I made a sale to an offline client!!!

by 54 replies
63
So today I made a pre-sale to an offline client. We haven't agreed on the final price yet but it will be around 500-700 Dollars (I know it's kind of cheap but it's my first client). I told him I could help him rank in the top three positions for "city name business type." He is very interested, and it doens't look that competitive to me.

Only problem is I don't actually know how to rank him. I am extremely new to local search SEO and have been away from regular SEO for a little while. So I come here for help! if any warriors would be kind enough to teach me, or at least point me in the right direction, that would be great. I would even consider sharing some of the money (say 200 dollars) I make on this client with a very helpful warrior.

Thanks guys
#search engine optimization #client #made #offline #sale
  • Hi,

    just send me a PM with the keyword and the city.
    I will take a look.
    The best part is that you can guarantee him a #1

    Think I'm joking?
    We will see.
    One tip: Reinvest what you make!

    Regards,

    Mike
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply

    • This is a great tip Mike mentioned. You will keep your clients and get more for long term if you do.

      Tony
  • Mike,

    Thanks a lot for being willing to help! I just checked my PMs but do not have any new messages.

    I'm PMing you my AIM and MSN, add me if you'd like. and yes, I would totally reinvest what I made once I learned this trade.

    Thanks again,

    Ed

    Edit: I just reread your post. You asked me for a PM not the other way around. I'll send you another PM right now with the city and keyword, it looks uncompetitive at the moment, but again I'm don't know what to look for to begin with.
  • Hi Ed,

    just send me a PM with the keyword and city and we take it from there

    Regards,

    Mike
    • [1] reply
    • Congrats. There some good WSOs here and one free one from Tim Castleman on local seo. Check it out.

      How you find the client?
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Maybe I'm on a different planet - but from what I do with my clients is that I never promise them that I can rank them on the first page. That's a big no-no in the SEO-client world.

    The thing you should be after is - will this be the right niche for him? Let's say you rank him in the top three - but it isn't really targeted traffic? Then what? Your client's bounce rate will be high and you will have very little conversions.

    You have to follow up w/ your client to make sure conversions are coming his way.

    Not trying to be mean - but I just designed a website for a lawyer and I'm optimizing his site for "bankruptcy attorney [city name]" - also local. One of the first things I said was that I can't and will not promise any client a first page ranking. However, I will help you increase your traffic by promoting your website through various means and work with increasing conversions via targeted traffic.

    However, with that said, and since this is your first one - I really do wish you luck. I hope you make a ton of money with your future clients. I remember my first client - it was rocky. I've learned a lot since then - and you to, will learn a lot.

    btw...I love your enthusiasm.
    • [1] reply
    • Congratulations! hope I can help but am still new here.
  • Hi Ed,

    I have a short cut using video to get your client ranked for their keyword. If you are interested just pm me and I will go over the details with you. Dana
    • [1] reply
    • Dana, would you share your tip publicly. I tried to PM you, but I am still forum newbie, far away from 50 posts.
      • [1] reply
    • [ 4 ] Thanks
    • [2] replies
  • Congratulations. I, of course being so new, can't help you..but I like hearing of your success!

    ep
  • Don't forget about Google local listings too and good job with the offline sale! Those are a rarity these days.
    • [1] reply
    • Thanks,

      First of all I am talking about Google maps (Google places/local SEO w/e it is called). And my client is a dentist. so "City Name dentist" has got to be the right niche for him. furthermore once I have succesfully delivered on "City Name Dentist" Then I will try "City Name Cosmetic dentistry" and so on for other relevant keywords. I am not ranking his website, I am ranking his Google places listing.

      Yeah like I mentioned, that's what I am focusing on, for local business owners such as dentist, doctor, pizzeria, dry cleaners, this is their gold mine. My dentist revealed to me that he makes 60k dollars in revenues from a 1/4 add on the yellow pages, imagine what he will earn from a top Google places listing...

