Need $1000 bucks this week?

[rapidscc]

Hi Jay!

Nice post. A new business model I can try. Actually I have an offline client meeting next month and I will propose this with them.

I haven't tried registering local business to google maps before so I would like to ask some questions.

1. With your process, If I register a business, will I be sure they'll be no. 1?

2. When google calls for verification, what do they usually ask clients? I don't want to use dummy people confirming google's call. Somehow I feel this is a form of fraud if the ones confirming a local business registration is not really the business owners.

This information will help..Hope you can reply.

oMar

[OSContent]

This isn't something I'll personally end up using (just because I'm already occupied with my current projects), but this is phenomenal free advice--especially for people who aren't having any luck with their current online business. Even if you can't or won't use this particular opportunity, it's an excellent example of an organized, realistic, resourceful, scalable, long-term business plan. It starts with a product, a pitch, and a means to consistently find new clients; and then it eventually results in your having to hire people, as your business expands.

[Mollysbrother]

Excellent post. Merging online know-how with offline strategies has been a proven money maker for me for some time. I am glad to see that--every once in a while--people return to share their "wealth" (of money, of knowledge, of experience) with this tactic.

[JaySabree]

Originally Posted by rapidscc

Hi Jay!
Nice post. A new business model I can try. Actually I have an offline client meeting next month and I will propose this with them.
I haven't tried registering local business to google maps before so I would like to ask some questions.
1. With your process, If I register a business, will I be sure they'll be no. 1?
2. When google calls for verification, what do they usually ask clients? I don't want to use dummy people confirming google's call. Somehow I feel this is a form of fraud if the ones confirming a local business registration is not really the business owners.
This information will help..Hope you can reply.
oMar

Hey Omar...

The best thing for you to do is setup a listing for yourself,
family business or a friend. Go through all the steps outlined
in the thread and you'll see time and time again how effective
the system is...

Cheers

Jay

[JaySabree]

@Mollysbrother and @OSContent

Thanks for the kudos... More to come but
just looking to see if this very simple method
can help out a few of my peers...

Cheers

Jay

[tcg6]

Thanks , Im gonna try to put it to work. My towns not very populated though.

[Topgunb]

This stuff is worth its weight in gold!

Take my hat off to you.

Well Done!

Brian

p.s sent you a pm

[JaySabree]

Originally Posted by Topgunb

This stuff is worth its weight in gold!
Take my hat off to you.
Well Done!
Brian
p.s sent you a pm

Hey Brian,

Well since it's all digital than I guess there's no
real weight... Maybe, it's worth the weight of
my lab top lol ... Thats an ok starter

I'll go read your PM and anyone that has questions
or needs help can PM me and I'll get back to you
ASAP...

Cheers

Jay

[oleskool]

Thanks for sharing.

There is so much information on how to start in the offline market arena sometimes you wonder what really works.

[GFox]

Jay,
this is an excellent idea, and the way that you approached it, by giving something of value for free, totally removes the usual hesitation and resistance that people have when they feel like they are being "sold" something. No sales experience required. So nice of you to share.

Much success to you!

[JaySabree]

Hey guys,

I'm a big believer in having the right mindset. Personal
development is key to all entrepreneurs success.

You need to take one niche and make it work. I started out with
very little knowledge of offline marketing and have been working on
many different tactics to be successful in the offline arena. I've failed
time and time again but that hasn't stopped me. In my humble opinion,
the difference between an opportunity seeker and an entrepreneur is
mindset.

An opportunity seeker: I believe this is someone that is looking to
win the lottery. They're not willing to work for their dreams and
goals. They want everything to be handed to them on a silver platter.
If something does not work the first time or right away then they feel
frustrated and many times give up.

The entrepreneur: I believe an entrepreneur is someone that stops
blaming other people, situations or objects for the outcome of each
huddle or setback they find. This is someone that takes complete
responsibility for everything. There's little to no complaining just
problem solving and actions. They close all their back doors and
have total focus. The only option is success.

