The Easiest $15,000 I Ever Made...Don't Undervalue Yourself As a Marketer/Warrior!

[Shane Natan]

Hey Warriors,

This post is meant to be inspirational and educational. It is a true story and there are several points I'd like to make within it.

First of all, do NOT under-value yourself as a marketer. I see people talking about how they make deals with business owners to land them a front page ORGANIC Google listing before getting paid anything...and then upon achieving the goal, they get a $500 check.

While this might be awesome for someone who is just getting into the offline thing...landing someone a top Google listing "organically" is worth a lot more than $500.

Some SEO companies charge $500-1000 just for a simple analyzation of a website! Other companies charge $1,000 just for keyword research.

I recently landed a super sweet deal with a local hotel here in South Florida (where I live).

Basically, I approached the hotel manager (I admit, my father knows the guy so I had a chance to talk to him freely) and asked him about the hotel's current internet marketing campaign. He told me that they were trying to get more traffic to their main website, because Expedia.com and other travel sites charge them 25% when they refer a client to them.

When they get traffic to their main website, they only have to pay out a 5% commission to the hosting company, which processes their payments. This gives them a whopping 20% more profit when they rent out a room from their main site!

I told him that I can help with their internet marketing campaign, which would include article marketing, SEO and a few other things.

It turned out that the timing was PERFECT. They were planning on actively searchinging for the exact same service that I was offering them.

We set up an appointment to discuss internet marketing, SEO and what I could do for them. The meeting lasted about an hour and a half and I gave them a lot of valuable information regarding IM, SEO, article marketing, etc. and showed them some results that I have had with my articles and SEO.

After emailing each other back and forth this is the proposal of services that I offered them:

1. Initial Analyzation of Website

2. Keyword Research

3. Rewrite Main Page Content (Copy) to be Keyword Optimized

4. Optimize Website's META Tags and Descriptions

5. Custom Articles written and submitted to major article directory using:

6. Create a Blog (Or Multiple Blogs)

7. Create a Squidoo 'Lens' (Similar to Blog)

8. Craigslist Advertising

9. Custom Press Release Writing and Submission

10. Manual submission of site to various major search engines

To make a long story short, the final deal ended up with them writing me a $2,000 check upfront to begin working on steps #1-9.

Then, upon completion of steps #1-9 an additional $3,000. (Up to 2 months to complete)

Plus $1,000 per month (for 10 months) to perform continuous link building, keyword research, 5-10 articles per month, press releases, craigslist advertising and updating the blogs.

So, $5,000 for steps #1-9, plus $1,000 a month for 10 months = $15,000!

AND, a pretty nice commission structure...which was their idea.

Signed, sealed, delivered.

Not bad eh?

Notice how I did not need to GUARANTEE them any sort of specific Google or search engine placement? It's not possible to guarantee such a thing.

They are paying me for the LABOR that's involved in optimizing their site for the search engines as well as assisting in driving targeted traffic to their site.

This is the exact email agreement I got from the hotel manager himself:

Shane,

After further thought the following deal will be acceptable to the (name of hotel removed):

One year Term beginning November 10, 2008 ending October 10, 2009.

30 day cancellation for any reason by each party.

All internet work, coding, promotions will remain the property of (Name of company removed)

All promotions will be protected under the United States copyright laws and will remain
the property of (name of company removed).

The financial arrangements will be as follows:

Initial Internet work identified as numbers 1 – 9 below (expected time frame shall be two months) $ 5,000.00 payable as follows:
i. $ 2,000.00 retainer paid upon the acceptance of the program by you.

ii. $ 3,000.00 payable upon submission of the enhanced web pages to the variety of the search engines.

Items 10 and 11 below (expectation of 20 Hours per month)
i. $ 1000.00 per month for the remaining 10 months of the year.

1. Attend weekly staff meeting 2 hours per week and meet with Revenue Manager and Rooms Division Manager

2. Continued oversight of the web site with new enhancements added as they occur.

3. Review and analysis of monthly revenues.

Commission

i. After the initial internet web site is completed a commission equal to 5 % will be paid on all reservation room revenue increases above the latest 12 month.(Base Year)

ii. After the first year if revenue increases continue at levels above the Base Year, you will be paid 1 % for the maintenance of the levels above the base year and 5 % will be paid on all increases above the 2nd year.