      And in regards to making the sale without knowing exactly what I am doing, I know it's funny, but hey its a great strategy. I know it's doable, and with money upfront and a 3 month timeframe, I will certainly be able to rank him in Google places.

      Thanks for the feeback, keep em coming!!

      Edge
  • Did you check the number of searches on city name + dentist? You might be able to get him to the top of the listings but it won't do anything for his business if there isn't any traffic.
    • [1] reply
    • Yes,

      1600 monthly local searches... I guarantee that's a heck of a lot more than the yellow pages.

      Ed
  • well, you should never promise a client, that's right. WHat if something goes wrong???
    But if you are so confident, I wsh you good luck and SEO is really needed.
    Cheers,

    April
  • COME ON!!

    You are offering a service and admit you have no clue. What SEO are you telling him you can rank him but then go to a forum and ask how to do this? This is a little weak....

    Not the way how you did it. If you were only halfway professional you had at least some guy hired already where you know he does a good job. And, by the way, its NOT that easy to find someone. You are the best example. People offering their services and making unsubstantiated claims.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • " You are the best example. People offering their services and making unsubstantiated "

      Watch me
      • [1] reply
  • Search for JosephA, he is a warrior within this forum. Look at his "40 Day" post within the SEO section, that has thousands of little nuggets on how to rank for any keywords. His entire thread is literally experimenting and finding out what works and what doesn't.
  • Hah, you sold them and you don't know how to do SEO? Not a good idea. I actually ranked some example pages just for the sheer fact of doing my own testing before getting clients way back.

    Local search is usually fairly non-competitive in most markets if you are in a smaller city. However, you could be in a big city and up for a fight with established websites.

    Based on the price, I would say that you are going to have an easy job ranking.
  • No he wont. Because he has not the slightest idea of SEO.
  • I find this post amusing. Good luck Edge, your reputation is depending on it.
    • [1] reply
    • And, by the way, here is how you do it:


      1) If not already, sign up at Google for a "local business listing".
      You will put your business into Google maps. The result is that your client will pop up #1 (if he's lucky) in a local search like "Chicago Concert Tickets"

      It is important you use the LOCATION name, his city and then whatever product he is offering.

      This method does NOT work with all kinds of products/services....it depends what he is offering and whether a search "<LOCATION> (Keyword)" makes sense. Eg. "Chicago SEO Software" is unlikely to work.

      Think "brick and mortar business" <----

      Use a good domain name, if possible LOCATIONproduct.com etc.

      Use keyword in business description and Google biz listing name, eg. Chicago Concert Tickets

      Verify phone number. If not in the states use Skype phone number. YOU NEED TO HAVE A LOCAL PHONE NR. in that city! You can purchase a skype phone nr. easily for certain cities.

      Once approved...its likely he will appear on #1 in Google with a MAP and business listing for his listing if someone searches on Google for XYZ product <Location> or <Location> XYZ product

      I think there's another method also but thats the one i know.

      Do you need my paypal?

      G.
  • Jesus Christ people, don't bash the guy. He made his first sale and now he's ready to move on to the next part of the process which is SEO...give him a break he never called himself an expert or an offline professional.

    Edge, first I want to say congrats. You've done MORE than I have (I did the Flippa approach *sigh*) and I've been doing this since Dec. of 09. Anyways, I'll give you some SEO help, but first if I may ask, are you using WordPress or did you actually create the site from scratch?

    Btw, I'm not helping you for the money either, I'm helping you b/c that's just what I do.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [2] replies

    • Thank you!! That's how I see it. I made a sale that I can deliver. To answer your question. Neither, he already has a website, I'm going to tweak his on site SEO but it already has decent on page SEO that he did himself. However his backlinking is WEAK. But just with on page SEO he is already in the 11th position.

      Futhermore I'm ranking him on local results, which I'm new to but already learned a lot, and am 100% confident I'll be able to deliver. I already know how to do it but will be buying a WSO, and I'm setting things up so that I find many more clients this summer.
    • He was offering a service to someone, telling him he can rank him high in Google - but admitted he has no idea how to do it.

