yes. it's the process I use, and I used it as recently as yesterday. step #11 is very important, and very effective. The customer I talked to yesterday at first wanted to look everything over and decide. I told him no problem. He then asked if anyone else had called or emailed me. I told him yes, and that I'm calling folks back in the order that they initially contacted me, I had 4 more folks to call, and the first person to send money will secure the calls.

Within 30 seconds he went from "let me look it over" to "yes, let's do this, how do I get payment to you".

Yep. Exactly. I've had more success building the call volume up first before contacting any businesses. It's a lot easier to sell "Hey, I've got 50 calls a month coming in for XYZ service, do you want them?", because you're essentially selling money in the sense of "send me $350, and I'll send you $2,000 in business."

I've been successful with this process in 12 different areas of the U.S.

1 has not been successful, even though it's generating 60-70 calls/month. For whatever reason, the folks in this city balk at me. ha ha

And that city is Louisville, Kentucky.

EDIT: I do not sell per lead. I charge a flat monthly fee using a sliding scale based on call volume. The reason I moved from pay per lead to flat monthly is because I was unable to keep up with the call volume & listening to every call. I do leave money on the table by doing this, but it is so much more simple than attempting to keep up with 300-500 calls per month (total across all my clients)

EDIT #2: For Billing, I use automatic payments via check printing software. The client fills out an auto-draft authorization form, and each month I print the checks, and go to the bank.

Haha, yeah, SEO info is found all over this forum, so if a person isn't good at SEO or at least doesn't know the basics, then they're SOL unless they run PPC campaigns, which I do not.

SEO process is pretty simple:

1) Optimize Onsite SEO
2) Build links through PBN, Article Distribution
3) Build social signals via facebook, twitter, social bookmarks.
4) Build as many pages as possible that target several long tail kws each.

That's really all there is to it as far as the build out. I target every long tail I can find, because that's where the money is. I don't even concern myself for the broad kws, and don't care if I rank for kws like "Niche CITY".

Conversion Optimization is simple and plain integrating a mobile version with a click to call button.

I learned most of my SEO knowledge from 'ole StomperNet (remember those guys? lol), and it still works today as far as onsite optimization goes.

I could be wrong, but it seems most folks' problem is the process of making the actual sale, which is really what the thread was about.

Since I haven't been around in a while, I'm not sure how many folks out there attempting lead gen are having difficulties generating legit leads.

But I will say that when I shifted from focusing on broad local kws to focusing on as many long tail local kws as I could is when I turned the corner with generating leads & closing clients. In all honesty, I doubt many competitors even know I exist, because I mainly only show up for long tails.

I mainly have issues with over performing, and in this case I attribute it to the cost of doing business, and do not request additional money for that month. Say the client is on the 50 call/mo fee, and this month the call volume jumps to 70-90 calls, which vaults them up 1-2 pay levels.

I have everything set up to be advantageous to the client. So in this case, the client would not be immediately bumped in case the increased call volume is a fluke. What I do is keep them at the same pay level, and monitor the call volume more closely in the 2nd month, if the volume maintains the higher performance, then the client is bumped into the appropriate fee level.

Same policy is in effect if a site under performs, they stay at the same pay level, and the volume is monitored the next month, if the volume is still lower than normal, then the client is bumped down a pay level until I get the volume back up.

Using this policy over time, I've found everything evens out. And, like I said, I mainly have had to deal with sites over performing the pay level, and it is taken care of by using this policy. I'm okay with eating the cost for a month or 2, because it will keep the client happy and earn their trust in knowing that I'm being as fair as possible.

I don't necessarily find the best long tails, what I do is try to target them all, or at least as many as I possibly can.

Nice work. And that question based subject line is killer. Man, I wish when I started out it was learning this model and sticking with it only.

Perfectly suited to one man band warrior type businesses and consultants.

How many emails did you send to get those replies?

With this model, do you start paying for leads ahead of finding a client? If so, how expensive does it actually get for you before you start getting paid?

Great stuff. Can you possibly shed any light on the niches you are finding are profitable for you?

Thanks.

Defacto, I totally understand, however I can't show a demo site. I learned that the hard way. You IM'ers are just too damn sneaky.

SEO is basic, honestly. From what I learned through another member here is that there are lead gen guys out there uncovering lead gen sites and their linking strategy, then they sabotage the sites & any linking network they use. With that said, I'm sure you understand why I'm extremely hesitant about even showing a site that isn't making money.