Please indicate your acceptance of the terms of the agreement.

I am currently in month 3 going on month 4 and things are working out great.

The point of this post is to remind you that this business is a very lucrative one and the knowledge that you have access to on this very forum is enough to equip you with the necessary tools that you need to earn this kind of money.

And most importantly, you must be comfortable CHARGING this type of money. If you feel embarrassed or ashamed to charge $1,000 for a website or $5,000 for an SEO job -- you may want to reconsider being in this business.

A brain surgeon might deep down think that $1,000 is an fair price to perform a 2 hour brain surgery...but that doesn't stop them from charging $100,000.

Don't undervalue yourself or the knowledge that you possess as a Warrior.

I wish you all the best of success!

Shane

[bshelite]

Shane,

Congrats on a great deal.... Just goes to prove what can be accomplished both on and offline.

[rhab]

Thanks for the motivation! I have the skills and knowledge to apply to the offline business model, but I have to admit I have been dragging my feet to jump in and get started. I know it's ridiculous, but I am fighting myself when it comes to face time with business owners and issues like hitting people up in person for money, especially larger sums like this lol.

I am getting closer to conquering my personal battles, posts like this are helping and punching myself in the face every now and then is also starting to convince me to move forward so as to keep my health and good looks =p

Thanks again.

[Charles Washington]

How many custom articles and how many press release submissions did this cover?

[DerrickLamont]

Good Stuff!! Good job on not settling for less! Most people have the mindset of getting what they can, which bites them in the butt later when they find out there broke the next week! lol

[DrewG]

Congrats Shane! Once again proving that we mustn't undervalue the possibility of offline projects.

[Dietriffic]

That's wonderful! I think this kind of work is something businesses are crying out for, they just don't know who to contact in some cases.

Being able to offer your services in this case has really paid off, well done on your success!

[Shane Natan]

Thanks for all the kind comments everyone.

@shkad14,

I am writing 5-10 articles and 1 press release per month for this particular client.

Best,
Shane

[Bayo]

Hi Shane

That's a great story and though I don't have an 'old man (as I lovingly referred to my dad) ie. dad to work with (I wish I did, he was well connected before he passed on) it shows what you did to get your project.

I got a similar deal in summer last year for a commerial property company for even less than you have outlined but not too far off.

This business is easy BUT selling/speaking to them is a must. There are too many claims of how you "...don't have to do these 2 main components and still rake in loads of cash!"

Not true and I'm glad to see someone else saying it like it is.

Good on yer.

[DJ123]

Congrats, Shane,

I offer a total internet marketing service package to one of my real estate agent client for $250 a month including the website hosting fee. I might charge him a little bit less, in your eyes?

[Tsnyder]

Shane...

Good job. I especially like the incentive based on
increased revenue. Most marketers overlook that.

Tsnyder

[lburrell]

congrats shane!! keep it up

[Shane Natan]

Originally Posted by Tsnyder

Shane...

Good job. I especially like the incentive based on
increased revenue. Most marketers overlook that.

Tsnyder

Agreed. No one should be afraid to ask for what they deserve.

Especially with commissions as high as 75% for promoting certain products online as an affiliate -- 1% and 5% of increased revenues doesn't seem like all that much.

Best,
Shane

[geotarget]

Great job Shane, this gave me some more motivation. Thanks for the detailed information.

[mfleisch]

Shane, you rock! Congrats. This is so helpful. I get asked for SEO advice all the time bug have been struggling with how to put together a deal. Thanks for sharing your story. I think this is going to help big time!

[WealthBluePrint]

congrats on the deal shane, thanks for sharing with the rest of us

[AndrewCavanagh]

Originally Posted by Shane Natan

Basically, I approached the hotel manager (I admit, my father knows the guy so I had a chance to talk to him freely)



When they get traffic to their main website, they only have to pay out a 5% commission to the hosting company, which processes their payments. This gives them a whopping 20% more profit when they rent out a room from their main site!

There are a couple of things I noticed here that many people might miss...