      The problem is that the forums are full with such people claiming to be SEOs (or writers or what the heck else), some even charge PREMIUM for whatever they offer - and (excuse me) basing their sales letters and posts more or less on lies.

      I do NOT go on a forum and write i can rank people #1 in Google in 3 days, neither do i make a WSO where i say people make $5000 in 24 hours..without the slightest grounds for my claims! Sorry, not cool!

      I understand his excitement and that he got a customer, just saying next time he might want to go a different and better thought out route before offering some service where someone else PAYS for it, often in advance.
      • [2] replies
  • I say good for you~! Everyone needs to start somewhere and you get a live customer to work with. Life is short, take some risks. Your offering the guy a guarantee. Which means he risks nothing and you get some great experience.
  • Congrats on your 1st sale.
  • One thing I would recommend, and this is
    something I do. Build websites before you
    have clients in offline niches where the
    Adsense payout is quite big, $10/click or
    better. Get them ranking well, and keep
    maintaining those listings for a few months.

    You can then rent those sites to local
    businesses, and make more profits. Just
    replace the Adsense unit with a powerful
    call to action for the business renting the
    site. You will still own the websites, so
    you can find new clients easily if you have
    problems with a client.

    The only problems I faced (sometimes) is
    that I generated too much business for
    one small business. I'm now going to put a
    rotate script on that site, so that it slows
    down how much business I generate, and
    I'm able to rent to several businesses at
    the same time, at reduced rates. Any
    slack can be taken up with Adsense.

    HTH

    Glenn
  • So basically you are just selling crap (skill sets) you don't have.

    WTF is this BS about "offline"? If you're going to do SEO for his website then that is ONLINE. Google is an online search engine, if you want to rank anything on it then it's online. Everything you do to rank the listing is going to be done online. Stop making stuff up.

    You just said I don't actually know how to rank him, and shortly after you said I already know how to do it but will be buying a WSO, so what is it? either you know or you don't.

    You need to realize you're just a clueless middleman pretending to be "the guy", another word you're just a fake driven by delusion, what you did is first you lied to yourself, then when you're 100% convinced you sell the same lie to someone else, yeah good luck on that business model.

    Meanwhile, I heard that there is this Nigerian prince that is telling everyone he is 100% confident he'll send you millions of dollars if you help him move his money, he already knows how to do it, are you interested?
    • [1] reply
    • to answer your question, by "offline" I mean Google Places. I was asking for Google Places specifically. I'm sure I mentioned it in the thread after the original post


      I guess I don't know exactly, but like I said I learned a lot and will be getting a WSO. sorry, didn't realise my posts would be scrutinised word for word trying to catch me at fault somewhere.

      Woah, When I wrote my signature I knew I would be taking action and kicking ass, but I never though I would actually be taking names. It's pretty annoying, but it really is just motivation. I'm not scamming anyone, the reference to the "Nigerian Prince" scam is pretty rough. I offered 100% money back guarantee, so F**K off.

      Edge
      • [2] replies
  • very inspiring, congratulation with your client, have more clients to come =)
  • How did things go? It's been 3 months.

    Do you have a screen shot of your results?
    This is the proof (not that you need to) to quiet the mob.
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    I made a sale to an offline client!!!

    So today I made a pre-sale to an offline client. We haven't agreed on the final price yet but it will be around 500-700 Dollars (I know it's kind of cheap but it's my first client). I told him I could help him rank in the top three positions for "city name business type." He is very interested, and it doens't look that competitive to me. Only problem is I don't actually know how to rank him. I am extremely new to local search SEO and have been away from regular SEO for a little while. So I come here for help! if any warriors would be kind enough to teach me, or at least point me in the right direction, that would be great. I would even consider sharing some of the money (say 200 dollars) I make on this client with a very helpful warrior.