This is a follow up to my last lead generation post on lead generation marketing as it’s something that has sparked a LOT of interest among my readers.
During these tougher economic times, traditional offline businesses are looking for more ways to expand their reach and gain new customers.
They’re realizing that good old Yellow Page advertising just doesn’t cut it any more.
They KNOW they need to be online… but they don’t know HOW to get online.
Help Others Generate Leads
And They’ll Pay YOU…
Taking offline businesses and giving them an online presence isn’t really all that difficult – all you need to start with is a basic website and some basic on page SEO, a few backlinks and they will start getting traffic from Google.
Offline businesses are used to spending money advertising in places like Yellow Pages, newspapers etc, so if you can show them a way that they can tap into the power of free traffic from Google, you’ll find many of them scrambling to write you a big fat check on the spot!
Infact, several years ago when I was in my marketing ‘infancy’ I created a simple website for my Brother-in-laws business.
He’s in a competitive market, where each new client is worth thousands of dollars to him … annually.
The website was little more than a 4-5 page site with some basic information about the company, a few testimonials from satisfied customers, and a phone number to call for more information.
If I’m brutally honest, the design looked amateurish (but hey … I was an amateur back then!
) and I knew very little about SEO.
After creating the site, I submitted a few articles with backlinks to the site.
Soon after, the site was on the front page of Google for their main keywords.
Fast forward to today, and the site is #1 on Google for multiple keywords and is one of their main source of new customers.
(My brother-in-law has even had his competitors literally begging for my contact information because they wanted to pay ME to build a site for them!)
The great thing about working with local businesses is that the keywords people use to find them are very specific, typically several words long, and so are VERY easy to get good rankings for.
How To Build A Simple
Lead Generating Site …
Here is what I would do to create a new site for a local business…
1) Register a domain name that is the EXACT keyword they want to rank for this is typically something like www.[occupation][location].com … e.g. www.FederalWayDentalClinic.com/org/net
(TIP: If the .com one is gone, try .org, or even .net – so long as people are finding them through Google, it doesn’t matter what the extension is as they just have to click it, not remember it)
2) Create a simple 3-5 page site using basic on page SEO … e.g. Put keywords in the title tags, <H1>, <H2> tags, in the body of the content, in the filename of images etc.
3) Create a series of articles and submit them to different directories, linking back to the site with the keyword as anchor text. (see this post on affiliate marketing tips for more info)
4) Write a simple press release and submit to free press release sites, or spend $19 with WebWire.com to get a press release with 3 strong anchor text backlinks to the site.
Just that amount of work will usually get them on the front page of Google very quickly. And to get them even higher, you just need to generate a few more backlinks.
How To Make Money Selling
Lead Generating Services…
It’s not uncommon to find companies spending more than $10,000 a year just in Yellow Pages advertising (and who uses Yellow Page books now that Google is here??), and even more on other advertising.
If you could offer to build them a site that will actually bring them new customers from free traffic, and at a fraction of the cost of their annual advertising bill … do you think they’d be interested?
You bet they would!!
You can easily charge a minimum of $1,000-$1,500 for this work (and you should realistically aim higher … especially once you have a ‘portfolio’ of sites you’ve created) AND you can also charge a monthly retainer fee for updating the site, writing more articles etc.
And it’s NOT difficult to build a professional looking site.
– You can get ready made professional templates from hosts like HostGator that are FREE for you to use (click here to see examples)
– You can create 3-5 pages of information for the site just by writing about the company, and putting keywords in all the right places for SEO.
– You can write and submit an article to the major directories in 1-2 hours maximum
– You can write and submit a press release in the same time. (Use the $19 WebWire.com service and you are almost guaranteed to get the press release on page #1 of Google)
– Add their site/business to the Google Business Center (http://www.google.com/local/add/) and get them a free listing at the top of the search results like in the image below:
You can easily get all of this accomplished in a single day if you’re prepared to work at it.
Even if you didn’t want to do the work yourself, you could outsource this for a couple of hundred dollars and keep the rest for yourself as pure profit!
