What to sell to no search volume towns?

by swords
61 replies
So I'm finding many many many small towns have ZERO online presence - no website, no verified Google Places Listing, and some don't even have their name and/or phone number findable ANYWHERE on the internet.

That being said, that also means that these are people from non-technological towns (rural usually), which means there is no search volume . How can you sell them any service other than creating a website for them when you can't explain to them the benefits of having an "optimized Google Listing" or "Good online reviews". If there is no traffic, it seems like everything is out the window :/

Any ideas would be awesome!
#search #sell #towns #volume
  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Stop trying to push features & benefits on your prospects.

    Instead, sort your prospects by those who already understand and believe in the effectiveness of the things you're talking about from those who do not.

    Who do you think will be easier to get an order from?

    Who do you want to spend your time with now that I've shared this with you?
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    • Profile picture of the author swords
      Originally Posted by Jason Kanigan View Post

      Stop trying to push features & benefits on your prospects.

      Instead, sort your prospects by those who already understand and believe in the effectiveness of the things you're talking about from those who do not.

      Who do you think will be easier to get an order from?

      Who do you want to spend your time with now that I've shared this with you?
      That's the thing -- what am I even selling them? Without any traffic (showing in Google) there is honestly no point in having an optimized Google Places page, or positive reviews on the page, or SEO to rank your website to the top [of keywords with zero traffic].
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      • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
        Originally Posted by swords View Post

        That's the thing -- what am I even selling them? Without any traffic (showing in Google) there is honestly no point in having an optimized Google Places page, or positive reviews on the page, or SEO to rank your website to the top [of keywords with zero traffic].
        In small towns, your client can dominate the page 1 Google rankings (for their keywords). You may even be able to give them all ten page one listings. You just need several sites; videos, articles, and a website & blog. There. Now they are covering page one.

        There won't be a lot of traffic online, but they will be getting all of it.

        I regularly sell a $6,000 package of videos, a website, blog, articles, Facebook page, mobile website.....to small business owners in very small towns with no traffic.

        And getting traffic is just one reason to be online. Maybe they want to use it as advertising, credibility, publicity, reputation management, or just because they don't want their competitor to be seen online.

        You have the easiest sale anywhere. And the least amount of work. It will take almost no effort on your part.

        Right now, in a large city...someone just like you is saying "Wow, there is so much competition! How in the world am I going to get anyone ranked on Google? It's a lost cause".

        Use what you have. And what you have is the ability to dominate the search results for smaller towns.

        Now get to work.
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        • Profile picture of the author TheCG
          Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

          I regularly sell a $6,000 package of videos, a website, blog, articles, Facebook page, mobile website.....to small business owners in very small towns with no traffic.
          Hey Claude,

          I see you refer to this 6k package alot.

          Mind sharing exactly what is in it?

          Thanks,

          CG
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          • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
            Originally Posted by TheCG View Post

            Hey Claude,

            I see you refer to this 6k package alot.

            Mind sharing exactly what is in it?

            Thanks,

            CG
            I think my video has a pretty exhaustive description. It's a long list.
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            • Profile picture of the author TheCG
              Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

              I think my video has a pretty exhaustive description. It's a long list.

              The hour and 14 minute video?

              Errr.....yeah...that would be exhaustive.
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  • Profile picture of the author digichik
    You may want to check out some of the post written by Claude Whitacre and IamNameless. They are both in small towns and their businesses are doing quite well. John Durham back in the day, would put together directory types sites for small town businesses and charge them $$ per month for a one page listing in his ranked directory. How difficult can it be to rank a directory site for County A, County B and County C businesses in middle Nebraska? They get an inexpensive web presence and you get a residual monthly income.

    Search John Durham he had several free PDFs attached to his post about building these types of directory sites. Search the word Findlaw, poster John Durham, he talks about how he got local attorneys in small towns to use his directories, more effective at getting them local client than Findlaw($1100/mo).
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    • Profile picture of the author swords
      Originally Posted by digichik View Post

      You may want to check out some of the post written by Claude Whitacre and IamNameless. They are both in small towns and their businesses are doing quite well. John Durham back in the day, would put together directory types sites for small town businesses and charge them $$ per month for a one page listing in his ranked directory. How difficult can it be to rank a directory site for County A, County B and County C businesses in middle Nebraska? They get an inexpensive web presence and you get a residual monthly income.

      Search John Durham he had several free PDFs attached to his post about building these types of directory sites. Search the word Findlaw, poster John Durham, he talks about how he got local attorneys in small towns to use his directories, more effective at getting them local client than Findlaw($1100/mo).
      So the idea behind making your own directory is that you could rank for many many keywords that would lead to a decent amount of traffic and you can then use THAT as your selling point?
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  • Profile picture of the author AndrewCavanagh
    First you should know that getting traffic to a website is
    just one of a whole pile of strategies you can use for a
    brick and mortar business and NOT the most important
    strategy.

    For most businesses building relationships with their
    customers and prospects and following up with them is
    going to bring them the biggest return.

    One obvious way to do that is with email marketing.

    Think of how many people walk into a brick and mortar
    business in a month and what it would be worth to that
    business to capture their contact details and follow up
    with them automatically.


    Most businesses are not using a whole range of marketing
    strategies you could introduce to them.

    Generally speaking the fast profits in a business are in
    improving their sales process and follow up...not in trying
    to bring in new business.

    After that there's usually good profits in creating referral
    systems (that can be done in a whole pile of innovative ways
    even with businesses that don't ever usually ask for referrals).

    If you're having trouble understanding how you can help
    businesses without SEO then you should go study some
    marketing fundamentals.

    Anything by Jay Abraham is great.


    Finally don't trust keyword search results. I have
    plenty of clients making some serious money with
    traffic from long tail search terms that don't show
    up in any keyword tool and probably never will.

    Kindest regards,
    Andrew Cavanagh
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    • Profile picture of the author swords
      Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

      In small towns, your client can dominate the page 1 Google rankings (for their keywords). You may even be able to give them all ten page one listings. You just need several sites; videos, articles, and a website & blog. There. Now they are covering page one.

      There won't be a lot of traffic online, but they will be getting all of it.

      I regularly sell a $6,000 package of videos, a website, blog, articles, Facebook page, mobile website.....to small business owners in very small towns with no traffic.

      And getting traffic is just one reason to be online. Maybe they want to use it as advertising, credibility, publicity, reputation management, or just because they don't want their competitor to be seen online.

      You have the easiest sale anywhere. And the least amount of work. It will take almost no effort on your part.

      Right now, in a large city...someone just like you is saying "Wow, there is so much competition! How in the world am I going to get anyone ranked on Google? It's a lost cause".

      Use what you have. And what you have is the ability to dominate the search results for smaller towns.

      Now get to work.
      I don't worry about the ranking part for many keywords, that's no issue, the issue is that even 10 keywords for ranks 1-10 still show no search volume. I don't doubt that you can get some "trickle traffic" from these longtail keywords, however, how do you sell this to your customer?

      "I'll get you ranked #1, 2, and 3 for 10 keywords for $6000."

      Client: "Ok, but what does that do for my business? I'm not online at all, i know nothing about this stuff"

      "..... well as you can see here there are no search volume for any of these keywords, however you MIGHT pick up some hits!!"


      See the discrepancy I'm having a hard time understanding?

      What I do understand is selling them the 'advertising', reputation management, etc, however, again, this all involves work that is done online and without any traffic to prove to them up front how do you sell them the expensive price tag that we offliners deserve?


