Lead Gen business from day 1

[McFirewavesJr]

Alright let's do this.

A little bit context first...

Been raised on the sidewalk, bought in the slowlane, tried it, hated it. Became self employed; realized it was better, but not good because the T and S in CENTS are kinda very mucho important. Decided to immigrate to the USA because I love capitalism and warm weather. A couple months and a couple thousands of dollars in legal fees later, I'm here and ready to get to work.

IDEA

As soon as I got here, I started taking notes on unsolved needs, service deficiencies, complaints, pain points, industry gaps, etc. This resulted in a list of 12 potential businesses. I discarded 9 and kept 3. I spent some time on the #1 contender (building a franchise) and discarded it as well because I had no way to predict if this relatively new market would still be a thing 10 years from now. Idea #2 turned out to make way more CENTS than expected. It's actually quite similar to what @MJ DeMarco did with Limos.com . I spotted a high offer & high demand sector that is very fragmented. There is a place for a company right in between the service offer and the customers; this is exactly where my company will sit and throw shovels full of value at everyone's face.

EXECUTION

Product creation...

Working 2 jobs, being self employed and a active pro athlete leaves me about 2 hours daily to work on this. I estimate it will take me about 6 months to build a Minimal Viable Product since I already have some experience doing that kind of work. It mostly consists of a website with automation features backed by a live customer service.

Selling the service...

Since I used all my worthless Canadian dollars to immigrate here, I will have to work A LOT during the product creation phase in order to fund a month long targeted add campaign. The said campaign will serve the purpose of collecting data, that I will present to the service providers when pitching them "pay us a % only if you make the sale" offer.

Revenue model...

While it's possible to monetize this a dozen ways, I'm currently leaning towards the commission % model, because I think (might very well be wrong) that our clients will only want to extend their wallet to our business if they receive paying customers first. This might change in the future.

ALREADY DONE

• CENTS analysis
• Identify similar business models
• Identify competitors
• Research on the industry (customers and service providers)
• Identify the best geographical area to start with (service providers are brick and mortar)

NEXT STEP

• Pay someone to build a directory of all local service providers within the immediate targeted region and list;
  • Photos
  • addresses
  • phone #
  • directions
  • services offered
  • price list
  • hours
  • extra features
  • relevant additional info

I opted for outsourcing instead of doing myself, because this can be done by a monkey and I'm confident may people will do it for 10$/hour (which is roughly half of what I earn right now).

OK bye! I will report back when the directory is finished or if anything new shows up!

P.S. Any constructive criticism is welcomed.

 

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[Scot]

I understand you worked a few months on this venture prior to the call. Out did it turn out?

Read this post to see how it all ended.

First time entrepreneur, here it goes!

Here's the biggest thing I want you to know. It's something Andy and I talked about on the call but it never worked out in that business. And in my current business it's a lesson I put into action.

TALK TO YOUR CUSTOMERS.

It sounds so simple. But it's something we neglect to do. We think we know what the market wants or what the clients or customers want.

I never bothered talking to barbers. I talked to two barbers, but in my network. I never walked into random shops and asked simple questions. I never found out barbers are notoriously cheap. I never found out most barber don't want to use apps.

There's a great story about AirBnB's founders. http://www.greylock.com/airbnbs-joe-gebbia-things-dont-scale/#foobox-1/0/135893936

When you're small you can afford to give white glove service to clients. When you're small you CANT afford NOT TO give white glove service.

Andy is the expert here on lead gen, so definitely take his advice. But the first thing you need to do is talk to your potential clients. Go buy them coffee, sit down and ask what they need and want.

It's scary to approach strangers. You think it's weird. But you need to do this. If you don't, you'll fly blind. And you'll crash.

 

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[Andy Black]

Alright let's do this.

A little bit context first...

Been raised on the sidewalk, bought in the slowlane, tried it, hated it. Became self employed; realized it was better, but not good because the T and S in CENTS are kinda very mucho important. Decided to immigrate to the USA because I love capitalism and warm weather. A couple months and a couple thousands of dollars in legal fees later, I'm here and ready to get to work.