Just one new client a week at $1,500 gives you an income of $78,000 a year!
Not bad huh?
And if there’s one thing I’ve learned about local business owners, it’s that they TALK to other business owners.
Once you start getting results for different clients, I promise you that the referrals will come thick and fast.
(Here’s another really powerful tip … Offer to give clients a $100 discount if they’ll recommend you to 3 other business owners they know!)
So if you still believe in all the hypey ‘systems’ and ‘programs’ that promise you a million dollars overnight … this may not be for you.
But if you aren’t afraid to put some effort into building a real business, consider becoming an offline consultant. It can be a LOT more lucrative than regular affiliate marketing and a lot LESS work!
Don’t forget to use the comment box below to let me know what you think! Is this something that interests you?
To Your Success!
Hi Richard
Some great thoughts and ideas here for sure and it’s also clarified a few things for me as regards web marketing.
Thanks
Sean
Richard,
From a fellow Washingtonian
in Lacey.
This strategy is spot on…and works extremely well…I’ve been doing this for the last 2 years and it’s the easiest money ever.
And…the client gets EXTREME value for their business as a result.
Hi Richard,
You make it sound so easy!. But to take the first step – talking to a business – where can somebody starts?. Calling, writing …?
Anyway this is a great possibility.
Thanks.
Reply from Richard: Talk to someone you know who may have a business, or a friend that may know someone. Offer to do it for free if you have to, in return for a testimonial or recommendation to others.
You can also hire sales reps to do the work for you. Post a job on Craigslist and pay them a % or flat fee for any clients they bring you.
The Yellow Pages have hundreds of thousands of businesses you can contact. Find the ones spending money on display ads and tell them you can slash their advertising costs and get them more exposure.
That’s just a few ways
Richard
Great post Richard – timely and right on the money…
Thanks,
Chris Oakley
Hello Richard,
I am enjoying your informative emails and post there is always good quality content that we all can learn from. I look forward to reading your succeed in 30 days ebook, very kind of you to offer it for free.
Great post! I am thinking of developing a site for a friend of mine becasue he doesn’t have web presense for his fabric store and I know he is losing lots of money by not having a website. After that I can use it for my testimonial.
Reply from Richard: Starting off by building a site for a friend is a great idea, especially if you don’t feel confident yet.
Once you get results (e.g. take screenshots of the Google rankings) you then have a very powerful testimonial and I’m sure he’d be more than happy to tell other business owners about your services.
You can even sweeten the deal and offer him a small ‘finders fee’ for anyone he refers to you
The important thing is to just do something. You may not think you have much to offer – but chances are you know waaaay more than any offline business owner. The more you do, the better you’ll get.
Richard
I want to learn more. Thank you and have a great weekend!!
Eugenia
Thanks for the info Richard, I’d love to learn more on the subject.
For me it does not matter if it is online or offline I want to master SEO Thank you for this lesson on rankings for google.
“I’m excited, I want to learn more!”
i think now a simple even offline business will need online for adds.
Hi Richard,
This is cool, for those with techie confidence. I’m going to stick to aff. for now, but realise that the skills are transferable.
Thanks again for great content & ideas.
Hi Richard,
I myself do local business marketing but had not thought about the article and press release aspect.
Excellent post – thanks
Regards
Jonathan Lake (Torquay, UK)
Thanks for the ideas on lead generation for local businesses. It could be a valuable service for an online business to offer, and a great way to connect with nearby customers and peers.
Richard – Great content. I have been struggling with how to my online presence, yet have the process done economically.
Thanks for the great ideas.
Jeff Thomas
I need specific help on the “free” page on HostGator. The set up calls for a Paypal email. Looking in data on your pages and researching the Paypal pages shows me I need more data to set up a Paypal email money acceptance account. I cannot find this data in anything you have sent me.
Help
Reply from Richard: The paypal email is just the email address you used to create a paypal account.
