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Asking a Former Client if I can Have His Unused Google Places Listing

by marketingrep4u
2 replies
I did some Google Places marketing and SEO work for a past client. Got him on page 1 of Google for 4 out of 5 of his keywords.

I got an email from him about 10 days ago asking me to stop the marketing efforts, since he was going out of business.

Why is he going out of business? He and his business partner were having a major disagreement which lead to the demise of the company. It has officially shut down. I know his son-in-law very well and he has confirmed it also.

I still have control of the GP listing. It gets about 600 impressions a month and about 10% of those go to the GP listing with about 10% of those actually clicking through to the website.

Here's my question: Since he's no longer in business and his ads are still on page 1 while getting reasonable traffic in a micro niche, would I be wrong to ask him if I can have the listing?

I'd like to redirect it to a Clickbank product that has a $56 payout on the first sale that is directly related to the niche.

I'm still in control of the listing, but I'd need to change the click through URL and possibly the phone number.

What do you think? Should I ask him if I can have it? Or just 'borrow' it?

How would you go about this if it were you?
#client #google #listing #places #unused
  • Profile picture of the author David Miller
    Is he going out of business or is he selling the business. If he's going out of business it shouldn't matter, but professional practice would be to let him know. If he's selling the business, it could be considered part of the assets. Not to mention the fact that your client should have their own access to it anyway. This is like web designers who maintain ownership/control of the domain name.
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  • Profile picture of the author twright
    David provided good advice, in the same line of thinking - Cool your wheels a few days.. They might work it out and a partner may leave.. Typically in the end they fight over money.. so be careful of legal issues coming - you can be associated with this as there marketing company.

    There are a number of IF's that can be played out - I would focus on the next client and let that situation come to a conclusion. But ultimately think Lead generation versus clickbank sells...
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