Big Fish in a Local Pond…
Posted on by Ryan Deiss in Editor's Column, Startup Business
Local Businesses Need YOU...
Do you have ANY idea how much smarter you are, at least marketing wise,
than any other business owner in your town?
No? Try talking about what we do as marketers to the local yokels and
watch their eyes glaze over and their greed glands start to water, even if
your explaining basic opt-in strategies and simple autoresponders, they will
think your a genius, I guarantee it.
A few of my students have really caught on to this and are making a FORTUNE
right in their own back yards.
One guy in Florida is selling the “brain dead” simple service of setting up local
mom and pops in Google local, Google’s simple local listing tool.
He does a really great job and ads photos and some interesting copy for each listing.
His fee: $200 for about 20 minutes work so he can do 10-20 a week. Plus, he
uses an outside sales person on commission and never even sees the customer.
Another sharp student in Atlanta sets up and maintains local businesses Twitter,
Facebook and YouTube accounts then updates them from time to time.
Her fee: $175 a MONTH minimum and she has built up to over 100 clients in just a few months.
Do that math!
Lastly, this one really killed me. One of the more clever guys I’ve seen offers a
“Who’s talking about you” service for local businesses that send alerts to the
business any time they are mentioned online in a search engine, social media etc…
He charges $79 a month for his service and relies largely on the free Google
Alerts and Twitter Search service for most his information. I don’t know his
numbers, but he has 6 full time salespeople on staff and has had for a while.
The big point is, you ARE smart. Smarter than most of the businesses owners
in your area and NOW is the time to share your skills and collect some great
fees in the process.
Best Wishes,
Ryan
P.S. Comment below and tell me if you offer a local service, have a question or
just want to be heard. Go ahead, brag a little…
Free Training Event
Stacia
30. Aug, 2011
What does the person sell for $79 on google alerts? research information for people?
Jon Lake
15. Aug, 2011
What I am starting to look at is offering local SEO type services to a certain niche rather than just local businesses carte blanche. I started a couple of nichified sites with directories on them as part of the site. It has become apparent that the website owners in this niche are not at all search engine savvy so lets see what happens!!
All the best
Jon
Jonathan
18. Jul, 2011
Hi Ryan,
I am sure that one of my clients – a solar panels company (hugely competitive niche) thinks I am some kind of magician as I have got 2 of his sites on Page 1 of Big G for competitive long tail keywords and he is picking up new clients every week.
Abracadabra!!
Jonathan
Chuck
13. Jun, 2011
Hey Ryan,
Being a “Local” expert in SEO I can vouch that there is a huge market of all types of businesses that need help with their online presence.
There are some 49 million Google Places listings that are unclaimed by the owners of those businesses. Just contacting them and pointing them in the right direction brings a lot of income. I supply a free guide on how to set their Places listing up and have a “do it for you” service.
This is just a precursor to providing SEO services to their website if they have one. If they do not a website I have a lease option and a full blown award winning website designer available. This is also followed by FB Fanpage set up and management of them.
It should not be forgotten that there are many under the counter businesses that earn more than Doctors, Dentists and Lawyers. Not XXX under the counter companies but industrial companies that are multi million turnover companies that are not visible on the internet and they do not realize the need for an Internet Marketer.
So much to do. Thanks again for the link they all help.
Kerry Beare
19. May, 2011
Google Places for local business is a huge market. Google has placed a huge emphasis on the local market and so I am just helping the local business with their local marketing and promoting their business. It has allow me to work from home. Business owners are so busy or confused about how to do this … and so my expertise is in helping them with google places, directories, websites and next step is facebook, social media and QR codes for local business. Im using my expertise so they can get on what they are good at.
Sharad
02. Feb, 2011
That is really amezing, simple and creative. From where they can get these clients?
Billy Kirsch
19. Jan, 2011
Thanks, I keep forgetting to try to optimize my site for local search results. I love it when our students come up with simple yet effective solutions.
cityville
05. Jan, 2011
lol one or two of the opinions people make are just absurd, more often than not i think about whether they even read the subject matter and items before leaving your 2 cents or if perhaps they pretty much read the title of the article and pen the very first thing that drifts into their minds. anyhow, it is really relaxing to look over smart commentary once in a while as opposed to the same exact, traditional blog vomit that i frequently notice on the web have a pleasant day
masonicsecretsrevealed
10. Dec, 2010
Yeah local searches are the future of the internet.
micronichemillionaire
02. Nov, 2010
thanks for the post local seo is where it’s at
micronichemillionaire
02. Nov, 2010
Thanks for the post local seo is where is at thanks for pointing it out.
Barn Plans
12. Oct, 2010
This is an inspiring post, and makes me do the things I love the most.
Brad Wilson
02. Oct, 2010
I’m coming out soon with a new site called http://LocalLeadsMachine.com/
The site will help businesses find and better manage their local leads. Why? because local leads are really hot right now and having a complete solution for them is really needed.
I except this site to be very successful.
For those who want to own a complete Lead Management System, you should check out my site.
Here’s a quick list of the features:
1. A Business owner can sign-up for a free lead offer.
2. Multiple Search Terms and Locations can be ordered.
3. The price for the lead order is calculated based on the quantity of Search Terms selected, the level of the search and the One-Time-Offer membership discount the member purchased when they signed-up.
4. Once the payment for the lead order is processed, the system will automatically run the search, import the results and notify the customer when complete.
5. The leads are available for viewing and downloading from a nice web 2.0 interface that I’ve built over the few months.
I’ve heavily modified the BFM/MWG script and it will not only offer the regular membership and affiliate program but also a network of lead suppliers will be added as needed to handle the volume of searches that are expected.