Pro Tip: SEO for long tail, and don't worry so much about broad local kws.

Hey Defacto

Can i pick your brain with something?

1. You mentioned in the above post that you rank google maps pages. If you were to target a local niche that was nowhere near you, how would you create a business listing for it? What address do you use - i thought google usually sends a postcard to the address you list for verification purposes?

2. Can you explain how you rank google map pages? Do you only build citations or are there other methods involved too?

Thank you in advance

My very first lead gen site was ranking and generating leads within a month. It took 5-6 months to find a long term client for it. During those 5-6 months, I went through more than a handful of clients, though I can't recall how quickly I had the first client, because it was back in 2012/2013. This turned out to be not the best of niches.

Other niches are similar in ranking and generating leads. The 2nd niche I entered generated its first lead within a few days to a week (can't recall, again, because it was back in 2013), and I began selling the leads a week later via PPL. When the volume went crazy is when I began having headaches, and switched to the rent/lease model.

In general, though, I'm able to generate leads within the first month. Sometimes sooner, sometimes not. But it's a far cry from the 5-8 month turn around time most guru's preach.

Currently, I have one theme that's slightly customized for each build out regardless of the niche.

Exactly Underground, because we are marketers and not SEO experts. Marketers usually want to move quickly with as little hassle as possible. If we spent $10 on PPC and got paid $20 for the lead, that's a 100% ROI. Not saying you shouldn't do good On-Page SEO plus a few back links, but that alone, in my experience, is going to take a long time to get a website ranked, let alone keep the ranking.
Like I said, we are marketers, not SEO experts, and we don't have time to waste.

I think this is a very valid question... I would look at the answer to being more financial in nature. You are developing a site to produce leads. In general with this model, the site development is taking place before there is a client. no client, no cash flow. SEO then becomes very appealing. Present time spent, for the possibility of future gain.

The other side of this discussion gets into the financial reward on the other side. PPC does not provide exponential growth. I will back step that statement a moment and say that it will and does to a point, but there is a peak in its potential. There is that pinnacle that shoving more money does not yield more return.

This is the scenario that the advantage of SEO takes over. SEO is not a short sided 1 keyword play. SEO is the development of lists of terms both the ones you are targeting and the ones that by happenstance you stumble over and assert effort towards.

The literal catch in the whole thing is the actual method to deciding terms to target PPC or SEO and the use of say the adwords tool and you might as well be shooting in the dark. I can not tell you how many times I have run across keyword terms that were "Hidden" or not of interest in terms of the tools used to identify potential traffic and financial gain from terms.

The reality is there is no "Tool" that will identify these terms, prior to traffic. IF you are only following a PPC campaign, the methods that can be utilized in Webmaster tools and the like to identify other potential terms ( and developing exponential growth not only in traffic but end results IE Leads or sales or what have you ) will simply not be there.

SEO with proper monitoring allows for this growth to happen.

I look at traffic development in much the same way I look at financial investment . Why would you place all of your funds into one avenue of traffic development? diversification... be it the platforms you are using a PPC model and also integrating a SEO methodology at the same time, it can only lead to long term financial gain on your part.

Done properly, SEO will provide leads long after you've stopped paying.
Plus you get additional targeted traffic from sources other than SERPs (via links that are built).

This makes sense.This is your forte. The question is, "Can you get the customers who are willing to pay you for this service by the same methods" ? Please tell us how that is accomplished.

It would certainly help.

I'm not sure how this thread got derailed into being an SEO vs. PPC argument as to which is the best model for lead gen. You could certainly go to the OP, and replace "Seo the hell out of it" with "Set up PPC, and optimize it to the best of your ability", and nothing else in the post would be different except maybe running a 3-7 day PPC test to see how many leads can be generated before going full bore in scaling. But it is what it is I guess.

I use mostly email now but am slowly transitioning to PPC for my own lead generation. It's easier for me to get leads for bamboo flooring (for example) than it is for marketing consultant or advertising agency unless I want to spend a fortune. My client pays for the bamboo flooring PPC costs but I have to foot the bill for my own PPC. And email is so cheap and effective it is hard to resist while I am building my business up.

It's not always possible, different industries react to different forms of traffic generation.

For example I can generate leads for businesses, simply by sending cold facebook ads traffic to a landing page and then retargeting them on multiple platforms.

