TXT record
SPF
v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all
Checks that the server sending your email is actually allowed to.
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The detail is the difference.
Email that reaches the inbox, records that prove you are who you say, data that isn’t fiction, and websites built by hand. None of it is glamorous. All of it decides whether anyone hears from you.
Five things I do
Index 01 / 05
01
Cold email outreach
Tailored campaigns on clean data and solid deliverability. Replies from people you would actually like to work with.
02
BIMI certification
Your logo next to every email you send, with the DNS, DMARC and certificate work handled end to end.
03
B2B data cleaning
Dead companies flagged, good ones scored, names written the way humans write them.
04
Web design
Hand-coded sites, no WordPress, no page builders. Fast to build, so priced accordingly.
05
Email plus telesales
Outreach followed up by phone with a partner firm. Thirty years of combined experience, aimed at aggressive growth.
Why the results differ
The bits nobody sees
Anyone can send an email or build a page. The difference between something that works and something that quietly doesn’t is a dozen small decisions the client never sees and never should have to think about.
Here are some of them, so you can ask whoever you’re using now whether they’ve done the same.
01
Outreach never goes out on your main domain
If a campaign does damage, it damages a domain you do not send invoices from. Most agencies skip this because it is extra setup.
02
SPF kept under the ten lookup limit
Add a fourth or fifth sending platform and SPF silently stops evaluating. Nothing warns you. Everything starts failing.
03
A new sending domain is warmed slowly
Two thousand emails on day one from a domain nobody has seen before is the fastest way into a spam folder permanently.
04
DMARC moved to enforcement in stages
Going straight to reject bins your own legitimate mail from systems you had forgotten about. It goes in steps, watching the reports.
05
Every company name read by a human
Automation cannot tell that nobody introduces themselves as “SOLVING ALL YOUR RECRUITMENT NEEDS”. A person can, in about a second.
06
Dissolved and dormant companies checked, not assumed
Your team stops spending Tuesday morning ringing businesses that closed in 2019.
07
Link tracking on a separate domain
A shared tracking domain inherits every other sender’s reputation. Yours should carry only yours.
08
Websites shipped without layout shift
Fonts and images sized in advance, so nothing jumps as the page loads. It is the difference people feel but never name.
04 · Web design
Hand-coded websites. No WordPress. No plugins to update at midnight.
Twenty years of building means I’m quick, and quick means affordable. You get a site that loads in under a second, scores well without anyone gaming it, and doesn’t need a maintenance retainer to stay upright.
See how I build0.6sTypical load time on a real 4G connection
0Plugins that can break while you sleep
100Lighthouse accessibility, not fudged
20 yearsOf building things by hand
Authentication
Three DNS records decide whether anyone reads your emails
SPF, DKIM and DMARC are how Gmail and Outlook decide you are who you say you are. Get them wrong and your emails quietly evaporate. Nobody tells you. That’s the problem.
TXT record
DKIM
v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=MIIBIjANBgkqhki…
Adds a hidden signature so providers can see nothing was tampered with.
TXT record
DMARC
v=DMARC1; p=reject; rua=mailto:dmarc@
Ties the other two together and says what to do when something does not add up.
Data cleaning
“Hey, I’d love to work with YOUR COMPANY LIMITED”
We’ve all had that email. In one sentence you know you’re a row in a spreadsheet. Every company name in my campaigns is read by an actual human first, because automation cannot tell the difference.
Bolt Recruitment
BOLT RECRUITMENT
bolt recruitment
Bolt Recruitment Limited
Bolt Recruitment - Solving All Your Recruitment Needs
Free tools
Is your domain actually set up?
Type a domain. See its SPF, DKIM and DMARC records in about a second. No email address required, because asking for one would be rude.
Bulk URL opener
Paste a list of URLs, open them in batches with a delay so your browser doesn’t fall over. Built because I needed it, kept because other people did too.
Who you’d actually be dealing with
Hi, I’m James
My background is in aircraft avionics, and it shaped how I work more than anything since. It’s a trade where “it looks fine” isn’t an answer, where you’re expected to understand a system rather than just operate it, and where the work nobody can see is the work that counts.
Twenty years on, I come at email, data and websites the same way. People hire me because I keep things simple – no fluff, no jargon, no templates, no BS – but underneath that it’s the same instinct: get the parts nobody looks at right, and the parts everybody judges you on take care of themselves.
I’ve spent years in B2B email: campaigns, deliverability, and the data underneath both. The data cleaning came about because I was already doing it. BIMI came about because clients kept asking why other companies’ logos showed up in Gmail and theirs didn’t.
Web design is the odd one out. I’ve been at it on and off since I was 20, which is over twenty years now, and it’s still the part I enjoy most. A site is something you can point at – it goes live, people use it, and it makes a visible difference to the business that asked for it. Not much else in marketing is that tangible.
Next step
Twenty minutes on the phone
Tell me what’s not working. I’ll tell you whether I can help, and if I can’t, who can. That’s the whole process.