So, which one are you?

If you're new to the forum please read this thread...

Open Letter To New Warriors

[selcor]

do you offer to do any social marketing or web 2.0 marketing for them at all to get them ranking pages with that too?

[MarkR]

I agree... although this is Google's rule, it looks likes it's being heavily abused. In fact, a large company example of this is Jason's Deli...

Google... "catering dallas"

If Jason's deli is causing you pain, you can always report them on the Business Listing Quality Guidelines - Maps Help page you referenced. They are definitely abusing the system!

Mark

[joshril]

Originally Posted by MarkR

If Jason's deli is causing you pain, you can always report them on the Business Listing Quality Guidelines - Maps Help page you referenced. They are definitely abusing the system!

Mark

I definitely wonder if Google enforces this... I would also wonder if Google catches you abusing the business listings if they will in turn penalize the site it's linking to.

[MarkR]

selcor,

I don't believe Web 2.0/social marketing will help their Google Local listing rank any higher. I think the ranking is solely based on the business name, description and business categories. Which makes this super easy to make work.

I have been researching my own website design/Internet Marketing company's listing on Google Local for the last two months and I'm listed number one for 12 keywords + my city + state. Five of those 12 keywords appear nowhere on my site and have no inbound links either. Three of them are only referenced in my business category on Google Local. That's enough proof for me!

This is a great way to spend 30 minutes of your time (building a Google LBC listing) and getting hundreds of dollars for the work. And it has the proof built-in with the new reporting features.

Remember, you're not charging hundreds of dollars for creating the listing. You're charging for keyword research, knowing the right way to set up the listing, understanding the process, saving the business owner the time and effort, etc. etc.

For example. I live in a tiny town, so searches with my city name are very small. But if you look at this, where else (with 20-30 minutes of work) can you get 150 impressions/month (1,800/year) and 9 clicks/month (108/year)? And that's not even a real optimized listing yet. Imagine if you lived in a bigger city or had better keywords!



Mark

[MarkR]

joshril,

Obviously they're are not doing a good job of enforcement if they are .

As sophisticated as they are, I'd doubt they'd take out the site you're pointing to. But after all, it is their search engine! And they are Google.

Mark

[joshril]

Excellent point. Even in competitive business types, many don't properly optimize their listings. As mentioned by Mark, the description and categories are crucial. Most business owners simply post the basic information and have no clue about keyword research.

Originally Posted by MarkR

selcor,

I don't believe Web 2.0/social marketing will help their Google Local listing rank any higher. I think the ranking is solely based on the business name, description and business categories. Which makes this super easy to make work.

I have been researching my own website design/Internet Marketing company's listing on Google Local for the last two months and I'm listed number one for 12 keywords + my city + state. Five of those 12 keywords appear nowhere on my site and have no inbound links either. Three of them are only referenced in my business category on Google Local. That's enough proof for me!

This is a great way to spend 30 minutes of your time (building a Google LBC listing) and getting hundreds of dollars for the work. And it has the proof built-in with the new reporting features.

Remember, you're not charging hundreds of dollars for creating the listing. You're charging for keyword research, knowing the right way to set up the listing, understanding the process, saving the business owner the time and effort, etc. etc.

For example. I live in a tiny town, so searches with my city name are very small. But if you look at this, where else (with 20-30 minutes of work) can you get 150 impressions/month (1,800/year) and 9 clicks/month (108/year)? And that's not even a real optimized listing yet. Imagine if you lived in a bigger city or had better keywords!



Mark

[Joel O]

Great idea Jay!

I just have two questions about what you posted...

Originally Posted by JaySabree

1. COMPANY NAME
2. DESCRIPTION

This is where you place the 'keyword'. In the area for company name and in the description. Do not use the real name of the company in the company name slot only the keyword.
.......

Such as, tooth extraction new york. There is no other google maps competition on that keyword and the google keyword tool shows over 100,000 searches just last month.

- I would "assume" Google wouldn't allow business map listing to be posted with keywords as the company name. Aren't they moderated?