You can signup for a free paypal account at http://www.paypal.com
Thank you Richard for the useful post. I had just recently been given an offer to be an add on / upgrade for a web development company doing the things you are referencing in this article. I appreciate your guidance and the direction you have given us.
My only problem seems to be convincing the clients that they are getting value with the service I provide. A lot of times the “proof is in the pudding” so to speak. And, unfortunatly I have no proof yet.
I had to write up an over-all proposal for a company to submit to clients and, maybe I’m wrong but I think my services were too expencive. The cost for the things that are covered in this article of yours are almost triple what I had submitted in my proposal, and there are even more extras thrown in for free to potential clients.
I would also like to think that I am not diminishing my services by lowering my pricing for things. Sometimes the lower the price the less the quality of service is, or so some may think. I don’t want to be too cheap and work myself to death for nothing either. Man, wish I started marketing 10 years ago. I wouldn’t have this problem now.
What should I do. I think I am going to start scowering the phone book. Thanks for doing what you do. much Respect.
Richard,
Thanks for the great info. I am getting started with my own website. Maybe someday I can build sites for other businesses.
Very useful tips. Thanks for sharing them.I learnt a lot of things from this.
Richard,
I tried this a few years ago and for the most part I kept running into the same type of business owner…If you can’t do it for $(input cheap amount here) then we can’t do business.
Either that statement or My brother can do this for cheaper. And I live in a small town!
Richard,
I am sharing this with you and all of your readers. Your to be congratulated for all the information and training that you provide. Since I have been following your instructions to the letter, they are exact as you say. It has made my efforts to succeed online much more simple. My results have changed tremendously. Please except my many thanks and you have a fan here.
Hi Richard
I just happened to fall on your site, and may I say I`m glad I did. Your information, hints & tips are second to none. The above article is a real eye opener for seasoned IM`s or any newbies out there.
You have certainly caught my attention and I will be bookmarking your site.
To your success,
Mark.
Excellent content, Richard. This is the 2nd time I’ve heard of this concept. Can’t wait to implement this strategy and see what resulys I can accomplish.
Hi Richard,
Thanks for the ideas on lead generation for local businesses. It is definitely valuable for any online business, and a great way to connect with prospects and friends. But why has nobody ever offered to implement for the newbies like us and charge for it? I am just tired of paying for training and not being able to implement.I can go ahead and pay for your marketing course but if i am not able to implement then it is wasted. Can you help? Thank you.
To your success,
Onlinebiz
Excellent information. I’ve been giving this more and more thought lately and to see it simply laid out gets me even more excited about the possibilities.
Thanks!
Hi Richard – Are there any other easy ways to get top 10 ranking on google first page by not using articles and press release. If your answer is “NO” Then I have to adopt your formulas and to get my site ranking in goole.
Hello Richard,
How are you doing,
Thanks, I’m very excited, I want to learn more!”
Hi Richard great information.This will help a lot of people to develop their business to the next level.
Hi Richard…
Thanks for the great and valuable info.
I can’t wait to read more…
Thanks again…
Thanks a bunch for the great info. Probably the MOST important point is the one about JUST DOING IT! That seems to be my own highest hurdle for sure. Any advise on how to banish ones proclivity to inactivity?
Thanks for the article will be implementing it and will give feed back
Merry Christmas
Hey Richard….I can say that building websites for business is a great way to build a business and a steady income.
In 2006 I built my first site for a small appliance repair company in Tallahassee, FL. He rents the site at $50 per month…he still rents that site today…yes I could have raised the rent but hey he was my 1st and trusted customer.
I also built 30+ sites and rented them out to small business for as much as $450 per month…I could have been more aggressive and built more and charged more but I moved on to other things…like today my best site is a ticket site….I sell tickets to all events around the world..
So just do it…the internet has unlimited opportunity employer…
Firstly you will need a website or blog of your own or a team website that actually provides you with direct help such as your referral link on the website.
If you can even measure those leads from online
marketing to your product out the door, knowing how your sales
traffic is doing is so important. It is truly a myth that
every business HAS to be on Facebook.