Lead Gen Mastermind - 2017/$2017

[TheDillon__]

Saluton miaj amikoj! Hello friends!

There's been a lot of traction on the forum lately of people asking questions, sharing information, and posting progress threads regarding local lead gen. And I totally get why.

Overall, it's pretty CENTS-y!

NEED: Businesses always need more customers, and customers need help finding the best service in their area.

ENTRY: Seems pretty light at first. All you need is a landing page and an AdWords account. The barrier to entry lies in the knowledge of what to do with both of those.

CONTROL: This is a fun one. You own the AdWords account. You own the landing page. You own the domain. Yes, we are still relying on the competency of Google's search algorithm, but how deeply can a search like "+dallas +plumber" be affected? You own 90% of the process, and you're more than able to scale this all up, then sell it all off!

SCALE: Couldn't be better. Take your "+dallas +plumber" landing page. Duplicate it. Change "plumber" to "electrician."

Take your "+dallas +plumber" ad. Duplicate it. Change "+plumber" to "+electrician" Change the domain.

Rinse/repeat for as many cities and services as you can think of!

TIME: Set and forget. People have been searching for +location +service since the dawn of paid search, and I'm fairly certain that's not going to change with the years to come. Once you get your ad running smoothly, and your client is happy with the amount of business they're getting, you're all set!

Seems like everything we could've asked for!

So that said, I'm going to be hosting a weekly Lead Gen mastermind on Skype every Saturday at 11 am CST.

Whether you're just getting started with lead gen, or you're seasoned, I'd love to have you!

Drop a comment here, or shoot me a PM and we'll kick things off this weekend.

Aduramus!



Edit by mod: Changed COMMAND to CONTROL

 

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[oldirty]

I noticed your choice for household repair industries, such as plumber or electrician. What is your response to the notion that there are multiple large scale (nationwide with phone apps) lead gen sites that seem to dominate this market? Just curious if you think there is still room for competition there.

 

[MidwestLandlord]

Well, I just had an entire campaign suspended because Google decided that since I use a trademarked word in the ads, comply with their policies, the law, and the trademark owner's own authorization on file, they just didn't like it. Literally told me, "yes, you are in compliance, but we still want the ads changed or they will remain disapproved"

If one single piece of the puzzle (Google) can make the whole thing come undone, then that's a control issue.

Scale seems like an issue as well. To scale, you'd have to make this into a human resource system...no?

Unless we're not talking about big numbers? (Millions)

 

[lowtek]

Well, I just had an entire campaign suspended because Google decided that since I use a trademarked word in the ads, comply with their policies, the law, and the trademark owner's own authorization on file, they just didn't like it. Literally told me, "yes, you are in compliance, but we still want the ads changed or they will remain disapproved"

If one single piece of the puzzle (Google) can make the whole thing come undone, then that's a control issue.

Scale seems like an issue as well. To scale, you'd have to make this into a human resource system...no?

Unless we're not talking about big numbers? (Millions)

Dealing with creepy uncle Google is usually a nightmare. If you have a dedicated account representative, that's your best bet for getting the issue resolved.

Otherwise, have fun with the call center in India =/

 

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[Azure]

I noticed your choice for household repair industries, such as plumber or electrician. What is your response to the notion that there are multiple large scale (nationwide with phone apps) lead gen sites that seem to dominate this market? Just curious if you think there is still room for competition there.

What companies are those?

@MidwestLandlord

Lead Gen for service companies isn't limited to only Adwords. Many niches can experience great success with other platforms. FB ads for realtors, for instance. There are many opportunities to diversify.

 

[kkoasdfawfqwe2]

CONTROL: This is a fun one. You own the AdWords account. You own the landing page. You own the domain. Yes, we are still relying on the competency of Google's search algorithm, but how deeply can a search like "+dallas +plumber" be affected? You own 90% of the process, and you're more than able to scale this all up, then sell it all off!

Even though I know it is not the point of your thread, I must admit after having been doing FB ads for 2 years, I do feel kind of powerless and never in control - and my best bet is that Google is no different.

Either way, props for taking initiative to create a mastermind for this, hope you will make it a succesful one.

 

[The-J]

Did you just introduce your post in Esperanto lmao

There's no real control in this, sorry man. Google/FB has all the control. You might have control vis-à-vis the client (own the LP and campaign) but as far as the actual leads generated, your control is slim to none.

Not all campaigns are 'set and forget'. Simple ones on Google can be but I've never had a FB campaign work for more than a month. Something always changes and I always have to adjust. (I'm not leaving out the possibility that I just suck at FB) Even some of my Google campaigns have stopped working pretty quickly.

Time is relatively light though, and you can always hire a dedicated campaign manager to watch it.

Also, duplicating isn't as easy as it sounds. I've had multiple instances where my 'template' worked in one area and didn't in another. Also gotta keep in mind the clients' revenue model: they might not be able to make profit off the leads you generate. Sure, that's their problem, but that'll get them to quit.

I like it as a hustle and will continue to do it. However I don't have any pretentions that this is 'CENTSy', it's a hustle and can be built to an agency too. The agency gives you more positive points but the control aspect still remains.

 

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[AdamMaxum]

The problem I see the most with local lead sites for people starting out is the cost per lead, at least with Adwords, and finding someone to buy them instantly.

The first part that sucks is having to sell those leads as soon as possible to someone. Meaning you have to have someone who has already agreed to buy them otherwise they turn cold super fast...across most service based industries anyway. Someone looking for lawn care might inquire to multiple businesses same day and go with someone else within 24 hours/same day. When I search for services I usually want to schedule it now and whoever answers me first and gives me the best rates, wins my business.

The second part that people run into is the cost. It's pretty difficult to consistently get leads at a steady rate when running adwords. Yes, testing and more testing helps, but it's not easy. So you kind of have to estimate your cost per lead (esp. at first) and I bet a lot of people find that the cost they acquire the lead at + additional fee to hand them to the business owner is more than they thought it would be. You could very easily run up $20 in Adwords for a single lawn mow lead and then tack on $10? on top for a $30 lead and that's already more than most lawn guys would pay just for a lead...you kind of have to focus on the more expensive leads to make more money which requires higher ad spends (ie: legal)

These two issues are what prevent me from going this route. Of course, if you're great at LP's and Ad spends and can find leads you can make money on, then it's a good gig, but that's easier said than done.

The easier money is managing adword/paid campaigns for cut/%, SEO, social media management, and other marketing activities where you can help the business secure more leads over time without having to actually generate the lead and sell it everytime, over and over.

 

[oldirty]

What companies are those?

@MidwestLandlord

Lead Gen for service companies isn't limited to only Adwords. Many niches can experience great success with other platforms. FB ads for realtors, for instance. There are many opportunities to diversify.

Angie's list, home advisor, thumbtack. All big lead generators in the home improvement/repair genre.