The Website Assessments to Avoid

The problem with me trying to help schools, churches, and non-profits with their website design is that many of them probably get dozens of spam emails doing the same kind of thing each week. It doesn't matter that I've already done the assessment, or that I've (in the past) already built a potential website, or that I'm Lutheran and honest. People just see my contact as another spam email. Sad.

Here's an example of a spammer sending an email to ME:

Hi,

This is Azad and I am a web design and SEO expert with some pretty impressive skills (not to toot my own horn).  I was just checking out your site and it's great, but it can definitely be better and I would like to help you to improve it.  My goal isn’t just to build you a website, but help you realize your vision for your business. Would you be interested in getting a proposal for a site redesign or for SEO services?

Let me know if you're interested.  I'd really love to work on your site.  Hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Azad

Digital Marketing Expert

 These website emails are form letters, never mention a real company name (spam is illegal), and often promise more than they can do. Oh, they're almost always foreign companies, too, since American companies can't get away with doing it. I'm not saying that there aren't decent human beings with excellent computer skills in India, China, or Russia. In fact, my old hosting company failed to protect my websites from some of these experts (at least their counterparts who hack). 

Azad might be a very good guy. He might cost your company half or a quarter what I would cost. (And I'm half than most web guys in America). The problem is that his way of contacting you is wrong and using his skills might not be what your board wants done. And if Azad doesn't do a good job, you have no one to complain to and no way to give him one star to warn others. 

Of course, it all still leaves Luthernet, Brave New Church, and Passive Ninja with the problem of contacting you. Even if I've created a valuable website evaluation, people will ignore my emails. When I would sometimes email one small suggestion that was totally free and effective, people would simply not respond. And it's because of Azad and all his friends. I am sorry for them, but you really have to read through some of the emails when you get them. It doesn't take a lot of effort to figure out which ones are spam and which ones can help you. 

Here's a video that shows how we transformed websites just to try to get customers. We want to work, and we're good at it.