# 1: You used the connections you had to get to a potential client...very smart and this is the easiest way to start selling your internet marketing services to businesses...

Talk to the business owners you know and the business owners your friends know.

Use your contacts to get started.


# 2: You took the time to find a key profit making area where you could help make them some serious money.

One reason many people struggle to make premium fees in this niche is because they simply haven't taken the time to ask questions and really understand the business they're going to be working with.

In any business there are huge profit making opportunities and it's up to you to ferret those out.

It's pretty easy to charge large fees if a business can see that your fee is just a tiny percentage of what they're going to make back in profits.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

[Kalidasa]

Thanks for this, I've been struggling with how much to charge for SOE work. My ideas were a little lower, so I'm glad to hear that the work really is worth more.

Kalidasa

[chrisnegro]

Awesome job Shane.....keep up the good work. Way to go make it happen and believe in yourself

Much continued success,

Chris Negro

[Adesoji_O]

Thanks for the wonderful and inspirational
article please keep up the good work.

I have already started using this method
and your story as motivated me to take
more action.

[Chris Lagarde]

Thanks Shane for an absolutely terrific post. I'm meeting with a tour company operator on Friday and will be presenting a proposal much along the same lines as your proposal.

Your detailed post made me feel better about my proposal. I do know this guy and I feel confident he will accept the offer. He's done a lot of reading on SEO so when I've drilled down in the conversation, he's been able to follow along.

[Dennis-White]

Wow! Thats awesome! keep it up...

[Shane Natan]

Originally Posted by Kalidasa

Thanks for this, I've been struggling with how much to charge for SOE work. My ideas were a little lower, so I'm glad to hear that the work really is worth more.

Kalidasa

Your welcome Kalidasa. That is exactly why I posted this thread, to show people that the labor involved is still very valuable monetarily. Don't be afraid to show your clients what some other companies charge.

Best,
Shane

[DiamondPed]

Hi Shane,

Thanks for sharing the details of your successful deal here with us, much appreciated.

I was struggling a bit myself with the pricing aspect, but thanks to both yours & Baals' posts that I have read today, I've got a much better idea of price & service level.

Also appreciated Andrews comments (as ever), thanks.



Onwards & Upwards.

[Vijay M]

Shane, Thanks for sharing.

If it is performance based contract, do you get penalized if your services do not bring them additional $$?

I'm thinking it might be easier to get paid via selling leads. I'm putting together a site to gather leads for chiropractors in my area and then sell the the leads to the top 5 competing chiropractors( Based on the CPA model)

[Habitat]

Thats amazing. I always wanted to do some offline hustles...I'll have to figure it out.

[TLCarroll]

Thank you for this valuable post.

I was getting more than a little fed up with posts from people who assume that just because people are marketing online services to offline businesses that the offline businesses are somehow being swindled and no true value is being given.

I'm sure there are some people scamming offline businesses, but to assume that every offline proposal is intended to scam is simply untrue.

Not only is providing these services beneficial, it's also extremely profitable. EXTREMELY. Trust me.

[Sticky Articles]

Thanks for the info. I was always interested in offering services to
offline clients.

Do you have a strategy for constantly getting leads or do you cold
call or target a specific industry.

[Shane Natan]

Originally Posted by Sticky Articles

Thanks for the info. I was always interested in offering services to
offline clients.

Do you have a strategy for constantly getting leads or do you cold
call or target a specific industry.

Right now I do a mix of walking into local businesses to buy something from them (with the intent of talking to them about my service and giving them my pitch) -- and I also pass out business cards, get word-of-mouth business and advertise on Craigslist.

I haven't tried the cold calling thing yet, but I know it works for a lot of people.

Best,
Shane

[salonmar]

Thanks for sharing. That's exactly one component that I wanted to add to my business. It makes perfect sense. That's dollars and cents!
D. Pretty

[Sticky Articles]

Originally Posted by Shane Natan

Right now I do a mix of walking into local businesses to buy something from them (with the intent of talking to them about my service and giving them my pitch) -- and I also pass out business cards, get word-of-mouth business and advertise on Craigslist.

I haven't tried the cold calling thing yet, but I know it works for a lot of people.