IDEA

As soon as I got here, I started taking notes on unsolved needs, service deficiencies, complaints, pain points, industry gaps, etc. This resulted in a list of 12 potential businesses. I discarded 9 and kept 3. I spent some time on the #1 contender (building a franchise) and discarded it as well because I had no way to predict if this relatively new market would still be a thing 10 years from now. Idea #2 turned out to make way more CENTS than expected. It's actually quite similar to what @MJ DeMarco did with Limos.com . I spotted a high offer & high demand sector that is very fragmented. There is a place for a company right in between the service offer and the customers; this is exactly where my company will sit and throw shovels full of value at everyone's face.

EXECUTION

Product creation...

Working 2 jobs, being self employed and a active pro athlete leaves me about 2 hours daily to work on this. I estimate it will take me about 6 months to build a Minimal Viable Product since I already have some experience doing that kind of work. It mostly consists of a website with automation features backed by a live customer service.

Selling the service...

Since I used all my worthless Canadian dollars to immigrate here, I will have to work A LOT during the product creation phase in order to fund a month long targeted add campaign. The said campaign will serve the purpose of collecting data, that I will present to the service providers when pitching them "pay us a % only if you make the sale" offer.

Revenue model...

While it's possible to monetize this a dozen ways, I'm currently leaning towards the commission % model, because I think (might very well be wrong) that our clients will only want to extend their wallet to our business if they receive paying customers first. This might change in the future.

ALREADY DONE

• CENTS analysis
• Identify similar business models
• Identify competitors
• Research on the industry (customers and service providers)
• Identify the best geographical area to start with (service providers are brick and mortar)

NEXT STEP

• Pay someone to build a directory of all local service providers within the immediate targeted region and list;
  • Photos
  • addresses
  • phone #
  • directions
  • services offered
  • price list
  • hours
  • extra features
  • relevant additional info

I opted for outsourcing instead of doing myself, because this can be done by a monkey and I'm confident may people will do it for 10$/hour (which is roughly half of what I earn right now).

OK bye! I will report back when the directory is finished or if anything new shows up!

P.S. Any constructive criticism is welcomed.

Just wondering if you could generate leads first, without building a directory?

Maybe the call I had with @Scot might be of interest:

• AndyTalks with @Scot about Sales, Silence, and Building Marketplaces

 

[Andy Black]

Hey Andy, thanks for checking in!

1) No I have not; I thought it would be a good idea to draft a rough hypothesis of what could be done to bring customers and service providers together and then ask them for feedback and suggestions. Maybe I'm too confident in my idea and should listen to them first? Interesting... WWYD?

2) I'm definitely considering such a possibility. I thought about producing some kind of "kickstarter simulation" of what the service would look like, and then using it to "pre sell" the service. I really need to figure the ideal revenue before I get into any of this. Once again, your expertise and opinion would be helpful here

Thanks!

Have you listened to that call with @Scot yet?
What's your takeaways from that call?


I don't know enough about your situation to say what I'd do, but I'll tell you what I'm currently doing FWIW:

• I get local service business clients who want more leads.
• They pay me a flat monthly fee.
• They pay the Google AdWords bill direct.
• I own the AdWords campaigns.
• We often build a landing page for the client.
• I own the landing page.
• They pay me a flat fee to build the landing page. I pay that fee directly to my freelance graphic designer and freelance developer.
• We have to dial in the landing pages and AdWords campaigns so that the client gets positive ROI. If they don't get profitable they stop paying.

If they DO get positive ROI, then this is what's happened:

• A business owner in that vertical/industry has worked with me to build him a steady stream of leads such that he's getting positive ROI from my service. (Since they're invested in the process, they'll typically be very vocal if things aren't working.)
• He's paid the ad spend.
• He's paid me a flat monthly fee.
• He's paid for the landing page build.
• He's paid for my small team to work together for yet another week... which means we work better and better together.
• He's paid for me to improve our processes and technology.
• He's paid me to learn.
• He's paid me build something that we now KNOW generates positive ROI for a business in that vertical.
• ... and that could maybe be replicated to the next city.

You can find some more details in my INSIDERS progress thread in this post here:

• https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...y-adwords-knowledge.52532/page-20#post-625493

 

[McFirewavesJr]

Have you listened to that call with @Scot yet?
What's your takeaways from that call?