Also... since you didn't use the companies name/info, do the companies trust you to edit it with their info, do some thing it's a scam or something? (or am I just not understanding correctly how this all happens?)

- You mentioned the keyword "tooth extraction new york".. when I checked, I see it only showing 170 for May. I see 130,000 for "tooth extraction", but that isn't a local search.

Any added information would be great,

Thanks!
Joel

[joshril]

As I pointed out, I'm not sure about moderation. Blatant keyword spamming in the title would obviously raise some red flags, although the more I dig, the more I see this going on. I would doubt that Google is manually approving these listings, but if someone is more knowledgeable on this, please correct me.

Originally Posted by Joel O

Great idea Jay!

I just have two questions about what you posted...




- I would "assume" Google wouldn't allow business map listing to be posted with keywords as the company name. Aren't they moderated?

Also... since you didn't use the companies name/info, do the companies trust you to edit it with their info, do some thing it's a scam or something? (or am I just not understanding correctly how this all happens?)

- You mentioned the keyword "tooth extraction new york".. when I checked, I see it only showing 170 for May. I see 130,000 for "tooth extraction", but that isn't a local search.

Any added information would be great,

Thanks!
Joel

[JaySabree]

Originally Posted by selcor

do you offer to do any social marketing or web 2.0 marketing for them at all to get them ranking pages with that too?

Hey there...

When I sit down with the client I've always planned out
3 different strategies that they can use to improve their
online reach and penetrate their industry deeper. Yes,
social media and web 2.0 are part of my overall
recommendations

[MavisAA]

Thanks Jay - This is all very new to me but it looks good. I'm not 100% clear on how you achieve the No 1 listing for your selected keyword. I will follow the steps set out in your posts throughout the thread using my own business and come back with any questions I'm not sure about. I hope that's okay?!

[Izesta]

I am in the midst of working on something similar.

Good business model AND a service the business really needs.

[JaySabree]

Originally Posted by Joel O

- I would "assume" Google wouldn't allow business map listing to be posted with keywords as the company name. Aren't they moderated?

Also... since you didn't use the companies name/info, do the companies trust you to edit it with their info, do some thing it's a scam or something? (or am I just not understanding correctly how this all happens?)

- You mentioned the keyword "tooth extraction new york".. when I checked, I see it only showing 170 for May. I see 130,000 for "tooth extraction", but that isn't a local search.

Hey Joel,

Again, the best thing for you to do and setup a listing yourself
for your business, family business or a friend. This way you'll
find out how everything works. Google is way ahead of the
curve with their local business listing. It is not moderated in the
fashion that you think or assume. This is a FREE service by
google. Your adwords campaigns are
moderated by people but this is not the same for all the free
services that google offers.

When the business listings is setup remember we contacted
them straight from their website. The only information in the
listing that has been incorrect is the phone number and
business name. When there is only one business on the keyword
then you'll see the company address phone number etc. etc.
As for scam? Not sure what you mean by that? This is no
different then SEO, video marketing, e-mail marketing and any
other services that the online community offers the brick and
mortar companies. Businesses will hand
off the internet services to people like us that know how to
implement them.

The keyword on top was a quick example. Find one that you
feel comfortable marketing.

[JaySabree]

Originally Posted by MavisAA

Thanks Jay - This is all very new to me but it looks good. I'm not 100% clear on how you achieve the No 1 listing for your selected keyword. I will follow the steps set out in your posts throughout the thread using my own business and come back with any questions I'm not sure about. I hope that's okay?!

Please do... Watch the video at the bottom of my primary
post and you'll do fine

[stayfocused]

Just got done reading this thread and doing some research on it.

Let me make sure I am getting this right because I can't find any workable keywords to use.

We are looking for keywords that don't have any local business results at all? correct?

And that are geo targeted (to the city)?

I have been using google keyword tool and the 2 cities around me with accountants and dentists and I can't find any geo targeted keywords that I could use that don't already have a local business results.