Best,
Shane

Sounds great, do you find it easier targeting certain kinds of businesses?

Also any feedback on using the yellow pages and doing mailers?

[Shane Natan]

Originally Posted by Sticky Articles

Sounds great, do you find it easier targeting certain kinds of businesses?

Also any feedback on using the yellow pages and doing mailers?

Yellow pages are way too expensive in my opinion. I am currently in the process of making letters to try to do a mailing, but I think good old fashioned face to face communication is the best.

I like to target any business that does most of it's business locally. This makes it easier to get optimal results for them, because it is easier to optimize a site for geographically targeted keyword phrases, such as "auto mechanic in Miami Florida" as opposed to "auto mechanics" in general.

Hope that helps.

Best,
Shane

[Sonomamike]

Shane,

Awesome.... I would now take your success with this hotel niche and sell a system to other hotels.....rinse and repeat....

Mike

[Shane Natan]

Originally Posted by Sonomamike

Shane,

Awesome.... I would now take your success with this hotel niche and sell a system to other hotels.....rinse and repeat....

Mike

Thanks Mike. Great idea, and I am currently in the process of putting that together.

I think hotels are a great target because they have money to spend. In most cases, they have "internet marketing" budgets...which is money that they HAVE TO spend on internet marketing.

I appreciate the encouragement.

Best,
Shane

[Shane Natan]

Originally Posted by AndrewCavanagh

There are a couple of things I noticed here that many people might miss...

# 1: You used the connections you had to get to a potential client...very smart and this is the easiest way to start selling your internet marketing services to businesses...

Talk to the business owners you know and the business owners your friends know.

Use your contacts to get started.

# 2: You took the time to find a key profit making area where you could help make them some serious money.

One reason many people struggle to make premium fees in this niche is because they simply haven't taken the time to ask questions and really understand the business they're going to be working with.

In any business there are huge profit making opportunities and it's up to you to ferret those out.

It's pretty easy to charge large fees if a business can see that your fee is just a tiny percentage of what they're going to make back in profits.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

Andrew,

Thank you so much for the kind post. You make a lot of really excellent points about people not understanding the business they are going to be working with.

Also, as you said, "use your contacts to get started" was something that everyone should take advantage of.

Warriors, your sphere of influence (your contact list in your cell phone basically) can be one of your biggest money makers if you know what you are doing.

Thanks for the post again Andrew, I appreciate the support!

Best,
Shane

[Consof]

That's impressive. But you obviously really know your stuff. I find I am a Jack of all Trades and a Master of None, which is why I only make small dollars. I'd love to charge $1,000 for SEO work, but there are no big hotels round here.... well done!

[TeamGlobal]

Hi Shane,

Thanks for sharing your offline marketing experience. Congratulations on your deal with the hotel. I feel this is just the tip of the iceberg for you.

Keep up the good work.

All The Best,


Tony

[Michael Masade Jr.]

Great stuff Shane!

Thanks for the inspiration!

I'm about to start an offline venture that is involved with online marketing!

Thanks for the heads up!

I'll be sure not to undervalue myself as a marketer!

[jficarro]

Truly inspirational Shane. I have always undervalued my services for many reasons. Self doubt, fear of loosing the "sale", who knows.

The whole pricing issue is further complicated in that many businesses could never afford high end fees and the ROI would not be enough for them. Then, I feel uncomfortable charging different rates to different people (based on what I assume they could afford and how much I would benefit them).

I really need to get over it and figure out a solid pricing structure plan. It would be great if someone would start a thread on how to price offline services.

Shane mentioned $1000 for a web site, (and I have charged that before), but I think that is too low. Especially if it's SEO. However, how many client might we loose if we try charging 10,000 to develop a site.

Any comments would be appreciated. And GREAT job Shane!

[bert81]

Thanks for the info, I'll have to try that out. Good thinking.

[Shane Natan]

Originally Posted by jficarro

Truly inspirational Shane. I have always undervalued my services for many reasons. Self doubt, fear of loosing the "sale", who knows.

The whole pricing issue is further complicated in that many businesses could never afford high end fees and the ROI would not be enough for them. Then, I feel uncomfortable charging different rates to different people (based on what I assume they could afford and how much I would benefit them).

