Why I Am Focusing My Business 100% On Lead Generation

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WARNING - this is long but hopefully worth it...

I've been working with clients for a number of years by doing SEO and marketing for them amongst other things. While it's some good, reasonably easy money I've decided to focus on lead generation completely. To me it is a near perfect business.

This post is to perhaps shorten the learning curve of others just starting out or just starting to realize that maybe being an offline 'consultant' is not all that it is cracked up to be.

These are in ascending order of importance to me...

Lead Generation Is An Easy Sell

It's a heck of a lot easier to convince somebody to give you $30 for a real lead than it is to convince somebody to give you $1,500 per month (or whatever). Since they are only paying for results it's an easier sell. You don't need references or testimonials really. You just need to be able to confidently get your message out that you can drive new leads.

Lead Generation Let's You Build it how You Want To Build It

Ever had a client tell you that the white text on black background converts better? Or that a lead capture will never work in their industry?

Now you can make the site how you want to make it. You live and die by the sword. I like that.

Lead Generation Removes A Lot Of Pressure And Annoying Clients

One thing I hate about working with clients is their high expectations. They expect to get #1 rankings in 3 days even though I've told them what to expect. Heck - it might even be my own fault. Perhaps I've created false expectations when selling because I want the sale so bad. It's in my blood.

It doesn't matter what the reason is - I just don't want to do it any longer so I am not going to.

With lead generation there is no real pressure except the pressure you create on yourself. If you generate leads; you get paid. If you don't, you don't. You don't get calls every 2 days wondering 'what's going on'.

Lead Generation Proves Your Worth

It's great to land a big contract. I've certainly landed my share and they are nice for paying the bills but I always worry if the other party will see the worth. It's not to say that the worth isn't there - it's whether they realize it.

It's amazing how people will cut marketing that provides an ROI when times are tight simply because it looks like a big expense.

It's easy to prove your worth at $30 per lead or whatever (as long as you are sending good leads).

Lead Generation Sets You Up For Long Term Profits

If you are doing strictly SEO then often times clients will dump you when they begin ranking. I know, I know you can tell them that their sites will slide (and they will) but the erosion is often so slow that it might actually be to their advantage to do this.

After all, they get 100 emails a day offering SEO so if their site begins to slide do you think they will come back to you with their tail between their legs? Maybe but I don't like to bank my business on a maybe.

Lead Generation Is Fast

It's not too hard to get a new client, build a website and begin generating leads in the same week. I always start out with PPC because it shows results (and profits) quickly. It also helps me make sure the customer is not a flake before spending time/money on SEO. Use an Adwords coupon wisely to get started.

Lead Generation Provides A Great ROI

If you do your research right and approach the right client then you can make big money doing lead generation. You might start off spending $20 to acquire a lead and selling it for $30. But once the SEO kicks in and you get your PPC costs lowered by upping your quality score, split testing etc and you get traffic from other sources like Craigslist then you can get the $20 cost down to $5 or so (as an example).

So now you are making $25 per lead. 1 lead per day is $750 per month. 2 leads per day is $1,500 per month.

Lead Generation Provides Monthly Income

I don't think I need to explain why you need this and why lead generation accomplishes this.

Lead Generation Is Infinitely Scalable And Repeatable

Let's say you do lead generation for a catering company in L.A. You build a site that works, test and tweak everything to get to a profit of $40 per lead. Everybody is happy. Best of all you can virtually now copy this same campaign in San Francisco or wherever. Sure you are starting all over again with a new client but you can begin making more money all most immediately.

Lead Generation Puts You In Control

Don't like your client's voice on the phone? Fire him and get a new client in days. More likely the issue will be that you don't get paid on time or the client is a jerk. It's pretty easy to fire that client and get a new one when you can provide screenshots showing all of the leads you have generated in the past weeks/months.

Lead Generation Provides Near Passive Income (Once It's Build)

Once you get your site and PPC traffic tested and tweaked and your site SEO'd then the income is almost auto pilot. Sure you have to continue to backlink and monitor your PPC but you can outsource both easily. Once it's built all you really have to do is provide the tracking once per week and whack the credit card you have on file.

Lead Generation - Conclusion

Of course nothing is 100% dead simple but if you have any IM skills then you might agree that this type of thing is well worth setting up.

Any average trades client in a city of any size should be worth $1,500 or more to you each month (after a few months of SEO, tweaking etc). 10 clients = $15,000 per month without a great deal of work once everything has built.

You may not be in a postion to move your business 100% towards lead generation but if I were you I'd start sooner rather than later.

Lead Generation - FORGOT ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ONES!

I forgot to mention building your own business instead of somebody else's. If you want to sell your business (or pieces of your business) down the road then this is a much better model.
#100% #business #focusing #generation #lead
  • Profile picture of the author jonnyq888
    Good post. Have you already started building your lead generation sites? I've actually been debating about whether to go the service route (SEO, etc.) or the lead generation route.
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by jonnyq888 View Post

      Good post. Have you already started building your lead generation sites? I've actually been debating about whether to go the service route (SEO, etc.) or the lead generation route.
      Thanks. I have a bunch but 3 that I've really focused on and that work very well. I took a step back and realized that the 3 were making me much more per hour than dealing with clients regularly.
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  • Profile picture of the author easygoingdude
    I completely agree with your post and am working on lead generation now for local clients. I'm noticing that most local traffic (organic and paid) comes in the form of the following keywords:

    "dentist boston"
    "bathroom remodel boston"
    "plastic surgery boston"

    These people are not in the buying mode (people who search for "price of boston dentist" are but there are very few of these searches). In my opinion, most of them are just exploring their options for a service in a particular city.

    Any thoughts on how to convert this "browsing" traffic into leads?
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by easygoingdude View Post

      I completely agree with your post and am working on lead generation now for local clients. I'm noticing that most local traffic (organic and paid) comes in the form of the following keywords:

      "dentist boston"
      "bathroom remodel boston"
      "plastic surgery boston"

      These people are not in the buying mode (people who search for "price of boston dentist" are but there are very few of these searches).

      Any thoughts on how to convert this "browsing" traffic into leads?
      I disagree that someone coming to your site looking for 'dentist boston' is not in buying mode. I think your site (in this hypothetical example) is just not converting enough people. In this case I'd make the site look like a real dentists site and offer some kind of incentive to call. Maybe a free teeth cleaning for new patients who schedule a regular exam etc.

      You see most people only focus on traffic which can make you some money but focusing on conversions can skyrocket your earnings for the same traffic.
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      • Profile picture of the author easygoingdude
        By "real dentists site" would you mean a generic page or that of a specific dentist? I'd imagine a specific dentist. And I agree that conversions is everything, but it still helps to get traffic from obvious buying keywords. Keywords like "dentist boston" are still buying, just not as much as "dentist boston pricing".
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        • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
          Originally Posted by easygoingdude View Post

          By "real dentists site" would you mean a generic page or that of a specific dentist? I'd imagine a specific dentist. And I agree that conversions is everything, but it still helps to get traffic from obvious buying keywords. Keywords like "dentist boston" are still buying, just not as much as "dentist boston pricing".
          Yeah, I definitely don't ignore longer tail, more specific keywords...in fact I uploaded around 500 this morning for a local contractor to my PPC campaign. Many of them are more targeted and do convert better even though they get far less traffic.

          In this example I would actually make up a fake dentist that looks real. When I get a client I don't usually brand it for them for a couple of months to make sure they are not tire kickers. I don't focus on dentists though.
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  • Profile picture of the author easygoingdude
    Sounds good. However, wouldn't creating a page for a real business increase conversions? Because the real dentist could have an about me section, some reviews, head shot, and location. To make sure that you're not wasting your time, you could design the main elements of a website and if a client bails, just plug in new information for the about me section, reviews, and head shot.
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by easygoingdude View Post

      Sounds good. However, wouldn't creating a page for a real business increase conversions? Because the real dentist could have an about me section, some reviews, head shot, and location. To make sure that you're not wasting your time, you could design the main elements of a website and if a client bails, just plug in new information for the about me section, reviews, and head shot.
      You wouldn't know my sites are not real clients (well, you might figure it out but regular consumers don't know). All they know is they call and somebody answers the phone to help them.

      Many of my clients don't care if I change the site or not (keep in mind I don't do dentists or other professions that are concerned about branding their own name).
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      • Profile picture of the author easygoingdude
        Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

        I disagree that someone coming to your site looking for 'dentist boston' is not in buying mode. I think your site (in this hypothetical example) is just not converting enough people. In this case I'd make the site look like a real dentists site and offer some kind of incentive to call. Maybe a free teeth cleaning for new patients who schedule a regular exam etc.

        You see most people only focus on traffic which can make you some money but focusing on conversions can skyrocket your earnings for the same traffic.
        Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

        Yeah, I definitely don't ignore longer tail, more specific keywords...in fact I uploaded around 500 this morning for a local contractor to my PPC campaign. Many of them are more targeted and do convert better even though they get far less traffic.

        In this example I would actually make up a fake dentist that looks real. When I get a client I don't usually brand it for them for a couple of months to make sure they are not tire kickers. I don't focus on dentists though.
        Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

        You wouldn't know my sites are not real clients (well, you might figure it out but regular consumers don't know). All they know is they call and somebody answers the phone to help them.

        Many of my clients don't care if I change the site or not (keep in mind I don't do dentists or other professions that are concerned about branding their own name).
        Good idea. So, say someone wants top schedule an appointment, you then give this information over to your client? Right?
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        • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
          Originally Posted by easygoingdude View Post

          Good idea. So, say someone wants top schedule an appointment, you then give this information over to your client? Right?
          As soon as they sign my agreement then the phone number and email get redirected to them.

          Before this I usually just 'dead-end' the phone number. Anybody calling hears a fast busy signal or dead air but I still see it as a call. This way I don't take calls from angry consumers but I can still see how many calls we are getting.
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          • Profile picture of the author easygoingdude
            Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

            As soon as they sign my agreement then the phone number and email get redirected to them.

            Before this I usually just 'dead-end' the phone number. Anybody calling hears a fast busy signal or dead air but I still see it as a call. This way I don't take calls from angry consumers but I can still see how many calls we are getting.
            I wonder, is there a service which can record phone calls? I think Google Voice allows you to track how many times a phone call has been used. But if there was a service to record phone calls, you'd know exactly what type of leads (in phone calls) you are giving.
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            • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
              Originally Posted by easygoingdude View Post

              I wonder, is there a service which can record phone calls? I think Google Voice allows you to track how many times a phone call has been used. But if there was a service to record phone calls, you'd know exactly what type of leads (in phone calls) you are giving.
              I use CallFire to record. $1 per month and 5 cents per minute.
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              • Profile picture of the author easygoingdude
                Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

                I use CallFire to record. $1 per month and 5 cents per minute.
                Thanks for the tip!
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              • Profile picture of the author lockseo
                i love this thread just found it kind of helpful with my own seo project
                thank ty for the lead generation can explain people what i doing now
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            • Profile picture of the author xlfutur1
              Originally Posted by easygoingdude View Post

              I wonder, is there a service which can record phone calls? I think Google Voice allows you to track how many times a phone call has been used. But if there was a service to record phone calls, you'd know exactly what type of leads (in phone calls) you are giving.
              Just pick up a Twilio phone number for $1 per month, and have the recorded voice mails sent directly to your email. Once you start getting calls, then you could just forward the calls to the business that is paying you.
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              • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
                Originally Posted by xlfutur1 View Post

                Just pick up a Twilio phone number for $1 per month, and have the recorded voice mails sent directly to your email. Once you start getting calls, then you could just forward the calls to the business that is paying you.
                Twilio is good but I use Call Fire. It's the same price as Twilio but it records the conversation as well. This way my clients don't pay for wrong numbers etc.
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            • Profile picture of the author focusedlife
              Callfire.com does a great job for me. (Not an affiliate)
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  • Profile picture of the author jonnyq888
    Are you deciding on a market first and then finding the client to sell leads to or vise versa?
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by jonnyq888 View Post

      Are you deciding on a market first and then finding the client to sell leads to or vise versa?
      I find the clients first now but I've done it the other way too.
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      • Profile picture of the author jonnyq888
        Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

        I find the clients first now but I've done it the other way too.
        I'm guessing that you found that to be the most profitable way of doing it Any recommendations on how to find clients?
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        • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
          Originally Posted by jonnyq888 View Post

          I'm guessing that you found that to be the most profitable way of doing it Any recommendations on how to find clients?
          It's pretty disheartening to have a site generating leads and letting go to waste so yes, I like finding the client first. Since I start with PPC they only have to wait a few days to start getting leads.

          For clients...use LinkedIn. You usually can find owners and it's a low key sale.
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          • Profile picture of the author Bennette
            Hi Ty,

            Thanks for your post. Are the sites 1 page style with contact form and phone number?
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            • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
              Originally Posted by Bennette View Post

              Hi Ty,

              Thanks for your post. Are the sites 1 page style with contact form and phone number?
              No, those don't look real to me. They are typically 5 pages:

              home
              about us
              contact us
              services
              service area

              And maybe a blog if the area is competitive.

              It really doesn't take much longer and I feel the conversions are better (although I haven't tested this).
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              • Profile picture of the author Bennette
                Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

                No, those don't look real to me. They are typically 5 pages:

                home
                about us
                contact us
                services
                service area

                And maybe a blog if the area is competitive.

                It really doesn't take much longer and I feel the conversions are better (although I haven't tested this).
                I was experimenting with 1 page sites but so far the sites that you mentioned above were getting more leads for my clients, but I'm still testing. I know many people like 1 page sites and say they do well with them.
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                • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
                  Originally Posted by Bennette View Post

                  I was experimenting with 1 page sites but so far the sites that you mentioned above were getting more leads for my clients, but I'm still testing. I know many people like 1 page sites and say they do well with them.
                  I suppose it depends on the industry too -- I think these would work really well for insurance, mortgages and loans etc but I don't work in those industries.
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          • Profile picture of the author DaveC2
            Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

            It's pretty disheartening to have a site generating leads and letting go to waste so yes, I like finding the client first. Since I start with PPC they only have to wait a few days to start getting leads.

            For clients...use LinkedIn. You usually can find owners and it's a low key sale.
            This is a very informative thread and has given me lots of new ideas.
            In the case where you have built the site first but the leads are going 'nowhere', could you just route them to a real client anyway and then approach them later with the proof that it was you who sent the leads?

            I wouldn't expect them to pay you for the unsolicited leads but it might make selling the service easier if you can say you're the person who sent them 10 leads last month.
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            • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
              Originally Posted by DaveC2 View Post

              This is a very informative thread and has given me lots of new ideas.
              In the case where you have built the site first but the leads are going 'nowhere', could you just route them to a real client anyway and then approach them later with the proof that it was you who sent the leads?

              I wouldn't expect them to pay you for the unsolicited leads but it might make selling the service easier if you can say you're the person who sent them 10 leads last month.
              That's possible but then to me at least, if they know that if gives them reason to drag their feet (and get them for free for another week). And maybe then you realize they are a flake.

              In fact what I should do is put pay per call affiliate numbers on there and make money while still building proof.
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              • Profile picture of the author DaveC2
                Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

                That's possible but then to me at least, if they know that if gives them reason to drag their feet (and get them for free for another week). And maybe then you realize they are a flake.

                In fact what I should do is put pay per call affiliate numbers on there and make money while still building proof.


                Just out of interest, why would you choose this affiliate program in this case? At the moment I can't see why someone wanting a local contractor to do some work on their house (for example) would be interested in signing up for a pay per call service. However, I may have mis-understood what you mean.
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                • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
                  Originally Posted by DaveC2 View Post

                  Just out of interest, why would you choose this affiliate program in this case? At the moment I can't see why someone wanting a local contractor to do some work on their house (for example) would be interested in signing up for a pay per call service. However, I may have mis-understood what you mean.
                  I think you did misunderstand....

                  You can join affiliate programs with companies that provide leads to service providers. So the homeowner in your example would call a special pay per call number and get quotes on their project and you'd make a small commission.

                  HTH
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                  • Profile picture of the author midasman09
                    Banned
                    A few yrs ago....I knew 2 people who would set up their own phone in a business; One guy worked with Dentists and the other with Car Dealers.

                    The "Dentist" guy set up a Phone Extension in their regular Phone System. His deal was to send PostCards to "New Movers" (people who had recently moved into a new house or apartment or condo, etc)

                    The Card had photos of Before and After Teeth Whitening and the headline, "FREE Teeth Whitening! $300 Value! Phone for appt; 555-1234 x 123"

                    He charged each dentist $65 for each Call on THAT extension. The idea was to get people NEW to the neighborhood INTO the office where they could be introduced to this Dentist for additional work.

                    He simply got a record of how many times his extension rang.

                    Another guy did the same with Car Dealers. He'd advertise in Car Mags and get people to phone an extension for which he collected $15 each time that extension rang.

                    This was B4 the Internet and Skype, etc HOWEVER....I'm sure the same program could be set up nowadays.

