One of the biggest golden nuggets placed on our lap!
Jul 28th, 2010 | By Michael | Category: SEO90% of the people who visit my blog still feel like they have little knowledge in SEO or they are still trying to figure out how to start making real money online. However, the reality is YOU do KNOW MORE than you are giving your self credit for.
Sure we all might not have the SEO know how as someone like Matt Cutts but did you know you can start making a nice income right now with what you do know?
I am sure you are all aware on how Google and other Search Engines have been shifting their focus to “Local” results. But, us as internet marketers, don’t have a local business…so how can we use this to our advantage? Well local businesses are clueless when it comes to optimization, getting content indexed, installing a blog, etc.
When I was 19-21 I owned a janitorial company that had 13 employee’s working for me full time. We had several company vehicles, equipment, etc. Sounds like a decent size company right? Surely bigger than your standard chiropractic office or small restaurant. However, even with my resources and company size I was still clueless about how to even begin to build my business online. I was strapped for time working in my business, didn’t have time to learn to do this stuff myself and there were so many “So Called” SEO companies out there who wouldn’t work with me…All they wanted to do was pressure me into signing a contract for thousands of dollars.
I would have killed to have someone cut through all that tape and help me build my business online!
You think my scenario was unique? Of course NOT! In 2008 there were over 29million small business in the USA alone. Talk about a big market! I will take a bet that all of you who are reading my blog have never targeted a keyword that big.
So there is a huge market for local businesses needing SEO and Web services and now that Google is moving things locally…it’s like Google is literally putting a golden nugget right on our lap. All we have to do is take action!
Some of you reading this still may be skeptical or hesitant. I can already here a few of you saying, “Michael that’s great and all but I just don’t know enough to take action. I am no where near Matt Cutts. How can I do this?” The truth is..sure there are people out there who know more than you about SEO and there are also tons of people out there who know more than me. But that is irrelevant. The services these small local business need don’t require some huge GURU’s knowledge. Think of it this way….These local businesses don’t want to hire Leonardo De Vince to paint a wall red! That’s overkill and ridiculous. But if these business approached someone like Leonardo De Vince to paint their wall red….all the artist would do is talk to them about how he could make this wall a piece of art. Something magnificent, something that would be remembered forever…..which all sounds good…but that artist would also be asking a fee that is likely more than the business is worth, let alone Leonardo De Vince would be using terms and techniques that would just confuse and frustrate the business owner.
I hope you are understanding the power and opportunity that is now sitting in front of us! However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There still are several hurdles you will need to overcome. I developed some techniques nearly a year ago to refine this process for myself, but then when I met Caro she showed me that she had so refined this process it works like a highly oiled machine!
Caro and her business partner are both very successful in the online marketing world. When they got together they teamed up to build OHM (Offline Hero’s Method) to make this process highly refined. I was blown away by how much attention to detail and how much hard work they have done.
I find So Called GURU’s all over the internet who try to sell stuff that they actually have no knowledge about. It’s very frustrating to know who to trust. With Caro, she already has a successful consulting business and she is already making this work! So you may ask then why is she willing to sell this secret? (Remember that number I told you about earlier? 29+million businesses in the USA alone a few years back. Who could possibly corner the entire world market of local businesses? It would be silly for her not to share and sell her techniques.)
Their mission is to assist other Internet Marketers, who may not have yet made the money they want online, and are looking for new opportunities to build a credible, sustainable and profitable consulting business, as they have. They have created a Training Center which is jam packed full of information on how to:
Identify the ideal Local Business Client
How to Obtain The Local Business Client
How to Retain that Local Business Client
The biggest mistake Internet Marketers make when approaching Local Business Clients is that they list their Services and expect the Business Owner to be impressed. Feeling quite disappointed when they are not. OHM focuses on teaching it’s Offline Consultants about providing VALUE for their Client, which is a HUGE shift in focus to what most have thought was the way to approach a prospect. The key is to know how to pick what is valuable for a prospective client, and how to get their attention so that they will listen to what you can do for them. All of which can be found in OHM’s Training center
There’s no magic pill. It is about taking action. And it’s about knowing the, Right‚ way to do it. All of the materials offered in OHM are exactly what Caro and her business partner use for their Offline Consulting businesses. So there is no need to guess what works. Or go through the painful trial and error process. It’s proven as they’re doing it!
Consulting to Offline Clients is a real opportunity. Yes it is, the next big thing,- and it is still at it’s early stages, which means there is plenty of Local Business Clients needing online marketing assistance. All you need to know is how to approach and win them!
If you’re interested in finding out more, please go here:Make A Full Time Recurring Income With Offline Consulting
Michael Roberts
It must be right. So many are talking about this now. Thanks for the information.
This sounds like a real money spinner, an opportunity for people to put their SEO skills to the test.
Regards
Ray
I like Caro’s program, but how does she validate the google listing when the customers phone rings? Does she hope they get the postcard from google and then call her? I have been doing this technique for almost 2 years now, but found I have to actually do it from the customers computer at their office so I could answer the phone.
Hi Michael,
Sounds like a great opportunity for a savy IM’r to get involved in! I’m going to contact Caro and find out more.
Thanks for the head-up on this one Michael.
Their site is closed to new members. How do I sign up?
Hi Michael,
You raise some interesting points here, however you appear to have overlooked one small detail, the fact that very many people have reached the end of the line with regard to internet marketing. Sure it all sounds great on paper, but you know as well as I do that the Internet is one huge pool heavely infested with sharks & parasites (for want of a better term).
