But it’s still true that offline marketing can be hugely lucrative for anyone who makes a serious attempt at it, especially if they find a way to stand apart from the crowd. Imagine the edge you could enjoy over every other offline marketer if you offered business owners just one thing – the thing they want the most – more customers.
Few marketers are doing this, yet it’s probably the most accessible service to sell to a business owner.
You could practically choose which clients you work with because what business owner will say ‘no’ to new customers? None in their right mind. Especially when they only pay you for leads or actual customers. If you don’t deliver, they don’t get paid. Thus there is absolutely no risk to them. And with no trouble, they have no reason to say no.
So how do you get these leads and new customers for your clients? First, you’re going to think locally, not globally. You’re getting information for a specific type of local business that serves a specific geographic area, such as a city or region.
Second, you’re going to build a website, and then you’re going to drive traffic to that website. You want to use good SEO but don’t want to rely on search engine traffic. After all, your site could rise or fall on the whim of search engines. That’s why you’ll want a paid traffic source you can rely on, such as Google Ads.
You’ll be choosing niches that can pay high referral fees so you can afford to spend money to get those leads and still pocket plenty of profit. For example, let’s say it takes you $50 in Google Ads to get a new patient for a dentist. You can do this all day if you’re charging the dentist $100 per new patient.
You’ll want to retain ownership of your websites for two reasons. First, if your client stops working with you, you’ll sell your leads to a similar client in the same area. For example, if you’re getting information for a contractor in Austin, Texas, and one day that contractor decides to stop using your tips, you can begin selling your leads to one of their competitors.
The second reason to retain ownership of your lead-generating websites is so that you can make changes on the fly. Let’s say your site ranks high, but one day, it falls to page 3. You can immediately make changes to your SEO without having to get them approved by the business.
As you can see, this business model is pretty simple, and the competition is still relatively low. The field is wide open, and getting clients can be as easy as asking if they can handle more business.
Here are a few questions you might have:
Q. What type of website should I build?
A. A small WordPress site targeting the best buyer keywords works well. Figure 5 to 10 pages, 10 to 25 keywords to start if you optimize for SEO. Each website should target one niche in one town—for example, dentists in Tacoma or chiropractors in Atlanta.
Q. How do I find the keywords? Can you give keyword examples?
A. Use the Google Keyword Planner to find which terms are commonly searched for in a particular industry. Then add those keywords to the location to form your keyword phrases—for example, Tacoma, Washington, dentist. Use singular and plural, and add appropriate “buying” keywords, such as buy, rent, lease, hire, etc. Lastly, add descriptive keywords such as best, cheap, fast, etc.
Q. What domain should I use for my site?
A. First, don’t buy a domain that uses the actual business name. For example, if your client is Bob Smith, a dentist in Tacoma, Washington, don’t buy BobSmithTacomaDentist.com because if he ever stops using your services, you won’t be able to use that domain. Second, choose something generic with your best keywords in a .com, .org, or .net. For example, TacomaWashingtonDentist.com or DentistTacomaWashington.com. (These may or may not already be real sites.)
Q. What should I have on my website?
A. – A toll-free number is prominently displayed.
– A contact form above the fold. (70-80% of people will call, and 20-30% will fill out the contact form.)
– Images – either use images from your client or buy your photos.
– Lots of headings and paragraphs to break up the content.
– Great content with a clear call to action. Don’t use PLR for this – either write your content yourself or outsource it. If you need ideas, check similar websites but do not copy. Above all, make your copy engaging.
– Proof – real customer testimonials are suitable for this, as well as an industry-backed fact quoted with sources (IE: “People using a lawyer for their injury claim receive on average $42,000 more per claim than those going through the process without legal representation.” – The American Bar Assoc.) by the way, I just made that up – DO NOT use it.
Q. What shouldn’t I have on my website?
A. Anything that is on the client’s website. Assuming they have their site, you’ll want to use all fresh and unique content. If you need to post their address, do so as an image, so Google doesn’t see it as duplicates. And don’t use PLR. Ever.
Q. How do I charge?
A. It’s up to you and the client, but here are some suggestions:
Get paid for the leads you generate rather than your sales. Of course, you’ll get paid less per lead, but you’ll get paid for every leader regardless of whether or not they become customers. It’s important to note that clients may be more reluctant to do it this way if they are not confident in their ability to close leads. You can overcome their resistance by giving them the first leads for free, so they can test the quality of the charges before agreeing to pay for your services.
Establish a flat rate for each sale you generate. Your client might offer different services at different prices, so that you can establish an additional flat rate for each service. With a flat rate, you typically get paid right away.
Take a certain percentage of each sale. If your client bills far into the future rather than upfront, you might not get paid for a while using this method—commissions over the lifetime of the client/customer relationship. For example, if your client is a landscaper and they service the client weekly for months or years, you could get paid a small amount of money for a long time, which adds up.
Q. Are there any clients I should avoid?
A. Yes. Any business in direct competition with one of your existing clients. For example, you can work with one dentist in each geographical area but not two dentists in the same small to mid-sized town (2 dentists in a large city would almost certainly be alright, but after that, look for other locations or professions.)
Also, avoid any business that does not make a large sale upfront or offer a long-term ongoing service. For example, a bakery wouldn’t be a good business since each sale costs $5 to $20. But a doctor, lawyer, accountant, contractor, swimming pool sales, realtor, insurance agent, mortgage broker, etc., would make good clients. So would someone who provides an ongoing service such as the landscaping and lawn care we mentioned earlier, a maid service, a high-paid personal trainer, etc.?
Q. How do I know which businesses to approach?
A. Look for those already spending money trying to get business. This might be in the Yellow Pages, Google Ads, newspaper advertising, etc. These are businesses looking for more customers and ready to spend money to get those customers.
Q. How do I track leads?
A. The opt-in form makes tracking those leads easy. You can even offer an incentive such as a relevant report to encourage their opt-ins and then follow up to enable them to use your client’s services.
For the phone number, you can use a virtual reception service to take down the name and number of each caller before forwarding them to the business.
Local affiliate marketing can be highly lucrative if you invest time. You’ll need to build websites, optimize them and run Google Ads campaigns. But once you get everything set up, you can continue making money for months or years with minimal additional effort.
No comments yet.