                    Don Alm
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  • Profile picture of the author sdentrepreneur
    We sell Social Media packages to our clients, then upsell them to their own Lead Gen System. We manage it for them. Been working great for a few years now.
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by sdentrepreneur View Post

      We sell Social Media packages to our clients, then upsell them to their own Lead Gen System. We manage it for them. Been working great for a few years now.
      That sounds pretty cool - I just can't seem to get into social media. I know it is really good but just not for me. I guess I could outsource it though...
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  • Profile picture of the author ryanmckinney
    I am building a per lead model with SMS right now -

    But for the phone call, let's say from an SEO'ed site:

    Are you just buying a phone number, and show them - "Hey last week this phone number was called 10 times, you owe me this amount"

    I can see if someone entered into an auto responder, that seems easy enough.

    Just wondering how you track the phone call's portion?

    Ryan
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by ryanmckinney View Post

      I am building a per lead model with SMS right now -

      But for the phone call, let's say from an SEO'ed site:

      Are you just buying a phone number, and show them - "Hey last week this phone number was called 10 times, you owe me this amount"

      I can see if someone entered into an auto responder, that seems easy enough.

      Just wondering how you track the phone call's portion?

      Ryan
      I record the calls and listen to them. I bill the client for the legit leads and send the links for them to listen to as well.
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      • Profile picture of the author KaterSD
        Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

        I record the calls and listen to them. I bill the client for the legit leads and send the links for them to listen to as well.
        what service do you use to record the calls?. I use kall8, but im sure there are better less expensive ones.
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      • Profile picture of the author ryanmckinney
        Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

        I record the calls and listen to them. I bill the client for the legit leads and send the links for them to listen to as well.

        Make's sense, so the "legit" lead is someone who stays on the phone for any amount of time asking questions?
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        • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
          Originally Posted by ryanmckinney View Post

          Make's sense, so the "legit" lead is someone who stays on the phone for any amount of time asking questions?
          The legit lead is anyone looking for the service that the client offers - no wrong #s or people just calling to confirm appointment times etc.

          If the client can't convert the calls, that's their problem. Except it's our problem too because they won't think it's worth it. Obviously this is an opportunity in and of itself.
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          • Profile picture of the author Saito
            Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

            The legit lead is anyone looking for the service that the client offers - no wrong #s or people just calling to confirm appointment times etc.

            If the client can't convert the calls, that's their problem. Except it's our problem too because they won't think it's worth it. Obviously this is an opportunity in and of itself.
            If you can generate leads then they can be replaced with someone else. The money is in the leads, not the buyers.
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            • Profile picture of the author nomadic1
              Great thread Ty, exactly my New Years resolutions as well, stop building other peeps businesses and start building your own! Sub'd!
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        • Profile picture of the author easygoingdude
          Here's another idea, this may be brilliant (or not, ha ha)...

          Act as the "LendingTree" for high-end services in your area. Let's take Boston contractors for example. Create a site called bostoncontractorsquotes.com. On your site offer visitors 10 quotes from some of the best contractors in the area (according to reviews seen on Yelp!, Google Maps, etc.) if they fill out a simple form. This saves people time from having to contact all of them. You then contact 10 of those contractors and send those who filled out the form the 10 quotes.

          How to make money from this model?

          Offer sponsorship of the website.
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          • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
            Originally Posted by easygoingdude View Post

            Here's another idea, this may be brilliant (or not, ha ha)...

            Act as the "LendingTree" for high-end services in your area. Let's take Boston contractors for example. Create a site called bostoncontractorsquotes.com. On your site offer visitors 10 quotes from some of the best contractors in the area (according to reviews seen on Yelp!, Google Maps, etc.) if they fill out a simple form. This saves people time from having to contact all of them. You then contact 10 of those contractors and send those who filled out the form the 10 quotes.

            How to make money from this model?

            Offer sponsorship of the website.
            Good idea -- it's called Service Magic and people hate it. Good in theory but I find when I sell my leads exclusively I make far more money with far less headache.
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            • Profile picture of the author easygoingdude
              Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

              Good idea -- it's called Service Magic and people hate it. Good in theory but I find when I sell my leads exclusively I make far more money with far less headache.
              I know where you're coming from. However, my idea is more like what Progressive Insurance does and it would be for plastic surgery and other medical professions, not contractors.

              Progressive branding is all over the website and their getting quotes from other competitors is their way of saying "trust us". Also, the "quotes" especially from something like plastic surgeons, would probably not contain exact price quotes, but price ranges, payment plans, special procedures, level of experience, etc.
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              • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
                Originally Posted by easygoingdude View Post

                I know where you're coming from. However, my idea is more like what Progressive Insurance does and it would be for plastic surgery and other medical professions, not contractors.

                Progressive branding is all over the website and their getting quotes from other competitors is their way of saying "trust us".
                It might work fine...probably bigger money in it if it does.
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          • Profile picture of the author TimD
            Originally Posted by easygoingdude View Post

            Here's another idea, this may be brilliant (or not, ha ha)...

            Act as the "LendingTree" for high-end services in your area. Let's take Boston contractors for example. Create a site called bostoncontractorsquotes.com. On your site offer visitors 10 quotes from some of the best contractors in the area (according to reviews seen on Yelp!, Google Maps, etc.) if they fill out a simple form. This saves people time from having to contact all of them. You then contact 10 of those contractors and send those who filled out the form the 10 quotes.

            How to make money from this model?

            Offer sponsorship of the website.
            I think it was Steve Ianotti that was using this model. Give your name and contact and we'll put you in touch with three vendors in your area. He was doing it in NY and I believe made a good business of it. He sold software as a WSO that would generate sites like that.
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  • Profile picture of the author danielkanuck
    Ty sounds like your lead generation advice could be the chapter of a book! I think generating leads is where it's at. Everybody says "the money is in the list", and i think this concept holds true for offline marketing also. The focus of my business is lead generation also. I know the power of having a ton of leads in the marketing cycle... endless sales.
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by danielkanuck View Post

      Ty sounds like your lead generation advice could be the chapter of a book! I think generating leads is where it's at. Everybody says "the money is in the list", and i think this concept holds true for offline marketing also. The focus of my business is lead generation also. I know the power of having a ton of leads in the marketing cycle... endless sales.
      Agreed. I kind of think of it like this...

      Imagine standing outside Disney Land and people are making the long slow drive in. They know they want a theme park but not sure which one yet. I set up a little toll booth and intercept as many as I can and charge one of the parks $2 per head for directing them there.

      Control the traffic and you control everything. Uncoincidentally, Dan Kennedy calls it the Toll Gate position (although he probably stole that from somebody).
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      • Profile picture of the author chachinger
        awesome thread.

        Question: how do you decide on how to price the leads? Does that start with a conversation about the potential clients average customer value & their closing rate on leads or do you figure it out with trial and error?
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        • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
          Originally Posted by chachinger View Post

          awesome thread.

          Question: how do you decide on how to price the leads? Does that start with a conversation about the potential clients average customer value & their closing rate on leads or do you figure it out with trial and error?
          I use Service Magic as a reference and then I charge at least double since my leads are exclusive. Of course I also factor in PPC costs to make sure I'll be profitable at this rate.
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          • Profile picture of the author StarkContrast
            Ty, I've been leaning this way for some time now and you've given me a few ideas to go further with it. PPC is a newer animal for me, and has its own set of risk/rewards to think about. No time better than the present to use one of those free $75 adwords coupons. Thanks for bringing this to the forefront.
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            • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
              Originally Posted by marhamat View Post

              Ty, I've been leaning this way for some time now and you've given me a few ideas to go further with it. PPC is a newer animal for me, and has its own set of risk/rewards to think about. No time better than the present to use one of those free $75 adwords coupons. Thanks for bringing this to the forefront.
              No problem man, good luck.
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              • Profile picture of the author chachinger
                do you price calls and submitted leads the same or differently?

                what info do you collect for leads on the LP: Name & phone? Name, phone & email? Zip code as a qualifier?
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                • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
                  Originally Posted by chachinger View Post

                  do you price calls and submitted leads the same or differently?

                  what info do you collect for leads on the LP: Name & phone? Name, phone & email? Zip code as a qualifier?
                  I price them the same but 95% come through the phone.

                  I collect a little more information from the ones who do use a contact form but I don't want to get into exactly what so as not to give away my niches.
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  • Profile picture of the author bryson
    Hey Ty,

    Following up on what Don just posted.
    Have you been using any offline methods to drive leads to your site?
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    • Profile picture of the author frankhill
      Ty,

      Brother, I am glad that I logged on tonight. I am new to this forum, just over 1 month..I have been thinking seriously about going the offline consultant route. Thank you for this post. You have erased some of my doubts about my direction and hopefully pointed me in a more productive one. Everyone cares about results. I think this is MY ticket. I am green but hungry.


      Frank
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      • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
        Originally Posted by frankhill View Post

        Ty,

        Brother, I am glad that I logged on tonight. I am new to this forum, just over 1 month..I have been thinking seriously about going the offline consultant route. Thank you for this post. You have erased some of my doubts about my direction and hopefully pointed me in a more productive one. Everyone cares about results. I think this is MY ticket. I am green but hungry.


        Frank
        That's awesome Frank, that's why I posted. I'm certainly not the first to generate leads but I think it is a underutilized business model around here; mostly because people want/need to get paid up front.
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      • Profile picture of the author reddoch
        I have been working with local clients for many years and was one of the first to use video for marketing purposes. I think lead generation has its place as well as charging monthly for services has its place.

        The secret for me is two-fold. I focus on a niche and then I duplicate. Duplication is the fastest way to wealth. For me, I do personal injury attorneys. Because the market is the most competitive on the web, keywords are very expensive; as high as $75 to $80 per click. You can approach lead generation in a completely different way, get a great result and get paid well. Because the niche is competitive, they expect to pay more because one lead that turns into a client can be more than they will pay you for 2 or 3 years.

        To each his own, but I feel focusing on a niche and then duplicating your process is much more effective.

        Enjoying the conversation..
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        • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
          Originally Posted by reddoch View Post

          I have been working with local clients for many years and was one of the first to use video for marketing purposes. I think lead generation has its place as well as charging monthly for services has its place.

          The secret for me is two-fold. I focus on a niche and then I duplicate. Duplication is the fastest way to wealth. For me, I do personal injury attorneys. Because the market is the most competitive on the web, keywords are very expensive; as high as $75 to $80 per click. You can approach lead generation in a completely different way, get a great result and get paid well. Because the niche is competitive, they expect to pay more because one lead that turns into a client can be more than they will pay you for 2 or 3 years.

          To each his own, but I feel focusing on a niche and then duplicating your process is much more effective.

          Enjoying the conversation..
          Good point -- I believe 100% in duplicating within a niche. It makes everything so much easier. Personally I have spotted a couple of niches that have a much higher transaction value than what I am doing now and are a lot less competitive so I want to give those a try.

          I think it's important to get your system working as smoothly as possible and then duplicate. It sounds like you've done that in personal injury which indeed is a tough market - good for you!
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          • Profile picture of the author Noirmaybe
            Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

            Good point -- I believe 100% in duplicating within a niche. It makes everything so much easier. Personally I have spotted a couple of niches that have a much higher transaction value than what I am doing now and are a lot less competitive so I want to give those a try.

            I think it's important to get your system working as smoothly as possible and then duplicate. It sounds like you've done that in personal injury which indeed is a tough market - good for you!
            Originally Posted by reddoch View Post

            I have been working with local clients for many years and was one of the first to use video for marketing purposes. I think lead generation has its place as well as charging monthly for services has its place.

            The secret for me is two-fold. I focus on a niche and then I duplicate. Duplication is the fastest way to wealth. For me, I do personal injury attorneys. Because the market is the most competitive on the web, keywords are very expensive; as high as $75 to $80 per click. You can approach lead generation in a completely different way, get a great result and get paid well. Because the niche is competitive, they expect to pay more because one lead that turns into a client can be more than they will pay you for 2 or 3 years.

            To each his own, but I feel focusing on a niche and then duplicating your process is much more effective.

            Enjoying the conversation..
            I think this is great, really has me thinking about my current methodology. I have a couple of questions though for the both of you

            1. How would track leads for other things such as photography or contractors ? Does everytime someone calls/emails them through you it counts as a lead?

            2.Have you ever had a problem with clients rejecting leads? For example, if a dentist heard one of the voicemails and didn't consider it a lead ? How do you avoid that ?

            3.How does it work with lawyers? I would really like to get started working for them. Are you paying $75 to $80 per click in adwords? How many clicks on average does it take to convert to a lead? And what is actually considered a lead for them? Is it when they actually go to court with the lead or is it just when they get the leads voicemail and call saying she's interested?

            Sorry for so many questions. I'm just trying to soak up on as much knowledge as I can while it's on the floor
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            • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
              Originally Posted by Noirmaybe View Post

              I think this is great, really has me thinking about my current methodology. I have a couple of questions though for the both of you

              1. How would track leads for other things such as photography or contractors ? Does everytime someone calls/emails them through you it counts as a lead?

              2.Have you ever had a problem with clients rejecting leads? For example, if a dentist heard one of the voicemails and didn't consider it a lead ? How do you avoid that ?

              3.How does it work with lawyers? I would really like to get started working for them. Are you paying $75 to $80 per click in adwords? How many clicks on average does it take to convert to a lead? And what is actually considered a lead for them? Is it when they actually go to court with the lead or is it just when they get the leads voicemail and call saying she's interested?

              Sorry for so many questions. I'm just trying to soak up on as much knowledge as I can while it's on the floor
              1. Leads are tracked for me mostly by recorded phone call. When listening to the call it's pretty clear it was a genuine lead or not.

              2. I forward the call recordings so I have never had an issue with this.

              3. I don't do lawyers -- maybe reddoch will answer.
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            • Profile picture of the author TimD
              Originally Posted by Noirmaybe View Post


              3.How does it work with lawyers? I would really like to get started working for them. Are you paying $75 to $80 per click in adwords? How many clicks on average does it take to convert to a lead? And what is actually considered a lead for them? Is it when they actually go to court with the lead or is it just when they get the leads voicemail and call saying she's interested?

              Sorry for so many questions. I'm just trying to soak up on as much knowledge as I can while it's on the floor
              Hi Noir,
              I work a lot with lawyers. I hear this quote $75 to $80 for a click a lot. It's not right. First, I'm in a competitive market and the cost is closer to $35. Second, even if ppc is that high, other pay-per-lead or pay-per-call services will under cut it. 1 in 5 is the average I see quoted for turning a call into a lead, though the disgruntled attorneys say that's far too optimistic.
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      • Profile picture of the author Finance123
        Hi,

        It is really important to focus on your business. As you are doing SEO it is really important to understand to focus 100%.
        If you don't do it then you will loose visitors and for sure loose income too. As SEO has the most income in internet marketing. It's better to do it 100% instead of stopping it.

        Thank you
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      • Profile picture of the author Irish Intuition
        I can't even understand those who don't use lead generation

        The main problem with most as it means more work, and as
        we know everyone wants the money stork to drop of a
        bouncing baby bundle of cash while doing nothing.

        In offline world we need to roll up our sleeves to be successful

        I actually enjoy some of the methods I use in the trenches. I
        don't enjoy cold calling so I find another way of initiating
        a conversation... in other words lead gen.

        There are sooooo many ways in which we can initiate contact
        these days. Get on it!
        Signature




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        • Profile picture of the author terip
          Originally Posted by Paul McQuillan View Post

          I can't even understand those who don't use lead generation

          The main problem with most as it means more work, and as
          we know everyone wants the money stork to drop of a
          bouncing baby bundle of cash while doing nothing.

          In offline world we need to roll up our sleeves to be successful

          I actually enjoy some of the methods I use in the trenches. I
          don't enjoy cold calling so I find another way of initiating
          a conversation... in other words lead gen.

          There are sooooo many ways in which we can initiate contact
          these days. Get on it!

          I soooo agree with you. People that want to get serious clients need to start generating leads. Apparently there are still a lot of businesses that only wait for their customers to knock on their doors. But how would their desired clients know they exist if they don't do any lead generation tactic, right?
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      • Profile picture of the author jhuman
        Thanks TY for your insight.

        I think the approach is an equitable position relatively speaking since the end result is what business owners want regardless of what type of services your selling. I do like to point out though that I think the IM approach has to do with the individuals personality and ambition not necessarily making more money. Wait, i can't believe i just said that.
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      • Profile picture of the author Struble2010
        Banned
        [DELETED]
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        • Profile picture of the author mavericx
          Definitely helps....I can see where it definitely makes sense to go by general results instead of exact in this case. That being said, what number of results (in general) should we be going for to make it worth our time for a given niche/city? Thanks!
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          • Profile picture of the author ivanela33
            Since many keyword rich url's are taken, I wonder if we can use a subdomain with the keyword and optimize that site in that subdomain..:confused:
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by bryson View Post

      Hey Ty,

      Following up on what Don just posted.
      Have you been using any offline methods to drive leads to your site?
      I have done plenty of offline stuff for clients directly but not as part of my lead generation model. I do a lot of work with emergency type stuff so it wouldn't fly there but it's a good idea for other industries.

