Hello All, I am starting a new freelance business which is creating websites. the only problem is that I don't have a portfolio yet, and I don't know how to convince potential clients to work with me I have sent a sales letter to hundreds of people, but I did'nt received any positive answer, I know that my writing skills sucks! - I have offred a no risk guaranteed clause. - I told the clients that their websites will be done in less that two weeks - I included a free domain and hosting for two years - to top that, a six months support for bug fixing, free! but no one wanted my service out of desperation, I have even offred a free website for a marketing assitant in exhange of a small service, but she refused!! I don't understand what's wrong with her?? I would be very grateful if someone could help me writing a sales latter that works. Thanks
I think you are putting the cart before the horse. It would seem doubtful that someone would hire you to design a site for them without seeing an example of your work. I would put the sales letter on hold and build a website as a sales piece for yourself. That way you will have at least one active site in your portfolio. You might want to consider hiring a copywriter who can help you add your offerings to your new website and fix your sales letter. And then, start again trying to contact prospective clients.
Post the link to your website and the content in your sales pitch to give us some kind of idea on what could be the problem.
send me your existing sales letter. some tweaking would help and maybe you're sounding like a hard-sell at this point.
Hey Serena. I'm afraid I'm gonna have to echo what YMC said earlier. On top of that, I am not entirely convinced of a need for a sales letter at this point of time, or ever, for that matter. Most of us instantly instantly becomes guarded the moment a sales letter makes an appearance. Let's face it, the stigma associated with a sales letter more often than not drowns out the product that it intends to promote. The big red fonts, the so-called price slashing and the limited time offer will only work with a small segment of the market. And returns ratio are exceptionally low. What I'm saying is, perhaps you should be looking at more than sales letters per see. Start with an incredible looking site - beautiful, informative and user friendly. After all, this will be your main selling point. Include some sample templates, with an option to buy (ideally, for a very small price), which not only will generate some income for you, but also open up opportunities for customizations from buyers. People who buys templates tends to come back for assistance. That's just the way it rolls. All this must rank at the very top of your list. Next, market your service. If you can afford it, use AdWords. Localize the target to your local market. Many, and I mean many, starts of nationally, which is not only more expensive, but so much more competitive and will proved to be unproductive. Otherwise, do it the organic way. Posts in forums (with a sig line in place) or popular sites/blogs (relevant ones). Hundreds of them, for a start. Top that up with some good ol' fashioned offline legwork. You'd be surprised how much you can achieve with that. My first ever client was construction company a couple of miles from my house (no, I'm not into web designing. HTML gives me nightmares, and HTML5 gives me jaundice). Luck.
Thales's comments gave me another idea you could try...create a few WordPress themes. They could serve several purposes. It provides you with a portfolio. If you give them away, you should get some footer links to your new site. And, you could also up-sell customization services to upgrade your templates.