I have NO idea what more to do!

[Danny G]

Hi,

I wanted to turn to you guys cuz I really dont know what else could do.

Let me just say I have a Lead Gen website. I have been working on SEO for past 8 months or so now. I am ranking for a single keyword (i mean keyword like "dentists") in average position 15. ( This data comes from Webmaster account). So, yeah, the website is Global.

The problem - still the same, I cannot make the customers to sing up. If we take the example I started above, I want to say that I cannot make dentists sign up on our site and I dont understand why!

We give value, that's REALLY important - we're not a membership website, they pay a small fee per delivered customer only! We gave them unlimited amount of images in their personal gallery. We give them $20 start up fee (which they could use to pay for their first 2 customers) - so basically they get 2 free customers at worst case and they could just leave without giving us a penny.

The design of the site is decent. I'm constantly working on SEO even thinking about translating the site into spanish and several more languages so it would be easier to rank for google.es for example with spanish content.

I tried emailing, i used tracking system and I see thy open the emails but they dont sign up and those who sign up (which are like 1-2% from all emails) usually end up filling their account and not uploading any images which is crucial for the visitors to be able to hire them.

I tried emailing existing clients to let them know how important that is and they MUST upload images and set prices for their services and no one even bothered to do it.

The other issue are the visitors - daily we have about 100 visitors and from all of those visitors non of them hired a dentist. I'm giving my best to realize why is all that .... there are instructions, its really easy to follow, nothing too fancy or complicated. I believe some of the visitors don't find dentists in that particular area (since we have like about 20-30 listed dentists listed and most of them are from US), which means not enough dentists to compare.

Seriously, I have give my heart and soul for this site and it's not working, and I'm trying to figure out what to do and how to fix it ... but I'm clueless already.

PS: "Dentists" is just an example, our site is in other niche, i dont want to share it with the public because it's hard to rank anyway.

 

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[Fastlaner2012]

Hi

I am not the expert here but from my understanding, the site would only work if it contains a considerable amount of "dentists" for "anyone" who signs up. Maybe if it would be a good idea if you contact (hire some one to do it for you) as many dentists as you possibly can with some incentive for them to join.

As for SEO, it takes time and effort and sometime money to achieve the desired result. Maybe if you set up and affiliate program in your lead generation site that would increase the # of sign ups. The idea is to diversify your stratgey, don't just rely in SEO, try social media like facebook twitter, dentist forums, local advertsing, cold calling, etc.

Another thing that is on top of my head is to learn from the best in your market. They have already done the work for you in terms of website functionality, special features, needs, user interface, clients behavior, etc... don;t just copy everything they are doing, just do it better.

Good Luck with your project and don't give up on the road to the fastlane.

Marion

 

[piotrkrzyzek]

There's a lot going on that we can't comment on without seeing the site. But that said, ask yourself this: are you really giving the 'dentists' a reason to sign up? And I mean a real reason. What true benefit would it have for them, to sit down, google your website, sign up, upload their info plus uploading pictures (side note: I've been in the consulting business a while now and true story: Most retailers do NOT have quality/proper pictures and many of them don't even have 1 picture to use! Scary, but true.), and attempt to 'use' your site?

I recently met with the president/co-founder of a local start up in pretty much your exact same niche: leads. They specialize in local leads, though they get sign ups in unique ways.

First, and very important: they have an EXTREMELY professional and extremely high quality design for their website. Even as a designer/developer/consultant all I could say was "damn, that's a well designed and executed site!" That is what you need. "Good enough" isn't good enough for quality lead gen.

Second, they have multiple lead gen models and multiple sales/pay models which offer significant flexibility to their vendors.

Third, they aren't starting out big. They are focusing on local businesses simply because it's a hell of a lot easier to start small and then go big (in terms of lead generation). Unless you have the funds to use the shotgun approach (throw money at anything and see what sticks). By focusing only on the local towns, villages and metropolis they are not only enhancing their image as a local lead gen site, they can focus on what's important for most start ups. Which brings me to my last point:

Fourth: they are in the community, in businesses, passing out flyers, doing (reasonable) ads. They know they won't hit it off right off the bat. They are testing copy. They are split testing this and that (sort of, but not as much as they should IMO), and more or less they are making themselves known every which way they can.

So ...

Back to your question of why aren't you getting sign ups, and uses? Give them a TRUE reason to.

You say it's a 'global' lead gen site, well.... there are tons of those out there. What makes you unique? Do you provide true and bonefied leads? Leads that will convert for me, as a vendor? Yes? Ok, how many leads? What's the catch?

Tell me why I should spend one hour on your site? One hour with you means one hour less with clients. One hour with a client, for example, brings me a $5,000 sale. So ... why should I spend it with your unproven process with a mediocer look when networking and solo-ads work guarenteed?

I'm not trying to be harsh, ok maybe I am , but the fact of the matter is:

Give them a damn good reason (and proof of success) as to why they should use your service.

Or who knows, it might be your sales copy isn't good? Your sales process is too difficult.

Important: YOU cannot be the judge of if your sales process is easy, good, efficient or not! Get someone who isn't part of your team and who doesn't know your system to go through the system and give you a comprehensive overview/review/evaluation.

It just happens that that's one thing I can help you with. Send me a message and I'll help you with this.

Best of luck to you mate.

 

[aarongarn]

poitrkrzyzek hit it right on the head. If you're getting traffic, but not success, there must be something wrong with your value proposition. You have to be brutally honest with yourself, and look at your 'perceived' value. (What you think is your 'real' value has very little to do with it)

 

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[Pat]

Split test everything.

Showing us the site would really help. I doubt someone will steal your idea, plenty of ideas around. It's all about the execution.