      I have done some FB ads for lead gen for a dentist and that went pretty well - the key is getting a great offer that the dentist can live with.
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  • Profile picture of the author MichaelHiles
    We do tons of lead gen. I am really hip on the Next Generation Performance Marketing Technology - Integrate platform, which enables people to buy and sell leads just like on an exchange floor.
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  • Profile picture of the author Russel Mogul
    How about focusing on the leads you already have? It's pretty easy to upsell to a satisfied customer . Just my 2 cents, focusing 100% of your business on lead generation will burn you out soon enough.
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by Russel Mogul View Post

      How about focusing on the leads you already have? It's pretty easy to upsell to a satisfied customer . Just my 2 cents, focusing 100% of your business on lead generation will burn you out soon enough.
      I don't think you quite got the post my friend...I am generating leads for my clients, not for me.
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  • Profile picture of the author baconman
    Ty, do you have a sample or generic version of the contract you use. I would love to take a look
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    • Profile picture of the author ed1705
      A few questions:
      1. With Google Places being so dominant on the first page of Google, do you do a placing listing for your clients?
      2. If yes , how do you get around the telephone number issue? Google will see conflicting numbers if the business has some directory listings from before.
      3. How exactly do you track the leads?

      Thanks
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      • Profile picture of the author frankhill
        Ty

        Say I got a client.... Ambulance Chasing Attorneys,LLC, and it was critical that they got their leads in real time... any suggestions that are trackable?

        Thanks
        Frank
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        • Profile picture of the author jonnyq888
          Originally Posted by frankhill View Post

          Ty

          Say I got a client.... Ambulance Chasing Attorneys,LLC, and it was critical that they got their leads in real time... any suggestions that are trackable?

          Thanks
          Frank
          With some finagling, you could probably do it with Aweber
          Signature

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          • Profile picture of the author frankhill
            Thanks Jonny,

            I am a total newbie....I know what Aweber is, but thats about it. I'll start reading.

            Frank
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        • Profile picture of the author AllAboutAction
          Originally Posted by frankhill View Post

          Ty

          Say I got a client.... Ambulance Chasing Attorneys,LLC, and it was critical that they got their leads in real time... any suggestions that are trackable?

          Thanks
          Frank
          Since calls get put through immediately with services like CallFire, I assume you are talking about website leads. If so, check out wufoo.com.

          Wufoo allows you to easily put forms on your own websites and set up elaborate notification schemes for the data collected. It's a great service, I love it.
          Signature

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      • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
        Originally Posted by ed1705 View Post

        A few questions:
        1. With Google Places being so dominant on the first page of Google, do you do a placing listing for your clients?
        2. If yes , how do you get around the telephone number issue? Google will see conflicting numbers if the business has some directory listings from before.
        3. How exactly do you track the leads?

        Thanks
        Once I have confirmed they are not tire kickers, I'll do a Google places account, yes, but with my phone number on it. I also don't use the business name - I use one that looks like a business name.

        I track the leads with calls (callfire.com) and by email (jotform.com)
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        • Profile picture of the author Marc2008
          Hi TyErickson,


          Very good info here. Thanks for sharing.

          Two questions:


          How do you recommend we find keywords that dont't trigger maps? What is B2B?

          And also, are you saying you have rented office space downtown just for the address for Google Places? Wow how much is that cost? Office space anit cheap, right?

          Marc
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          • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
            Originally Posted by Marc2008 View Post

            Hi TyErickson,


            Very good info here. Thanks for sharing.

            Two questions:


            How do you recommend we find keywords that dont't trigger maps? What is B2B?

            And also, are you saying you have rented office space downtown just for the address for Google Places? Wow how much is that cost? Office space anit cheap, right?

            Marc
            That's 4 questions

            How do you recommend we find keywords that dont't trigger maps? What is B2B? Do a Google search.

            What is B2B? Business to business

            And also, are you saying you have rented office space downtown just for the address for Google Places? No...I am saying that I have picked a building at random. I would consider virtual office space which you can buy in a big city for $100 per month but I haven't done that yet.

            Don't get hung up on Google places - try to rank above it, use PPC, use keywords that don't trigger maps and drive traffic in other ways. Places is a pain but not the end all and be all.
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            • Profile picture of the author Marc2008
              Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

              That's 4 questions

              How do you recommend we find keywords that dont't trigger maps? What is B2B? Do a Google search.

              What is B2B? Business to business

              And also, are you saying you have rented office space downtown just for the address for Google Places? No...I am saying that I have picked a building at random. I would consider virtual office space which you can buy in a big city for $100 per month but I haven't done that yet.

              Don't get hung up on Google places - try to rank above it, use PPC, use keywords that don't trigger maps and drive traffic in other ways. Places is a pain but not the end all and be all.
              Thanks for your reply, man. Sorry, it was 4 questions.

              But yeah, I will look into a virtual mail address service and Google it. $100 a month is a little expensive, but maybe not if it is a hot niche that leads are very valuable in, like plumbing, DUI Attorneys, or roofers.

              Thanks
              Marc
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by baconman View Post

      Ty, do you have a sample or generic version of the contract you use. I would love to take a look
      Sorry..I don't have a generic one but I'll try to make one available later.
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  • Profile picture of the author sloanjim
    It's all offliners should do. Why bother explaining SEO/Social etc...when all they want is customers?
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by sloanjim View Post

      It's all offliners should do. Why bother explaining SEO/Social etc...when all they want is customers?
      Exactly. Really it's like putting your money where your mouth is.
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    • Profile picture of the author Justin Lavoie
      Originally Posted by sloanjim View Post

      It's all offliners should do. Why bother explaining SEO/Social etc...when all they want is customers?
      Exactly. I find that too many people seem to focus on explaining SEO and SERP and stuff that the client don't really care about. I think you have to explain it to them only if they ask for it or else, keep it simple and make it clear that you will bring them more business and they have nothing to lose.

      I have my own company (homebuilder for inssurance companies, 25+ employees ) and get approached so often by people wanting to sell me stuff, ad space, yellow pages, napkin ads, etc.. and really I could'nt care less.

      However, if you come to me and tell me you're gonna bring me more clients and I have nothing to lose other than the money I pay for the leads, then I could be interested.. Just make it quick and short cause we just don't have time for these things and I will listen to those who stand out of the pack only.
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      • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
        Originally Posted by wolfez View Post

        Exactly. I find that too many people seem to focus on explaining SEO and SERP and stuff that the client don't really care about. I think you have to explain it to them only if they ask for it or else, keep it simple and make it clear that you will bring them more business and they have nothing to lose.

        I have my own company (homebuilder for inssurance companies, 25+ employees ) and get approached so often by people wanting to sell me stuff, ad space, yellow pages, napkin ads, etc.. and really I could'nt care less.

        However, if you come to me and tell me you're gonna bring me more clients and I have nothing to lose other than the money I pay for the leads, then I could be interested.. Just make it quick and short cause we just don't have time for these things and I will listen to those who stand out of the pack only.
        Exactly. The best is the emails you get about link building - offering 3 way links or to build a backlink pyramid. Talk about not talking the language of the customer...
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  • Profile picture of the author Russel Mogul
    Oh my fault, if you can show your clients how to extract more cash out of existing customers. what harm can that do ?
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by Russel Mogul View Post

      Oh my fault, if you can show your clients how to extract more cash out of existing customers. what harm can that do ?
      No harm at all to them but I find it harmful . I just want my business going forward to be as hands off and as repetitive as possible. I've done a lot of consulting work and you are right that mining the existing database is often way easier and more profitable but I didn't have any permanent control like I do with the lead generation -- it wasn't building an asset for me.

      If the clients know how to convert leads into customers then I am still doing them a service while I build my assets.

      MRomeo09 made a great post on how to build a local SEO empire which partly inspired my vision moving forward. If you haven't seen it, take a read of it; it's pretty awesome. It's about building your own assets; not the customers.

      Of course you might be able to do that by helping the customer mine their current database but I could also do that by creating some software or something. Personally I need to focus and stay the course and this is the route I have chosen (for all of the reasons in the OP).
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  • Profile picture of the author ed1705
    Can you tell me roughly conversion rates. On average how many clicks on your advert does it take before you get a lead?
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by ed1705 View Post

      Can you tell me roughly conversion rates. On average how many clicks on your advert does it take before you get a lead?
      It depends on the niche and it's something that should get better overtime as you test, track and tweak (this is where the real money is).

      I benchmark 1 in 5 and see if I am profitable at that rate. But most of my stuff is emergency. I wouldn't use 1 in 5 if I was doing mortgages or whatever. Not sure about that industry CTR wise.

      I have one that's converting a little less than 1 in 3 which I think is decent.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jordainyo
    ughhh... I so desperately want to get into lead generation in my area but I'm stuck with doing rent-a-site. Reason being is that I absolutely cannot find a service which offers VOIP local numbers for my city.

    Anyone know a service which offers local numbers for Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada? I feel like I've looked everywhere.

    I am content going with the rent-a-site model but the benefits of lead gen outlined in this thread are obvious and I would like to take advantage of them.
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by Jordainyo View Post

      ughhh... I so desperately want to get into lead generation in my area but I'm stuck with doing rent-a-site. Reason being is that I absolutely cannot find a service which offers VOIP local numbers for my city.

      Anyone know a service which offers local numbers for Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada? I feel like I've looked everywhere.

      I am content going with the rent-a-site model but the benefits of lead gen outlined in this thread are obvious and I would like to take advantage of them.
      I don't, sorry. I checked Twilio for you -- no go. If you can't find one, here's 3 options:

      1. use an 800 number - it's less than ideal but works better than nothing
      2. pick a niche that makes sense to have only email as the collection tool
      3. don't limit yourself to your own town - I don't
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    • Profile picture of the author bryson
      Originally Posted by Jordainyo View Post

      ughhh... I so desperately want to get into lead generation in my area but I'm stuck with doing rent-a-site. Reason being is that I absolutely cannot find a service which offers VOIP local numbers for my city.

      Anyone know a service which offers local numbers for Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada? I feel like I've looked everywhere.

      I am content going with the rent-a-site model but the benefits of lead gen outlined in this thread are obvious and I would like to take advantage of them.
      Try calling your telephone company, get a second phone number on your line and use that.
      Signature
      Do You Do Local Lead Gen? Hate Cold Calling for New Clients? We Have the Solution.. Get Hot Offline Leads Today... These Leads WANT to hear from YOU!

      Sign Up Today and Get Clients!Local Lead Gen Leads
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  • Profile picture of the author friendlytf
    Can you pm me an example site please
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  • Profile picture of the author Jordainyo
    Thanks for your help ty... One question for you: isn't listening to each call to determine if it was a valuable lead our not rather time consuming... Id imagine if you had 20+ clients that could amount to a full time job in and of itself
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by Jordainyo View Post

      Thanks for your help ty... One question for you: isn't listening to each call to determine if it was a valuable lead our not rather time consuming... Id imagine if you had 20+ clients that could amount to a full time job in and of itself
      Let's say you charged on average $50 per lead. To make 10K per month you'd need 200 leads (if you did it all with SEO and no PPC).

      So you'd need 50 leads per week.

      You definitely know within the first 2 minutes if it was a real lead or not. First you hear ringing and then the greeting with the 'it's a great day, how can I help you' b.s. and then the lead will get to the point.

      In 2 minutes you know.

      50 leads x 2 minutes = 100 minutes per week. Let's double that if you are using ppc to 200 minutes per week or 3 hours and 20 minutes. Less than 10% of your work week. OR outsource it for $60 per month.

      Me...I get my wife to do it - she gets a laugh out of it.
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  • Profile picture of the author VinceReed
    Awesome post with great insight. You are absolutely right, I used to do consulting with clients and eventually switched over to a CPL (cost per lead) model that actually paid a lot better return.
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  • Profile picture of the author Justin Lavoie
    Just an idea for lead generation if you cant get it recorded... How about you put a coupon code right under the phone number of the company. If they mention the code , lets say, WINTER 10, they get a 10$ rebate on the job/order/whatever.

    I'm currently working hard to get a business for lead generation going and since I'm also in Canada, that's a way I thought about. You probably won't catch all the fishes in the pond but that's one of the way to do it. Also, you need a very good relation with your client because he will be the one telling you how many calls he got... which can become a problem actually. Perhaps that would be a great way to show your client how many calls they get from your website but that would be good if they have to pay per month so they get proof they dont pay for nothing...not that great for lead generation after all :p

    Also, you could put a button they have to press to get the number to appear in another window...and each time the button is pressed, you bill... However since not all calls will end up with a sale, you might want to bill like 25-50% of a normal lead?

    Food for thought
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by wolfez View Post

      Just an idea for lead generation if you cant get it recorded... How about you put a coupon code right under the phone number of the company. If they mention the code , lets say, WINTER 10, they get a 10$ rebate on the job/order/whatever.

      I'm currently working hard to get a business for lead generation going and since I'm also in Canada, that's a way I thought about. You probably won't catch all the fishes in the pond but that's one of the way to do it. Also, you need a very good relation with your client because he will be the one telling you how many calls he got... which can become a problem actually. Perhaps that would be a great way to show your client how many calls they get from your website but that would be good if they have to pay per month so they get proof they dont pay for nothing...not that great for lead generation after all :p

      Also, you could put a button they have to press to get the number to appear in another window...and each time the button is pressed, you bill... However since not all calls will end up with a sale, you might want to bill like 25-50% of a normal lead?

      Food for thought
      Good ideas...but why don't you just sell your services in Montreal where you can record the #s?
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  • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
    Originally Posted by Manzinetworks View Post

    CPA, or cost per action, is one of the hottest techniques to make income online today – and astonishingly few internet entrepreneurs have never even heard of it. The action that you get paid for is when your site visitor fill out a form using some personal details, usually an e-mail address or zip code, and submits it. That’s it! No pre-selling, no refunds, no lengthy revenue pitches or any of the hundreds of other traditional affiliate marketing woes to worry on. Once completed correctly, CPA is among the simplest approaches to monetize a website.
    That's spamtastic dude...killer 1st post. Amazingly the post has very little to do with the original post but it does have a great deal to do with your signature.

    PS - if that really is your network, is this the way you want us to get traffic for your merchants?
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  • Profile picture of the author Noirmaybe
    Does callfire auto record the phone calls for you and you just email them ?

    What do you say in the voicemail? "You have reached [The company you are lead-gening for]. Please Leave your email, number ect. ect. " ?
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by Noirmaybe View Post

      Does callfire auto record the phone calls for you and you just email them ?

      What do you say in the voicemail? "You have reached [The company you are lead-gening for]. Please Leave your email, number ect. ect. " ?

      There's no voicemail - the call is just forwarded seamlessly to the client. The caller hears 'this call may be recorded' or whatever and the call is automatically recorded.

      The client hears 'this call brought to you by Ty' when they answer.

      Once per week I email the links to the recordings.
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      • Profile picture of the author Noirmaybe
        Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

        There's no voicemail - the call is just forwarded seamlessly to the client. The caller hears 'this call may be recorded' or whatever and the call is automatically recorded.

        The client hears 'this call brought to you by Ty' when they answer.

        I thought you said you screen them? How If they go straight to the client ?
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        • Profile picture of the author lingo
          Apologies in advanced if my questions have already been answered. I can miss things sometimes :p

          I tried this is the beginning but ran into a few problems when looking to scale up.

          Hope you can advise.

          First issue is the management of leads for multiple companies. You mentioned how you use a call recording service which is a brill idea. But how would you manage to go through all the calls at the end of the month (or whenever) to manage legit leads and sales calls etc? 1 lead per day with ten clients is a lot of recordings to go through. Plus you are sending links (which is a brill idea btw) but can suck up a bunch of time. Its just about figuring out a system thats scallable.

          Second issue is to do with Google places. I would assume this would be a big area you would focus on once the PPC side is stable. The thing is that Google are really strict on matching the Company name in G Places with that of the website etc(SEO companies even report this pages in competitive industries). How would you get around changing the name that matches the company (for conversion purposes) and at the same time look legit to google?

          Third issue/question, is reviews. I had a bad client who was a dodgy tradesman. Because of his work i ended up getting bad reviews on google places page, and a couple on the review sites. Do you have any advice on how to make the person treat the business leads as if the reputation he is trying to keep is the same as his own?

          Hope you can share your experience on this as as your post has already pointed out the positives. If things run smoothly this works out a lot better then doing SEO for the clients.

          Cheers for sharing your experience.
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          • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
            Originally Posted by lingo View Post

            Apologies in advanced if my questions have already been answered. I can miss things sometimes :p

            I tried this is the beginning but ran into a few problems when looking to scale up.

            Hope you can advise.

            First issue is the management of leads for multiple companies. You mentioned how you use a call recording service which is a brill idea. But how would you manage to go through all the calls at the end of the month (or whenever) to manage legit leads and sales calls etc? 1 lead per day with ten clients is a lot of recordings to go through. Plus you are sending links (which is a brill idea btw) but can suck up a bunch of time. Its just about figuring out a system thats scallable.

            Second issue is to do with Google places. I would assume this would be a big area you would focus on once the PPC side is stable. The thing is that Google are really strict on matching the Company name in G Places with that of the website etc(SEO companies even report this pages in competitive industries). How would you get around changing the name that matches the company (for conversion purposes) and at the same time look legit to google?

