketing department. These people may not be as open to your services since if they were doing their jobs, the company would rank higher.
Although personalized emails may take more time, it may be worthwhile in the long run. In your short, but sweet, email, mention that you noticed that their company ranked 23rd or 38th when typing in the keywords “lawn services Denver.” You may even want to send a screenshot showing the Google search.
This email doesn’t have to be lengthy but asks if you can schedule a call or a visit to talk about your ideas for a new SEO campaign. You may even want to include a link that would allow them to make an appointment directly from the email.
4. Follow through.
Once you have a scheduled appointment on your calendar, make sure you show up for it. Whether it is a call or an in-person meeting, salespeople fail when they don’t follow through with their clients.
That’s it! Will it take time to complete this process? Of course, it will! But as a result, you could work a lot fewer hours each week and make a lot more money.
This article was originally posted at Freelancing buzz.