The only thing I could find that is remotely close are keywords that get 0 searches a month.

Am I missing something here?

[Hasan Barbary]

Thanks for the detailed info, Jay. The timing is perfect because I've been recently thinking about "small business search marketing", and you seem to have it down pat.

[JaySabree]

Originally Posted by joshril

As I pointed out, I'm not sure about moderation. Blatant keyword spamming in the title would obviously raise some red flags, although the more I dig, the more I see this going on. I would doubt that Google is manually approving these listings, but if someone is more knowledgeable on this, please correct me.

I have used the keyword in the title and the description
as I mentioned before. I have setup countless business
listings and had no problems doing this. However, I will
be testing other methods.

This is clearly a very fresh topic that few others have tested
and figured out.

[Mike Linley]

Nice Method!..I have been looking for the easiest way to get into offline marketing..and I dont have a lot of online skills yet..but I believe I can do this..and work my way up to bigger deals and try outsourcing the bigger work..my only problem is sounding like I know what I am doing..but I will try it and let you guys know the results! thanks!

[gacott]

Originally Posted by joshril

I'm in total agreement that you should make the business owner take the call from Google and provide you with the code. If they are not willing to do this, they are probably not a great prospect anyway...

I also agree with this.

[joshril]

The stats that are provided are awesome! It's amazing how much meaningful data one can gather from a free service such as this...

Originally Posted by jpaduchak

Jay,

This is a great strategy. I've been doing this for our own local businesses and for a few friends. Even better for the customer is that google now has added keyword stats to the listings. This makes it even more valuable to the end client. I never considered taking it to the next step and make a local business service from this.

Thanks for all the great tips.

John Paduchak

Very interesting technique. I'm a phone-a-phobic person (hmm, reminds me of phone-a-psychic a little too much...) and the suggestion offered on how to turn it into an email-based pitch seems quite interesting!

I'm in the GTA as well and would like to get off the ground, but I can't PM you 'til I get another few posts.

[takingaction]

While this seems to be a very effective method, it should be made clear that this is a "blackhat" method as it clearly violates the following guidelines from Google (http://maps.google.com/support/bin/a...nswer=107528):

Represent your business exactly as it appears in the offline world. The name on Google Maps should match the business name, as should the address, phone number and website.

Do not attempt to manipulate search results by adding extraneous keywords into the title field, and do not include phone numbers or URLs in the title along with your proper business name.

Also, how do you get a company to show up for multiple keywords? Wouldn't that involve creating multiple listings?

Thanks!

[MarkR]

stayfocusedstayfocusedstayfocused,

No. You're looking for "local business results" with less than 10 listings, or only a few listed, or less than 10 from Orlando listed. So, type in dentists orlando fl. If any of the above criteria are met, then this is a good business category (Dentists) to target and means you can get ranked in the first 10 real easy. "Dentist" or "tooth extraction" or "root canal" are your keywords.

You'll find that "dry cleaners" or other categories that are less savvy and do less marketing are the easiest to rank well for.

But, you'll find that Dentists, Attorneys, Apartment Owners, Doctors and such that have a high lifetime value placed on new customers are more willing to pay hundreds of dollars to get on the first page of Google. So, that's who I target.

Ask yourself how many loads of laundry and new customers a dry cleaner has to get to pay for hundreds of dollars of Internet Marketing? Whereas, one root canal or one apartment renter paid for your service many, many times over!

Mark

[joshril]

Good tips... Accountants, plumbers, auto repair, HVAC, etc. can also be solid. As Mark mentioned, going after businesses that have mid to high priced products and services typically work out well.

Adwords keyword tool is definitely your friend when doing this...

Originally Posted by MarkR

stayfocusedstayfocusedstayfocused,

No. You're looking for "local business results" with less than 10 listings, or only a few listed, or less than 10 from Orlando listed. So, type in dentists orlando fl. If any of the above criteria are met, then this is a good business category (Dentists) to target and means you can get ranked in the first 10 real easy. "Dentist" or "tooth extraction" or "root canal" are your keywords.

