Hi, I came across a website today while researching something. It really needs help (in my opinion). I bookmarked it, because I seen this as a potential client. My question is to the awesome web copywriters we have here. Should I write something up to show them in the first email (something small) or just simply explain what I think should be changed and how I can improve it? Also, it could very much use some layout and design help. I don't do this. Should I offer that in my summary, then find someone to help me to do that as well? Would you? Thanks for any help... I'd really like to do it right the first time. I've mostly only done articles/content, not entire pages or websites. Thanks!
I don't know if my first contact with the site owner would contain information about how I would fix the site or the design. You might want to simply e-mail them and say something along the lines of "I came across your site while doing research and was wondering if you wrote the content and did the design yourself or if you contracted out." Once you have received a response, you can then offer your services for future work (keep in mind that if they did the content themselves, they might be very proud of it and not take very kindly to what will be taken as criticism). You might even make suggestions about the site content in a "have you ever thought about adding a paragraph about..." way. I've found that when you approach things in a positive way, people are much more receptive to what you have to say.
Something short but sweet. Sweet = benefits. Besides saying what services you provide or what you want to do to their site, you gotta specify one or two BIG benefits from doing what you say. Benefit sells. 2 factors:- How real is the benefit, How big is the benefit.
Take the time to do it right. If nothing else, it could serve as a sample of what you can do. So it's a good exercise to take something and make it better. That's how my first portfolio was put together. I made up stuff. I didn't hide the fact that it was but it showed I was serious about being a copywriter. I actually got one of my favorite clients in the way you described. I've never done it again. But to be honest, I called him about something small he could do to boost his rank. Then he called me to ask my opinion on something and then I sent him something to see what he thought. It was a new business mailer I wanted an opinion on. He said, "Don't send me stuff like this. Just do something." Well, that's a ridiculous waste of time with most clients. You'd be doing entire websites all day to no avail and you'd be poor. But he did tell me what worked for him. So that's what I did. And it worked. And 5 years later, he's still a client.