A Fork in the Road in My Offline Business...Your Thoughts?
A few months back....a new start-up dentist office contacted me to review their marketing plan. I sat for 2 hrs listening....the subject of using the internet to locate targeted customers came up. The dentist did not have a website. I stressed to him the importance of having & maintaining a web presence for his business, especially in today's internet crazed society where close to 90% search locally online...he seemed to understand this just fine, even sounded excited at times about it.....but he completely backed off on the idea of having a website (I was scratching my head at first...). I believe this notion came from his father.....who has been a dentist for over 30 yrs, never had a website, was very successful. His father once was entertaining the thought of a website but was severely victimized by a so-called web designer who took thousands from him & ran.....leaving him doubting anything internet....yada yada yada....
So, that's the situation I was presented with....to get this dentist a highly listed web presence that will drive new customers....without using a website. OK....no problem! After some thought, here is the plan of action I created for his business:
1. I concentrated on merchantcircle.com....I know my merchantcircle account for my business ranks highly in local searches, most times page 1, sometimes out-ranking my own website. merchantcircle is free to list (they do have premium services to). They allow a full, in-depth description of your business (laced with keywords). They allow pictures, video's & coupons....they offer a free blog....they also offer a newsletter option. They act like an in-house social media site, like a cross between twitter & facebook, where you can network, follow, communicate with other local business or customers....even allows you to link to your twitter, facebook accounts. Basically every thing a website could do....So, I used all that merchantcircle had to offer...optimizing every step of the way targeting local customers.
This was to be his main focus for a web presence....
2. I then created a Google Places account, again fully optimizing the listing, utilizing photo's, video's, coupons, tons of targeted keywords....for a website I linked to his merchantcircle account....I created accounts in most local & nation directories pertaining to his business.....After some tweaking I had him in a high page 1 listing in the local 7-box for his most targeted keywords/phrases....
3. I used a series of photo's he had to make two Camtasia video's, adding them to YouTube & to his merchantcircle & Google accounts...
4. I created linked-in, twitter & facebook accounts, networking with many local groups, adding his video's to his facebook fan page, etc...
So...after the 1st month...for 5 targeted keywords & search terms....he was showing in 1st to 3rd slot in the 7-box of Google local, his merchantcircle site was showing page 1, 3rd position, another directory site was showing in the 7th slot, page 1....his YouTube video was 1st position page 2.
I also created Bing local & Yahoo local accounts & optimized each...(Bing will be running Yahoo searches soon & it also is now including facebook postings in search results...great for local businesses)
I gave him just what he wanted.....a web presence for his business, without a physical website. His analytics are great....getting a lot of clicks on both merchantcircle & his Google local listing, coupons & driving directions....on his customer evaluation form he added a line..."how did you find us"....for May & June, his new patient ratio was 25% referrals from his father dental practice, 45% from the internet, 30% other methods. He is very pleased with the results & signed me up for a long term contract to manage his web presence & reputation management.
The best part is....from seeing the success his son was having...his father, who was so anti-internet before, signed me up to do the same for his business...to win him over was a major victory for me...
With the unexpected non-website success of this client, it raises an interesting question.....will business websites become obsolete over time?
With the insurgence of sites like merchantcircle who offer just about everything you need & rank extremely well in local searches, all for free & with Google Places / local,...showing above the fold on local searches, again, all for free....offering ways to attract, inform, reward & retain customers just as a website would...is this the wave of the future? I mean...web design is a large part of my business, I would hate to lose that income stream, but I can honestly see using local networking sites like merchantcircle working in connection with social media marketing like twitter, facebook, linked-in, YouTube...mixed with upcoming 2.0 sites like Foursquares & Groupon as a viable internet presence / marketing solution....I mean....it works...I proved it myself....
Personally I do not see this happening rampant anytime soon, but I do see a fork in the road....Your thoughts on this?
I appologize for the lengthy post, but in order to pose the question, i needed to explain the situation...hope you understand.
~Ken
Roger Davis
Dan's content is irregularly read by handfuls of people. Join the elite few by reading his blog: dcrBlogs.com, following him on Twitter: dcrTweets.com or reading his fiction: dcrWrites.com but NOT by Clicking Here!
Dan also writes content for hire, but you can't afford him anyway.
Learn Digital, Internet and Social Media Marketing For Your Business
Click here to learn more - Digital and Social Media Marketing Training Course
Roger Davis
OFFLINE Marketing Strategies For The OFFLINE Warrior
-Jason
Learn Digital, Internet and Social Media Marketing For Your Business
Click here to learn more - Digital and Social Media Marketing Training Course