You'll find that "dry cleaners" or other categories that are less savvy and do less marketing are the easiest to rank well for.

But, you'll find that Dentists, Attorneys, Apartment Owners, Doctors and such that have a high lifetime value placed on new customers are more willing to pay hundreds of dollars to get on the first page of Google. So, that's who I target.

Ask yourself how many loads of laundry and new customers a dry cleaner has to get to pay for hundreds of dollars of Internet Marketing? Whereas, one root canal or one apartment renter paid for your service many, many times over!

Mark

[MarkR]

takingaction,

I personally don't change the name of the business, so I'm not breaking rules there. I also get approval (email) from the business owner to set his listing up for him, so I'm covered there.

Again, the multiple keywords are derived from the business category and description parts of the listing. Nothing blackhat there either.

Mark

[Vikuna2009+]

Wow! I just learned something NEW!!! I knew I could push "quote" to add that to my response but did not know how to do a partial quote. He*k, I thought, let's try "copy" and then "Quote" and I just did and it worked!

Shows you, step out of the box and just go for it, it might just work !

Originally Posted by JaySabree

Hey guys,

I'm a big believer in having the right mind set. Personal
development is key to all entrepreneurs success.

You need to take one niche and make it work. I started out with
very little knowledge of offline marketing and have been working on
many different tactics to be successful in the offline arena. I've failed
time and time again but that hasn't stopped me. In my humble opinion,
the difference because an opportunity seeker and an entrepreneur is
mind set.

An opportunity seeker: I believe this is someone that is looking to
win the lottery. They're not willing to work for their dreams and
goals. They want everything to be handed to them on a silver platter.
If something does not work the first time or right away then they feel
frustrated and many times give up.

The entrepreneur: I believe an entrepreneur is someone that stops
blaming other people, situations or objects for the outcome of each
huddle or setback they find. This is someone that takes complete
responsibility for everything. There's little to no complaining just
problem solving and actions. They close all their back doors and
have total focus. The only option is success.

So, which one are you?

If you're new to the forum please read this thread...

Open Letter To New Warriors

[Joel O]

Thanks for the clearification.

As for "scamming", I don't mean that what you are saying is that, not at all.

However I'm trying to look from a business owner's view, who will see the free listing you do for them, with their company info, but not their company name. Has anyone asked you why you didn't use their name?

I'm thinking that some people (due to their lack in knowledge about the Internet and SEO), may wonder why and be hesitant to go forward, thinking... "I dont want my customers to get confused by that or why aren't they using my company name?".

This idea though is sure interesting, and I will be trying it out.

Joel

Originally Posted by JaySabree

Hey Joel,

As for scam? Not sure what you mean by that? This is no
different then SEO, video marketing, e-mail marketing and any
other services that the online community offers the brick and
mortar companies. Businesses will hand
off the internet services to people like us that know how to
implement them.

[joshril]

Are you manually changing any of the categories in your listings to make them more relavent to the phrase you are optimizing for? I have had some success with this...

Originally Posted by MarkR

takingaction,

I personally don't change the name of the business, so I'm not breaking rules there. I also get approval (email) from the business owner to set his listing up for him, so I'm covered there.

Again, the multiple keywords are derived from the business category and description parts of the listing. Nothing blackhat there either.

Mark

[Vikuna2009+]

It's like, eating shrimp with a shrimp sauce, how many of you have actually mixed the shrimp sauce with anything else? BTW, do not buy the pre-cooked ones, they slack. Buy tail-on frozen, let it boil up to the brim 3 times, then rinse in cool water and peel.

Mix it with horseradish (gosh, did that put me on another planet , hummus and garlic added to it (to die for).

No, this is not turning into a food blog or thread, my thinking is just, do it, experiment and share your discoveries with your fellow warriors.

After all, give and you shall receive . Anybody specializing in seafood....

