I’ve been getting those site optimization / tweeks leads too, Michelle. Has me thinking that the term is misunderstood by most people, or that it means something different to clients than it means to us. Most of the time I decline them without much thought when the business is not something I’m familiar with. Occasionally I’ll respond to the lead, tell them my hourly and the required 3-5 hour retainer to start if they mean just adding/deleting content and photos, and tell them that more than this is likely to require a site redesign, for which their budget is too low.
But I just had a guy this morning respond to that saying he wants to work with me and is willing to pay more to get professional help.
I’m finding a lot of these site optimization leads haven’t published their site, which makes assessing the work it’s likely to require in advance of responding and sending a cogent response impossible. I tend to reject those immediately unless intuition suggests otherwise.