I don't know enough about your situation to say what I'd do, but I'll tell you what I'm currently doing FWIW:

• I get local service business clients who want more leads.
• They pay me a flat monthly fee.
• They pay the Google AdWords bill direct.
• I own the AdWords campaigns.
• We often build a landing page for the client.
• I typically own the landing page.
• They pay me a flat fee to build the landing page. I pay that fee directly to my freelance graphic designer and freelance developer.
• We have to dial in the landing pages and AdWords campaigns so that the client gets positive ROI. If they don't get profitable they stop paying.

If they DO get positive ROI, then this is what's happened:

• A business owner in that vertical/industry has worked with me to build him a steady stream of leads such that he's getting positive ROI from my service. (Since they're invested in the process, they'll typically be very vocal if things aren't working.)
• He's paid the ad spend.
• He's paid me a flat monthly fee.
• He's paid for the landing page build.
• He's paid for my small team to work together for yet another week... which means we work better and better together.
• He's paid for me to improve our processes and technology.
• He's paid me to learn.
• He's paid me build something that we now KNOW generates positive ROI for a business in that vertical.
• ... and that could be replicated to the next city.

You can find some more details in my INSIDERS progress thread in this post here:

• https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...y-adwords-knowledge.52532/page-20#post-625493

I just finished the call.

OK first I need to thank you and @Scot a thousand times for sharing that call. It was literally gold to me and I can say with confidence it's the most value I got from TFT since I signed up 2 years ago.

The 3 major things I get from this call are:

1. blacksmiths are blacksmiths. They don't know or care about what you do; they care about selling swords and paying their rent.
2. If you demonstrate value first instead of selling another "solution" (which is exactly what I'd like to do), business will flow in.
3. Building stuff is absolute action faking. Use the cheapest and fastest solution to get leads to you customers.
4. Once you have proven useful to blacksmiths, they will pay you to build whatever thing you want to build to sell their damn swords.

As for your comment:

• As for the revenue model; it seems quite industry specific and it feels like going with what makes more sense for the client is the way to go...

So overall...

It still seems like a directory is what makes sense, but why not just generate leads with ads and squeeze pages for now? This will create a relationship with blacksmiths and at some point I could hint the idea of funding a directory if it looks like it still the best idea to bring them customers.

Don't build stuff... be goal oriented Fred...

 

[Andy Black]

BOOM!

Thank you @Scot for passing on your insights. At a guess, you talking about them gives you even more clarity?

It would be great if you could both add your insights to the thread of the call itself - that will help even more people when we point to it in future.

Great insight and takeaway from your last business "failure" @Scot:

"TALK TO PEOPLE."
​

You've got to get out of the echo chamber of your own head.



I generate leads for my clients using AdWords paid search.

That's not how I currently generate leads for my own business. I do that by *talking* to people:

• "Spend your money on diesel and coffee"
• Learnings from 700+ PMs with fellow forum members

My "accidental podcast" is called "AndyTalks" at the moment. Why? Because I talk to people every . single . week.

I've had PMs with over 1,500 forum members by now. I've no idea how many I've talked to... maybe 1 a week so maybe 150+ at this stage? I'm kicking myself I didn't record them from the start, but the second time to plant an oak tree is now eh?

I don't talk to people to pitch my service, but it's brought work in a round-about kind of way.

It's also helped me see patterns and understand WHY people can get in their own way. This has helped me, as well as whoever I've talked with, (and is now helping even more people who can listen to the recordings).


Some other talks you may want to listen to (in particular) are the first radio interview, and the talks with @Random_0, @Contrarian, @JoeyF, @nzott, @Tweeve11. (Check out the master thread in my signature for the index thread.)



(@Scot ... would love to have a follow up chat with you about your learnings from building a marketplace and what you're doing differently going forward.)

 

[McFirewavesJr]

Have you determined the plugins you will use?

I am as you know looking to do something similar, but am torn between using a rather general theme with a specialized premium directory plugin, or simply going for a theme with the needed plugins as part of the package, eg "Listable".

Similar to you I am waiting to have a prototype up and running before grabbing leads, but a bit stuck in analyzing mode at the moment.

Also, have you thought about automization in regards to back end? How will you handle the database?