[MarkR]

Are you manually changing any of the categories in your listings to make them more relavent to the phrase you are optimizing for?

Yes. I accept some of the default categories initially, then change them over time as I discover higher searched terms that describe my business.

I also try to use a term like "social marketing consultant" so I get the value of "social marketing consultant", and also "Marketing consultant".

I tell customers that based on my experience (which I show them screen shots or in real time-no arguments that way!) that I am "confident" that I can get them on page one for two terms. But Google has the final say, so I can't promise anything. Then I tell them I've never failed to get on page one. Then I blow them away when I'm done and show them 5-10 or more terms they rank first page for.

Easy steps....
1) Under promise
2) Over deliver
3) Collect check
4) Sell the next service.

The selling process is harder than performing the work, for sure.

You guys are going to make me run out of Gold nuggets pretty soon!

Mark

[Jay Rhome]

I thought at first it was a very good idea. Now I think it's a GREAT idea as it's so damn simple and easy to implement. I was already doing this (putting local businesses in Google Local) as part of the overall process. You make it the whole process, and it works. Amazingly simple and effective. Congrats and thanks again for sharing.

[JAIDEEP2959]

This is a great technique.

I have never heard about it.

Cool.

[takingaction]

Hi Mark,

I don't want to make a big deal about this since Google doesn't seem to be monitoring it too much, but the rules are being "broken". I understand that you are not making changes to the business name.

However, if you are putting your keyword phrase into the business name field, then you are clearly violating the following:

The name on Google Maps should match the business name

and this:

Do not attempt to manipulate search results by adding extraneous keywords into the title field

I think what you and Jay are doing is clever and successful, but let's at least call it what it is: blackhat.

...that is unless I misread Jay's post and the keyword phrase is NOT being used as the business name instead of the actual business name.

This is how Jay explains the technique:

The keyword goes into two spots... When you're filling out the
companies information in google's local business center they ask you for country, company name, street address etc. etc. Google decides where to place the business based on:

1. COMPANY NAME
2. DESCRIPTION

This is where you place the 'keyword'. In the area for company name and in the description. Do not use the real name of the company in the company name slot only the keyword.

Please read the last sentence of that quote for 100% clarification.

Let's say Google cracked down on this a month from now. If I was a business owner and Google warned me about my listing, I'd be pretty annoyed at the person I just paid $497 to get me listed "incorrectly" on page one of Google. This scenario, though far fetched, is worth mentioning to those reading so that they are ready for possible consequences.

Originally Posted by MarkR

takingaction,

I personally don't change the name of the business, so I'm not breaking rules there. I also get approval (email) from the business owner to set his listing up for him, so I'm covered there.

Again, the multiple keywords are derived from the business category and description parts of the listing. Nothing blackhat there either.

Mark

[Zack Lim]

Hi Jay,

Thank you for sharing your innovative ideas to make money offline using the internet marketing methods.

I am sure that this method will also work for companies in Asia

Zack

[gianne2705]

You are amazing Jay.You inspires me with this new ideas.Thousands of dollars in a week is very nice to hear.Thanks for sharing how you made it.

[jsherloc]

Yes, takingaction is correct.

Jay, It is truly an awesome idea that not only works, but works CONSISTENTLY. However, it is still against Google TOS.

While I have no personal experience in doing what you described (keyword rich business name), I remember reading a forum post about a guy that did that for his web design firm. It worked great and he even got some calls within the week. However, like a month down the line he saw a review was posted:

It said something like "Don't do business with this person! He is blatantly breaking Google's rules, etc"

Now OBVIOUSLY that is wayyyyy extreme, and more or less due to the nature of that industry - web design. A dentist probably isn't going to post some review and make a complaint because they and most other business owners may not know it is against Google's TOS.

Once again, I do not want to strike this method down or anything, but if you are dealing with other businesses I would play it safe all the way. Truthfully, you could probably get away with it for a LONG time, but eventually they might clamp down on this.