      Originally Posted by AndrewCavanagh View Post

      First you should know that getting traffic to a website is
      just one of a whole pile of strategies you can use for a
      brick and mortar business and NOT the most important
      strategy.

      For most businesses building relationships with their
      customers and prospects and following up with them is
      going to bring them the biggest return.

      One obvious way to do that is with email marketing.

      Think of how many people walk into a brick and mortar
      business in a month and what it would be worth to that
      business to capture their contact details and follow up
      with them automatically.


      Most businesses are not using a whole range of marketing
      strategies you could introduce to them.

      Generally speaking the fast profits in a business are in
      improving their sales process and follow up...not in trying
      to bring in new business.

      After that there's usually good profits in creating referral
      systems (that can be done in a whole pile of innovative ways
      even with businesses that don't ever usually ask for referrals).

      If you're having trouble understanding how you can help
      businesses without SEO then you should go study some
      marketing fundamentals.

      Anything by Jay Abraham is great.


      Finally don't trust keyword search results. I have
      plenty of clients making some serious money with
      traffic from long tail search terms that don't show
      up in any keyword tool and probably never will.

      Kindest regards,
      Andrew Cavanagh
      Thanks for the reply Andrew. I understand that there ARE many many things to sell an offline customer, however, preaching all these things in one sales pitch is impossible. One tactic may be more appealing to them than another - so how do you know which to present?

      As for the email marketing. My first client I talked to yesterday (which was the reason behind this thread) was a car dealership. No online presence at all... and I mean nothing. He wasn't biting on any ORM, Google Places Listing, and I barely got him talked into building him a website for $400 (+$30/mo). Very cheap, but I need to start somewhere (and it's just a Wordpress theme that I just have to upload to my hosting). Anyways, I guess I don't see the benefit in email marketing for a car dealership. They sell someone a car, what would they benefit from emailing that customer once a week/month? 9/10 that customer isn't going to buy another car in that short of a timeframe, and even if they do they already know the dealer and how good/bad he is from the first car they bought. My only insight with it would be the ability to offer discounts/deals/etc and send out these promotional types of emails.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
        Originally Posted by swords View Post

        I don't worry about the ranking part for many keywords, that's no issue, the issue is that even 10 keywords for ranks 1-10 still show no search volume. I don't doubt that you can get some "trickle traffic" from these longtail keywords, however, how do you sell this to your customer?

        "I'll get you ranked #1, 2, and 3 for 10 keywords for $6000."

        Client: "Ok, but what does that do for my business? I'm not online at all, i know nothing about this stuff"

        "..... well as you can see here there are no search volume for any of these keywords, however you MIGHT pick up some hits!!"


        See the discrepancy I'm having a hard time understanding?
        You're stuck in the mode of features & benefits selling. They don't care how you do it; just get them results! Do you think business owners care about ranking for keywords? No! They care about leads and customers and revenue.

        Change your terminology and start having simple conversations with business owners. You'll figure it out.
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      • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
        Originally Posted by swords View Post

        I don't worry about the ranking part for many keywords, that's no issue, the issue is that even 10 keywords for ranks 1-10 still show no search volume. I don't doubt that you can get some "trickle traffic" from these longtail keywords, however, how do you sell this to your customer?

        "I'll get you ranked #1, 2, and 3 for 10 keywords for $6000."

        Client: "Ok, but what does that do for my business? I'm not online at all, i know nothing about this stuff"

        "..... well as you can see here there are no search volume for any of these keywords, however you MIGHT pick up some hits!!"


        See the discrepancy I'm having a hard time understanding?
        Here's a presentation I gave that will answer your questions, I think.


        You are stuck on the number of hits to their site. You need to optimize for surrounding towns too. Not just the town they are in. See?

        But again, there are lots of other reasons business owners want to be online.

        And...Even if it's only 50 searches a month....your client wants those customers too.

        Good luck.
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        • Profile picture of the author swords
          Originally Posted by Rus Sells View Post

          If your small town is anything like this:
          https://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-...&ved=0CKoBELYD

          Every one and I do mean EVERY ONE knows each and every single business in town. Interment marketing in my opinion is useless in this situation.

          A Fan page would be better if anything.
          Originally Posted by Jason Kanigan View Post

          I agree, for local marketing.

          If the business can sell anything to be delivered, on the other hand...
          Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

          Here's a presentation I gave that will answer your questions, I think.

          Claude Whitacre On Local Online Marketing In 2011 From Dallas Texas - YouTube

          You are stuck on the number of hits to their site. You need to optimize for surrounding towns too. Not just the town they are in. See?

          But again, there are lots of other reasons business owners want to be online.

          And...Even if it's only 50 searches a month....your client wants those customers too.

          Good luck.


          As Rus said, this is the point I'm trying to get at. There will be no traffic from searches because there is no search volume for such a small town. Not only that, but as Rus said, everyone knows everyone in these small towns. When I say small, I mean 1000-3000 people.

          So as my point is becoming more clear, is the general consensus that businesses in these very small towns don't need internet marketing? It would seem as if they wouldn't have any use for it in my opinion...

          However, like Jason pointed out, if they have something that can be delivered then you're talking mass marketing with SEO and such. It COULD be possible for a car dealer, but I'm thinking along the lines of handcrafted ornaments, or maybe bakery goods, etc. All these types of things can be scaled indefinitely.

          Edit: Claude, will get to your video after I get back from some errands. Thanks for sharing it with me!
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          • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
            Originally Posted by swords View Post

            Not only that, but as Rus said, everyone knows everyone in these small towns. When I say small, I mean 1000-3000 people.
            Everyone knows everyone in a very small town. But they don't know everyone in the surrounding 5 towns.

            My clients sometimes live in tiny little towns. So what do I do? I optimize for the surrounding towns. Sometimes as many as 12-15 separate towns. So now, my client dominates the Google searches for 3-5 keywords in every town within 30 miles. Get it?

            Every business in a small town that is successful...is getting their customers from somewhere. Find out where that is. Is it from 10 surrounding small towns? One big city 10 miles away? Then you optimizes websites, videos, whatever...for each of the surrounding towns.

            You'll be a Hero...a Genius.
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        • Profile picture of the author SiteSmarty
          Claude. I watched your entire video. I only have one comment to make about it. Awesome!
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          • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
            Originally Posted by SiteSmarty View Post

            Claude. I watched your entire video. I only have one comment to make about it. Awesome!
            You're very kind. I was the last speaker of a three day event. The speaker before me ran an hour over their time limit. I was dead tired, and people were leaving in the audience to make their flights.

            In the time I was speaking the audience went from maybe 300 people, to (If I remember) just 180.

            But I still pulled $52,000 out of that room.

            I'm now working on webinars, to hopefully stop the need for so much travelling to these events.


            Thanks again.
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            • Profile picture of the author Ron Lafuddy
              Amazing results Claude.

              Did some of those business owners who signed up with you
              know about you, before you spoke at the event?

              I imagine you "circulated" some during the event, before you
              spoke, which might help with sign ups.
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              • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
                Originally Posted by Ron Lafuddy View Post

                Amazing results Claude.

                Did some of those business owners who signed up with you
                know about you, before you spoke at the event?

                I imagine you "circulated" some during the event, before you
                spoke, which might help with sign ups.
                Ron; None knew me except for my giving out a copy of my book, and a great introduction that really set me up well. Yeah, I was there for the whole event for two reasons; To have the attendees get comfortable with my (and several times I was held up as an expert by the host. He's a phenomenal event coordinator and really knew how to work the crowd.

                And during my speech, I kept connecting with previous speakers that were very well known to this audience (one was the son of the host).