            Third issue/question, is reviews. I had a bad client who was a dodgy tradesman. Because of his work i ended up getting bad reviews on google places page, and a couple on the review sites. Do you have any advice on how to make the person treat the business leads as if the reputation he is trying to keep is the same as his own?

            Hope you can share your experience on this as as your post has already pointed out the positives. If things run smoothly this works out a lot better then doing SEO for the clients.

            Cheers for sharing your experience.
            Regarding the management of the calls - I explained earlier in the thread. If you can't be bothered to read it I sure can't be bothered to retype it! :p

            Basically I think that you could hire somebody for $250 per month to run $30,000 per month worth of leads (my opinion only, I am not at that point yet).

            Regarding Google Places - I have my own Google Places account on a couple. The site looks like a legit business. I even get Insider Pages reps calling me to sell me SEO LOL.

            I honestly never thought of the bad review on my account scenario. I think that by the time the client has warranted a bad review that the customer will simply look up their site.

            It hasn't been a problem so far but it is something to think about for sure. Thanks for that.
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        • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
          Originally Posted by Noirmaybe View Post

          I thought you said you screen them? How If they go straight to the client ?
          Not sure if I used the word screen - I might have - but it's more like I (my wife actually) listens to them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Justin Lavoie
    hmm never thought this was possible. So you tell your phone company that you want a new number and this number is redirected to the client and it will register the call? Like that program you use?
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by wolfez View Post

      hmm never thought this was possible. So you tell your phone company that you want a new number and this number is redirected to the client and it will register the call? Like that program you use?
      Not really, no. You buy your #s from a company like this: TollFreeForwarding.com - Toll Free & Local Phone Numbers

      They have Montreal and Quebec City #s. All you do is fill in the # you want to forward this number to in the backend of the software - takes about 30 seconds.

      I think those guys record but maybe not. Recording is best but the other thing I have done is to come to an agreement like this:

      Any calls that come through my special tracking # AND are more than 2 minutes in length are considered a lead. They you simply print the report out of the software once per week and send to the client (filtering out the ones less than 2 minutes)....this is if you can't get a # that records.
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      • Profile picture of the author Justin Lavoie
        Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

        Not really, no. You buy your #s from a company like this: TollFreeForwarding.com - Toll Free & Local Phone Numbers

        They have Montreal and Quebec City #s. All you do is fill in the # you want to forward this number to in the backend of the software - takes about 30 seconds.

        I think those guys record but maybe not. Recording is best but the other thing I have done is to come to an agreement like this:

        Any calls that come through my special tracking # AND are more than 2 minutes in length are considered a lead. They you simply print the report out of the software once per week and send to the client (filtering out the ones less than 2 minutes)....this is if you can't get a # that records.
        Great answer, that makes a lot of sense, thanks.

        EDIT: I just tried it out and it worked like a charm. Thanks, I think will use this service a lot.
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  • Profile picture of the author TGforever
    This is a really great thread, ive been trying to get into the rent-a-site model but stuck on my seo. Never really thought about doing lead gen till I read this. know of any good free ebooks or resources I can read up on for this type of stuff?
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  • Profile picture of the author stiflex
    I completely agree with your post!
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  • Profile picture of the author Matthew Iannotti
    Glad to see someone actually "GET IT"

    Lead generation is clearly where it's at to build a business!
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  • Profile picture of the author Russel Mogul
    I'm going to subscribe to this badboy , you have done us as consultants a great service by offering a platform to discuss lead gen methods however I'm super duper interested in any further info on asset-building....

    Thank you
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by Russel Mogul View Post

      I'm going to subscribe to this badboy , you ahve done us as consultants a great service by offering a platform to discuss lead gen methods however I'm super duper interested in any further info on asset-building....

      Thank you
      Cool...

      A word on 'consultants'.

      This is my opinion only and it probably goes against the grain of a lot of what was taught here. I have been a marketing consultant in the past and still am to some of my clients.

      It seems to be taught here a lot that if you want the big money then you have to be a consultant. You have to approach business owners, find their pain and then offer the appropriate solutions to solve their problems. There are 2 reasons you do this supposedly - to really help the client and to make far more money.

      My problem with this (personally) is that you are constantly reinventing the wheel with each client. If you know what you are doing then you are doing a wonderful thing by helping the business owners with their sales and conversion systems.

      But, it does very little for you. Most Warriors who start on this path will never be able to sell their businesses down the road because the business is them. And what of your family -- if you die, there's no more business.

      Sure, some consultants have grown outside themselves so that the business can run and grow with out them using proprietary methods and systems. But there are far more (I believe) that really have only created a new job for themselves.

      And their goal (maybe $200K per year) will only burn them out more and more as they get closer to it. Sure, you can outsource a lot of the grunt work but you're still the consultant who spearheads it all. Good for the ego; bad for the longterm value of your company.

      It's exactly like a small time lawyer. Sure, they might bill $200K per year and have a great life but then what? What if they die suddenly? Or what if they've had enough of life and want to go on a walkabout? The practice is not worth nearly what the lawyer had hoped it would be. Likely the office is rented (and maybe an equipment). The staff? A liability, not an asset. Past cases - worthless. There might be some value in current cases that haven't been to trial yet but I am guessing that they'd be worth pennies on the dollar.

      My guess (and honestly I really don't know) is that a single lawyers business is virtually worthless and it's not really a business at all; it's really a job.

      So somewhere everybody here got the idea that the ultimate goal is to be an offline consultant. Make big bucks, help your clients and everybody is happy. For the most part I see it just like another job. Again, a small percentage of the people who might be offended reading this have figured out a way to systemize and package their consulting so it is easily repeatable and can carry on without them. I think this is by far the minority.

      Contrast this with lead generation (certainly not the only viable service). It still helps customers greatly. It may not be the absolute best thing you can for them but it's pretty high up there.

      If you work in one market you can use the same landing pages, the same adwords ads, the same everything. You can easily teach employees to do every part of it. You can easily teach salespeople how to sell it.

      The whole system can quickly run without you. And that's what makes it a saleable asset (combined with the recurring revenue that is already in place for the new buyer). You can easily slide out of the business and the new owner can slide in.

      And if you combine building the lead generation system with this method as I am doing then you are really setting yourself up for longterm stability, financial well being and business saleability:

      http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...on-empire.html

      Building and controlling valuable real estate like that thread teaches combined with solid repeatable lead generation systems can make your business as big as you want it to be.

      IMHO far easier, faster, more stable and secure than becoming a high paid consultant who focuses mainly on the client's business and not his/her own.

      PS - I see it all of the time - people who have no business experience regurgitating what they have heard others say:

      'Stop trying to force feed what you want to sell. You need to find the customers pain and find some solutions to help them'.

      Really? That's an admiral thought but it's certainly not the only way. Remember Henry Ford wanted to make cars affordable for everyone. He said that you could have any color you like as long as it was black Should he have sent 'consultants' to find out what the pain these people really had? Why their bad childhood required a rainbow colored car?

      No..Henry had his own mission in mind too. He obviously cared about the people who would receive his cars but not to the point where it would hurt his own business at the same time.

      There are plenty of good consultants on this board who either just love what they do or who are busy turning it into a real business but it just bugs me when parrots tell everybody what you have to do. You don't have to do anything. If you want to build a business based around Facebook Fan Pages then do that. For me, site rentals and lead generation are the way.
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      • Profile picture of the author Justin Lavoie
        Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

        Cool...


        Building and controlling valuable real estate like that thread teaches combined with solid repeatable lead generation systems can make your business as big as you want it to be.

        IMHO far easier, faster, more stable and secure than becoming a high paid consultant who focuses mainly on the client's business and not his/her own.

        PS - I see it all of the time - people who have no business experience regurgitating what they have heard others say:

        'Stop trying to force feed what you want to sell. You need to find the customers pain and find some solutions to help them'.

        Really? That's an admiral thought but it's certainly not the only way.
        I second that. You certainly dont wan't to be a consultant unless you want to put a lot of time in your business; it will slow you down and you will hit a wall fast. So I know thats not the path I want... Dealing with clients all day long asking the same questions over and over again...and asking for results.. that's not my cup of tea and that's acutally the main reason why I'm looking to sell my business in the next years and go mercenary-style in the online/offline marketing path.

        With lead generations, no questions asked. You pay for leads, that's it. If you don't, I will call your competition. It's also so easy to outsource when everything is kept clear and simple. So far in the last 6-8 months (since I began) I have had some success trying different kinds of internet marketing and I'm getting to the conclusion that, in my case, lead gen will probably be where I'll get the best results fast.

        I have a great advantage however of knowing tons of business owners in my community and talk with them and do business with them regularly so it will be easy to sell the idea and get them to try me out. A lot of them owe it to me anyway, I buy a couple thousands up to a couple hundred thousands in services or products every years, they really can't refuse a try out . I understand not everyone have this opportunity but I really dont think it would be much of a problem approching complete strangers to offer my leads. Just a bit more work :rolleyes: but my thought is that after 2 or 3 succesful clients, most of your new costumers will actually call you for your services ...
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      • Profile picture of the author iInvent
        Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

        Cool...

        A word on 'consultants'.

        This is my opinion only and it probably goes against the grain of a lot of what was taught here. I have been a marketing consultant in the past and still am to some of my clients.

        It seems to be taught here a lot that if you want the big money then you have to be a consultant. You have to approach business owners, find their pain and then offer the appropriate solutions to solve their problems. There are 2 reasons you do this supposedly - to really help the client and to make far more money.

        My problem with this (personally) is that you are constantly reinventing the wheel with each client. If you know what you are doing then you are doing a wonderful thing by helping the business owners with their sales and conversion systems.

        But, it does very little for you. Most Warriors who start on this path will never be able to sell their businesses down the road because the business is them. And what of your family -- if you die, there's no more business.

        Sure, some consultants have grown outside themselves so that the business can run and grow with out them using proprietary methods and systems. But there are far more (I believe) that really have only created a new job for themselves.

        And their goal (maybe $200K per year) will only burn them out more and more as they get closer to it. Sure, you can outsource a lot of the grunt work but you're still the consultant who spearheads it all. Good for the ego; bad for the longterm value of your company.

        It's exactly like a small time lawyer. Sure, they might bill $200K per year and have a great life but then what? What if they die suddenly? Or what if they've had enough of life and want to go on a walkabout? The practice is not worth nearly what the lawyer had hoped it would be. Likely the office is rented (and maybe an equipment). The staff? A liability, not an asset. Past cases - worthless. There might be some value in current cases that haven't been to trial yet but I am guessing that they'd be worth pennies on the dollar.

        My guess (and honestly I really don't know) is that a single lawyers business is virtually worthless and it's not really a business at all; it's really a job.

        So somewhere everybody here got the idea that the ultimate goal is to be an offline consultant. Make big bucks, help your clients and everybody is happy. For the most part I see it just like another job. Again, a small percentage of the people who might be offended reading this have figured out a way to systemize and package their consulting so it is easily repeatable and can carry on without them. I think this is by far the minority.

        Contrast this with lead generation (certainly not the only viable service). It still helps customers greatly. It may not be the absolute best thing you can for them but it's pretty high up there.

        If you work in one market you can use the same landing pages, the same adwords ads, the same everything. You can easily teach employees to do every part of it. You can easily teach salespeople how to sell it.

        The whole system can quickly run without you. And that's what makes it a saleable asset (combined with the recurring revenue that is already in place for the new buyer). You can easily slide out of the business and the new owner can slide in.

        And if you combine building the lead generation system with this method as I am doing then you are really setting yourself up for longterm stability, financial well being and business saleability:

        http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...on-empire.html

        Building and controlling valuable real estate like that thread teaches combined with solid repeatable lead generation systems can make your business as big as you want it to be.

        IMHO far easier, faster, more stable and secure than becoming a high paid consultant who focuses mainly on the client's business and not his/her own.

        PS - I see it all of the time - people who have no business experience regurgitating what they have heard others say:

        'Stop trying to force feed what you want to sell. You need to find the customers pain and find some solutions to help them'.

        Really? That's an admiral thought but it's certainly not the only way. Remember Henry Ford wanted to make cars affordable for everyone. He said that you could have any color you like as long as it was black Should he have sent 'consultants' to find out what the pain these people really had? Why their bad childhood required a rainbow colored car?

        No..Henry had his own mission in mind too. He obviously cared about the people who would receive his cars but not to the point where it would hurt his own business at the same time.

        There are plenty of good consultants on this board who either just love what they do or who are busy turning it into a real business but it just bugs me when parrots tell everybody what you have to do. You don't have to do anything. If you want to build a business based around Facebook Fan Pages then do that. For me, site rentals and lead generation are the way.
        Wow...love it! I felt like a lazy bum to try & model my business as automated as possible (to A - possibly sell it one day, B - have a biz and not a job, C - to have unlimited revenue with minimal hours worked...I could probably do the whole alphabet so I'll stop )

        I'll bookmark this post and reread when in doubt - thank you!
        Signature

        Thanks for reading!

        Chantal
        "Before you try to satisfy the client, understand and satisfy the person."

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  • Profile picture of the author Stuard James
    Because you have got known the value and role of this lead generation.Get better work with passion and latest skills in a reasonable amount.
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  • Profile picture of the author Voasi
    We use Call Tracking, Voice Broadcasting, Cloud Marketing Software | Dynamic Interactive too - they're a good company for tracking calls. Easy to use, good interface and cheap. Their office is right around the corner from us, but we found that out after we'd already been using the services.

    You have a great model and I think it's fantastic.

    What we've always found difficult with this model is finding the RIGHT clients to accept the leads. A lot of time, business owners only want to pay for leads that the close into a deal, which isn't how lead generation works. It's up to the business owner to close the deal and it's our job to generate the leads.

    We had one client (and we know this because we had recordings turned on) that was getting 2 legitimate calls each day. When we confronted him, he said "Yea, but they said my prices were too high, so I didn't close them". Of course, my response was 2-fold: a) um...lower your prices ...and b) We provided quality leads, it's your job to close.

    This isn't to deter anyone from jumping into the lead generation model. I think it's a great model, but make sure the business owner and you have a good understanding of the arrangement and what signifies as a "pay-out lead". Further, it would be to your best interest to get them to pre-pay for the leads after you've proven yourself so that you're not left "holding the bag" at the end of the month for qualified leads you sent, and the business only wanting to pay for half of them because they think they're weren't "quality" leads.
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by Voasi View Post

      We use Call Tracking, Voice Broadcasting, Cloud Marketing Software | Dynamic Interactive too - they're a good company for tracking calls. Easy to use, good interface and cheap. Their office is right around the corner from us, but we found that out after we'd already been using the services.

      You have a great model and I think it's fantastic.

      What we've always found difficult with this model is finding the RIGHT clients to accept the leads. A lot of time, business owners only want to pay for leads that the close into a deal, which isn't how lead generation works. It's up to the business owner to close the deal and it's our job to generate the leads.

      We had one client (and we know this because we had recordings turned on) that was getting 2 legitimate calls each day. When we confronted him, he said "Yea, but they said my prices were too high, so I didn't close them". Of course, my response was 2-fold: a) um...lower your prices ...and b) We provided quality leads, it's your job to close.

      This isn't to deter anyone from jumping into the lead generation model. I think it's a great model, but make sure the business owner and you have a good understanding of the arrangement and what signifies as a "pay-out lead". Further, it would be to your best interest to get them to pre-pay for the leads after you've proven yourself so that you're not left "holding the bag" at the end of the month for qualified leads you sent, and the business only wanting to pay for half of them because they think they're weren't "quality" leads.
      Good post, thanks.

      You are absolutely right about the quality of the clients. I usually only deal with companies doing $1M++. Typically they have their s&*t together and convert sales. You can always try calling and see how they answer the phone. If the owner is on the roof or whatever answering his phone you might want to pass.

      Prepaying is great but a much harder sell if you have no track record.

      The other thing to look for is people who understand buying leads - you should be able to find some here:

      Residential Contractors | Local Home Contractor Directory
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      • Profile picture of the author shockwave
        Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

        Good post, thanks.

        You are absolutely right about the quality of the clients. I usually only deal with companies doing $1M++. Typically they have their s&*t together and convert sales. You can always try calling and see how they answer the phone. If the owner is on the roof or whatever answering his phone you might want to pass.

        Prepaying is great but a much harder sell if you have no track record.

        The other thing to look for is people who understand buying leads - you should be able to find some here:

        Residential Contractors | Local Home Contractor Directory
        LOL! funny you should post a link to Service Magic (I used to work for them).

        Contractors seem like an obvious route to pursue, but it's been my first hand experience in working at both SM and on my own that you REALLY need to only be looking for contractors that have their sh#t together.

        When I worked there, as what I affectionately like to call a "phone monkey" all we did all day long was pound the phones. And most of these calls were to contacts who has already been in the calling database for 3-4 years and had already said "no" to the service many times.