The other horrible thing I was thinking about was I'd imagine that some less-techy biz owners probably see other businesses, especially their direct competition, doing this. Then they might go and change their name listings to some keyword term as well. I literally just learned about this, so I highly doubt a regular business owner knows whats up with Google TOS.

This could actually be a HUGE problem for Google AND biz owners in the long run....

Once again Jay, no disrespect because you are obviously a gifted and creative guy with the best of intentions for these businesses. Google really needs to make it more clear themselves, especially if internet marketers are just now realizing this matter.

[AmyKay]

I want to try this for my hubby's company, which is based in lansing, but sells stuff around the country. But this is a LOCAL listing, right? So the company will only show up if they enter "Lansing MI" along with the keywords. Am I understanding this correctly?

Thanks!

[JaySabree]

Originally Posted by AmyKay

I want to try this for my hubby's company, which is based in lansing, but sells stuff around the country. But this is a LOCAL listing, right? So the company will only show up if they enter "Lansing MI" along with the keywords. Am I understanding this correctly?
Thanks!

Yes Amy,

You're absolutely right
This is for your local geographic area. Don't forget that you can also
setup Yahoo and MSN local business listings.

[Jay Rhome]

It's for local searches, but doesn't Google pretty much give us local results in most searches? I mean, when I put "dentists" in Google, I get a local dentists listing in there along with broader search results. Is that right?

Let say you put a local chiropractor in "back pain" or any such great keyword without a Google Map listing showing up, if a browser from the chiro's area searches on Google for back pain, won't that result pop up?

If yes, that is mighty powerful! At least till that tip spreads to the mainstream and everyone is doing it, or Google cracks down on it, but that could be months or a few years down the road. And who says any kind of SEO results are to be permanent? Your client gets your money's worth IMO.

[Robert Boduch]

This is brilliant Jay! Way to go in putting this strategy into action and then sharing it with everyone here. Awesome.

Now I'd like to suggest slight twist. This is for people like me who don't like soliciting business by phone. Instead of calling prospects up out of the blue, true lead-generating advertising instead.

I'm talking about using simple things like classified ads and direct mail.

Jeff Paul is one famous example of lead generation mastery. He used simple postcards with compelling messages and strong offers. Nothing fancy here. Just colorful card stock with a grabber of a headline and an irresistible offer. The headline is the key. It's got to reach out to prospects and seize their attention because of its relevance and promise.

The key is... you need to know your audience. Then craft some free reports that prove useful value in specific areas. So far, I've got about 20 different special reports that I use for various business-building purposes.

Small ads can work too. I gained one new client for my business from a tiny ad in the Toronto Star and this client has stayed with me for the past 9 years, turning a tiny $50 investment into many thousands of dollars of business. The challenge with traditional classifieds is getting enough firepower into your ad to get people to call you.

Choosing a particular industry and "specializing" there can make you somewhat of an authority. The first thing to do is to identify what your audience really wants on an emotional level and then give them a taste of exactly what they want. That's the value of a lead-generating offer.

Yes, they want top listings in Google... but why? What will it mean to them? More exposure and sales? Increased profits without any more work? Greater income and growth? And what will those results mean on a deeper emotional level? Success. Freedom. Recognition. Being care-free and enjoying a life of leisure. Travel. More time for friends and family. All of these and more appeal to many small business owners. If you can pin it down to a single, dominant desire, you know what to hot button to push. What you want to do is connect this highly-desired end result to the services you provide.

I love the lead-generation approach for several reasons:

1. You can target any audience you want in whatever quantity you decide. (You can do this on practically any budget)
2. It's less offensive than telemarketing to most.
3. It gets true prospects to contact you. (So you get to deal with leads rather than suspects)
4. You can position yourself as an expert serving a particular industry and convey important information about how your services are a good fit.
5. You give something of value first. (free report, interview, case study, etc)
6. As you gain clients in one industry, you can use their feedback to build even more authority in that industry.

These methods do work. If you like Jay's strategy, but you're not comfortable using the phone, try the lead-generation approach.

Robert