What do you guys think of Social Media & IM for local biz and getting local biz on google

As long as you know what you're doing; meaning being able to actually stand behind what you're offering local businesses 200%; then yes local business marketing can be very lucrative.

Internet Marketing on a whole is quickly becoming a specialty service; much like an auto mechanic. The time to start and grow such a service is definitely now.

Yet, since the concept is so popular right now... your best bet (IMHO) is to find and cultivate a hook for your business in order to stand out in the crowd. Local business marketing for the Internet is not new; people have been selling services like this for the past decade.

Don't let that scare you, though; (if you know what you're doing).

HTH
PLP,
tecHead

Local business marketing is about getting your customer all over the net in the local area normally.

Google is a small part the equation. Directories, google places and things like that work very well.

Q

Interesting discussion, striking out into the "Off Line" Revolution, (if you read some of these ebooks about how you too can get Rich" Selling services in little known backwater USA,

Sorry, The " Real " Truth about off line marketing is that you have to be able to do many different things all at the same, time, the first and most important thing is to do the research.

I know it is easy to think that because most small business do not have a website that you can "talk" your way into their hearts, but to be honest, you will be just one more guy or girl, that has tried the same thing, they have heard it all before.

You have to actually do the research, just take one day and go out and just talk to a few business people about websites, and actually listen to what they tell you.

Don't try to convince them to buy services, just listen, find out as much as you can about what they face as a problem in their business.

One of the first things you will notice is that there are not as many small business people actually doing business.

I know this might seem daunting, but it is the truth, go out and see how many for sale signs there are out there how many for lease signs you see.

The market if flooded with closed business locations.

I am for one glad I did not buy into one of these 197 dollar courses promising off line gold mines, or off line riches, because let me tell you it is not as easy as they promise.

Notice I am not saying it is impossible, I am just saying that if you want to do this you had better know what you are talking about because every body and their brother, with a computer, has done this for like the last 5 years, and often the thing you will hear from most business people is that

"hey we built it and guess what they did not come"

Many of them have been victimized by con artists, who charged, 75 bucks a month for a 2 dollar hosting account, they charged, them 1500 bucks for a 4.95 template.

Later, the business owner found out what had been done and they are jaded like you would not believe, and you know what else,

I dont blame them for being mad, people went out and told any story they could, you will get rich, you will be wealthy, just pay this money and you will have so much business you will have to hire many people to help you,

You are getting very sleepy...

Crazy right, but it is true, so it is not the market that these ebooks,
(probably created by someone that never knocked on a door in their lives)

Say that it is, it is not easy, and it is not going to make you rich, the very real fact is that off line business is called a sales job and it is one of the hardest jobs you will ever do.

I sold vacuum cleaners, back in the early eighties, cold calling and knocking on doors.

Now if you can do that, you can do anything, including swinging from trees in the middle of the night.

I am telling you all this so that, perhaps it will save you some time, and also so that you will not get discouraged when the off line gold does not fill up your bank account like the ebooks promise.

Off line marketing is possible, but you have to really have a real product that is something they can touch and feel and you need to be able to back up that promise.

If you tell someone that you can deliver something to them you better @#$%@# well be able to do it, Dont go around in your neighbor hood, and promise to make people rich and then fail to deliver, because they will talk about you.

Just a few thought from a veteran in " Off Lines Sales and marketing "

You can make a good business out of that but will need to get the your feet on the street if you want a run up start. Networking with your local business community and speaking directly to local business owners is the quickest ways of getting up and running for sure. Don't forget you can even outsource virtually everything. Don't be affraid to simply ask a potential customer if has a website and if not then go will all the USP's of why it can help his business and put money in the cash register.

Very best wishes to you,

Kieron

Emm ok again thanks for the points guys, Look the thing is i was drawn in because i know how to build backlinks, seo a page ect ect i have never hit the 1# spot ever but had plenty of 2# spots and top 5 and 10 spots in highly searched keywords.

Now i got the idea that these `local` business had no idea how to get their web site on the first page and this was the big selling `plus` that i had is this not right ?? See i live in a small town in the UK and if i type in `plumber Chesterfield`and check out the results i could get any website the 1# spot easy 1 week max ! and i thought this is what these courses that are coming into my inbox are all about ?? Also showing my how to use google local search ect ect..

So to sum it up i thought all these new courses coming into me inbox where...