I really need to get over it and figure out a solid pricing structure plan. It would be great if someone would start a thread on how to price offline services.

Shane mentioned $1000 for a web site, (and I have charged that before), but I think that is too low. Especially if it's SEO. However, how many client might we loose if we try charging 10,000 to develop a site.

Any comments would be appreciated. And GREAT job Shane!

Thanks for the kind words bro. I felt the same way you feel now when I started my offline marketing endeavor.

I am going to try to put together a thread that discusses pricing points for offline services and that should help get everyone in tune with what others are charging, as well as what is "too much" and what is "not enough."

Thanks again and I wish you the best of success in your offline marketing career!

Best,
Shane

[Meanna Blog]

We do a similar thing. We run a seminar every 2 months which we try to get about 30 people to. Usually afterwards, we get to meet face-to-face with about 7 of those and 3 become clients.

[Sheila]

Good for you, Shane! Too many people undervalue their knowledge and their value to a business owner - and they sell themselves short. If people would just ask a business owner what additional sales mean to them - in dollars and cents - then maybe that would help them to price their services more fairly.

Your IM knowledge cost you time and money to learn, and you have specialized knowledge that can help generate sales for a business - sometimes your help will even help them stay in business. You should be compensated fairly.

I applaud you for seeing your value to a business owner, and for posting your success here to encourage others to do the same!

[Shane Natan]

Originally Posted by Sheila

Good for you, Shane! Too many people undervalue their knowledge and their value to a business owner - and they sell themselves short. If people would just ask a business owner what additional sales mean to them - in dollars and cents - then maybe that would help them to price their services more fairly.

Your IM knowledge cost you time and money to learn, and you have specialized knowledge that can help generate sales for a business - sometimes your help will even help them stay in business. You should be compensated fairly.

I applaud you for seeing your value to a business owner, and for posting your success here to encourage others to do the same!

Thanks Sheila. Agreed...such a large percentage of consumers go right to the internet when they want to search for a product/service and that makes this service extremely valuable to business owners.

Without the internet, I don't know how well any business can really do nowadays!

Best,
Shane

[w123]

Its good to see someone taking action & making it happen.

[jficarro]

Originally Posted by Meanna Blog

We do a similar thing. We run a seminar every 2 months which we try to get about 30 people to. Usually afterwards, we get to meet face-to-face with about 7 of those and 3 become clients.

I'm really good at giving seminars and workshops, but in this situation - how would you differentiate this from a glorified live advertisement?

In other words, what's your angle to get people (busy business owners) to attend a seminar without it sounding like a sales pitch?

I am very interested!

[jan roos]

Originally Posted by jficarro

I'm really good at giving seminars and workshops, but in this situation - how would you differentiate this from a glorified live advertisement?

In other words, what's your angle to get people (busy business owners) to attend a seminar without it sounding like a sales pitch?

I am very interested!

Buy David Preston's product. It teaches exactly this,

Cheers

[Shane Natan]

Seminars tend to work wonders...even if they seem very sales pitchy!

However, it takes guts and skill to run a seminar and have everything go smoothly.

Public speaking is a whole different ballgame as far as selling services to people; it's a lot different than selling something from a sales page online.

I haven't seen David Preston's product but I will definitely give it a look.

Best,
Shane

[RevenueRabbi]

take what you discovered...

and reuse and reuse and reuse and reuse and reuse.

hit up other hotels... with a recommendation letter form this one... you know the niche....


and just get one hotel a month to join your services......

you can have the hotels pre-screened for you so you only have to contact the interested ones yourself. Look up TwoBelievers (That's his WarriorID) for how to do this!

[Shane Natan]

Originally Posted by BizBooks

take what you discovered...

and reuse and reuse and reuse and reuse and reuse.

hit up other hotels... with a recommendation letter form this one... you know the niche....


and just get one hotel a month to join your services......

you can have the hotels pre-screened for you so you only have to contact the interested ones yourself. Look up TwoBelievers (That's his WarriorID) for how to do this!

Thanks for the support BizBooks!

I will most certainly look up that Warrior and check him out.

I like your thinking...

Best,
Shane