                I was very well promoted during the event itself, which meant that the only way I wasn't going to make sales, is if I just completely screwed up.

                The host sold a $2,000 a month coaching program to over 100 people in the audience. It was worth going, just to see how he did that.

                Nobody in the event knew who I was before they saw me at the event, other than a short bio on the website.

                It also helps that I have an introduction video. It also helps that I kept talking about their business....it is a generic program I give to sell my service, but I always make sure they feel like it completely applies to them. To be honest, after I was there for a day, I realized that my service isn't a perfect fit for the industry. The average sale isn't high enough, and the areas served are too big. But I muddled through.

                Also, notice how I kept complimenting everyone? It's not really my style. But this was a very "Warm & Fuzzy" audience. Nearly every speaker that went before me....cried on stage. And while I refuse to do that, I knew that this was a very "Koombia" kind of event.

                Had I just shown up an hour before my speech, I wouldn't have made nearly the sales that I did.

                My best day so far is $58,000 from a room of maybe 100 vacuum cleaner dealers. But most of them have heard of me (I'm a minor celebrity in that business), and most have bought some info product from me before. So I expected to do well. I've only zeroed twice in about 6 years of speaking.

                And both times it was the wrong audience (although I also wasn't at my best.) Webinars are becoming very attractive to me.
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      • Profile picture of the author AndrewCavanagh
        Originally Posted by swords View Post

        As for the email marketing. My first client I talked to yesterday (which was the reason behind this thread) was a car dealership. No online presence at all... and I mean nothing. He wasn't biting on any ORM, Google Places Listing, and I barely got him talked into building him a website for $400 (+$30/mo). Very cheap, but I need to start somewhere (and it's just a Wordpress theme that I just have to upload to my hosting). Anyways, I guess I don't see the benefit in email marketing for a car dealership. They sell someone a car, what would they benefit from emailing that customer once a week/month? 9/10 that customer isn't going to buy another car in that short of a timeframe, and even if they do they already know the dealer and how good/bad he is from the first car they bought. My only insight with it would be the ability to offer discounts/deals/etc and send out these promotional types of emails.
        You have so much to learn about selling cars.

        The greatest car salesman in history had one huge
        secret...he'd send cards to everyone who came in
        contact with him.

        Birthday cards, thank you cards, congratulations...he
        had multiple employees whose only job was to fill out
        and mail cards for him all day long.

        Before he retired Joe Girard was sending 13,000 greeting
        cards every month and selling 72 cars a month (that's
        a lot of cars for one salesman who is not making fleet
        sales...in fact his record for car sales has not been
        broken to this day).


        The point I'm making is that a huge key to making a lot
        of high end sales is following up with contacts, clients
        and prospects...just staying in touch in a positive way.

        And email is a great way to do this...especially if the emails
        are informative or entertaining or personal.

        People buy from people they trust and they recommend
        people they trust.

        Kindest regards,
        Andrew Cavanagh
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        • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
          Swords,

          Good techniques here for any business to get the best form of marketing.

          Repeat and referral business.

          How many cars (widgets or service of some type) will one person buy in their lifetime?
          How many friends, relatives, co-workers, acquaintances, or customers does one person have that he or she might refer to a business?

          Dan

          Originally Posted by AndrewCavanagh View Post

          You have so much to learn about selling cars.

          The greatest car salesman in history had one huge
          secret...he'd send cards to everyone who came in
          contact with him.

          Birthday cards, thank you cards, congratulations...he
          had multiple employees whose only job was to fill out
          and mail cards for him all day long.

          Before he retired Joe Girard was sending 13,000 greeting
          cards every month and selling 72 cars a month (that's
          a lot of cars for one salesman who is not making fleet
          sales...in fact his record for car sales has not been
          broken to this day).


          The point I'm making is that a huge key to making a lot
          of high end sales is following up with contacts, clients
          and prospects...just staying in touch in a positive way.

          And email is a great way to do this...especially if the emails
          are informative or entertaining or personal.

          People buy from people they trust and they recommend
          people they trust.

          Kindest regards,
          Andrew Cavanagh
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          "If you think you're the smartest person in the room, then you're probably in the wrong room."

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  • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
    If your small town is anything like this:
    https://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-...&ved=0CKoBELYD

    Every one and I do mean EVERY ONE knows each and every single business in town. Interment marketing in my opinion is useless in this situation.

    A Fan page would be better if anything.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    Here are a few things to consider.

    1. Google is getting more local. Even when you don't add the local name to search you will get local results. And I don't mean just Places. Try it yourself. Try it on your phone when you are traveling.

    Google is smart and knows that to be #1 in search they have to give the best results the first time. So if they think you will want local results you will get them.

    So what does that mean for you? If you rank for "Pizza City" you will likely rank for "Pizza" when someone local searches for it.

    2. Just because the town is small doesn't mean everyone knows everyone. People move in and out of towns and those people will not know. Also some of them may work and shop normally in a bigger town and not even realize that _____ is available in town till they search.

    What I am getting at here is that ranking for these terms still has value. How to show that value will depend on many factors and will never be a one size fits all. You will need to know about the area and the business itself to know how to frame the value for them.

    3. Will they pay what you are worth? Everyone knows I promote going local first. But if what you sell (or want to sell) doesn't fit the needs of the local market you need to go to where the customers are. Maybe this town is too small but could you focus on a bigger city that is 30 to 60 mins away?

    I'm not saying give up on these guys but if they are not the right match you need to accept that and move on to the right customers.

    4. If the area is small but they lose business to a bigger city you might want to focus on loyalty. Things of ways that you can help a business get their customers in more often and spending more. Things like Social Media, SMS, and email marketing.

    "The money is in the list" is not just true for online businesses. So what can you do to help them grow their list? What can you do to help them cultivate their list? What can you do to help them reactive people on their list?

    5. EDDM (Bob Ross Method) might be a great idea for this area. Get businesses in the city together on a postcard and mail to the city and surround rural areas.

    There are a load of things you could do. What you want to do and what you are good at will influence that of course.

    But you need to realize that the problem isn't the lack of traffic on google. The problem is between your ears. And don't go blaming your nose cause it isn't his fault either.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ontealdon
    Not having internet-using local businesses is a big plus for you!
    It is a sign that they are your potential future costomers.
    Prepare a short document, slideshow or a video; go and knock on their doors.
    I am sure you can get clients fast!
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    A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.
    -Henry Ford
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  • I started out selling radio advertising to car dealers in the smallest towns in Ohio.

    You are locked on your product. Any dweeb can sell them SEO.

    Think more creatively. How can I generate business for this dealer? What is their biggest challenge? Don't say, "selling more cars." Be specific? What keeps them awake at night?

    Sell ideas and concepts. Come up with a good idea for a specific promotion.

    No search volume? Trust me there is some. But why put all the burden on yourself? Partner with a local newspaper or radio station. Heck, put together two dealers and have a special sale. "AnyTownSummerBlowout!" special internet sale.

    Build a site just for the promotion: AnyTownSummerBlowout.com. Each dealer puts up unique offers for this promotion and this site only. Get each dealer to give you X thousands of dollars. Not enough dealers? Broaden the geography. "CentralWyomingCarBlast!" Get 5 dealers from all over the place. Now you have some real cash to play with.

    Use Claude's strategies to dominate the area. Partner with a radio station that covers the area, or figure out if the local station has sister stations in the surrounding area.

    Come up with a radio spot for the promotion. You can have it written and cut in one day.

    Heck, you are the internet expert. Nobody else can tie all these towns and dealers together like you. Nobody. You have infinite power.

    Think of ways to use mobile marketing and SMS. Get creative.