        You see, only a small majority of "contractors" are successful. This is mainly due to the fact that they might have the the experience to build a house or some other specific trade, but not always the experience on the business side of things. Quite often they will throw you the 'ol "well, how about I pay you if I sell the deal?".....click, next! You need to roll with contractors who understand the value you bring to the table in lead generation - like Ty/Voasi have already said, it's the contractor who has to close the leads.

        Many, are 1 man shows, living week to week off a paycheck. So I certainly agree, you only want to spend your time on someone who's doing significant dollar volume per year in business. The key is reverse engineering the advertising spend of your target client (niche)

        For example, I can't remember the exact statistic, but I believe as a whole, contractors spend something like 3% - 5% of annual revenues on advertising. Obviously there are many factors that come in to play like different markets, the specific type of business...etc. I don't know if those numbers still hold weight, but you get the gist of it.

        Here's some more recent info and some tidbits to keep in mind to prepare for your call if you're going to target a contractor who is already buying leads through SM:

        Service Magic Pricing Structure: http://www.servicemagic.com/rfs/popu...oolHowMuch.jsp

        1. As you will see, SM charges a contractor between $5 - $55 per lead (depending on the lead type).
        2. In most cases, the contractor will be competing against 3-4 other contractors for that one lead.
        3. Sometimes they don't even get to talk to the so called "prospect" because the prospect never answers the phone or calls back.
        4. So in essence, SM is making $15 - $165 + per lead.
        5. Yes, the contractor only pays if they get a lead with SM. However, what you are offering is exclusivity.
        6. Side Note: SM will charge the contractor 1.5 times the lead amount if they are enrolled in their EXACT Match program

        Exact Match is an option you can chose to have or not to have. When Exact Match is activated, ServiceMagic promotes your business profile across the internet to provide your company with exposure and drive traffic directly to you. Also, with Exact Match the consumer will choose who they match themselves to; In the Market Match program, we match the consumer to the service professionals.
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        • Profile picture of the author baconman
          Originally Posted by shockwave View Post

          LOL! funny you should post a link to Service Magic (I used to work for them).

          Contractors seem like an obvious route to pursue, but it's been my first hand experience in working at both SM and on my own that you REALLY need to only be looking for contractors that have their sh#t together.

          When I worked there, as what I affectionately like to call a "phone monkey" all we did all day long was pound the phones. And most of these calls were to contacts who has already been in the calling database for 3-4 years and had already said "no" to the service many times.

          You see, only a small majority of "contractors" are successful. This is mainly due to the fact that they might have the the experience to build a house or some other specific trade, but not always the experience on the business side of things. Quite often they will throw you the 'ol "well, how about I pay you if I sell the deal?".....click, next! You need to roll with contractors who understand the value you bring to the table in lead generation - like Ty/Voasi have already said, it's the contractor who has to close the leads.

          Many, are 1 man shows, living week to week off a paycheck. So I certainly agree, you only want to spend your time on someone who's doing significant dollar volume per year in business. The key is reverse engineering the advertising spend of your target client (niche)

          For example, I can't remember the exact statistic, but I believe as a whole, contractors spend something like 3% - 5% of annual revenues on advertising. Obviously there are many factors that come in to play like different markets, the specific type of business...etc. I don't know if those numbers still hold weight, but you get the gist of it.

          Here's some more recent info and some tidbits to keep in mind to prepare for your call if you're going to target a contractor who is already buying leads through SM:

          Service Magic Pricing Structure: How Much Does it Cost?

          1. As you will see, SM charges a contractor between $5 - $55 per lead (depending on the lead type).
          2. In most cases, the contractor will be competing against 3-4 other contractors for that one lead.
          3. Sometimes they don't even get to talk to the so called "prospect" because the prospect never answers the phone or calls back.
          4. So in essence, SM is making $15 - $165 + per lead.
          5. Yes, the contractor only pays if they get a lead with SM. However, what you are offering is exclusivity.
          6. Side Note: SM will charge the contractor 1.5 times the lead amount if they are enrolled in their EXACT Match program

          Exact Match is an option you can chose to have or not to have. When Exact Match is activated, ServiceMagic promotes your business profile across the internet to provide your company with exposure and drive traffic directly to you. Also, with Exact Match the consumer will choose who they match themselves to; In the Market Match program, we match the consumer to the service professionals.
          Does Service Magic have a pay per call program? I was under the impression that they had an exclusive lead generation program. I spoke to one company this past week who said they were getting jobs from service magic and they were being charged $7 for a call that they dont secure the job and $17 for calls that do land them the job.

          Everything I've seen on WF has service magic selling the lead to multiple contractors and nothing about pay per call. Was the guy I was talking to just feeding me BS? If anyone can clarify that would be great.
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          • Profile picture of the author shockwave
            They may have a PPCall program now (I worked there a few years ago). But it's important to know what they define as PPCall.

            You see, if you are a homeowner and want to find a contractor to give you a quote through SM, you have two ways to do it.

            1. Go to the website and fill out a quote form.
            2. Go to the website, Go to the "Directory" tab, enter your zip, and select from a drop down list for the type of job you want completed.

            Here's an example Remodeling Contractors Beverly Hills CA | Home Additions

            As you can see, each Contractor has what I'm assuming is a call tracking number set up. This is probably what the company last week was talking about. The homeowner has the option of calling a specific company directly instead of just putting their contact info out to several contractors.

            "$17 for calls that do land them the job." - I would be extremely surprised on this one. SM is in business to make money and it's highly unlikely they are going to allow a contractor to pay only "if they land the job". .....but, who knows. I would get further clarification on that one if I were you. Maybe it's more like a regular lead costs $7 and an "exclusive" lead is now 2.5 times the amount of the regular lead (instead of the 1.5 times that I mentioned earlier).

            SM get's paid either way. They get a smaller amount if the homeowner just requests a quote. And they get a larger amount if the homeowner proactively contacts a specific contractor directly.

            Bad part for the contractor: There is nothing to stop a homeowner from making multiple "exclusive" contacts with many contractors as they want. Now the contractor is paying even more money for the lead and perhaps still has just as much or more competition as would had the homeowner only just filled out a simple quote request form.

            Make sense?
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            • Profile picture of the author baconman
              Originally Posted by shockwave View Post

              They may have a PPCall program now (I worked there a few years ago). But it's important to know what they define as PPCall.

              You see, if you are a homeowner and want to find a contractor to give you a quote through SM, you have two ways to do it.

              1. Go to the website and fill out a quote form.
              2. Go to the website, Go to the "Directory" tab, enter your zip, and select from a drop down list for the type of job you want completed.

              Here's an example Remodeling Contractors Beverly Hills CA | Home Additions

              As you can see, each Contractor has what I'm assuming is a call tracking number set up. This is probably what the company last week was talking about. The homeowner has the option of calling a specific company directly instead of just putting their contact info out to several contractors.

              "$17 for calls that do land them the job." - I would be extremely surprised on this one. SM is in business to make money and it's highly unlikely they are going to allow a contractor to pay only "if they land the job". .....but, who knows. I would get further clarification on that one if I were you. Maybe it's more like a regular lead costs $7 and an "exclusive" lead is now 2.5 times the amount of the regular lead (instead of the 1.5 times that I mentioned earlier).

              SM get's paid either way. They get a smaller amount if the homeowner just requests a quote. And they get a larger amount if the homeowner proactively contacts a specific contractor directly.

              Bad part for the contractor: There is nothing to stop a homeowner from making multiple "exclusive" contacts with many contractors as they want. Now the contractor is paying even more money for the lead and perhaps still has just as much or more competition as would had the homeowner only just filled out a simple quote request form.

              Make sense?
              Yes that makes a lot of sense now. So according to this list Ge.tt | 9290NXA of service magic prices, this is for shared leads. Meaning that I should be charging 1.5-2x more than what is on this list for an exclusive lead that calls the contractor?
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              • Profile picture of the author shockwave
                Hey, nice list! (I've been looking for this). But yes, in my opinion, even if you charge 1.5 - 2x more than what the lead list price is, you are still offering great value and an exclusive lead to your customer.
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                • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
                  Originally Posted by shockwave View Post

                  Hey, nice list! (I've been looking for this). But yes, in my opinion, even if you charge 1.5 - 2x more than what the lead list price is, you are still offering great value and an exclusive lead to your customer.
                  Good conversation guys...it's very helpful when you concentrate on one niche and you begin to really understand what they do and what the LTV is of the customer. You'll find that your lead price goes up as you gain confidence and ability.

                  Don't forget (and I am sure shockwave will confirm this) - Service Magic charges clients for any old crap they send them. You on the other hand are going to record your calls and filter out anything not genuine AND they are exclusive. To me I'd charge at least 2.5 times what SM charges.
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                  • Profile picture of the author shockwave
                    Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

                    Good conversation guys...it's very helpful when you concentrate on one niche and you begin to really understand what they do and what the LTV is of the customer. You'll find that your lead price goes up as you gain confidence and ability.

                    Don't forget (and I am sure shockwave will confirm this) - Service Magic charges clients for any old crap they send them. You on the other hand are going to record your calls and filter out anything not genuine AND they are exclusive. To me I'd charge at least 2.5 times what SM charges.
                    Yep, Ty is correct. They get charged for anything. The contractor can dispute a lead but it typically ends up being a big waste of time as the disputed lead has to be verified by the SM account manager.

                    Basically, the account manager will try to contact the homeowner directly and see if they indeed were looking for "roofing" and they live in "Knoxville, TN". If it's the right job and right location, then the contractor has to pay...even if they don't get to speak with the customer.

                    And how does SM get around any issues of poor quality leads, credibility, competition....etc? They justify the lead cost by rationalizing a "worse case" scenario:

                    ....."Look Mr. Contractor, think about it this way. Think about the way you currently advertise your business. Let's say over the course of a week, you got 10 phone calls. How many of those do you normally turn into a sale? (most contractors are proud and think they close way more than they really do, so they will say something like 6-8). Wow! 6-8 that's awesome! And what's the typical dollar amount of most of your roofing jobs?...$5k - $10k?? But let's look at it from a worse case scenario and say you only closed 2 or 3".

                    "Now, Mr. Contractor, If each roofing lead costs you $35 and you get 10 of them over the course of a week, you've spent $350 right? So even if you only closed 1 out of the 10 leads I sent you (for whatever reason), you would STILL be making money right?"

                    BTW, I'm not trying to make SM a bad guy here because I think that is the way you SHOULD be justifying/rationalizing this sort of business model. However, you bring more value if you offer the exclusivity AND only count legit calls as Ty has laid out.

                    In fact, you can probably start just using SM as your lead source!

                    On a side note, if you look at any Contractor forum, you will find that most contractors hate SM and other lead services while only a very small percentage will have anything positive to say. IMHO, it's really not the leads or SM. It's that the largest majority of contractors are these little 1-man-shows that are already living paycheck to paycheck and can't really afford marketing to begin with, so they believe that unless they close the lead then it's s$#t! Forget the fact that they show up to do a bid smelling like they just came from the bar and/or look like they haven't bathed themselves in a week! lol!

                    ....you won't find many large, well-established contractors that buy leads from SM complaining about them. They understand the business side of things and they understand lead generation.

                    So, to bring this rant back around full circle, it goes back to what Ty said earlier. Don't waste your time with small time operators. Go for more established businesses that have a solid foundation and understand marketing.
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      • Profile picture of the author EMaria
        Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post


        You are absolutely right about the quality of the clients. I usually only deal with companies doing $1M++. Typically they have their s&*t together and convert sales. You can always try calling and see how they answer the phone. If the owner is on the roof or whatever answering his phone you might want to pass.
        Hello Ty. How do you go about finding out if a company does $1M++? The only (free) resource I am aware of is Manta.
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  • Profile picture of the author godinu
    Just to clarify how this works:
    is this correct?
    you have a phone number which, when someone calls, it is automatically recorded and also forwarded to a client you have prearranged a deal with. Later on, you go back and check the recordings and send the client back a list/recordings as proof of the number of valid leads sent.

    you'd also mentioned you got the clients first. so were you just shooting in the dark offering leads which you did not as yet have, or did you experiment with lead gen before this?

    thanks much for sharing everything.. many blessings and successes to you.
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by godinu View Post

      Just to clarify how this works:
      is this correct?
      you have a phone number which, when someone calls, it is automatically recorded and also forwarded to a client you have prearranged a deal with. Later on, you go back and check the recordings and send the client back a list/recordings as proof of the number of valid leads sent.

      you'd also mentioned you got the clients first. so were you just shooting in the dark offering leads which you did not as yet have, or did you experiment with lead gen before this?

      thanks much for sharing everything.. many blessings and successes to you.
      You have it right. I am not really shooting in the dark as I have had a look at ppc and know that I can generate some leads. Also they are not expecting too much as they have only committed to paying for leads.
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  • Profile picture of the author HalfSwede
    I'm trying to learn all I can about leadgen and have looked (and bought) some of the WSOs. Question...

    The WSO by Peter Maxwell uses PPC to send leads to a mini-web site with a free report. To get the free report web site visitor would need to enter their name, email, and phone in an AWeber form. Client would then follow-up on these leads, with the assumption they are at least 'warm' leads since they clicked on the ad for the free report and actually were willing to enter their contact information.

    Ty, your approach seems slightly different in that instead of a form used for collecting contact information you are using a service like Callfire to direct phone calls directly to the client.

    So, are these two approach mutually exclusive, or would you have an AWeber form and a Callfire phone number? If they are mutually exclusive, does anyone have experience with both and can say that one approach is better at converting than the other?

    Cheers,
    HalfSwede
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    • Profile picture of the author shockwave
      Originally Posted by HalfSwede View Post

      I'm trying to learn all I can about leadgen and have looked (and bought) some of the WSOs. Question...

      The WSO by Peter Maxwell uses PPC to send leads to a mini-web site with a free report. To get the free report web site visitor would need to enter their name, email, and phone in an AWeber form. Client would then follow-up on these leads, with the assumption they are at least 'warm' leads since they clicked on the ad for the free report and actually were willing to enter their contact information.

      Ty, your approach seems slightly different in that instead of a form used for collecting contact information you are using a service like Callfire to direct phone calls directly to the client.

      So, are these two approach mutually exclusive, or would you have an AWeber form and a Callfire phone number? If they are mutually exclusive, does anyone have experience with both and can say that one approach is better at converting than the other?

      Cheers,
      HalfSwede
      Hey HalfSwede,

      I do not have the experience that Ty has, but for one site I recently did, I used a phone number and a quote form - both trackable. For this website, I'm just charging a flat rate rental amount (not per lead).

      However, with my next lead gen site, I'm going to do both and charge according to what type of lead. It will be for 1 niche, but if it's a phone call, it will cost more than the email lead.

      IMO, a call is worth more than an email because the potential customer is being pro-active in their pursuit whereas an email is more passive.
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by HalfSwede View Post

      I'm trying to learn all I can about leadgen and have looked (and bought) some of the WSOs. Question...

      The WSO by Peter Maxwell uses PPC to send leads to a mini-web site with a free report. To get the free report web site visitor would need to enter their name, email, and phone in an AWeber form. Client would then follow-up on these leads, with the assumption they are at least 'warm' leads since they clicked on the ad for the free report and actually were willing to enter their contact information.

      Ty, your approach seems slightly different in that instead of a form used for collecting contact information you are using a service like Callfire to direct phone calls directly to the client.

      So, are these two approach mutually exclusive, or would you have an AWeber form and a Callfire phone number? If they are mutually exclusive, does anyone have experience with both and can say that one approach is better at converting than the other?

      Cheers,
      HalfSwede
      It really depends what niche you are in. If you are working with emergency plumbers, a form won't work. It will work for niches with longer sales cycles though.
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  • Profile picture of the author bsnrjones
    Ty and others.... what are you doing to rank your lead gen sites quickly?

    I am just starting out....have a friend that already is buying leads, and will buy them from me as well - just need to get my sites ranking.

    Here is what I am planning:

    1. Find all the local business directories for the cities I can, and get a listing there.
    2. Hire someone on Fiverr to build a 10-15 site link pyramid/wheel for me. Flood the sites in the wheel with links.
    3. Do a few AMR distributions linking to my home page directly.

    Rinse and repeat until I am ranking.

    Any thoughts from those that have "been there done that"???
    Signature

    *** Do you need leads for you insurance agency? We generated telemarketed leads all over the country. Shoot me a PM and we can from there! ****

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  • Profile picture of the author Russel Mogul
    Thanks for the swift and informative post Ty. I would look forward to buying the "insider secret secrets to lead gen asset building" . I have signed up to your newsletter and well I hope one day after I set up my direct mail/copywriting biz I can add a lead generation company to the empire.
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by Russel Mogul View Post

      Thanks for the swift and informative post Ty. I would look forward to buying the "insider secret secrets to lead gen asset building" . I have signed up to your newsletter and well I hope one day after I set up my direct mail/copywriting biz I can add a lead generation company to the empire.
      Insider secret secrets! I like that...
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      • Profile picture of the author MRomeo09
        Ty gets it. It's about control. I'm with you on this one brother. I can't stand clients telling me what to do. I prefer to be in control and living and dying by the sword. You have that absolutely right.