There are a huge number of people every year that get sold false hope & promises by these sharks and over the last few years this has made your average Joe Blogs (pardon the pun) extremely sceptical & unwilling to risk anymore money, no matter how many guarantees you pile on an offer!
The only real market & oportunity I see emerging from all of this, is one where trust is returned to the table, one where the people that form the market are treated as people & not as something to milk dry by the parasites & sharks roaming around the Internet.
Just my thoughts ;-)
WTF are you talking about.. you didn’t give specifics how this is all relevant.. you are assuming people are aware of what you are thinking while you type.. HOW has Google “been shifting their focus to “Local” results”?
Thanks for this article Mike. I’ve been thinking about how to get into local SEO for a while. Then it just kind of landed in my lap and I’ve done quite nicely from it. It’s enjoyable working with people and seeing how excited they get when you do in a few hours what they couldn’t work out how to do after months of trying. I’m currently expanding my business in this area and your perfectly timed post (via email) just helped me focus a lot more. Thanks.
I like this Robert This loophole in google would definetly help us tap into more of the local market with our property site
gary
Hi Michael,
I think you are right about this opportunity and as you rightly pointed out there are a number of hurdles to overcome:
1. Recognising that we are SEO/Internet Experts by comparison to the average offline local business owner.
2. Educating local business owners in the value of the lead generation opportunities to them through the internet (perhaps wrestling the Yellow pages from them at the same time LOL)
3. Knowing how to bridge the gap between 1. and 2.
4. Doing it
In the research I have been doing lately on my own local markets, I am amazed at the opportunities open to those who are willing to take items 1-4.
Thanks for your inspiration and stimulation
Michael
You are absolutely right Michael, I see websites all over the place that have been built for people without any chance of being spotted in cyberspace. No SEO whatsoever! They thought they needed a website so had one built and were probably charged over the odds for it, but just ended up with a lame duck.
These are the people that need proper SEO advice. Pretty sure Caro will put people on the right track.
Great info Michael – offline consulting is the buzz phrase at the moment within internet marketing – anyone that’s been closely following the many threads on Warrior over the past few months will know there’s huge money to be made.
Hi Robert,
I think carro ‘s right, there so many opportunity in offline world.
that the next big thing.
Local SEO is definitely an up and coming industry. People on the west coast in the US think it is already saturated, but it is not so. In the most of the rest of the US it is highly under-utilized. You can make a good profit from the industry if you know what you are doing. But, like you said, most people don’t know. They have read that all they need to do is post a couple articles with links back to their site. This maybe true for exceptionally low competition keywords, but for anything competitive at all, you will definitely need to do more than that.
Most people do not know how to get the “good” backlinks. That is why they suck at SEO.
Great Post!!
I focused on offline businesses back in the day and became quite successful promoting the local business online. Coincidentally I am currently working on something similar now, because of Google has changed their focus on local business searches.
There is something for anyone with any skill level to do locally, And you can promote your local businesses in your neighborhood. Just like you said just have a plan and go for it. Take Action!
A piece of advice to anyone who decides to pursue this:
Make VERY CLEAR the expectations of who provides the content (articles, blog posts, videos, etc.)
I share this because I was an Internet Marketing Consultant to Local Businesses for the past two years.
The biggest problems I (as a consultant faced) was how desperate the business owner was to be optimized immediately and that they expected me to do EVERYTHING.
I tried. And what I learned was- it was really hard (in fact, it burnt me out) to try to personify a business online when I did not know the infrastructure and operational procedures of the business offline. What happened was I would ghost write a blog post and the business owner would get upset, claiming that I was not representing her/his business the way they wanted me to.
Was I psychic? Heck no. So I quit. I created a program that teaches these small business owners how to do their own Internet Marketing.
Another issue you may encounter is money. You will get low balled for the services you provide :-(
Small business owners are really boot strapped on their budgets.
I’m sorry for being the party pooper on this promotion, but there are local business realities that you must consider before you pursue this market. (**Please note** this has nothing to do with Caro or the OHM program. I’m sure that is great. This has to do with the market you provide services too)
Reid
This is very interesting. 29 Million businesses and there are I would guess there are likely 10,000 businesses withing 15 miles of my location. Now if I could just learn how to do this? It would be
a tremendous opportunity.
Hey Dr. SEO. (Nice Name) :)
Caro actually talks about this in detail in her course.
She pretty much covers every nook and cranny of the entire method.
It’s not like most courses where you learn just the basics and then hope you can fly!
Check her course out!
or contact her for specifics if you are interested.
Mike
@Mike
You are right. I didn’t give specifics in this post how Google has shifted their focus towards local.
I figured most of you are aware of this since most of you who land on this page are familiar with what I have been talking about over
the last several months.
If you have watched my Internet News video’s I was producing
I was constantly talking about it.
And is WTF acceptable lingo now in the IM world?
I kinda think not. :)
You will probably get better results in the future if you drop that sort of language.
Michael
Hi Michaek, hi everybody,
1. yes we are online searchers and google is navigating our information paths.
Good? Bad? Reality!
So we better know about ranking and how to do it well.
–> Get the skills yourself or buy a consultant/service
2. yes we have/own/go to local shops for whatever and sometimes we find face-to-face and shaking hands.
Good? Bad? Reality!
So we better know how to run local businesses effectively.
–> Get the skills yourself or buy a consultant/service
My advice:
Mix 1.+2. wisely or focus on 1. or 2. deeply
Mix do/learn-it-yourself and buy-support/service/consultant
Even more important decide who you are and what you want.
Good luck!
Marc