    I'm sure you can come up with something unique, and now you have a specific concept that is designed to move product. Once they see the excitement of your idea build and get results, selling monthly SEO services will be like taking candy from a baby.
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  • Profile picture of the author NewParadigm
    Set up a directory or niche lead gen site and see what you get. Then show the businesses your results. Small town businesses are small, because they generally think small. I agree there isn't much action within small rural towns. But you do have a captive audience, what are the residents(customers) looking for? Bring them products/services.


    Why not market their products/services to a wider area? I bought a harley Vrod, and got prices around a larger metro area, then got a price from a smaller town dealer and they saved me nearly $5grand. Well worth the 3hr roundtrip drive renting a motorcycle trailer to pick up the new ride.
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  • Profile picture of the author bob ross
    Selling direct mail services and co-op advertising on direct mail can make you a lot of money in your small town.

    Do it right and you can quickly become the 'results' guy in town.
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    • Originally Posted by bob ross View Post

      Selling direct mail services and co-op advertising on direct mail can make you a lot of money in your small town.

      Do it right and you can quickly become the 'results' guy in town.
      There you go. Great idea. Become a mini agency that gets results, with SEO and internet marketing just part of the mix.
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  • Profile picture of the author princewally
    Can you optimize for the nearest "big" town? I grew up in the middle of no where. If I were working on a business in my hometown, I'd target the city 20 miles over. That's the county seat and the only affordable place to buy groceries, so that's where everyone assumes the businesses are anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author ATAC
    I am sure that everyone in those small towns have cellphones !
    There is more people with cellphones then electricity ....

    You pull out your smart phone a do a Voice Google Search for there keywords in Google Local...
    Then you explain to them that is the way people search before they buy and That is the reason they need to have a listing in order to increase their business ..

    Here is some mobile stats ..

    1. Global smartphone use will reach 2 billion by 2015 (Bloomberg)
    2. Nearly half of American smartphone owners used shopping apps in June 2012 (MarketingPilgrim)
    3. 45 percent of users between 18 and 29 use mobile search daily (Icebreaker Consulting)
    4. 31 percent of mobile Internet users mostly go online using cell phones (Pew 2012)
    5. Across all industries, mobile traffic is increasing by 3.5 percent per month (Televox)
    6. 35 percent of smartphone owners expect to access the Internet using their phone more in the future (Televox)
    7. The number of local searches on mobile devices quadrupled in 2012 (Local Search Association)
    8. Of the estimated 30 billion annual mobile searches, about 12 billion are local searches (Search Engine Land)
    9. Tablet users access search 73.9 percent of the time, more than any other activity (eMarketer)
    10. Local mobile searches (85.9 billion) are projected to exceed desktop searches (84 billion) for the fist time in 2015 (eMarketer)

    Searches on mobile devices are 66% more likely to have local intent than a desktop search. Meaning people searching on mobile phones are usually looking for something around them. For example, directions to a business or a phone number to call.

    I hope this helps
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    • Profile picture of the author swords
      Originally Posted by Aaron Doud View Post

      Here are a few things to consider.

      1. Google is getting more local. Even when you don't add the local name to search you will get local results. And I don't mean just Places. Try it yourself. Try it on your phone when you are traveling.

      Google is smart and knows that to be #1 in search they have to give the best results the first time. So if they think you will want local results you will get them.

      So what does that mean for you? If you rank for "Pizza City" you will likely rank for "Pizza" when someone local searches for it.

      2. Just because the town is small doesn't mean everyone knows everyone. People move in and out of towns and those people will not know. Also some of them may work and shop normally in a bigger town and not even realize that _____ is available in town till they search.

      What I am getting at here is that ranking for these terms still has value. How to show that value will depend on many factors and will never be a one size fits all. You will need to know about the area and the business itself to know how to frame the value for them.

      3. Will they pay what you are worth? Everyone knows I promote going local first. But if what you sell (or want to sell) doesn't fit the needs of the local market you need to go to where the customers are. Maybe this town is too small but could you focus on a bigger city that is 30 to 60 mins away?

      I'm not saying give up on these guys but if they are not the right match you need to accept that and move on to the right customers.

      4. If the area is small but they lose business to a bigger city you might want to focus on loyalty. Things of ways that you can help a business get their customers in more often and spending more. Things like Social Media, SMS, and email marketing.

      "The money is in the list" is not just true for online businesses. So what can you do to help them grow their list? What can you do to help them cultivate their list? What can you do to help them reactive people on their list?

      5. EDDM (Bob Ross Method) might be a great idea for this area. Get businesses in the city together on a postcard and mail to the city and surround rural areas.

      There are a load of things you could do. What you want to do and what you are good at will influence that of course.

      But you need to realize that the problem isn't the lack of traffic on google. The problem is between your ears. And don't go blaming your nose cause it isn't his fault either.
      I liked that you pointed out the locality of Google Searches these days. That is something I did find out myself, but, again, I had no way to promote it. The word "restaraunts" gets 9.9 million hits in the US every month, but you can sure as hell bet that's not for this small rural town haha.

      What I'm getting from you, and the above posters, is that every client is unique is what it needs. A hair salon may need SMS marketing to promote discounts on products, whereas a car dealership might need some more search traffic or possibly direct mailing to promote 'deals' on certain cars. My problem is how do I promote these certain aspects to different people? Do I simply tell them:

      "I can guarantee X # of people per month based off what I know I can achieve - and it's usually more"

      or how do you play this safe? You can't simply just say "Pay me $800/mo and I'll give you results!!"... you need to tell them what kind of results, but how do you provide such a number without playing it risky? Not only is tracking leads to a car dealership extremely hard (they won't know these people are coming from the marketing I'm doing), but it's also hard to determine how many people I can actually bring in from looking at the marketing side (Ex: if a search term gets 1000 searches a month, then I could tell them I could bring in 10 extra people?). And even worse, with searches with no search volume (the point of this thread), you have NO way to gauge what you can bring in -- so how do you sell a high monthly figure without providing any kind of guesstimate on leads?

      Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

      Everyone knows everyone in a very small town. But they don't know everyone in the surrounding 5 towns.

      My clients sometimes live in tiny little towns. So what do I do? I optimize for the surrounding towns. Sometimes as many as 12-15 separate towns. So now, my client dominates the Google searches for 3-5 keywords in every town within 30 miles. Get it?

      Every business in a small town that is successful...is getting their customers from somewhere. Find out where that is. Is it from 10 surrounding small towns? One big city 10 miles away? Then you optimizes websites, videos, whatever...for each of the surrounding towns.

      You'll be a Hero...a Genius.
      The problem with where I live is that all these surrounding towns are TINY (400-2000 people), which usually means no search traffic. Like I posted above, without having concrete numbers to promote to the client, how can you tell them you'll bring in X amount of traffic to their business? Or how do you phrase it so you CAN say "I'll give you results - pay me $900/mo or $6000 up front"

      Originally Posted by joe golfer View Post

      I started out selling radio advertising to car dealers in the smallest towns in Ohio.

      You are locked on your product. Any dweeb can sell them SEO.

      Think more creatively. How can I generate business for this dealer? What is their biggest challenge? Don't say, "selling more cars." Be specific? What keeps them awake at night?

      Sell ideas and concepts. Come up with a good idea for a specific promotion.

      No search volume? Trust me there is some. But why put all the burden on yourself? Partner with a local newspaper or radio station. Heck, put together two dealers and have a special sale. "AnyTownSummerBlowout!" special internet sale.