        Plus the money can be quite good.

        I also think you have the right focus with sites that are more than just one page. They should look, smell and taste like a real site(only better).

        I also agree that you should be constantly tweaking for conversions, as THAT's how you really get paid and most people ignore that part of the business even though it's one of the most important parts.

        Good post, although I only kind of skimmed the rest of the questions and answers.

        Marcos
        Signature
        We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up ... discovering we have the strength to stare it down. - Eleanor Roosevelt

        Your opinion of yourself becomes your reality. If you have all these doubts, then no one will believe in you and everything will go wrong. If you think the opposite, the opposite will happen. It’s that simple.-Curtis Jackson- 50 Cent
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        • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
          Originally Posted by MRomeo09 View Post

          Ty gets it. It's about control. I'm with you on this one brother. I can't stand clients telling me what to do. I prefer to be in control and living and dying by the sword. You have that absolutely right.

          Plus the money can be quite good.

          I also think you have the right focus with sites that are more than just one page. They should look, smell and taste like a real site(only better).

          I also agree that you should be constantly tweaking for conversions, as THAT's how you really get paid and most people ignore that part of the business even though it's one of the most important parts.

          Good post, although I only kind of skimmed the rest of the questions and answers.

          Marcos
          Thanks Marcos. It has partly been your posts that have inspired me to focus on my current business model.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sitiohost9
    Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

    WARNING - this is long but hopefully worth it...

    I've been working with clients for a number of years by doing SEO and marketing for them amongst other things. While it's some good, reasonably easy money I've decided to focus on lead generation completely. To me it is a near perfect business.

    This post is to perhaps shorten the learning curve of others just starting out or just starting to realize that maybe being an offline 'consultant' is not all that it is cracked up to be.

    These are in ascending order of importance to me...

    Lead Generation Is An Easy Sell

    It's a heck of a lot easier to convince somebody to give you $30 for a real lead than it is to convince somebody to give you $1,500 per month (or whatever). Since they are only paying for results it's an easier sell. You don't need references or testimonials really. You just need to be able to confidently get your message out that you can drive new leads.

    Lead Generation Let's You Build it how You Want To Build It

    Ever had a client tell you that the white text on black background converts better? Or that a lead capture will never work in their industry?

    Now you can make the site how you want to make it. You live and die by the sword. I like that.

    Lead Generation Removes A Lot Of Pressure And Annoying Clients

    One thing I hate about working with clients is their high expectations. They expect to get #1 rankings in 3 days even though I've told them what to expect. Heck - it might even be my own fault. Perhaps I've created false expectations when selling because I want the sale so bad. It's in my blood.

    It doesn't matter what the reason is - I just don't want to do it any longer so I am not going to.

    With lead generation there is no real pressure except the pressure you create on yourself. If you generate leads; you get paid. If you don't, you don't. You don't get calls every 2 days wondering 'what's going on'.

    Lead Generation Proves Your Worth

    It's great to land a big contract. I've certainly landed my share and they are nice for paying the bills but I always worry if the other party will see the worth. It's not to say that the worth isn't there - it's whether they realize it.

    It's amazing how people will cut marketing that provides an ROI when times are tight simply because it looks like a big expense.

    It's easy to prove your worth at $30 per lead or whatever (as long as you are sending good leads).

    Lead Generation Sets You Up For Long Term Profits

    If you are doing strictly SEO then often times clients will dump you when they begin ranking. I know, I know you can tell them that their sites will slide (and they will) but the erosion is often so slow that it might actually be to their advantage to do this.

    After all, they get 100 emails a day offering SEO so if their site begins to slide do you think they will come back to you with their tail between their legs? Maybe but I don't like to bank my business on a maybe.

    Lead Generation Is Fast

    It's not too hard to get a new client, build a website and begin generating leads in the same week. I always start out with PPC because it shows results (and profits) quickly. It also helps me make sure the customer is not a flake before spending time/money on SEO. Use an Adwords coupon wisely to get started.

    Lead Generation Provides A Great ROI

    If you do your research right and approach the right client then you can make big money doing lead generation. You might start off spending $20 to acquire a lead and selling it for $30. But once the SEO kicks in and you get your PPC costs lowered by upping your quality score, split testing etc and you get traffic from other sources like Craigslist then you can get the $20 cost down to $5 or so (as an example).

    So now you are making $25 per lead. 1 lead per day is $750 per month. 2 leads per day is $1,500 per month.

    Lead Generation Provides Monthly Income

    I don't think I need to explain why you need this and why lead generation accomplishes this.

    Lead Generation Is Infinitely Scalable And Repeatable

    Let's say you do lead generation for a catering company in L.A. You build a site that works, test and tweak everything to get to a profit of $40 per lead. Everybody is happy. Best of all you can virtually now copy this same campaign in San Francisco or wherever. Sure you are starting all over again with a new client but you can begin making more money all most immediately.

    Lead Generation Puts You In Control

    Don't like your client's voice on the phone? Fire him and get a new client in days. More likely the issue will be that you don't get paid on time or the client is a jerk. It's pretty easy to fire that client and get a new one when you can provide screenshots showing all of the leads you have generated in the past weeks/months.

    Lead Generation Provides Near Passive Income (Once It's Build)

    Once you get your site and PPC traffic tested and tweaked and your site SEO'd then the income is almost auto pilot. Sure you have to continue to backlink and monitor your PPC but you can outsource both easily. Once it's built all you really have to do is provide the tracking once per week and whack the credit card you have on file.

    Lead Generation - Conclusion

    Of course nothing is 100% dead simple but if you have any IM skills then you might agree that this type of thing is well worth setting up.

    Any average trades client in a city of any size should be worth $1,500 or more to you each month (after a few months of SEO, tweaking etc). 10 clients = $15,000 per month without a great deal of work once everything has built.

    You may not be in a postion to move your business 100% towards lead generation but if I were you I'd start sooner rather than later.

    Lead Generation - FORGOT ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ONES!

    I forgot to mention building your own business instead of somebody else's. If you want to sell your business (or pieces of your business) down the road then this is a much better model.
    Hi,

    Good and nice post. Keep posting. thanks for the useful information.
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  • Profile picture of the author ollandkece
    I am a total newbie....I know what Aweber is, but thats about it. I'll start reading.
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  • Profile picture of the author LifeIsGood
    I concur.
    Thanks for the helpful outline.
    Looks like you've put an awful lot of thought and passion behind this.

    LifeIsGood ~ It's About To Get Even Better!
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  • Profile picture of the author peter360
    Doing lead generation is a great idea, if you find the right clients it may work wonderfully. However, I am thinking that you do not have a recurring income coming in every month. If you generate leads you got money coming in, but if you do not, you get no money. So, if one day Google closes your account or your lead gen sites fall in rankings you have no business left.
    It is good to have a lead gen business, but in the same time, it is also good to offer some services that bring recurring income (website hosting, mobile website hosting, Aweber management, SMS management, YouTube video channel management, Facebook management, reputation management, etc...) If you charge $30-$50 a month and you have 100 customers you have a full time income every month.
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    • Profile picture of the author terip
      Originally Posted by peter360 View Post

      Doing lead generation is a great idea, if you find the right clients it may work wonderfully. However, I am thinking that you do not have a recurring income coming in every month. If you generate leads you got money coming in, but if you do not, you get no money. So, if one day Google closes your account or your lead gen sites fall in rankings you have no business left.
      It is good to have a lead gen business, but in the same time, it is also good to offer some services that bring recurring income (website hosting, mobile website hosting, Aweber management, SMS management, YouTube video channel management, Facebook management, reputation management, etc...) If you charge - a month and you have 100 customers you have a full time income every month.
      I totally agree with you. In my opinion, leads are more... everlasting, than regular walk-in clients.
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    • Profile picture of the author MRomeo09
      Originally Posted by peter360 View Post

      Doing lead generation is a great idea, if you find the right clients it may work wonderfully. However, I am thinking that you do not have a recurring income coming in every month. If you generate leads you got money coming in, but if you do not, you get no money. So, if one day Google closes your account or your lead gen sites fall in rankings you have no business left.
      It is good to have a lead gen business, but in the same time, it is also good to offer some services that bring recurring income (website hosting, mobile website hosting, Aweber management, SMS management, YouTube video channel management, Facebook management, reputation management, etc...) If you charge $30-$50 a month and you have 100 customers you have a full time income every month.
      Ummmmm how would that even be possible? You DO have recurring income coming in every month. Yes of course it's variable but that in and of itself is not a bad thing. In my experience the traffic can vary as much as 30% from month to month. But, to think that Google is going to magically take it all away doesn't make any sense.

      You have to understand from Google's perspective you're not doing anything wrong(other than I guess doing effective SEO). What Google wants is for their customers to be happy with their results. If they look for a plumber, they want to get to a real plumbers website. The website should be pleasing to the customer and deliver the content that the customer wants, which is EXACTLY what we do.

      Plus you are kind of missing the point of the income possibilities here. It's not very difficult to find a niche where clients will pay you $30-50 per lead and you can generate anywhere from 20-50 leads per month.

      I've never seen a business model be as profitable as lead generation, other than perhaps licensing, which is a different thing altogether.

      Marcos
      Signature
      We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up ... discovering we have the strength to stare it down. - Eleanor Roosevelt

      Your opinion of yourself becomes your reality. If you have all these doubts, then no one will believe in you and everything will go wrong. If you think the opposite, the opposite will happen. It’s that simple.-Curtis Jackson- 50 Cent
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  • Profile picture of the author Finance123
    I really think that SEO market is really going well. I have really got some good budget to make it from. Gr8 tools to have. It's awesome man. I hope i would get rich goon )
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    • Profile picture of the author MRomeo09
      One last point that the dissent was missing. You're missing out of massive potential earnings increases when you're not in control.

      If you have a client who is a straight up client paying you $30-50 like you propose, what does it take to get that person to pay you 3x that amount of money for the exact same work? Pretty difficult right?

      Yet that's what happens all the time when you're doing lead gen.

      My team concentrates on conversions rather than traffic and it's not uncommon for us to triple the revenue for most clients in six months. I.e. they start off paying around $1k a month for services, and then in six months they are at $3k a month.

      That's the beauty of lead gen. Plus if you get creative you can make money off of leads from a ton of different sources, not just straight up SEO. You can be active or as passive as you want to be.

      I'm going out of the country til the new year starting tomorrow, yet I'll still get paid. It's a beautiful thing.

      Marcos
      Signature
      We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up ... discovering we have the strength to stare it down. - Eleanor Roosevelt

      Your opinion of yourself becomes your reality. If you have all these doubts, then no one will believe in you and everything will go wrong. If you think the opposite, the opposite will happen. It’s that simple.-Curtis Jackson- 50 Cent
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      • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
        Originally Posted by MRomeo09 View Post

        One last point that the dissent was missing. You're missing out of massive potential earnings increases when you're not in control.

        If you have a client who is a straight up client paying you $30-50 like you propose, what does it take to get that person to pay you 3x that amount of money for the exact same work? Pretty difficult right?

        Yet that's what happens all the time when you're doing lead gen.

        My team concentrates on conversions rather than traffic and it's not uncommon for us to triple the revenue for most clients in six months. I.e. they start off paying around $1k a month for services, and then in six months they are at $3k a month.

        That's the beauty of lead gen. Plus if you get creative you can make money off of leads from a ton of different sources, not just straight up SEO. You can be active or as passive as you want to be.

        I'm going out of the country til the new year starting tomorrow, yet I'll still get paid. It's a beautiful thing.

        Marcos
        Thanks for stepping in here Marcos..I couldn't agree more (I credit a lot of your information for pointing me in the right direction in my business).
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        • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
          Want a simple way to do lead generation that almost nobody is doing?

          Go through your local paper and cut out the ads. Maybe pick a car dealer or a dentist or whatever.

          Approach them and tell them that you want them to change the ad slightly (no charge) to direct people to a special webpage that you'll create for them no charge.

          Let's say it's the car dealer...

          set up a website like:

          howtogetthebestdealonausedcarinnowhereidaho.com

          or whatever. Put up a lead gen page that offers a free report on how to get the best deal on a used car in nowhere idaho. In order to get the report the visitor has to opt-in, including their phone number.

          Put the offer (and a QR code) on the ad. Offer the dealer $10 for every lead that comes in off of this system. That's low but they are paying for the ad after all. Make $500? a month off of their advertising.

          Rinse and repeat in neighboring towns. As long as they keep running the ad, you get paid.

          Why wouldn't they do this? There's no risk on their part. Why wouldn't you do this? Easy money. NOTHING TO DO WITH GOOGLE.

          Once things are going well, make a second website and drive ppc traffic to it. Charge $25 for these leads. Or run your own ads in the paper and charge $25 per lead.

          As Marcos says, it's all about conversions. You can double your income with each client by changing the opt-in rate from 2% to 4%.

          Make another site for senior car buyers in nowhere Idaho. Run an ad in a senior publication.
          Make another site for college student car buyers in nowhere Idaho. Run an ad in the college paper.

          Google is not the end all and be all.
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          • Profile picture of the author YellowGreenMedia
            Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

            Want a simple way to do lead generation that almost nobody is doing?

            Go through your local paper and cut out the ads. Maybe pick a car dealer or a dentist or whatever.

            Approach them and tell them that you want them to change the ad slightly (no charge) to direct people to a special webpage that you'll create for them no charge.

            Let's say it's the car dealer...

            set up a website like:

            howtogetthebestdealonausedcarinnowhereidaho.com

            or whatever. Put up a lead gen page that offers a free report on how to get the best deal on a used car in nowhere idaho. In order to get the report the visitor has to opt-in, including their phone number.

            Put the offer (and a QR code) on the ad. Offer the dealer $10 for every lead that comes in off of this system. That's low but they are paying for the ad after all. Make $500? a month off of their advertising.

            Rinse and repeat in neighboring towns. As long as they keep running the ad, you get paid.

            Why wouldn't they do this? There's no risk on their part. Why wouldn't you do this? Easy money. NOTHING TO DO WITH GOOGLE.

            Once things are going well, make a second website and drive ppc traffic to it. Charge $25 for these leads. Or run your own ads in the paper and charge $25 per lead.

            As Marcos says, it's all about conversions. You can double your income with each client by changing the opt-in rate from 2% to 4%.

            Make another site for senior car buyers in nowhere Idaho. Run an ad in a senior publication.
            Make another site for college student car buyers in nowhere Idaho. Run an ad in the college paper.

            Google is not the end all and be all.

            Great thread and thanks for all your info, it is really helpful, but this is something i don't understand, why would a business have you create a website for a news paper ad, when they already have their business number on the ad anyway.

            So why would he pay you to have their ads changed and make the way for the costumer longer then just calling the business in the first place

            I hope i make any sense lol, i am still recovering from 2 weeks of flue
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  • Profile picture of the author Jordainyo
    Hi Ty,

    What is your strategy with Google places? How do you capture leads from Google places when Google expects you to use a legitimate address and the clients real phone number?

    I'd love to be able to capture leads from the places listing but in the end I'm guessing the best we can do is to offer it as an upsell and charge a monthly fee?... I hate doing this because I love pure lead generation rather than monthly fees.
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by Jordainyo View Post

      Hi Ty,

      What is your strategy with Google places? How do you capture leads from Google places when Google expects you to use a legitimate address and the clients real phone number?

      I'd love to be able to capture leads from the places listing but in the end I'm guessing the best we can do is to offer it as an upsell and charge a monthly fee?... I hate doing this because I love pure lead generation rather than monthly fees.
      A tracking # is a tracking #, no big deal there. I typically use a UPS store for the address or some large building downtown. It's totally legit that you could have a billing address there. Some people definitely won't like doing it like this so I say don't do it then - stick to ppc.

      Most businesses I work with don't have a storefront so the address really doesn't matter in that regard.

      The trick is building a ton of citations before submitting to Google. Once Google catches on to these citations it will build a blank places page which you can claim and then postcard verification is not necessary (caveat - I have only done this part a few times so I don't know if it works all of the time).

      If you really can't get a places listing then do PPC and long tail searches that don't trigger maps. Once you are cozy with the client you could use his home address for a listing.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jordainyo
        Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

        A tracking # is a tracking #, no big deal there. I typically use a UPS store for the address or some large building downtown. It's totally legit that you could have a billing address there. Some people definitely won't like doing it like this so I say don't do it then - stick to ppc.

        Most businesses I work with don't have a storefront so the address really doesn't matter in that regard.

        The trick is building a ton of citations before submitting to Google. Once Google catches on to these citations it will build a blank places page which you can claim and then postcard verification is not necessary (caveat - I have only done this part a few times so I don't know if it works all of the time).

        If you really can't get a places listing then do PPC and long tail searches that don't trigger maps. Once you are cozy with the client you could use his home address for a listing.
        wow, that citations trick is gold, never thought of that before. Thank you sir.
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      • Profile picture of the author SirThomas
        Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post


        The trick is building a ton of citations before submitting to Google. Once Google catches on to these citations it will build a blank places page which you can claim and then postcard verification is not necessary (caveat - I have only done this part a few times so I don't know if it works all of the time).
        Have you tried that recently in the U.S.? Just curious... I know, in the past, unclaimed listings were easy pickings, but I haven't tried that in a long time...


