boroijamela: Building A Business That Isn't Dependant On Google

সোমবার, ১ অক্টোবর, ২০১২

Building A Business That Isn't Dependant On Google - Traffic ...

With Google?s constant updates happening every other week I?ve been thinking about how to build a sustainable IM business that doesn?t depend on G. Im sure you?ve heard many ideas that are working for some folks but i just thought to share what im working on. Maybe some of you may find it useful and apply it to whatever you?re already working on...or maybe view my ideas as something not to do

Over the passed few months I?ve been contacting small business owners to see if they would be interested in getting help with their online marketing efforts. Surprisingly, i discovered that some are actually willing to pay a small local guy to help them out. (ideas about how to contact them are listed bellow).

Small Business Facts

>>> Some businesses don?t have websites
>>> Some businesses haven?t optimized their sites for search engines
>>> Some businesses prefer to work with a local web guy than someone in another state/country

So, armed with the feedback from businesses in my local area, I decided to try selling them websites, hosting, and seo services. Keep in mind...im not the best seo dude on the planet and im still developing my skills by learning from successful people on TP and other useful sources. However, i?ve managed to outsource the white hat seo stuff to others who are better than i am, and it seems to be working out.

Bumps On The Road

Getting businesses to trust you can be a bit of problem....especially if you?re calling them out of the blue to sell them stuff. The sales cycle can be a little long (one week to a month) depending on your price point. This can be a problem to your cash flow when starting out, but once you get the first few clients on board, it gets easier.

To shorten the length of the cycle and build trust quickly, Im experimenting with building a local niche directory for a specific market. (eg...a directory for New York plumbers).??The point is to create something of value for your potential customer....then call that customer at their office to tell them about your wonderful new directory which you would like to include them in. Once you get the conversation started, you can find out if they have a website...if not, offer to build them one and host it for them. If they have a website, find out if it?s optimized etc, etc.

The directory is however, a EMD (state keyword/niche keyword.com). The new Google update might affect my strategy, but screw it...im going full speed ahead. Regardless of whether Google tries to give me a hard time for having a EMD or not...they can?t stop me from contacting businesses directly.

Where To Find Customers

>>> Yellow Pages
>>> SuperPages
>>> Google PPC Advertisers

Yea, i know it sounds like a lot of work, but im thinking to build something that doesn?t depend heavily on Google rankings, you might want to sell some kind of service with a monthly recurring fee. This way, if you manage to build a decent size client list, you won?t need to keep selling to new businesses every month...unless you want to that is