As for the directory, you might want to read the exchange in between me and @Andy Black a few posts higher. I decided on not building the directory right away since the priority is to get leads and offer them for free to service providers in order to initiate a relationship and then use their insights to build a tailored solution to their lead generation problem. I want to avoid doing the same mistake @Scot did, which was to "build stuff" instead of doing whatever I can to bring leads to my customers.

Yes I have it figured out the backend already. This can become infinitely complex, but in terms of systems, my initial setup only uses;

• Wordpress
• Contact Form 7
• Constant Contact

It's important to note that my only goal in this phase of the business is to shoot free leads at a test group of service providers in order to engineer a trust relationship with them.

 

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[Aaron T]

Aren't Facebook pages known to suck unless you actually promote them $$$?

OK, let me reset the conversation.

I am talking about using them with FB Ads to dive engagement, social and otherwise, for your business. So I have a FB page for my business. I then post things relevant to my business on the page (relevant pictures, I type up relevant to the business posts directly in) all to provide value relevant to the business on the FB Page. I ALSO post specific posts with information that leads to my business page selling whatever it is I am selling. I put FB Ads on those particular posts. If the ad is good, it gets a very high level of engagement and interaction. It also costs me very little to run for a fairly large amount of return.

Let me show you 3 running ads today:


Notice that for around $5 dollars each (I set these test ads for $5 dollars a day) I got a fairly decent click rate that carried through to my Ad and then my business page. So you are right. I am spending $ (not $$$) to get the traffic. BUT then people LIKE what they see on the FB Page which provides value. So the like the page and add social currency and relevancy to the FB Page. Let's say you do this, get a few hundred to thousand people on your business focused FB page that like it. They will LIKE it because of the value you provide in the articles, pictures, videos, all the normal social stuff people like to see on FB that is relevant to your page. However all links on that page will still go to your business site. When they see a new post, including one you are running an AD on, they will LIKE it, share it, and click on it to see what you are doing. This is not far off from an email list.

You will build social currency. With social currency you socialize your business site. With that you can get sales. If you provide value, have a good product that is not garbage, you will be OK.

I hope you can see it now. This post is value. For less than $15 dollars I got approximately 908 people (not counting the thousands that are already there) to go to my web page where I have made more than I spent in advertising. So yes, there is $ spent, but you have to spend to drive traffic in the beginning. Just spend less than you make. You will do that by selling something of value.

Does this make sense?

 

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[Andy Black]

Curious if you've spoken to any service providers yet. Can they somehow pay for you to generate leads for them? Can they somehow pay to get their "page" built on your platform?

 

[McFirewavesJr]

Have you listened to that call with @Scot yet?
What's your takeaways from that call?


I don't know enough about your situation to say what I'd do, but I'll tell you what I'm currently doing FWIW:

• I get local service business clients who want more leads.
• They pay me a flat monthly fee.
• They pay the Google AdWords bill direct.
• I own the AdWords campaigns.
• We often build a landing page for the client.
• I typically own the landing page.
• They pay me a flat fee to build the landing page. I pay that fee directly to my freelance graphic designer and freelance developer.
• We have to dial in the landing pages and AdWords campaigns so that the client gets positive ROI. If they don't get profitable they stop paying.

If they DO get positive ROI, then this is what's happened:

• A business owner in that vertical/industry has worked with me to build him a steady stream of leads such that he's getting positive ROI from my service. (Since they're invested in the process, they'll typically be very vocal if things aren't working.)
• He's paid the ad spend.
• He's paid me a flat monthly fee.
• He's paid for the landing page build.
• He's paid for my small team to work together for yet another week... which means we work better and better together.
• He's paid for me to improve our processes and technology.
• He's paid me to learn.
• He's paid me build something that we now KNOW generates positive ROI for a business in that vertical.
• ... and that could be replicated to the next city.

You can find some more details in my INSIDERS progress thread in this post here:

• https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...y-adwords-knowledge.52532/page-20#post-625493

Woah I misunderstood your post with the call link. I'm listening it at the gym right now and will come back after. I can't believe I almost missed a full post on building a marketplace in a two sided market :\ Thanks lol. BRB

 

[McFirewavesJr]

Read this post to see how it all ended.

First time entrepreneur, here it goes!

Here's the biggest thing I want you to know. It's something Andy and I talked about on the call but it never worked out in that business. And in my current business it's a lesson I put into action.