To help me build a business where i build maybe a small 1 page website (or take the business owners website that he/she already has) quickly index it and get in showing in as may places on the web as possible using seo, social media, google local serach, and other tips and tricks these courses would show me, Charge the business owner a small fee for the work up front and then a small monthly fee for the hosting and keeping the site visable to customers.

And the reason the business owner will pay me this money is because... He/She has absolutly no idea how to get his website see by customers but i DO !!

Marketing to offline business is so HOT right now in my opinion. At least here in San Diego, I have been doing it since April 2008 and it works very well. It is a business though, you need business license, biz cards and be somewhat of a sales person to be able to sell a Internet Marketing package of $1,000 to $5,000 per month to a business owner. They will normally do their due diligence and look at your online resume and may even want to speak to some of your past clients.
If you are new, start small, work for free for a client the first few months, do a good job for them and then you will start to build list of clients.

I've just started going off line for work and find it a little difficult to get people on board and find my own clients. I am looking forward to finding more though. Are there any good guides on it?

Mary

I really don't know why so many people limit themselves to doing SEO, there are far more options.

There are also a lot of for sale signs as Tim mentions. A lot of people seem to stick to one area and one niche, and grind it into the ground. That isn't any good either. Your region, niche and preferred service should be a precision operation...

I'll be honest, I know there is call for social media managers, but i see this as a seperate subject from offline marketing for the most part.

Most mom 'n' pop businesses just don't need that sort of thing do they?

I have a client who counts Airbus, Asus and a few other big boys as his clients.

He does business to business. A lot of people seem to go for business to consumer.

Start going for b2b and you will find a whole lot higher margins in a lot of cases and room to breathe.

Local business is important for product sites. And social media is the good source to get traffic and high sales.

Jim, what are you waiting for? Start talking

You should do the SEO, you're good at it, it seems.

Learn a bit about google local listings (the map that shows up when you search for a town?)

I personally know crap about it, but can be very helpful to them....

If you don't know much social media, maybe you should, it could benefit you in so many other ways..

Don't forget to also drive some traffic to their site with some other traffic methods (a vid or so) to get them going a bit...

And yeah, don't charge them a kings ransom, that would make you the good guy .

Offer them a 60 day or so money back guarantee, and say like 50% now and 50% when you see some traffic.... or whatever (get on their good side)

You can also offer extra services for a little extra fee (like making a vid or something) (maybe posting on forums and craigslist...)

Anyways, just thinking hehe, go ahead and start talking to your local business owners, and like that one guy said, LISTEN FIRST and THEN TALK about how being online can be beneficial (DON'T SELL THEM) just talk.... about THEIR BENEFITS, EVERYONE loves it when YOU talk about THEM and JUST THEM....

Hope this gave u some inspiration or something hehe.... (btw charging a small fee to get them up will get you some good reputation)

Have a good one,

David


@darklock

yo.... calm down bro, I am very sure he wasn't meaning anything bad, he may have seemed to say they were stupid, he is just saying they are "ignorant" (not on their own will) as to SEO and websites.....

So he can help them.... and he's not gona charge them a buttload of cash like many people do.... He's trying to legitely help, so calm down buddy...

Your usually helpful and nice, wats up bro?

Your very welcome, and glad you enjoyed it hehe (but seriously... start talking :p )

Have a good one

David

I think you could hit this from at least two angles, both of which the local mom and pop type store don't have the time or inclination to do/learn.

That is: 1. SEO, on and off page. You know SEO so just do it for them. Use their "money words" to get them to page 1, things like "Cleveland chiropractor." And optimize their money pages too. In many cases, you won't have to do much. A few backlinks, some revisions to their site, and maybe some of #2 (below).

2. Manage their social media networks, profiles, communications, etc. There is a new course out by Ryan Deiss called Let's Get Social (google it) that is very good.

Blend the 2 models together to give them a "one stop shop" for the "now that I have a website, now what?" phase.

Remember, "If you build it, they will come" but only if they know about it and give a sh%& about the subject! :p

I couldn't take time to read all of the great posts, but here's my two cents. I really believe this is the future of marketing. Check out the Socialnomics videos on YouTube if you haven't seen them. Besides they have great music in addition to the incredible statistics they cover.

Anyway, I just purchased and listened to a program called Let's Get Social. It's for beginners and does a nice job of covering a lot of territory. If you're interested in local business marketing and in social media, this is the course for you. Google it.