        Thomas
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        • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
          Originally Posted by SirThomas View Post

          Have you tried that recently in the U.S.? Just curious... I know, in the past, unclaimed listings were easy pickings, but I haven't tried that in a long time...


          Thomas
          I tried it again recently but it hasn't shown up yet. I'll keep you posted.
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          • Profile picture of the author ed1705
            I have a few problems with this approach.

            You say you try go for a conversion rate of about 1 in 5. That's 20%. Thats almost impossible. Realistic PPC conversion rates will be around 3-5%. So you are at best only going to break even and only make money once you have your website ranked.

            I also think Google Places is a VERY BIG thing!

            B2B is very hard to get hold of the owners.

            BIGGEST CONCERN - SOCIAL MEDIA ----- As time goes on Google is making social media more and more important to ranking on Google. Maybe not yet but in the future I think you will need to have a strong presence on Social Media Platforms to rank well on Google.
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            • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
              Originally Posted by ed1705 View Post

              I have a few problems with this approach.

              You say you try go for a conversion rate of about 1 in 5. That's 20%. Thats almost impossible. Realistic PPC conversion rates will be around 3-5%. So you are at best only going to break even and only make money once you have your website ranked.

              I also think Google Places is a VERY BIG thing!

              B2B is very hard to get hold of the owners.

              BIGGEST CONCERN - SOCIAL MEDIA ----- As time goes on Google is making social media more and more important to ranking on Google. Maybe not yet but in the future I think you will need to have a strong presence on Social Media Platforms to rank well on Google.
              I keep saying it but you don't need to rely on Google. If you can only get 3-5% to convert but it's free traffic (from somewhere other than Google) then you are still doing ok.

              And what if you were able to get $100/lead (very possible in some B2B markets) and pay $2/click? At your conversion rates you'd still make some very good money.
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              • Profile picture of the author ed1705
                Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

                I keep saying it but you don't need to rely on Google. If you can only get 3-5% to convert but it's free traffic (from somewhere other than Google) then you are still doing ok.

                And what if you were able to get $100/lead (very possible in some B2B markets) and pay $2/click? At your conversion rates you'd still make some very good money.
                FREE TRAFFIC??? From where?
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      • Profile picture of the author TimothyW
        Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

        A tracking # is a tracking #, no big deal there. I typically use a UPS store for the address or some large building downtown. It's totally legit that you could have a billing address there. Some people definitely won't like doing it like this so I say don't do it then - stick to ppc.

        Most businesses I work with don't have a storefront so the address really doesn't matter in that regard.

        The trick is building a ton of citations before submitting to Google. Once Google catches on to these citations it will build a blank places page which you can claim and then postcard verification is not necessary (caveat - I have only done this part a few times so I don't know if it works all of the time).

        If you really can't get a places listing then do PPC and long tail searches that don't trigger maps. Once you are cozy with the client you could use his home address for a listing.

        How do you build citations?
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  • Profile picture of the author Jordainyo
    Just read that google is cracking down on UPS boxes lately... I think I'll go with a big building downtown that houses office space. With this office space scenario how could they possibly think that wasn't legitimate? I'm still concerned about needing postcard verification... but I'll trust you and give it a go... there's only one way to find out for sure...
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by Jordainyo View Post

      Just read that google is cracking down on UPS boxes lately... I think I'll go with a big building downtown that houses office space. With this office space scenario how could they possibly think that wasn't legitimate? I'm still concerned about needing postcard verification... but I'll trust you and give it a go... there's only one way to find out for sure...
      Don't trust me..I am just a dude with a lousy avatar. Trust yourself - learn to think outside the box.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jordainyo
    I guess I could wait until I secured a client and then use his address but use my phone number... that seems kind of unethical though because then its more like its his actual google listing. Thats his asset, not mine.
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  • Profile picture of the author dkbiz92
    your method slightly confuses me. You send traffic to one of your sites first and they sign up through you creating "your lead"? How do you get clients and can you use this method without creating another website?
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by dkbiz92 View Post

      your method slightly confuses me. You send traffic to one of your sites first and they sign up through you creating "your lead"? How do you get clients and can you use this method without creating another website?
      It's easy to reach out to clients when you can say 'I have 2 free referrals for you. The only thing I require is that you give me 10 minutes to show you what this is all about'. That's if you are getting the client first.

      I absolutely create a new website - I own it. And I create more than 1.
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      • Profile picture of the author ed1705
        Hi, Do you outsource any of the SEO? If so what is an average per month you pay for a good SEO service?
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        • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
          Originally Posted by ed1705 View Post

          Hi, Do you outsource any of the SEO? If so what is an average per month you pay for a good SEO service?
          I only outsource content and links so it really varies depending on the project - I don't use an all-in-one SEO service.
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          • Profile picture of the author epark732
            Hi,

            I've read through this whole thread and it has been quite enlightening. I completely agree that lead gen is the way to go for all of the reasons listed in the OP. I have 25 sites in the same niche that are all targeted to different cities that I have been doing seo on for a few months now. My original plan was to rank them on the first page and then rent them out to someone for a monthly fee. However, after reading through this I am absolutely going to make a few small tweaks and turn them into lead generation sites. This way, if for some reason they go down to page 2 or whatever there is no problem with the client who is renting the site because they are not paying you to be on page 1, but rather only for leads generated through the site. The power and control is yours, not theirs.

            Anyway, I really think this is the way to go but was just wondering a few things...

            The only problem I can see is determining what is actually a "Lead" and is therefore billable, and what is not. A lot of this will come down to explaining this to the client before you enter into this type of business relationship.

            1. If someone calls through the number on the site(which is then forwarded to the business) and the business answers and they set up an appointment or whatever then obviously its a lead. But what if they call and leave a message, then the business calls them back and they have a conversation. We will know that a message was left but will we be able to know whether or not the business called them back and set an appointment up?

            2. Lets say the site targets " profession Chicago" and the business gets a call from the site but once the caller realizes the business is all the way across town they are not willing to travel that far. Because our site does not have an address on it, because it is a lead gen site and not actually branded for a particular business, it seems this could happen quite often. Would you still count this as a lead and chalk it up to them not being able to get the lead into their practice?

            Ty, do you have any examples in writing of what you determine to be leads and not to be leads, that you may share with potential clients? I understand if you don't want to share them as they are yours, but would be curious to see an example none the less.

            As I said, this is the business model to go with. However, it is very important to have all of the little details completely ironed out so that everything runs as smoothly as possible. Determining what is a billable lead and what is not is crucial to making this work properly.

            Thanks,

            Eric
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  • Profile picture of the author Finance123
    the conversation is really going gr8. the best thing for your SEO business is really getting some better PR and dofollow link.
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  • Profile picture of the author intimastery
    Ty,

    Thanks for a great thread!

    Actually I'm interested in your criteria for a "qualified lead" as well, since for the model to be hands off you have to make sure you don't spend hours on account management with clients - the billing criteria should be clear and set apriori.

    Do you define a lead as any call that is neither a wrong number nor an appointment confirmation, or are there other disqualifying conditions?

    For instance, what about calls from a number that has called before (e.g. if they just saved your forwarding-number and keep using it to contact the office)?

    What about people who try to sell something to the business, instead of buying something from them? Etc.

    Thanks!
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    • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
      Originally Posted by intimastery View Post

      Ty,

      Thanks for a great thread!

      Actually I'm interested in your criteria for a "qualified lead" as well, since for the model to be hands off you have to make sure you don't spend hours on account management with clients - the billing criteria should be clear and set apriori.

      Do you define a lead as any call that is neither a wrong number nor an appointment confirmation, or are there other disqualifying conditions?

      For instance, what about calls from a number that has called before (e.g. if they just saved your forwarding-number and keep using it to contact the office)?

      What about people who try to sell something to the business, instead of buying something from them? Etc.

      Thanks!
      Just listen to the calls and weed this stuff out. It only takes a 30-60 seconds per call to figure out if it is legit. I wouldn't charge for any of the ones you described.

      If you charge $50 per lead then you only need 100 leads per week to make a very good living (even at a 50% profit margin you are still way over $100K). 60 seconds times 100 leads per week = 1 hour 40 minutes. No big deal. And you could easily hire a VA to do it when you get to this point.

      You should actually do it for a while anyway. It is both funny and revealing to see how the phones are answered (or not). It gives you a great insight into what the company and their customers both go through.

      Interestingly too, listening to these calls is also good keyword research. It helps you get in the mind of your customers customer.
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  • Profile picture of the author Webbiz12
    Does anyone know if there has been any offers for a business in a box showing how to do offline lead generation. Im really impressed with this thread and the advice given but pretty much a newbie at this.

    God Bless
    John
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    • Profile picture of the author Mister Natural
      Thanks Ty great thread,,

      As far as Adwords PPC goes,
      Do you control where your ads appear, for instance on the right column of
      Google Serp's?

      I would think allowing your ads to appear on websites would not be as productive and possibly wasted clicks.

      Good stuff !
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      • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
        Originally Posted by Mister Natural View Post

        Thanks Ty great thread,,

        As far as Adwords PPC goes,
        Do you control where your ads appear, for instance on the right column of
        Google Serp's?

        I would think allowing your ads to appear on websites would not be as productive and possibly wasted clicks.

        Good stuff !
        Mostly I do search adwords ads yes. I haven't done a very good job of placement ads but I think they could work well in some markets.
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  • Profile picture of the author Intermission
    I had a meeting today with a window and door company, to do some of their SEO and online marketing. They said at one time they were purchasing leads from someplace that isn't around anymore, but they paid $1200 per year and they were on a rotation for leads with some of their competitors.

    I ended up in this thread because I thought I would learn how to build and run a lead gen site and help provide this company more leads while also building a business model that I could use to diversify my income.

    I'm wondering what some of you may think about the 'pay per year' fee model?

    And thanks for this great thread.
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    • Profile picture of the author rushindo
      Originally Posted by Intermission View Post

      I had a meeting today with a window and door company, to do some of their SEO and online marketing. They said at one time they were purchasing leads from someplace that isn't around anymore, but they paid $1200 per year and they were on a rotation for leads with some of their competitors.

      I ended up in this thread because I thought I would learn how to build and run a lead gen site and help provide this company more leads while also building a business model that I could use to diversify my income.

      I'm wondering what some of you may think about the 'pay per year' fee model?

      And thanks for this great thread.
      If you are going to be generating leads using Google Adwords, an annual fee is not a good idea. You don't know how much you will have to spend throughout the year.

      Let's say you charge $2,000 per year. The most you will probably want to spend is $1,000 on Google Adwords throughout the year. You don't want this limitation.

      If you use SEO, its a different story because you probably have little to no ongoing costs.

      Charging by the month would be better. Take whatever they give you and spend a percentage on PPC. If they like the ROI, they can pay more the next month and you can spend more on PPC.

      Or do like the OP and sell each lead.

      Brandon
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  • Profile picture of the author Intermission
    Thanks Brandon. I wasn't thinking PPC, just SEO. I do prefer charging monthly too and I like your suggestion of using a portion of it for PPC.
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  • Profile picture of the author MorpheusMirror
    Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post


    Lead Generation Removes A Lot Of Pressure And Annoying Clients

    One thing I hate about working with clients is their high expectations. They expect to get #1 rankings in 3 days even though I've told them what to expect. Heck - it might even be my own fault. Perhaps I've created false expectations when selling because I want the sale so bad. It's in my blood.

    It doesn't matter what the reason is - I just don't want to do it any longer so I am not going to.

    With lead generation there is no real pressure except the pressure you create on yourself. If you generate leads; you get paid. If you don't, you don't. You don't get calls every 2 days wondering 'what's going on'.
    I build into my contracts a headache clause for idiot clients saying I can fire them, but it becomes difficult to do. Lead Gen is making more and more sense everyday. Thanks for the post.:rolleyes:
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  • Profile picture of the author mraffiliate
    Great post TY,

    It's like you read my mind. I'm converting over to build lead generation sites that I control instead of me doing so much work to make other people's sites successful and then they stop paying, thinking they don't need SEO any longer.

    I'm still ranking local business web sites in the SERP's but I'm reinvesting all the money into the necessary tools I need to make a go at lead generation.

    I chuckle every time I see courses promoting offline marketing when they state that businesses will be knocking down your door to give you money and that offline consulting is as easy as peasy.

    People are people regardless if they own a business or not.
    Signature

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    • Profile picture of the author 512 Designs
      This is a great thread.

      I read through all the posts on this thread and one question I have hasn't been asked.

      From what I understand a lead will call the number on your site which starts the recording. Then the call gets forwarded to your client. Is the call still being recorded at that time? Will you hear the conversation between the lead and your client as well?

      Does Google Voice provide this type of service?

      Thanks.

      Mike
      Signature
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      Existing PLR CONTENT Into CASH MONEY
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      • Profile picture of the author dsprank
        Originally Posted by 512 Designs View Post

        This is a great thread.

        I read through all the posts on this thread and one question I have hasn't been asked.

        From what I understand a lead will call the number on your site which starts the recording. Then the call gets forwarded to your client. Is the call still being recorded at that time? Will you hear the conversation between the lead and your client as well?

        Does Google Voice provide this type of service?

        Thanks.

        Mike
        Google voice only can record if the party that is being called hits the right button to be recorded. Then you hear a beep every ten or twenty seconds.
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        • Profile picture of the author jayspann
          Originally Posted by dsprank View Post

          Google voice only can record if the party that is being called hits the right button to be recorded. Then you hear a beep every ten or twenty seconds.
          I used a service called Who's Calling. We used it at the dealer group I use to work at and I knew the rep so that's what I went with.

          It looks like its more expensive then some of the other services so I might look into some of those.

          I normally just looked at the report that the service provides and work out total number of calls that month over ave min per call and threw out the ones on the low end and on the high end and charged them for the rest.

          I think in most verticals that if they are on the phone for 1.5 to 2 min its a good lead. Sometimes there are calls that end up being close to an hour. I feel sorry for the client and don't charge for those either.

          It's not about ringing every drop of money you can from a client... it's about developing win/win RELATIONSHIPS. If you take care of your clients they WILL take care of you!

          Before I sold my offline business I would drop by clients at least once a month if not every week. Take coffee or donuts... older clients like hard candy and ask how the leads are. Ask if you can help them convert the leads better. Offer phone etiquette tips... I've even took calls so the call center people can hear how I handle calls.

          You think my clients would drop me for some SEO offer they keep getting via email? Be a partner to your clients not just someone they have to pay for something once a month.

          There is NO competition along the extra mile!

          Jay
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  • Profile picture of the author mrelk159
    very insightful post
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  • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
    I have a friend that is involved pretty heavily in doing lead generation. Strangely enough he prefers selling the leads/site rentals over actually doing the SEO. He's looking for a partner (50/50) and I just have too much going on.

    If anybody here has sites that are ALREADY ranking and getting decent traffic but they can't sell the leads/rent the site then please pm me with examples and if appropriate I will forward your information on.
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  • Profile picture of the author jspmedia
    any ppc tips? I did few roofing and plumbing lead generating but ppc cost too much..$7-$10 per click and you selling leads around $30..

    I have connection with contractor who will happy to pay $30 per lead all day long..
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  • Profile picture of the author stranger11
    Good points, what resources do you have on lead generation for beginners?
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    • Profile picture of the author StarkContrast
      Originally Posted by stranger11 View Post

      Good points, what resources do you have on lead generation for beginners?
      I think there is enough information in this thread alone to get going. Just go DO it.
      1. Choose a niche
      2. Rank a site
      3. Put a number to call on the site
      4. Take the calls from prospective clients
      5. Find someone who wants the leads
      6. Connect leads with "contractors"
      7. Rinse and repeat.
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    • Profile picture of the author jayspann
      Originally Posted by stranger11 View Post

      Good points, what resources do you have on lead generation for beginners?
      I LOVE this method. However, I hate SEO and Google Adwords.

      I only do paid traffic, and this is for two reasons:

      It's instant! I don't have to wait to be indexed or worry about big G's sandbox.

      Two; it's infinity scalable with 100% upside. You pay per click or per view and it works out to lets say for an example at $1 a lead.... Lets then say you charge $2 for that lead. You spend $1 you make $1. 100% ROI You ramp it up and spend $1000 you make $1000 still a 100% ROI.

      Lets now say you spend $1000 in SEO in time or money to get the same site ranked. Now the first $1000 you make in leads goes towards covering your nut and you're just break even. No profit yet.

      There are more sources out there for paid traffic then just Google. Here is a list of one or two of them.

      http://www.warriorforum.com/ad-netwo...c-sources.html

      Use them in good health and make great wealth <--my new catch phrase


      Jay
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  • Profile picture of the author jayspann
    Oh another point that nothing is scalable on a one-to-one scale. Your always going to be on a curve of diminishing returns. At some point spending will bring you less of a return so always test and track everything!

    I use a 20% ROI as my cut off point. Once I hit that... sometimes coming from a four figure ROI... it doesn't make since to throw more money at it.