TALK TO YOUR CUSTOMERS.

It sounds so simple. But it's something we neglect to do. We think we know what the market wants or what the clients or customers want.

I never bothered talking to barbers. I talked to two barbers, but in my network. I never walked into random shops and asked simple questions. I never found out barbers are notoriously cheap. I never found out most barber don't want to use apps.

There's a great story about AirBnB's founders. http://www.greylock.com/airbnbs-joe-gebbia-things-dont-scale/#foobox-1/0/135893936

When you're small you can afford to give white glove service to clients. When you're small you CANT afford NOT TO give white glove service.

Andy is the expert here on lead gen, so definitely take his advice. But the first thing you need to do is talk to your potential clients. Go buy them coffee, sit down and ask what they need and want.

It's scary to approach strangers. You think it's weird. But you need to do this. If you don't, you'll fly blind. And you'll crash.

Well thanks for the advice, this is actually why I came here and documented this venture. I will definitely apply what I just learned.

1. Get some leads for cheap
2. Approach businesses with basic questions

That is all for now.

P.S.
Congrats on your failure. It looked like an incredible learning experience.

 

[McFirewavesJr]

UPDATE

After listening to the hour long call in between @Andy Black and @Scot (and getting their input on my initial idea), I decided to modify my approach before I get into building stuff that might not be necessary.

My game plan will remain similar

1. Study the market (done)
2. Build MVP (draft of my genius million dollar grand idea)
3. Offer leads free to customers and build relationship with them
4. Use their expert insights of their own industry to build a tailored solution
5. Launch

The main difference in comparison to what I intended to do initially is that I will build MUCH SIMPLER MVP that will take me about a week to build instead of a couple months. I'm so glad these two guys saved me from what would have been a terrible waste of time.

NEXT STEP

• Temporary Business Name
• 1 page wordpress website with simple optin form
• Set up contact form autoresponder and IMAP email directly to my mobile
• Decide on a simple procedure to follow every time I get a new lead
• Pick 5 of the 100 local businesses I found to be my "test customers" These are the guys I intend on building a relationship with by giving them free leads.

All of this can be done within 24 hours since I've already done it multiple times in the past. I already know what I'll do next, but I'll get back to it once I've finished what's above.

 

[McFirewavesJr]

Hey, here's a 10 points update on that long forgotten execution post. May you learn something valuable:

Summary;

1. I spotted an opportunity to do lead gen in a very fragmented industry that offers both scale and decent magnitude.
   
2. I started working on it relatively fast and put my progress here
3. Got great advice and @Andy Black saved me a lot of time by recommending I start getting leads before building the directory (THANK GOD FOR THAT). I knew about this, but almost got carried away in building stuff.
   
4. Finished the whole front end and made the back-end decent enough to start
5. Stopped using the forum around that time, but kept working.
6. Started saving money to run the first ad campaign to get those sweet leads
7. Changed jobs at that point and money was terribly tight. Didn't manage to save during that first year of immigrating in the States
8. Lost focus and things got stale
9. Ditched the project and focused on increasing income for a few months. Didn't execute during that time, but educated myself with audiobooks a few hours per day while working.
   
10. Currently looking, listening and sniffing for an opportunity in need of execution.
    
    TL;DR

Started something and got sidetracked when personal finances went down the drain. Took a few months to regroup while studying business and finance.

Looking back on this is very humbling. I learned that I'm no superman can't use business as an escape from my responsibilities. I found out building a schedule and sticking to it makes a massive difference and I will need to keep that in check. I know I'm flawed, but working on it.

 

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[Scot]

Woah I misunderstood your post with the call link. I'm listening it at the gym right now and will come back after. I can't believe I almost missed a full post on building a marketplace in a two sided market :\ Thanks lol. BRB

I'll be happy to share my mistakes as well after you finish the call.

I failed at it, but hopefully my failure won't be yours.

 

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[Andy Black]

how do you plan on generating the free leads without a proper directory going?

1) No leads are free.


2) This is one (of many) ways:

• AndyTalks with @Contrarian about starting his side hustle in local lead gen

3) What's a "proper" directory? Careful of this thinking - it leads to "building stuff":

• Stop Building Stuff
• AndyTalks with @Scot about business failure and talking to people

 

[McFirewavesJr]

UPDATE

The draft of the website is finished. Just putting the pieces together helped me a lot to mentally structure how this machine is going to work. This month was my first month of financial semi stability since I moved to the USA. It feels great to breath a little!