Tjäna Pengar
19. Aug, 2010
This is a good post man!
Im e newbie, but I already making money in my hometown for local bussiness owners.
Petter
Gicasa
18. Aug, 2010
good post ,i like this article very much,very cool and all the infor. are free to us.
Shane The BBQ Chicken Recipe Guy
16. Aug, 2010
Well written and perfect timing! This is the second time I have read this post and I’m very glad I did.
Until recently, I had been learning how to increase traffic, exposure and rankings for my niche sites.
The plan was to learn the ins and outs as much as possible and then help a few friends with their business websites to show what I learned.
Now I’m happy to say, I finally have 2 paying customers and I must admit, it was much easier than I ever anticipated.
This morning in fact I am meeting with a new client to discuss building a site for their local counsiling service in California. Did I mention I was from Wyoming??? Thanks facebook:)
Basically, people are coming to me after noticing how well my sites are performing. And I’m not claiming anything spectacular, just showing that sites that are set up correctly from the start with new seo strategies have a much better chance of being noticed than those set up based on old and worn out seo rules of thumb.
The best part is these sites are out performing aged domains and older sites that are owned by huge corps.
Who would have thought that these big money players would be so easy to out rank in just a few months…(Certainly not me)?
If I were a gambling man I would bet anyone that has even the slightest clue about seo and online marketing can do this with local business in their area as well.
By implementing these ideas into my services, I should be able to increase profits all the way around.
As always, Thanks for the useful tips Ryan. You always seem to be a head of the rest.
Cheers From Wyo,
Shane aka~Luv2BBQ
Mary Lou Kayser
03. Aug, 2010
Hi Ryan,
You are so right about how much many people who have been working and studying online know about how to help local businesses with their Internet marketing efforts. This just happened to me recently where I was the “expert” in the conversation and my client was looking at me with wide eyes and gratitude as I explained how all this social media and online marketing actually works! I am now getting clients one at a time and it’s a lot of fun!
Great post!
Mary Lou
Christine Bode
28. Jun, 2010
Hi Ryan,
Great article! I have basically been a Social Media Manager for 2 1/2 years, primarily working with authors & musicians and slowly expanding into local businesses. I call my company Scully Love Promo and if you do a Google search for me, you can find me in many places.(http://scullylovepromo.wordpress.com – am having a professional website done next month!) I just didn’t know that moniker of Social Media Manager until I watched your Let’s Get Social video last night and found out all about Kate Buck. Thank you so much! I am going to start implementing your tips (and look for them everywhere!) and hope to build my business from the part-time entity it is now to a full-time, successful, 6-figure operation! I KNOW I CAN DO IT!! You and Kate have given me the confidence and the extra tips I need to go the distance. I can’t thank you enough! Please be sure to add me to your mailing list for your blog.
All the best,
Christine
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
William
16. Jun, 2010
I own and operate BCH Plumbing in central missouri. I have also been involved with the internet marketing world since late 2004
Basically learning copy writing and affiliate promotions.
Taking the knowledge that I already have aquired, I have devastated my competition.
I now have other owners asking how I was getting all of my jobs since I am not listed in the local yellow pages.
Some of them have offered to pay me a big fee to do the same for there business.
Maybe instead of getting dirty all day I might take them up on the offer, hmmm…
Thanks for the great post Ryan
Billy Sticker
08. Jun, 2010
Great post. Even when you think you have so much to learn, stop and ask someone on the street about an autoresponder. They don’t have a clue.
Any of us could do this business.
Great info Ryan!
Mike
07. Jun, 2010
I can across a website http://localsearchbooster.com where they sell a training video on how to make your local search listing work best. This was the best marketing money I ever spent for my local t- shirt shop. I had my best 2 months in 25 years! Lots of new customers.
Csaba
20. May, 2010
Awesome post. Thanks for that. That gave me some business ideas. Thanks a lot again.
Steve1776
01. May, 2010
Here’s an idea. Go to a local business and ask how much he would pay to get a customer. Say $150.00. Tell him you will give out $50 coupons and he oays you $100 for every coupon used. (I read that a boob job is worth $20,000 to a plastic surgon.). Set up a ppc ad in Facebook for the coupon. Your cost less than $20, your profit $?.
kim
13. Jun, 2011
@Steve1776,
I actually did this for a local pool cleaning company, except I set up their website, set up twitter and facebook, and put them in the local search places like Google Local, plus I do a little online advertising for them on craigslist and backpage on an ongoing basis. Instead of them paying me a one time upfront fee for the online work, they pay me $50 for every new ongoing customer, and 10% of their fee for any repairs or one-time customers. This keeps them swamped with business, and I have income from them for a long time to come. Has worked great for both of us.
Mick
29. Aug, 2011
How do you know/control when a new customer has used a coupon?
Lakisha Fleishman
27. Apr, 2010
Would it be possible to get permission to use some of your posts on forums with a link?
Reply-Hello Lakisha, of course you can use our posts on other forums. Just make sure you link back to us
ithinQMedia
09. Apr, 2010
I Will Be Teaching My Students All Of This Info,They Will Find It Very Interesting Im Sure. Keep Up The Good Work…
Googleking1
09. Apr, 2010
Just found Your Site,Very Cool With All The Free info On It
A big Thank You To The Editor…
Brian Collingwood
09. Apr, 2010
Thanks For Collecting So Much Info In One Place,I Have Learned
So much From You Guy, A Super Thank You And keep Up The Good Work…
Kerie Hinchliffe
08. Apr, 2010
Wow this is really interesting you forget that most businesses want an online presence but are unsure of what to do or even how to start.
Cheers Kerie