    Its time to more to the next client and or niche.

    Jay
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  • Profile picture of the author Coldbolt
    Hello,

    I understand i'm very new to the forum (just been reading, reading and reading the unlimited resources on this website, fascination surrounds me) and as soon as I read the first couple sentence you made, already I knew you were one of the smarter warrior on this forum.

    The idea of lead creation is an idea which hits me very hard as i'm only starting out and having a business model where you a job in the background and also want to make a little more here and there, well seeing as you have no proper stress on creating leads unless you put proper work into it, it's a business model I really like.

    You also seemed to know alot about the whole SEO business so if you release a eBook or have resources online, I would be extremely interested in reading into your knowledge as you seem to be inside the minority of legitiment warriors on this forum.

    I hope great things for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author thedanbrown
    There is no reason to focus yourself 100% on lead generation. Now, with this said I know that generating leads is very important for any business so once you begin to generate targeted leads you should focus on refining and developing those strategies as to be more efficient. The money is all in the list...once you start building a relationship with your leads by dripping information on them they will trust you and you can start marketing affiliate offers or products. It really is your choice, but the importance is in constantly building your list.
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    • Profile picture of the author terip
      Originally Posted by thedanbrown View Post

      There is no reason to focus yourself 100% on lead generation. Now, with this said I know that generating leads is very important for any business so once you begin to generate targeted leads you should focus on refining and developing those strategies as to be more efficient. The money is all in the list...once you start building a relationship with your leads by dripping information on them they will trust you and you can start marketing affiliate offers or products. It really is your choice, but the importance is in constantly building your list.
      I agree. In my experience, lead generation is indeed a great way to produce more sales. But let's not forget other marketing strategies that are also as effective. The list building approach to lead generation is a must since you won't be stuck contacting the same businesses over and over again. Nice point.
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  • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
    Sorry I have been absent on this post..been busy trying to fulfill some commitments that got away on me.

    I've had a load of pms from people asking how they can get involved in lead generation but they don't have any sites ranking.

    Here's what you could do...

    If you know anything about PPC, approach somebody who is already using ppc but they are doing it incorrectly. Take your time to really find some prospects who aren't even close to optimizing their campaigns.

    Then, approach them and offer to manage the campaigns for a set price per lead; say $10 (depends on the industry of course). Important to note that this is using the clients money. Grab a tracking number and get to work getting the client more leads for less money.

    Test and tweak as you should with PPC and really optimize the campaign. When you've got a good handle on things, copy what's working and build your own site in another city. You should at this point have a great idea of a lead is going to cost you so you can approach a client in another city and sell him purely on leads. Use the money you are getting from the first campaign to fund the ppc for the second client.

    Repeat in many different cities.

    If you don't know ppc, go take the Adwords engage course; it's fast and free.
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  • Profile picture of the author TyErickson
    Here's another way to get started with no seed money...

    Almost every business I work with has an email database they either have never use VERY rarely. Often these email databases are 3-4,000 people.

    When I've mailed to these people on behalf of the client I get about a 1% response rate overall. The first mailing does less because these people have forgotten about your client. I mail every month and it averages about 1%.

    So a list of 3,500 will result in 35 leads per month. Even if you only get 0.5%, that's 18 leads per month. @$50 per lead, that's $900 per month for about 2 hours of your time. Not a bad deal.

    Just food for thought for the many wanting to do lead generation but who have no capital to get going; this doesn't take any.
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  • Profile picture of the author mikelukjaniec
    Internet Marketers all have two businesses 1/ Their traffic business (which generates leads) and 2/ Their money business. If you get your traffic business right, then your money business is taken care of automatically. With this in mind, I'd say you were onto a winner!
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  • Profile picture of the author amarketing
    This is a really great thread! I like you are building an asset that will continue to produce for you while you aren't constantly working at it.

    I have a few questions and if you could answer them, that would be great.

    Firstly, you provided a lot of great alternative methods to Adwords. Nonetheless, Adwords is probably something that you will eventually want to go with and will probably give you the most traffic (not including SEO).

    Some of the posters here mentioned high costs per click in Adwords. How do you get around that? Do you research for keywords that have a lower CPC or do you just mark-up the cost of the leads to compensate?

    Also, you were talking about averaging $20 profit per lead and how much you could make with 25 leads a month. Is this a number you pulled out of the air? What's the average amount of leads per month that you get for a client? Do you do any special research in order to make sure you will be targeting something that will get you more than 5 or 10 leads per month?

    Lastly, you said that you approach the client before building the site. What do you say when you call him? How much of your process do you explain to him? Do you tell your client that you will be using a different number that will forward to his and that you are recording the calls? How does the client react? Do you have to talk to a lot of people before one accepts your offer, or are most businesses interested?

    I know these are a lot of questions, but they are things I couldn't find answers to mentioned in the thread. Thanks a lot for any of your input!
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    • Profile picture of the author mavericx
      Great thread! I've got a question for you experienced lead gen guys:

      When researching potential niches in cities, what should I be looking for in terms of traffic?

      Example - If I check google keyword tool for let's say "kansas city roofer" and google is only showing like, 100 "exact" searches a month, is that going to be enough traffic to warrant creating a lead gen site for? Or should we be targeting niches in cities with larger amounts of searches?

      Yes, obviously more searches is better, but I would like to know, from you guys with experience, what the "cutoff" number should be; what's the lowest number of searches/month for a given niche/city that is worth pursuing?

      Thanks!
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      • Profile picture of the author SirThomas
        Originally Posted by mavericx View Post


        Example - If I check google keyword tool for let's say "kansas city roofer" and google is only showing like, 100 "exact" searches a month, is that going to be enough traffic to warrant creating a lead gen site for? Or should we be targeting niches in cities with larger amounts of searches?
        The so called "exact" searches don't mean that much. Only a small % of people uses "kansas city roofer". Much more people look for "roofer", but will be served "local" results, if they are in Kansas City.

        If you have 100 "exact" searches, it would be safe to assume, at least 300 more searches for "roofer" came without "kansas city" included.

        I hope it helps,


        Thomas
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  • Profile picture of the author skyyisthelimit
    Seems like a great thread inspirational for sure thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author WhiteDove
    Great post,thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author chrisnotes
    Frankhill, if you are hungry and determined then I am sure lead generation IS your ticket...as it is many other's ticket to success and a comfortable income. Read the entire thread if you have not already and be sure to take notes as you read. Ty and the others who have contributed on this topic have provided a wealth of information that can pretty much get you started NOW.

    amarketing, yes this is a business where you can truly build YOUR assets.
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  • Profile picture of the author RedShifted
    I'll be honest maybe I'm the only one but I don't see even the slighest bit of value in this thread.
    I could have made the same thread but titled it "Why I'm focusing my business 100% on making money". And everyone who clicked in that thread would think that I was going to explain ways to actually make money.

    But instead I write a bunch of bulleted comments like:

    "Making money is awesome"
    "Making money is fast"
    "If you can't make money then your business is #$%ed!"

    I just kinda read the thread and thought "no crap, how about you actually show us HOW to GENERATE LEADS?" I know very well how important lead generation is. For a business owner to actually think that lead generation isn't important (which would be the only case I'd see this thread being useful) he'd have to be a complete mo mo.

    So really, show us how to actually get leads. Don't just tell us how important leads are. Anyone can make a thread like that. I don't mean to offend the OP by any means but I was extraordinarily let down by the time I got to the end of the list.

    As far as the cheese and whiskers concept I think it makes A LOT of sense, I read the entire transcript a long while ago, and don't have a single bad thing to say about it. So many business's show their whiskers, its precisely the reason they don't sell anything, and since incorporating those concepts into my own campaigns, I've definitely seen improvements. I talk about my business that much less, and focus on nothing but the cheese now.

    Overall I'm still very lost when it comes to leadgen and wish people would stop making such vague/general/broad threads about things. We have about 5 billion threads all over the internet explaining things in exactly this way, so newbies can understand. But this forum is for marketers, we want to learn the mechanics of things, not just what something is, but WHY and HOW it came to be.
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    • Profile picture of the author EMaria
      The OP does lead generation using Adwords PPC. He has gone into great detail throughout the thread explaining how he does things and offering advice to others that are interested in doing lead generation also.

      If you read the "entire" thread you should discover that there has been a lot of questions asked and answered.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mary Wilhite
    Originally Posted by TyErickson View Post

    WARNING - this is long but hopefully worth it...

    I've been working with clients for a number of years by doing SEO and marketing for them amongst other things. While it's some good, reasonably easy money I've decided to focus on lead generation completely. To me it is a near perfect business.

    This post is to perhaps shorten the learning curve of others just starting out or just starting to realize that maybe being an offline 'consultant' is not all that it is cracked up to be.

    These are in ascending order of importance to me...

    Lead Generation Is An Easy Sell

    It's a heck of a lot easier to convince somebody to give you $30 for a real lead than it is to convince somebody to give you $1,500 per month (or whatever). Since they are only paying for results it's an easier sell. You don't need references or testimonials really. You just need to be able to confidently get your message out that you can drive new leads.

    Lead Generation Let's You Build it how You Want To Build It

    Ever had a client tell you that the white text on black background converts better? Or that a lead capture will never work in their industry?

    Now you can make the site how you want to make it. You live and die by the sword. I like that.

    Lead Generation Removes A Lot Of Pressure And Annoying Clients

    One thing I hate about working with clients is their high expectations. They expect to get #1 rankings in 3 days even though I've told them what to expect. Heck - it might even be my own fault. Perhaps I've created false expectations when selling because I want the sale so bad. It's in my blood.

    It doesn't matter what the reason is - I just don't want to do it any longer so I am not going to.

    With lead generation there is no real pressure except the pressure you create on yourself. If you generate leads; you get paid. If you don't, you don't. You don't get calls every 2 days wondering 'what's going on'.

    Lead Generation Proves Your Worth

    It's great to land a big contract. I've certainly landed my share and they are nice for paying the bills but I always worry if the other party will see the worth. It's not to say that the worth isn't there - it's whether they realize it.

    It's amazing how people will cut marketing that provides an ROI when times are tight simply because it looks like a big expense.

    It's easy to prove your worth at $30 per lead or whatever (as long as you are sending good leads).

    Lead Generation Sets You Up For Long Term Profits

    If you are doing strictly SEO then often times clients will dump you when they begin ranking. I know, I know you can tell them that their sites will slide (and they will) but the erosion is often so slow that it might actually be to their advantage to do this.

    After all, they get 100 emails a day offering SEO so if their site begins to slide do you think they will come back to you with their tail between their legs? Maybe but I don't like to bank my business on a maybe.

    Lead Generation Is Fast

    It's not too hard to get a new client, build a website and begin generating leads in the same week. I always start out with PPC because it shows results (and profits) quickly. It also helps me make sure the customer is not a flake before spending time/money on SEO. Use an Adwords coupon wisely to get started.

    Lead Generation Provides A Great ROI

    If you do your research right and approach the right client then you can make big money doing lead generation. You might start off spending $20 to acquire a lead and selling it for $30. But once the SEO kicks in and you get your PPC costs lowered by upping your quality score, split testing etc and you get traffic from other sources like Craigslist then you can get the $20 cost down to $5 or so (as an example).

    So now you are making $25 per lead. 1 lead per day is $750 per month. 2 leads per day is $1,500 per month.

    Lead Generation Provides Monthly Income

    I don't think I need to explain why you need this and why lead generation accomplishes this.

    Lead Generation Is Infinitely Scalable And Repeatable

    Let's say you do lead generation for a catering company in L.A. You build a site that works, test and tweak everything to get to a profit of $40 per lead. Everybody is happy. Best of all you can virtually now copy this same campaign in San Francisco or wherever. Sure you are starting all over again with a new client but you can begin making more money all most immediately.

    Lead Generation Puts You In Control

    Don't like your client's voice on the phone? Fire him and get a new client in days. More likely the issue will be that you don't get paid on time or the client is a jerk. It's pretty easy to fire that client and get a new one when you can provide screenshots showing all of the leads you have generated in the past weeks/months.

    Lead Generation Provides Near Passive Income (Once It's Build)

    Once you get your site and PPC traffic tested and tweaked and your site SEO'd then the income is almost auto pilot. Sure you have to continue to backlink and monitor your PPC but you can outsource both easily. Once it's built all you really have to do is provide the tracking once per week and whack the credit card you have on file.

    Lead Generation - Conclusion

    Of course nothing is 100% dead simple but if you have any IM skills then you might agree that this type of thing is well worth setting up.

    Any average trades client in a city of any size should be worth $1,500 or more to you each month (after a few months of SEO, tweaking etc). 10 clients = $15,000 per month without a great deal of work once everything has built.

    You may not be in a postion to move your business 100% towards lead generation but if I were you I'd start sooner rather than later.

    Lead Generation - FORGOT ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ONES!

    I forgot to mention building your own business instead of somebody else's. If you want to sell your business (or pieces of your business) down the road then this is a much better model.


    ===========

    I totally agree.


    Mary
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  • Profile picture of the author xichabodx
    RedShifted,

    I agree with some of your points.

    I did, however, get some nuggets from the 5 pages of content.
    If anything, it further solidified that I no longer want to deal with SEO (in the sense of ranking 1 site that a client owns) and doing web design (not that I was too heavily involved), and that my persona and goals better fit lead generation/selling leads.

    Like I stated before, a good number of posts that are created within the Offline Forum is merely a WSO pre-sale. That, and folks giving lame replies just to promote their sig. It's a shame that ones signature is usually larger than the content they share.

    But, we're all marketers, right?! :rolleyes:
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  • Profile picture of the author wilder1047
    Haha I hate how these threads essentially turn into us vultures taking advantage of a persons generosity and asking more and more questions..

    BUT, I'd like to know even just the format you are using to stay in Googles good books AND generate the most leads possible.

    The reason I ask is because I set up a painting website for a friend of mine, who owns an actual painting company and the Adwords campaign wasn't approved. I called Google and the actual guys that set up campaigns professionally couldn't tell me exactly what I had done wrong, just a few suggestions.

    I've done Adwords in the past for local and had no problems in getting approved, but generated very few leads.

    Sooo, needless to say I'm confused, haha.
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    • Profile picture of the author scarter11
      I just wanted to provide some additional information about using Twilio. You can record the entire call with their service. They charge $1.00 per inbound number per month, plus 3 cents per minute for the call. Recording the call costs .0005 per month, with the first 10,000 minutes free. The only drawback is that you have to create your call logic by hand with either an XML file or using their API. Not that difficult.
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  • Profile picture of the author EMuu
    Really enjoyed this post! You say you try and find your clients first and then make a campaign for them? How do you go about prospecting and marketing yourself to potential clients? Just linkedin or any other ideas?
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  • Profile picture of the author wadodger
    Ty,

    One of the best threads I've seen, on any subject.
    And it most certainly helps to have the thread author actively involved.

    Appreciated.
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  • Profile picture of the author markjob
    This is good stuff. I need to go back and re-read the lot again. Im on the fence as to go lead gen or offline web design? I really see the ops point about the hassel from being clients when you are consulting?

    Im going to dig a little more and see what i can find.
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    • Profile picture of the author AmyKay
      I've just started doing this, and it does work! Though I'm in the painful process of tweaking, but I can see it's profitable!

      When you approach a business about selling them leads, and they ask, "Where do you get the leads?" Do you tell them honestly?

      I told a guy I'll be using adwords. Today, I told him I"d start a campaign. Wouldn't you know it? He started his own campaign today! LOL Seriously! I told him I contacted him because I saw he doesn't use Google ads and so he's a good fit for my leads.

      So... do you tell them where you'll get leads from?
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  • Profile picture of the author SirThomas
    Yes and no. Tell them you'll be getting them from the internet and that you have a proprietory system for generating leads.

    Thomas
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  • Profile picture of the author BarbaraMcKinney
    TyErickson,

    Thank you for the facts about lead generation. There's is no doubt that most businesses today is offering lead generation services. In addition, there are various marketing platforms where you can generate business leads and sell it to other companies needing such leads.
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    • Profile picture of the author MarkJez
      Hi TyErickson,

      I have just read the entire thread and picked up a lot of very valuable tips.

      Thank you very much! Your first post was an absolute game-changer in terms of mindset, time-management and future direction of my business.

      My personal preference is the "hybrid" model (Site rental/lead gen model)

      This involves charging the client a fixed monthly administration fee (similar to site rental) This could be say $30 - $50 per month. (They pay this regardless of whether I give them 0 leads or 1,000 leads per month)

      On top of this monthly admin. fee, I also charge them an agreed fee for each lead.

      The advantage of this "hybrid" model is that assuming I have say 50 clients, I know I have residual income each month even if the leads temporarily disappear due to say another Google Algorithm change.

      In addition, charging a monthly admin. fee means that there will always be money available for PPC, should the need arise. (I personally only use organic SEO for all my clients, but am looking at PPC in the near future to raise my game).

      Thanks again for an awesome thread!
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  • Profile picture of the author sloanjim
    As the market gets more and more efficient "saturated" this will get harder and harder to make a profit. Money is always in new, unsaturated markets.
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