Local Locksmith service looking for HELP

Advice?

don't bother with "Dark Side" SEO. It simply ends in failure.

Please.... be sure you develop a MOBILE site s well... don't let anyone talk you into a single "Responsive" site

You should set up a professional lead gen site for your chosen cities and lead traffic to it through facebook Ads and adwords for emergency issues. That alone , would build your client base.

After that, retention and worth of mouth grows your business, If You Can handle customers......

Regards, Lasse

As you are new here I will mention I have been full time in online marketing since 2001.
Have worked for large corporations and handled 6 figure online marketing initiatives.
Have worked at lead gen for pretty much any kind of company you can imagine.

I don't know much about your knowledge so I will simply provide some sobering information because there is nothing I hate more than seeing anyone and their family suffering from not knowing what they are getting in to. WAY WORSE is that on this site and in many other places it will appear as though all your marketing problems can be solved and the phone will be ringing off the hook for a few hundred bucks a month.

Here is the truth. The top companies you work for got to the top because they are no longer locksmiths, they are insanely good marketing companies that happen to be selling locksmith services. With what they know and their budgets they could switch services next week and keep on rolling with very little problems.

If my friend came to me and said he had been working as a subcontractor for 2 years and was striking out on his own I would tell him this.

Doing the job of a locksmith has absolutely NOTHING to do with the marketing end.
You are currently a locksmith.
If you start your own business your primary business will no longer be being a Lockmith.
It will now be being a marketing company that happens to deliver locksmith services.
This is said in the hopes that you will not overestimate your potential success due to your skills as a locksmith.

The cost per client acquisition in the lock smith industry is brutal.
Can cost you as much or more as say a dentist getting new client.
The dentist can make thousands from one new client and they repeat but you will make about $100 off of your client and generally they will not repeat.

I would ask my friend can you afford to do this?
Do you have a minimum of 2 years of savings to get you through?
Do you have at least a 5k/month ad budget and have the right people in place to execute that budget.
Do you really want to be in the business of marketing and business management?
That last one may sound like a stupid question as it may seem like the only way forward is ownership BUT I know several affluent people that chose to make their money investing, flipping houses or whatever and did not mess with their primary bred winner.
So that's it for the big picture, now on to some of the marketing stuff.

Relying on SEO for this business is going to make you want to punch yourself in the face.
It will take long, is not dependable, your competitors will fight back.
You need a mix of ad budget for various other methods with seo being one of them.
With seo you have to wait too long to figure it out things like site conversion etc...

If my friend said make me successful and leader in my city for this business within one year I would say how much do you think your competitors would be willing to pay to make sure that did NOT happen? 20k? 40k? 60k? Be prepared to spend the same.

I would also seek out other strategies such as working with property management groups to do all their work or developing routes where you visit car dealers etc.. same time, same day. At first you will not get much from it but over time you will be shocked how many will start to use you and save their work for that day to get it all done at once.

All of these strategies are very important and a big picture plan is key.
I cannot tell you how many people I know that thought getting ranked would make them a business. They hit the top 3 spots and not much happened. They slowly went broke and back to their jobs. It takes more than that.

If you have more specific questions over time or need to pick someones brain don't be shy just be wary of answers to your problems that seem too simple. It's easy to believe what we want to hear.

Why not just make friends with all of the real estate agents in town? Most homeowners change the locks when they move into their new house. Could keep you busy forever.

Or, just get a list of all of the new homeowners and send them direct mail.

If I were you i would read, then read again Plessard's reply - this is very clear good sense - he is giving you a gift that will save you heartache and money.

It surprises me how many people think that 'SEO' is a magic spell for success. Please promise us that you will not dabble in the 'Dark Side' of SEO, this is one big fat myth and you will get yourself into a lot of trouble. I have worked as an IT engineer and online specialist for nearly 25 years now - I have heard every story, rumor and myth out there.
I provide Video SEO services and I produce 2,3,4 and five minute promotional videos which I then optimize and rank for local searches - this is very powerful, Google ranks YouTube videos for searches quickly if you do it properly - so the client gets a promotional message that informs people of the business, PLUS the video hugely boosts that business in local searches. I would look up a service such as this to help you with your Locksmith services - and I would take in every word that Plessard gives you regarding the big picture.
Best of luck to you.

While getting yourself set up with an online presence and working on that... that is not going to be the way you make your money off the bat. You need to make friends and strategic alliances. Who is also working with your target market... real estate, towing services, perhaps set up a special with apartment complexes for emergency services. Make sure to network, and advertise in your local area. On your social media connect with other local businesses so you can refer back and forth. The more you help other people, they more they will help you.

In addition what Brother Plessard has pointed out, that means it'd be smarter doing some home shows and demonstrating the ten top ways crooks break into your house, vandalize and steal your stuff and point a gun at your sleeping head. How to combat and thwart that and then sell a home lock inspection offer where you personally assess how dangerously close to being victimized they are. Probably works best in neighborhoods where a break in's been recently committed so maybe instead of SEO you want to monitor police blotters.

You might get business that way while your competitors wait and hope someone looks up locksmiths, finds their listing, goes to the website and calls.

...if the crooks haven't taken their computer.

Claim your Google local and Yelp pages ASAP. It's free and they have the click to call feature from smart phones.

Network with likely referrers.

If it won't get you in hot water, mention to existing customers that you are going on your own.

Knock on doors of, say, local hotels and office buildings...

How big do you want to get? Become a company, or remain a solo guy doing a few jobs a day?

Dan

This Warrior was a locksmith:

View Profile: ThePromotionalGuy

Now a days you might want to offer security services as well as a locksmith service that will give you another niche to tap into as well as the one your in. Word of mouth is still the best. Advertising in local papers works well for a friend of mine that does what you do. A website as others have mention is going to set you back several thousand dollars. You may be a lot better off spending your money on paper advertising for now.

Wishing you the best