      Build a site just for the promotion: AnyTownSummerBlowout.com. Each dealer puts up unique offers for this promotion and this site only. Get each dealer to give you X thousands of dollars. Not enough dealers? Broaden the geography. "CentralWyomingCarBlast!" Get 5 dealers from all over the place. Now you have some real cash to play with.

      Use Claude's strategies to dominate the area. Partner with a radio station that covers the area, or figure out if the local station has sister stations in the surrounding area.

      Come up with a radio spot for the promotion. You can have it written and cut in one day.

      Heck, you are the internet expert. Nobody else can tie all these towns and dealers together like you. Nobody. You have infinite power.

      Think of ways to use mobile marketing and SMS. Get creative.

      I'm sure you can come up with something unique, and now you have a specific concept that is designed to move product. Once they see the excitement of your idea build and get results, selling monthly SEO services will be like taking candy from a baby.
      I like that. As I posted above, it seems like every business needs it own tailored marketing - and it might not even be online marketing at all. Thank you for this, great example!

      Originally Posted by NewParadigm View Post

      Set up a directory or niche lead gen site and see what you get. Then show the businesses your results. Small town businesses are small, because they generally think small. I agree there isn't much action within small rural towns. But you do have a captive audience, what are the residents(customers) looking for? Bring them products/services.


      Why not market their products/services to a wider area? I bought a harley Vrod, and got prices around a larger metro area, then got a price from a smaller town dealer and they saved me nearly $5grand. Well worth the 3hr roundtrip drive renting a motorcycle trailer to pick up the new ride.
      How did you find this Harley? Google search?

      And as for the lead gen/directory sites - what are you looking to get out of them? Are you just checking to see how much traffic you're getting, and then you'd have concrete proof to show the businesses? "Hey, 300 people hit my website last month, do YOU want to be in front of all these eyes too?"
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      • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
        Originally Posted by swords View Post

        The problem with where I live is that all these surrounding towns are TINY (400-2000 people), which usually means no search traffic. Like I posted above, without having concrete numbers to promote to the client, how can you tell them you'll bring in X amount of traffic to their business? Or how do you phrase it so you CAN say "I'll give you results - pay me $900/mo or $6000 up front"

        Young man; When someone sells newspaper advertising, do they promise a certain number of sales? No. What about radio? No.

        Online marketing is advertising. We are offering exposure.

        "If you buy my Yellow Page ad, I promise 50 people a day will look up your ad"

        That sentence has never been spoken.

        For some reason, you are insisting that local search numbers are the most important thing. They are not.

        In fact, I can't remember a prospect ever bringing it up.

        And what is the difference if you sell other types of advertising? There is no difference.

        A Forum member once said to me "Claude, you are making it too complicated. You are selling advertising", and he was right.


        Originally Posted by TheCG View Post

        The hour and 14 minute video?

        Errr.....yeah...that would be exhaustive.
        Why don't you put a little effort into this?
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        • Profile picture of the author TheCG
          Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post




          Why don't you put a little effort into this?
          Ouch. Who pissed in your Wheaties?

          Sorry I asked.
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        • Profile picture of the author swords
          Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

          Young man; When someone sells newspaper advertising, do they promise a certain number of sales? No. What about radio? No.

          Online marketing is advertising. We are offering exposure.
          Understand, I am not trying to argue with you, only to get a broader view of your point. Obviously you know what you're doing and are successful at it - so this is no testament against you at all. I understand your concepts, but I'm having a hard time seeing myself speak these words to a potential client.


          These mediums DO have numbers to give to clients. Newspapers have the EXACT # of subscribers, and radio stations definitely have some kind of tracking.

          Let's even throw the whole "no search volume aside". Things like ORM, email marketing, SMS marketing... these have no solid numbers to give to the client up front in your presentation (neither would the "no search volume"). We as IMers know that these are definitely beneficial to a business, but to what extent is SO variable. Maybe the investment they put on you to do this stuff ends up costing them more money than you bring in?

          On the other hand, potential clients that approach newspaper's, ads on websites, ads on the radio, even ads on TV, are given nearly exact numbers of the amount of exposure they will receive -- that's something they can convince themselves into buying because they can calculate the ROI. What we offer doesn't give them this opportunity, but merely to trust in us.
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          • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
            Originally Posted by swords View Post

            On the other hand, potential clients that approach newspaper's, ads on websites, ads on the radio, even ads on TV, are given nearly exact numbers of the amount of exposure they will receive -- that's something they can convince themselves into buying because they can calculate the ROI. What we offer doesn't give them this opportunity, but merely to trust in us.


            Watch the video. Again, it will show you several appeals to clients and how to explain them.

            They have circulation numbers. They don't promise how many people will see the ads, or how many people will be looking for what the client sells.

            These media are essentially giving the numbers of the total possible readership, listenership, viewership.

            It would be like (if translated to online marketing) giving the number of people in their market with a computer.

            You mean there are no decent size cities in your market area? Where are the hospitals? The malls? The schools?

            When someone says "I'm going to go shopping" where is that?

            In my county, the biggest town is my town of 17,000. Last year, I did about $125,000 in retail sales from local online marketing alone. Why? Because every small town (and a few big towns) are saturated online with my listings, videos, websites.

            An hour drive away is Cleveland Ohio, The #1 listing is mine. I'm not even there. And every month we have a few customers drive 60-100 miles to our store to buy from us.

            You mean there is no town of 40,000 or more within an hour's drive? What is the total population within a 30 mile radius? If it's more than 100,000, you're in business.

            If there isn't, then move out of Death Valley.

            Oh, and newspapers give total readership numbers. That includes all newspaper outlets, returned unsold newspapers, and assumed pass along readership. They never tell you how many people will be looking for your ad...because they have no idea.

            To answer one of your questions; One of the huge advantages we offer over other forms of advertising, is that in print or broadcast media...every ad has to be paid for...every time it runs.

            Online, you post videos...and they can stay forever. Your website costs almost nothing to keep listed and active. Once the upfront costs are paid, it's nearly free to keep promoting online.

            That's why they give me $6,000...because I won't be asking for it again next month.

            If you want to know what the customer gets from me...www.localprofitgeyser.com will have the details.
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            • Profile picture of the author teeds01
              A LOT of my ecommerce clients come from rural Ohio. Diseconomy of geography (big city money goes farther in small towns) is an easy sale to any small retailer; if you have a good relationship with them and you've earned their trust. This is one of the better posts I've seen in awhile.
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      • Profile picture of the author NewParadigm
        Originally Posted by swords View Post

        How did you find this Harley? Google search?

        And as for the lead gen/directory sites - what are you looking to get out of them? Are you just checking to see how much traffic you're getting, and then you'd have concrete proof to show the businesses? "Hey, 300 people hit my website last month, do YOU want to be in front of all these eyes too?"
        I probably looked up the list of dealers myself and tried ones out of larger metro area.

        Yep, you could do that to show some results.

        But maybe instead of looking at the smaller towns as selling them internet marketing services for their small businesses, what if you looked at what products/services they might buy and help them with better service and/or cheaper price.

        I know small towns that still have freakin feather pillow cleaning and new feather refill services. they all bring their pillows down to city hall to a mobile truck/setup and getem fluffed up!
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      • Profile picture of the author midasman09
        Banned
        Holy Camoly, young "Swords".....I've operated most of my life in "Small Towns" and I learned that....
        ...if a business has ONE competitor in a town.....and YOU tell one of these business owners that THEY...will have an EXCLUSIVE" for this program....yikes! You can count to 3....before he whips out his checkbook and asks my favorite prospect comments...."WHo do I make my check to?"