 

[Danny G]

Maybe if it would be a good idea if you contact (hire some one to do it for you) as many dentists as you possibly can with some incentive for them to join.

You mean via email or cold calling ?

The idea is to diversify your stratgey, don't just rely in SEO, try social media like facebook twitter, dentist forums, local advertsing, cold calling, etc.

I tried social media. I have like ~1400 followers, mostly photographers, and the % of sign up is really low there as well.

It just happens that that's one thing I can help you with. Send me a message and I'll help you with this.

Thanks, PMed you already!

 

[rocksolid]

How about just giving the dentist 3 free leads for signing up, or just give them 1 lead to try for free, no questions asked. If the lead is good then they should want to join.

 

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[Danny G]

We give them 2 Free leads now!

How about just giving the dentist 3 free leads for signing up, or just give them 1 lead to try for free, no questions asked. If the lead is good then they should want to join.

 

[Fastlaner2012]

You mean via email or cold calling ?

Cold calling that way you'd be able to know why they are not interested in joining to figure out how to improve your offering and give them what they want and need.

I tried social media. I have like ~1400 followers, mostly photographers, and the % of sign up is really low there as well.

Maybe what you are offering doesn't interest them...or that too many people are doing it. What's the catch? just like our friend piotrkrzyzek mentioned.

they pay a small fee per delivered customer only!

Is it a profitable customer or just a lead that could be a good or bad one? I hope that it is set up in a way that you would only get paid when the "dentists" get a good lead that translates into an actual business transaction and profit for the "dentist"; so even if they get 1000 leads and only 1 becomes their actual paying profitable customer, you'd only get paid on 1! the strategy is to set yourself apart from the competition by offering a quality service. The problem with this is how could you monitor and track it...

Keep up the good work
Marion

 

[Danny G]

Cold calling that way you'd be able to know why they are not interested in joining to figure out how to improve your offering and give them what they want and need.

I target US and I'm living in Europe, I have to find someone doing it for me probably otherwise it will be really hard.

Maybe what you are offering doesn't interest them...or that too many people are doing it. What's the catch? just like our friend piotrkrzyzek mentioned.

That might be right. But I'm not quite sure why would you not be interested in getting 2 clients free of charge .... I'm probably missing something in the puzzle.

Is it a profitable customer or just a lead that could be a good or bad one? I hope that it is set up in a way that you would only get paid when the "dentists" get a good lead that translates into an actual business transaction and profit for the "dentist"; so even if they get 1000 leads and only 1 becomes their actual paying profitable customer, you'd only get paid on 1! the strategy is to set yourself apart from the competition by offering a quality service. The problem with this is how could you monitor and track it...

If it's not profitable we won't charge them a dime. + We have a 100% Money back guarantee in case the customer change their mind and don't really use that "dentist"'s service. There might have been guys who have done it in this niche but for now what I see in competition, all of them offers either free membership and a bunch of ads, banners, adsense, ect or paid membership (per month or pr year). I know that this niche is good paid (not exactly globally but in most biggest countries like US, Canada, UK, Australia, ect.) the average cost per that service is about $500 - $700 or more depending on the kind of service (because there are different kind of course).

So here's the big picture. My "dentists" (customers) would register, everything in the profile is unlimited (except phone numbers, faxt, email, sites, those kind of stuff because it's a lead gen business). They get 1st 2 customers absolutely FREE of charge and after that they will pay $10 per new client (1 time fee of course). The thing is the traffic at this point means NOTHING! I mean even if I get 1000 visitors looking for "dentists" in particular country. Why? Simply I don't have enough "dentists" listed so the visitors could compare and chose the best on that fits their needs.

So the priority are the "dentists" and make them get listed. And ROI for the "dentists" is like .... oh, a lot more than that small fee ... I mean if you pay $10 for that customer and make $500 out of him/her ... yeah, that's $490 pure profit for the dentists himself.

 

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[Fastlaner2012]

Quote Originally Posted by Fastlaner2012 View Post
Maybe what you are offering doesn't interest them...or that too many people are doing it. What's the catch? just like our friend piotrkrzyzek mentioned.
That might be right. But I'm not quite sure why would you not be interested in getting 2 clients free of charge .... I'm probably missing something in the puzzle

You see, sometimes our perception of what the customers need is inconsistent what they really need and want! Have you done any data collection like filling out surveys and questionaires asking your customers the type of service they are interested in, what their problems and needs are and what interest them, etc.? your secret answer might be there! FREE may sound appealing to some but to others not really, FREE is sometimes associated with cheap, bad quality, bad service, ...

Another strategy that might work is to allow all the lead info in your site to be available to your customers until your website has had an interesting number of registered users then you can switch to something like this: "try our service for free for 30 days" then charge them per lead.

Keep up the good work
Marion

 

[Danny G]

You see, sometimes our perception of what the customers need is inconsistent what they really need and want! Have you done any data collection like filling out surveys and questionaires asking your customers the type of service they are interested in, what their problems and needs are and what interest them, etc.? your secret answer might be there! FREE may sound appealing to some but to others not really, FREE is sometimes associated with cheap, bad quality, bad service, ...

Another strategy that might work is to allow all the lead info in your site to be available to your customers until your website has had an interesting number of registered users then you can switch to something like this: "try our service for free for 30 days" then charge them per lead.

Keep up the good work
Marion

Never really thought about services. I have to consider that as well!

I would like to thank piotrkrzyzek for his detailed report about the design all the tips and everything! And thank to the rest of the guys as well! I will consider your words and advices and I am always open for new advices!

Thank you guys!

As I said to piotrkrzyzek, I am ready to work as hard as I have to, I've already put my heart and soul into this project and I know it has HUGE potential! I can feel it!

 

[piotrkrzyzek]

Best of luck Danny G!

 

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