Local Online Marketing E-book ... Paging Claude Whitacre - Questions

4 replies
Claude, I was really inspired by this book. I picked it up after seeing your comments in a thread here a couple of years ago.

I read in another thread here that you're no longer offering the 30 minute consultation you mentioned in the book and the link was dead. Therefore, I was hoping you would be kind enough to answer a few questions about the techniques described in the book so that everyone can benefit. Here goes...


I'm starting to actively promote my website development business. "Local Online Marketing" seems like an ideal fit with what I'm attempting.


To be clear, I'm not asking a meta question about selling the service of local online marketing. I mean that your book's technique seems to fit well with marketing my own local web design business.


I'm trying to determine if your technique has a high probability of creating business opportunities, or if I should focus my effort more on direct outbound marketing (cold calls, direct mail, etc.)


So here's the questions:


1) Will it work for website designers? Web design services absolutely GLUT search engines with their services. It makes sense - someone else pays them to stuff search engines, so they're good at it. I completely grok your concept of dominating local search. But I'm running across many web designers who appear in listings for MY area but are not local (IE, their landing pages lie.) I'm wondering if local online marketing in the area of web design runs into too much expertise from the competition to make it worthwhile. IE, I'm trying to compete with those who even dominate locally. Is this really the case? Or is the web biz really just like other businesses?


2) B2B vs B2C: website design is inherently B2B in most cases. Your book seems to focus exclusively on B2C sales. Any caveats in applying your methods in B2B?


3) What still works well? Do the methods you recommended in the book still seem to produce high local search standing? Especially Youtube videos and content farm (ezine) articles? (I have a strong personal bias against Ezine type sites but if they still work I'll hold my nose...)



And I had a few comments on your book.


I've seen some comments in threads here describing the effort to implement your method as very high. I just don't see it. Your method is so stripped-down, compared to almost all other online marketing advice, that at times I'm wondering if it's even for real. (but it certainly seems to produce results.)


Here's what I mean: If someone focuses on content marketing they're going to spend (or waste) a ton of effort on developing and posting articles. Nurturing a mailing list or a blog readership can be a lot of work. SEO and Adwords both take tremendous patience, a lot of study, and in the case of Adwords a lot of cash. And social media communities are a pain in the a** to promote, and to operate.


Your method requires almost no deep analysis nor preparation. Just taking action and being observant. I searched the book and you have not one mention of these topics:


landing page
Adwords
email list marketing
calls to action
copywriting
content marketing (altho the entire program is exactly that)
analytics (such as bounce rates)


Lastly, thanks for writing this book, Claude. I know it's your lead generation but it's also a public service. As a guy in another thread said, think of me when you buy off the dollar menu, I bought that for you, too.
#claude #ebook #local #marketing #online #paging #questions #whitacre
  • Profile picture of the author sdentrepreneur
    I have read parts of Claude's book very informative.

    IMO, Web Designers have their hands full, so much competition out there and all these template sites like Wix and Weebly have scooped up much of the smaller clients. Drag and Drop Baby!!!
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    • Profile picture of the author JoeStalin
      Originally Posted by sdentrepreneur View Post

      I have read parts of Claude's book very informative.

      IMO, Web Designers have their hands full, so much competition out there and all these template sites like Wix and Weebly have scooped up much of the smaller clients. Drag and Drop Baby!!!
      Claude's book is an entirely unconventional take on search engine placement.

      I agree that the low end is incredibly cluttered. That's why Claude's approach sounds good... it caters to information seekers. The people who stop dead at a Wix or a Squarespace and think it's all they need tend to be clueless.
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  • Profile picture of the author eccj
    You know it's a funny thing. Generally when people sell a type or marketing tool they don't use their tool to sell it.

    The guys selling radio ads are not selling their ads through the radio and neither are the TV guys through the TV. The same is true for the companies selling content marketing tools.

    If you can get on page one then do it. A blog might not be a bad idea either. BUT those would be used in your selling to show that you practice what you preach and not to depend on for sales.
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  • Profile picture of the author savidge4
    Originally Posted by JoeStalin View Post


    1) Will it work for website designers? Web design services absolutely GLUT search engines with their services. It makes sense - someone else pays them to stuff search engines, so they're good at it. I completely grok your concept of dominating local search. But I'm running across many web designers who appear in listings for MY area but are not local (IE, their landing pages lie.) I'm wondering if local online marketing in the area of web design runs into too much expertise from the competition to make it worthwhile. IE, I'm trying to compete with those who even dominate locally. Is this really the case? Or is the web biz really just like other businesses?



    By design Search engines such as Google provide results.. if there are not exact "Local" matches they will provide the next best thing. IF you are seeing National services or services from 3 towns over in your local listings then your market is primed for someone to go in and target that market

    Originally Posted by JoeStalin View Post



    2) B2B vs B2C: website design is inherently B2B in most cases. Your book seems to focus exclusively on B2C sales. Any caveats in applying your methods in B2B?

    My 2 cents here.. there is no such thing as B2B. ( metaphorically ) You call or set an appointment with a potential client, you are there to sell your product or service to a person.. a person that is going to "Consume" your product or service.

    In terms of content marketing... I thrive on just that. Producing content that people are looking for. it comes down to the more content you have, the wider your net becomes. As an example... can you define why someone would use WIX and not you? Can you define the services you provide that are not within the WIX framework?

    So why would someone use wix? #1 they only advertise late at night on TV... scientific fact that a persons ability to say "no" is weakest in the late evening to early am hours. #2 its easy.. I can do it in my PJ's. #3 the mentality of if I build it they will come. etc etc etc.

    So what do you provide that wix does not... Google business listing.. this is where you start to educate. what is it exactly? why do you need this? where do you get started? here is a tutorial on setting it up. Schema tags.. what are they? how do you use them? WHY do you use them? Here is an article on some common schema tag structure. etc etc etc

    Think about this for a second... and Claude discusses this often, the clearer you are with your process, by default the more complicated the whole process appears... The more complex, and the more knowledgeable you appear, people are going to hire you - its simply a given. It is a matter of finding the platform to do this. Claude uses books and Public speaking. I personally use a lot of 1 on 1 time with my clients. Without question you can use the wonderful tool we call the internet as your soap box as well.
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