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Business wants to hire me for offline work. ACK! What do I do next?

by BillyBee
7 replies
Selling info products is normally my business, but yesterday at the dog park I struck up a conversation with a private investigator who is looking to get more clients through internet marketing.

When he could tell I knew what I was talking about, he practically whipped out a checkbook and offered to write me a check.

Typical story of a local businessman: he has no website, has no clue about internet marketing other than he knows that spending $1,300 per month for his Yellow Pages ad is NOT working for him.

My strengths are copywriting and strategy, but I need help with design execution and some tech stuff.

My plan at this point is to meet with him and ask him a lot of questions, such as:

- What kind of clients are you looking for?
- Where do your clients come from? (He gets lots of them from attorneys right now)
- What keywords should I target? (I suppose I can research that, too.)
- What is your USP?

Any suggestions on how I proceed next? Thanks for your help.
#ack #business #hire #offline #work
  • Profile picture of the author pcpupil
    I think you just answered all or most of the questions to ask him.
    I would give him a call,set up a time to meet with him.
    Set up a simple WP blog,but set it up as a static site.
    This way you dont allow coments,post,ect..
    Basiclly just use it as a landing page,with his personal contact info.
    A description of his services,what he is capable and best at to helping out people,ect...
    Do you have any keyword tools?
    I could help you with some keyword reasearch.
    Im in the process of building a site for a lady for her dogs.
    You can see it here.This is not an affiliate site.
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    I can help relieve your work load.Pm me
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    • Profile picture of the author BillyBee
      Originally Posted by pcpupil View Post

      I think you just answered all or most of the questions to ask him.
      I would give him a call,set up a time to meet with him.
      Set up a simple WP blog,but set it up as a static site.
      This way you dont allow coments,post,ect..
      Basiclly just use it as a landing page,with his personal contact info.
      A description of his services,what he is capable and best at to helping out people,ect...
      Do you have any keyword tools?
      I could help you with some keyword reasearch.
      Im in the process of building a site for a lady for her dogs.
      You can see it here.This is not an affiliate site.
      Pcpupil, that's a great looking website. Nice job on that.

      Does WordPress make it easy to make the site SEO friendly?

      Also, was it difficult to give your WP site that template? I've heard varying responses on whether WordPress is easy to use or not. I'm not a newbie, but I'm not an advanced web designer either.
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  • Profile picture of the author johnknow
    It sounds like your client just needs a presence on the internet at this point.
    Little more, at this point, than a well built, professional website with the obvious: who I am, this is my experience, these are my services, possibly pricing.

    Once you've established "his" presence, services and such, THEN deal with his direct competition, meaning, what do they offer, how do they present themselves, how do they "target" their "market".

    Who are you competing against? Heck, is there even competition? From looking, local private investigator seems to be the key phrase to start with and expand as necessary from there. You can probably have him first page on google in 2 days with your skills.

    That being said I'd outsource the site building, host it on my own servers, and then treat it as any other marketing "product" job.

    Really it sounds like quite an interesting project; let us know how it goes.
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    • Profile picture of the author BillyBee
      Originally Posted by johnknow View Post

      It sounds like your client just needs a presence on the internet at this point.
      Little more, at this point, than a well built, professional website with the obvious: who I am, this is my experience, these are my services, possibly pricing.

      Once you've established "his" presence, services and such, THEN deal with his direct competition, meaning, what do they offer, how do they present themselves, how do they "target" their "market".

      Who are you competing against? Heck, is there even competition? From looking, local private investigator seems to be the key phrase to start with and expand as necessary from there. You can probably have him first page on google in 2 days with your skills.

      That being said I'd outsource the site building, host it on my own servers, and then treat it as any other marketing "product" job.

      Really it sounds like quite an interesting project; let us know how it goes.
      That's great advice, John, thanks.

      Do you have anyone you recommend for outsourcing the site building? If so, please let me know. Thanks.
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      • Profile picture of the author johnknow
        I believe there are several warriors that specialize in site building but I don't have any particular reccomendation. Oh, and see if his name domain is available of course and go get it; hehe.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andrew Leatherland
    I think its also improtant to ask this client where he wants to get to in terms of what he wants his business to achieve? In addition I'd try and get a clear understanding of what he wants from his website.

    In my previous 9-5 we used to build markewting databases etc and you would be amazed at what they somehow believed they were getting. Sorting this out up front and making sure he understands what it won't do as well as what it will do will prevent you losing time and money resolving avoidable arguements.

    Also spend some time understanding which market he wants more of and which he doesn't. Again it will help you focus the direction of your research and the ideas you present to him.
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    Be a business - wherever you are http://nomadentrepreneur.blogspot.co.uk/

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  • Profile picture of the author Scott Voss
    So BillyBee,
    Do you have any update on how this went with the P.I.?

    I would love to hear.

    -Scott Voss

    Originally Posted by BillyBee View Post

    Selling info products is normally my business, but yesterday at the dog park I struck up a conversation with a private investigator who is looking to get more clients through internet marketing.

    When he could tell I knew what I was talking about, he practically whipped out a checkbook and offered to write me a check.

    Typical story of a local businessman: he has no website, has no clue about internet marketing other than he knows that spending $1,300 per month for his Yellow Pages ad is NOT working for him.

    My strengths are copywriting and strategy, but I need help with design execution and some tech stuff.

    My plan at this point is to meet with him and ask him a lot of questions, such as:

    - What kind of clients are you looking for?
    - Where do your clients come from? (He gets lots of them from attorneys right now)
    - What keywords should I target? (I suppose I can research that, too.)
    - What is your USP?

    Any suggestions on how I proceed next? Thanks for your help.
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    WSO: Find Low Competition Markets for Your Offline Marketing Services [$7]
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