        Gee willickers young man....I "hit" 4 small towns in Oregon when I arrived in the best "retirement spot" in the country....Roseburg, Oregon.

        Well.....talk about "small" towns....Roseburg is still only about 20,000 AND....
        ...Winston, OR.....7,000
        ...Myrtle Creek.....3,000
        ....Sutherlin.............6,000
        ....Oakland, OR........4,000

        YOU kidding ME? I've made a darn-good living in small-towns and I learned early on in my Sales Career......

        .....all you need is TWO businesses in an area and ONE will join your program provided you promise he gets an EXCLUSIVE!

        Holy Camoly young man.....I just finished getting 12 businesses to pay me $497 each.....to be on a Pizza Flyer in a town of 6,000.

        It's called "GREED"! Or...."ENVY"!

        Remember those 2 words...wherever you choose to sell your program.

        Don Alm......sales guy
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        • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
          Originally Posted by midasman09 View Post

          .....all you need is TWO businesses in an area and ONE will join your program provided you promise he gets an EXCLUSIVE!
          That's one of maybe 5 or 6 big secrets to making Local Online marketing easy to sell. Don just gave you one of the biggest.
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          • Profile picture of the author swords
            Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

            It would be like (if translated to online marketing) giving the number of people in their market with a computer.
            That's a bit outstrectched I would think haha. The number of readers of a 10-30 page newspaper versus the number of people using a computer in your niche that has access to quintillions amounts of data is not very comparable.

            Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

            You mean there are no decent size cities in your market area? Where are the hospitals? The malls? The schools?

            When someone says "I'm going to go shopping" where is that?

            Oh, and newspapers give total readership numbers. That includes all newspaper outlets, returned unsold newspapers, and assumed pass along readership. They never tell you how many people will be looking for your ad...because they have no idea.
            I never denied that a larger city is within reach of these smaller cities, but I'm asking how do I sell to these small cities themselves. I can chase larger bucks from businesses inside these bigger cities, than to sell the same search term to these smaller businesses.

            I still have yet to understand what you specifically tell a small, rural, business owner what kind of exposure you are actually getting when you have NO PROOF of any kind of traffic. Maybe this town is SO technologically behind that no one does search for any of the terms in that town... or for surrounding smaller towns. Or, how do you tell them that doing SMS marketing will benefit their business when... you have no idea if it will or not. Maybe all their customers are old men with flip phones still. Without some kind of numbers, such as the ones newspapers have, the customer has zero calculations that can be ran through his head during my presentation. On the flip side, a newspaper man can say "10,000 people buy our newspapers monthly" -- bam, the neurons are being charged in the client's brain about the possible exposure that he would be getting, running calculation after calculation.

            Again, obviously you're super successful, I'm just trying to find that spark that makes my presentation seem more professional (other than simply telling them to "trust me"). You've killed enough time trying to beat this into my brain, so I thank you graciously for that. I'm going to head over and watch your video now, maybe something will light up there

            Online, you post videos...and they can stay forever. Your website costs almost nothing to keep listed and active. Once the upfront costs are paid, it's nearly free to keep promoting online.
            Great selling point right there, I like that.


            Originally Posted by midasman09 View Post

            Holy Camoly, young "Swords".....I've operated most of my life in "Small Towns" and I learned that....
            ...if a business has ONE competitor in a town.....and YOU tell one of these business owners that THEY...will have an EXCLUSIVE" for this program....yikes! You can count to 3....before he whips out his checkbook and asks my favorite prospect comments...."WHo do I make my check to?"

            Gee willickers young man....I "hit" 4 small towns in Oregon when I arrived in the best "retirement spot" in the country....Roseburg, Oregon.

            Well.....talk about "small" towns....Roseburg is still only about 20,000 AND....
            ...Winston, OR.....7,000
            ...Myrtle Creek.....3,000
            ....Sutherlin.............6,000
            ....Oakland, OR........4,000

            YOU kidding ME? I've made a darn-good living in small-towns and I learned early on in my Sales Career......

            .....all you need is TWO businesses in an area and ONE will join your program provided you promise he gets an EXCLUSIVE!

            Holy Camoly young man.....I just finished getting 12 businesses to pay me $497 each.....to be on a Pizza Flyer in a town of 6,000.

            It's called "GREED"! Or...."ENVY"!

            Remember those 2 words...wherever you choose to sell your program.

            Don Alm......sales guy
            I did actually stumble across this selling point in my first (and only) sales encounter two days ago. I didn't quite mention exclusivity, but I made aware to him that his competitor was heavily optimized on Google, had a website, and a Facebook page. That didn't set well with him, but it still didn't cause much action from him unfortunately. I'll give your advice a shot, thanks!
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            • Profile picture of the author midasman09
              Banned
              Hey SWORD.....whether YOU know it or not.....your Prospect KNOWS...WHAT his main competitors are doing and.....all you have to do is "remind them" that YOU know...that THEY KNOW!

              THEN......you show your prospect how.....little ol' you.....can "BLOW" competition....OUT OF THE BOX!

              Holy Camoly.....I just collected a WHOLE BAG OF CASH from an "Independent" Pizza restaurant (in a town of 6,000 with THREE (3) other pizza joints in town.

              WHY.....because I showed him how I could get FIVE TIMES the Delivery Orders he was getting!

              So....last week I ALSO got an "Auto Repair" biz to give little ol' ME .... $500/mo...forever!

              NOW...it's UP TO YOU.....to figure out a way to collect cash from small town biz!

              Don Alm......still working on "Greed-Glands" to put money in my pockets
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              • Profile picture of the author swords
                Originally Posted by midasman09 View Post

                Hey SWORD.....whether YOU know it or not.....your Prospect KNOWS...WHAT his main competitors are doing and.....all you have to do is "remind them" that YOU know...that THEY KNOW!

                THEN......you show your prospect how.....little ol' you.....can "BLOW" competition....OUT OF THE BOX!

                Holy Camoly.....I just collected a WHOLE BAG OF CASH from an "Independent" Pizza restaurant (in a town of 6,000 with THREE (3) other pizza joints in town.

                WHY.....because I showed him how I could get FIVE TIMES the Delivery Orders he was getting!

                So....last week I ALSO got an "Auto Repair" biz to give little ol' ME .... $500/mo...forever!

                NOW...it's UP TO YOU.....to figure out a way to collect cash from small town biz!

                Don Alm......still working on "Greed-Glands" to put money in my pockets
                HOW?!

                If it's as small of a town as the one I'm talking about there is NO search volume proof to tell the business owner. Beforehand you had no idea how much extra orders you could get him.

                That's still my main question throughout this thread (even in spite of some of the best advice given here in this single thread!)... what words come out of your mouth to convince them that you CAN get them this extra traffic without any kind of proof up front?
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                • Profile picture of the author swords
                  Claude,

                  Just got done with your video -- wonderful stuff! Great information and a bit of a motivator. I guess my only comment would be regarding the theme of every question I've had -- ranking for all these terms for all sorts of listing types (videos, articles, website, Places, etc) is GREAT... but how do you know it will generate any traffic if Google Keyword Tool says it has no search volume? Then, however you determine you can generate traffic, how do you sell that explanation to your customer without concrete proof?

                  Also, what's this magical "editing" software you talked about to make the content unique? I've been around these forums doing online IM for 1-2 years and have kept quite up-to-date with the online aspect and never heard of anything like this. Surely you can't re-write 2000 articles -- that'd cost way too much time/money, and any software to rewrite turns the article to gibberish.
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                  • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
                    Originally Posted by swords View Post

                    . but how do you know it will generate any traffic if Google Keyword Tool says it has no search volume? Then, however you determine you can generate traffic, how do you sell that explanation to your customer without concrete proof?
                    Take your total market population.You want that number. And you want the population of the US. Now divide the big number into the smaller number, and you'll get a small fraction. Go to the Google keyword tool. Look up "Local searches" for the main keyword. Multiply that number by the small fractional number...and you'll get a pretty accurate number of monthly searches from your market area.