However to generate leads for myself I send cold facebook ads traffic to content, sort of like a freemium model.

So I send them to bog post titled something like "how to generate leads for your small business", the idea is that they see the effort and expertise that goes into it and take up a "hey, let me do it for you" type offer.

I then use retargeting and email indoctrination to sell them a small trust building foot in the door service, for example: set up an adwords express account for £25.

Then upsell those people who buy to management services (for a couple of hundred a month) or complete funnel creation and management (for a couple of thousand a month).

The key is knowing your audience, doing your research on them and developing and testing a funnel that will work for them (or yourself).

I recently wrote a guest post on the more simplistic lead gen systems I use for Matthew Woodward, you can see it HERE if interested.

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No problem:

1. What do you mean by "I shifted from focusing on broad local kws to focusing on as many long tail local kws as I could"? Can you give an example?

Broad Local Keyword: Dentist City
Long Tail: Dentist Office Near Me City, Where to get my teeth cleaned CITY

2. Defacto apparently uses an email subject line "Can we send you some more leads?" and gets a 7% open rate. Do you use something similar and what is your % open rate?

Something similar, yes.

The last 5 emails were sent out with the following open rate:

1. 61.1%
2. 45.5%
3. 30.7%
4. 40.1%
5. 29.4%

The stats above are for 5 different cities - 1 email to a list of businesses for each city.

It's worth noting that I studied copy writing for 7 years, so these may not be the average open rates that most folks produce.


3. Where are calls directed to initially before you have a client set up?

Generally they aren't directed anywhere at first, and the system simply hangs up on the caller. However, if the volume is sufficient, I may pick a business, route the calls to them without them knowing, then follow up with them after a few calls. In this case I use a whisper, so that they realize who they're talking to when I call.

It also helps if you just send the calls to a random business. Since the calls are recorded, you'll have something for the prospect to listen to in order to gauge the quality of the calls. Just set them up with a throw away login to your call tracking dashboard for them to use. **Check your state laws with regards to call recording, specifically how many people on the call need to be aware the call is being recorded. In some states it's 1. In others it's 2. Set the whisper accordingly.

4. Do you use the whisper feature so clients know that the lead/call came through you?


Once I'm working with someone, I give them the option. Only one of my clients opt to have the whisper on.

Hope that helps.

You're welcome. Glad it could help you.

I use EZ Check Printing software. Do a google search for it. I believe it was around $40 if you bought it outright, however I found a promo where you could get it free with a purchase of a new domain from a new godaddy acct. So I created a new godaddy account through the EZC promo link, purchased a new domain with the new acct, and the software was emailed to me.

Here are 3 threads that discuss printing checks for payment:

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...ver-phone.html

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...s-clients.html

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...signature.html

Those 3 threads should answer all your questions about how to set it up. If you have a question that isn't covered in those threads, just let me know. It's pretty simple, though.

One thing I'm not sure is covered in those threads with a definitive answer is the Print Ink. You do not need to purchase a magnetic ink printer. Any regular printer will work now days, because the majority of banks have updated their check processing equipment. Once it makes it past your bank, it will clear the Fed Clearinghouse no problem.

Funny, I now use this program to print my own personal checks rather than buying them from the bank. So there's that, too.

I'll PM you about the email headlines.

T

Haven't been on in a while, and just saw this. I'll answer best I can.

1) None. Google Auto Suggest Tool. And I do it manually. Generally the method is type in a random keyword. When auto suggest pops up, I take down all the keywords, discard irrelevant keywords. Then I click enter to show the search results for the original search, scroll to the bottom and copy/paste all of the keywords in the "related searches" display. Discard irrelevant keywords, rinse repeat.

2) I don't have a preference really. If I can get a domain with the main keyword in it, then that's what I'll do. Otherwise, I'll use a related keyword.

3) Yes, a bit cheeky However, I will say it's nothing innovative - It's basically in the form of -

1) Here's what I got
2) Here's what it'll do for ya (more business)
3) Here's what to do if you're interested.

Classic Frank Kern sales copy in a conversation.

Hope that helps.

Yes, with every algo change, rankings may drop a little, only to come out stronger. Or they just get boosted w no drop.

Still very viable. Lots of folks don't know wtf they're doing, so makes it even easier hahahaha...

And still blown away by all the "why would someone use seo for lead gen" comments... lmao.

Folks just wanna argue I reckon.