                    Burn this into your brain; It doesn't matter what the population of the town is. It matters what the population of the total market area is....for the most popular keyword in the niche. If you have larger cities within shopping distance of your target town, you have a large market area.And if search volume matters (again, I haven't had a client ever bring it up), it's the search volume from the entire market area...not the town the business is in.


                    Originally Posted by swords View Post

                    Also, what's this magical "editing" software you talked about to make the content unique? I've been around these forums doing online IM for 1-2 years and have kept quite up-to-date with the online aspect and never heard of anything like this. Surely you can't re-write 2000 articles -- that'd cost way too much time/money, and any software to rewrite turns the article to gibberish.
                    I use Magic Article Rewriter. I think it's $50. You rewrite each sentence. A 600 word article takes me about 20 minutes to write, and maybe 2 hours to rewrite. Each sentence gets 5 versions. I do this all myself.
                    The article still reads well. I wouldn't use any article spinner, because the articles are unreadable junk.

                    The only purpose to having a ton of rewritten articles, is that you can populate blogs, websites, and Youtube video descriptions with very similar, but not identical content. And amazingly, some of these articles show up in search results.
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                    • Profile picture of the author swords
                      Originally Posted by AndrewCavanagh View Post

                      You have so much to learn about selling cars.

                      The greatest car salesman in history had one huge
                      secret...he'd send cards to everyone who came in
                      contact with him.

                      Birthday cards, thank you cards, congratulations...he
                      had multiple employees whose only job was to fill out
                      and mail cards for him all day long.

                      Before he retired Joe Girard was sending 13,000 greeting
                      cards every month and selling 72 cars a month (that's
                      a lot of cars for one salesman who is not making fleet
                      sales...in fact his record for car sales has not been
                      broken to this day).


                      The point I'm making is that a huge key to making a lot
                      of high end sales is following up with contacts, clients
                      and prospects...just staying in touch in a positive way.

                      And email is a great way to do this...especially if the emails
                      are informative or entertaining or personal.

                      People buy from people they trust and they recommend
                      people they trust.

                      Kindest regards,
                      Andrew Cavanagh
                      I agree with everything you said there, and I hadn't really looked at it that way before. However, the problem that my inexperience keeps bringing into my head is - HOW do you propose this solution to the client?

                      "Hey Joe Carman, I'll sell you a $600/mo package that 'should' get you more car sales each month. I can't guarantee any specific amount, but you just need to trust me on what I do."

                      See where I'm getting this absurdity?

                      I have NO DOUBT that this technique works, but to guarantee any kind of number would be very risky business. You could offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, but you have no way of tracking if these leads have come from your work or not (I mean you COULD track some things, like give the mailed customer a coupon/discount code to use when they come in, etc, but they may not want to buy another car for a few months after receiving this mail and they'll come in then).

                      Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

                      Take your total market population.You want that number. And you want the population of the US. Now divide the big number into the smaller number, and you'll get a small fraction. Go to the Google keyword tool. Look up "Local searches" for the main keyword. Multiply that number by the small fractional number...and you'll get a pretty accurate number of monthly searches from your market area.

                      Burn this into your brain; It doesn't matter what the population of the town is. It matters what the population of the total market area is....for the most popular keyword in the niche. If you have larger cities within shopping distance of your target town, you have a large market area.And if search volume matters (again, I haven't had a client ever bring it up), it's the search volume from the entire market area...not the town the business is in.
                      This idea... is fantastic!

                      Correct me if I'm wrong, but let's say I'm doing restaurants. The total Google search volume for that one word is 9.9 million. The town I'm targeting as 3000 people. So the algorithm would look like so:

                      3000 / 316 mil * 9.9 mil = estimated search volume in this town?

                      That comes out to roughly 93 searches/mo for that keyword. I am a bit skeptical with that number though, but I suppose the algorithm makes sense?


                      This may be what I've been getting at all along:

                      "And if search volume matters (again, I haven't had a client ever bring it up)"

                      You're saying that you don't promote any kind of traffic statistics to your customers? I watched your video, and you didn't, so is that still true? They simply don't care you're ranking for no-search-volume keywords, but rather just like to see their website on the first page of Google?


                      And then:

                      "it's the search volume from the entire market area"

                      There is our capitol about 1.5 hours away from this town. It would be fairly hard to rank for "car dealership in [capitol]", but is this a keyword that you try to pursue for your clients? Or do you stick to the easy-to-rank keywords from the more local towns?



                      -----


                      Everyone so far -- this thread is GOLD. Not only for my sake, but the sheer amount of information that is being divulged here. All posters - know you're being appreciated by not only me, but everyone who reads this thread. Thank you once again!
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                      • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
                        Originally Posted by swords View Post

                        This idea... is fantastic!

                        Correct me if I'm wrong, but let's say I'm doing restaurants. The total Google search volume for that one word is 9.9 million. The town I'm targeting as 3000 people. So the algorithm would look like so:

                        3000 / 316 mil * 9.9 mil = estimated search volume in this town?

                        That comes out to roughly 93 searches/mo for that keyword. I am a bit skeptical with that number though, but I suppose the algorithm makes sense?
                        I think you got it. But you should use the population of the market area...not the town. Maybe a 20 mile radius. It will probably involve several small towns. In your example, you may end up with 300 searches a month...which is enough to sell from.

                        Originally Posted by swords View Post

                        This may be what I've been getting at all along:

                        "And if search volume matters (again, I haven't had a client ever bring it up)"

                        You're saying that you don't promote any kind of traffic statistics to your customers? I watched your video, and you didn't, so is that still true? They simply don't care you're ranking for no-search-volume keywords, but rather just like to see their website on the first page of Google?
                        I still don't mention search volume when I'm selling, but I have the figures if they ask (in one on one selling, not groups)

                        When I interview them, after they buy...I find out about their area, how many small towns I need to optimize for, populations, nearest large city, search volume. That's where I figure out the best course of action for me to make this work for them.



                        Originally Posted by swords View Post

                        And then:

                        "it's the search volume from the entire market area"

                        There is our capitol about 1.5 hours away from this town. It would be fairly hard to rank for "car dealership in [capitol]", but is this a keyword that you try to pursue for your clients? Or do you stick to the easy-to-rank keywords from the more local towns?
                        Both. I manage their expectations. I tell them that they will get great coverage in their town...and the smaller towns around them, and less exposure in the big city. but I know how to get Youtube videos to rank in huge cities (Like Chicago & Cleveland) for hard to rank keywords. So, even in the large city 30 miles away, they will get one page one Google listing, usually a video.

                        Or, if that's too difficult, I'll get them a few page one listings on more specific long tail keywords. For example, instead of "vacuum cleaners Dallas Texas", it might be "Lightweight vacuum cleaners Dallas Texas". Still high search volume, but not as hard to rank (if you know what you are doing)

                        But all of this work comes after they buy. keyword research and plotting out the towns to work on are things we discuss after they buy.


                        Originally Posted by swords View Post

                        "Hey Joe Carman, I'll sell you a $600/mo package that 'should' get you more car sales each month. I can't guarantee any specific amount, but you just need to trust me on what I do."
                        Of course, that's not what you would say.

                        There are several threads here that have all the dialog you would ever need to close these sales. Just do a little digging.
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                      • Originally Posted by swords View Post

                        I agree with everything you said there, and I hadn't really looked at it that way before. However, the problem that my inexperience keeps bringing into my head is - HOW do you propose this solution to the client?

                        "Hey Joe Carman, I'll sell you a $600/mo package that 'should' get you more car sales each month. I can't guarantee any specific amount, but you just need to trust me on what I do."

                        See where I'm getting this absurdity?

                        I have NO DOUBT that this technique works, but to guarantee any kind of number would be very risky business. You could offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, but you have no way of tracking if these leads have come from your work or not (I mean you COULD track some things, like give the mailed customer a coupon/discount code to use when they come in, etc, but they may not want to buy another car for a few months after receiving this mail and they'll come in then).
                        The radio, TV, and newspaper guys and girls are selling these dealers millions of dollars of advertising without any guarantee either. Lot of those campaigns don't work.

                        But lots do.

                        I think you'll benefit from just making sales calls. Make some sales and you'll see the results. Take on board the advice here from Claude, Andrew and others and make up some packages and go sell them. You have more than enough to get started.

                        Ask for orders. Get some things going. You'll learn what works for clients in your area by listening to them and adjusting as you go. Get thrown out. Come back again with a better idea.

                        Go get beat up. Laugh it off. It's fun. You're making things happen. Sales is a blast.

                        Heck, you'll make sales from people that just wanted to get going on the internet but didn't know how. Don't worry about making mistakes. Fix them and go again.

                        Search volume, smearch volume. They don't care. Sell them concepts. Who else is helping them in these markets? Mark Zuckerberg? Bill Gates? No, it's you. It's all on you. Make it happen.
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                        • Profile picture of the author swords
                          There are several threads here that have all the dialog you would ever need to close these sales. Just do a little digging.
                          And that's where I shall head, Claude. Thanks again for ALL the helpful information you have provided in this thread, and for taking time out of your day to give FREE advice. I only hope that other pursuing offliners find this thread someday and find all the great information it has in it.


                          Originally Posted by joe golfer View Post

                          The radio, TV, and newspaper guys and girls are selling these dealers millions of dollars of advertising without any guarantee either. Lot of those campaigns don't work.

                          But lots do.

                          I think you'll benefit from just making sales calls. Make some sales and you'll see the results. Take on board the advice here from Claude, Andrew and others and make up some packages and go sell them. You have more than enough to get started.

                          Ask for orders. Get some things going. You'll learn what works for clients in your area by listening to them and adjusting as you go. Get thrown out. Come back again with a better idea.

                          Go get beat up. Laugh it off. It's fun. You're making things happen. Sales is a blast.

                          Heck, you'll make sales from people that just wanted to get going on the internet but didn't know how. Don't worry about making mistakes. Fix them and go again.

                          Search volume, smearch volume. They don't care. Sell them concepts. Who else is helping them in these markets? Mark Zuckerberg? Bill Gates? No, it's you. It's all on you. Make it happen.
                          And this... this is a great conclusion to the thread. No better way to end it! You're right, there are *infinite* amount of businesses to get out there and sell to, so why waste time trying to perfect a process that isn't meant to be perfected. Sure, I could go read WSO after WSO, or forum thread after forum threads, but every person is different... it's not a step-by-step process like online IM is. Some clients may want this "professional, 'give me stats!', kind of presentation", whereas some may want to just talk to a trusting guy that has the attitude of genuinely wanting to help them instead of SELL them. Do the opposite and you won't make the sale -- SO MOVE ON is correct!


                          Thanks again everyone, this thread alone has been an amazing read. Hell, I'm sure someone will come in here and write a WSO about it sooner or later (isn't that what always happens to goldmines like these anyways?). Can't wait to tackle potential clients with this new arsenal of knowledge
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  • Signature
    Marketing is not a battle of products. It is a battle of perceptions.
    - Jack Trout
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    • Profile picture of the author swords
      Originally Posted by joe golfer View Post

      I did read that originally and couldn't figure out the Google Insights like they had said. I was still getting 0 results unfortunately :/.

      And although I do agree with them about Google localizing your searches, you still have no numbers of how many people search "restaurant" in your city.

      Glad you pointed that thread out though, I had forgot about it over these past few days with all the information overload.
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      • Originally Posted by swords View Post

        I did read that originally and couldn't figure out the Google Insights like they had said. I was still getting 0 results unfortunately :/.

        And although I do agree with them about Google localizing your searches, you still have no numbers of how many people search "restaurant" in your city.

        Glad you pointed that thread out though, I had forgot about it over these past few days with all the information overload.
        I understand. I think it comes down to if you want to be a pure SEO guy, super small markets just don't have decent numbers. But if you broaden your services to offer a total package like Claude and other cats here, you could dominate.

        For me, I'd take route number two. Seems like a lot more fun.
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    You have to look at the type of town and business.

    IS it a tourist town? If so how does that shop or restaurant get new visitors?
    If so, what is it known for regionally, nationally, or internationally?

    Or, are they a business that can sell product or, a travel experience, all over the world?

    Best strategy and services for the particular business is always what is needed.

    Google the business types you want to work with, the town name, and state and see what - if anything - you can do to get them more business.

    Get the owner or decision maker talking about their business until you know what - if anything - you can do for them.

    You have to understand their world before you can offer one, or several, of the many types of marketing or advertising services they need.

    Dan
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  • Profile picture of the author internetmarketer1
    This is definitely one of the best threads in the offline forum. I totally agree with what all the posts have given. Great thread
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  • Profile picture of the author jimmyjohns2345
    Wow this went back and forth for a while.
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  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    Just came across this thread, I think you have a goldmine here... most of us would love the opportunity to go back to a time before the internet was saturated and bring businesses online. You have no competition, they have no expectations. Easy close.
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    Ron Rule
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  • Profile picture of the author AidanShy
    Nice to go through this thread.
    You guys having good conversation there.
    It is one of some unique threads on this forum.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Lafuddy
    Claude, thanks for taking the time and going into such detail.
    You share a tremendous amount of information about yourself and
    your business on this forum. I appreciate it.

    You are right about the host at that event. He had the audience
    primed and ready for you, and that had to help. Even though
    your time was shortened.

    Have you done any webinars as a speaker/guest or will the experience
    be a new one for you?
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      Originally Posted by Ron Lafuddy View Post

      Claude, thanks for taking the time and going into such detail.
      You share a tremendous amount of information about yourself and
      your business on this forum. I appreciate it.

      You are right about the host at that event. He had the audience
      primed and ready for you, and that had to help. Even though
      your time was shortened.

      Have you done any webinars as a speaker/guest or will the experience
      be a new one for you?
      Ron; Never done a webinar. Not as a guest, or a host. I've been interviews many times as part of a sales presentation, and I've interviewed marketers to sell their products...

      But a scripted Power Points presentation to sell a four figure program? Not yet. I'm currently studying Frank Kern's two programs on Webinars..and putting my presentation together as a webinar (It's a little different from my stage presentation) and then I'll give it a few shots, and tweek it.

      Any ideas would be welcome. I'm a webinar virgin.
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  • Profile picture of the author shockwave
    You really only have two options:

    1. Sell them advertising (exposure) and charge them a nice chunk 'o change.
    2. Sell them leads (results) and charge them a nice chunk 'o change.

    In this situation, you're probably better off selling them exposure - otherwise you are going to have to charge a lot of money per lead...and they probably won't go for it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Elizamack
    Hi all Here I am new please guide how I go ahead.Thanks
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