NEXT STEP

I need only a month to save 200$ and run a week long PPC campaign. I'll take advantage of the 30 days ahead of me to polish the website and decide on the best way to convey leads to the service providers.

That whole strategy is slowly getting more solid. I'm currently debating to either;

A) shoot the leads directly to my targets
B) put together a clear and concise document that will explain them how they can benefit from this.

I'm leaning towards option B, because I don't expect them to handle the leads properly without that initial set of instructions. I think it would be smart to guide them a little before I just start throwing leads at them. Still debating. Got 1 month to think of the best way to go about it.

 

[Aaron T]

Both Google and Facebook. I don't mind focusing on one or the other long run, but I'm currently unsure about which one will work best. 200$ for 1 week is indeed my budget. If you have any suggestions to make, speak freely.

OK, only because I know this better and what I would do. Make a FB page and then socialize it and do FB Ads for the product. You can usually test individual ads for about a $1 to $5 and then once you find one that works, focus the dollars on it. This week you can at least test different ad styles and copy while saving for a substantial push.

Again, let me preface that with it being based on what I know works well for me.

 

[McFirewavesJr]

How does flipping an arrow help anyone?

Maybe check out the call with Contrarian in my signature, and the one about 300 surveys.

Hmmm... and maybe the first radio interview.

Re listening to your call with @Contrarian was absolutely worth it. I definitely have to ask this guy a thing or two.

What stuck out to me the most is that I had in mind to provide value first to the customers, but didn't think about doing the same with the target audience (their customers).

 

[Azure]

@Andy Black

In some instances, the directory would need to be built prior to selling leads. Hotels, for instance. Every plumber is the same, not every hotel is the same.

Is there any other information you can give about the niche without specifically mentioning what it is. Average buying lifecycle, ltv etc?

 

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[McFirewavesJr]

I'll be happy to share my mistakes as well after you finish the call.

I failed at it, but hopefully my failure won't be yours.

I understand you worked a few months on this venture prior to the call. Out did it turn out?

 

[Andy Black]

@MarcUK ... you may find @Fred Chevry 's thread interesting.

 

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[Scot]

BOOM!

Thank you @Scot for passing on your insights. At a guess, you talking about them gives you even more clarity?

It would be great if you could both add your insights to the thread of the call itself - that will help even more people when we point to it in future.

Great insight and takeaway from your last business "failure" @Scot:

"TALK TO PEOPLE."
​

You've got to get out of the echo chamber of your own head.



I generate leads for my clients using AdWords paid search.

That's not how I currently generate leads for my own business. I do that by *talking* to people:

• "Spend your money on diesel and coffee"
• Learnings from 700+ PMs with fellow forum members

My "accidental podcast" is called "AndyTalks" at the moment. Why? Because I talk to people every . single . week.

I've had PMs with over 1,500 forum members by now. I've no idea how many I've talked to... maybe 1 a week so maybe 150+ at this stage? I'm kicking myself I didn't record them from the start, but the second time to plant an oak tree is now eh?

I don't talk to people to pitch my service, but it's brought work in a round-about kind of way.

It's also helped me see patterns and understand WHY people can get in their own way. This has helped me, as well as whoever I've talked with, (and is now helping even more people who can listen to the recordings).


Some other talks you may want to listen to (in particular) are the first radio interview, and the talks with @Random_0, @Contrarian, @JoeyF, @nzott, @Tweeve11. (Check out the master thread in my signature for the index thread.)



(@Scot ... would love to have a follow up chat with you about your learnings from building a marketplace and what you're doing differently going forward.)

I'd be more than happy to put some follow up on the call's post. I'll hammer that out when I get a few moments to myself.

 

[McFirewavesJr]

UPDATE

Finished figuring out the back end of the system. It just feels so right to start with the goal in mind and finish with the insignificant details, such as website design, logo, company name and so on. What @Andy Black told me about not building "stuff", but going for a result really stuck with me.

NEXT STEP

Decide on the front end stuff. Name, logo, colors, copy. The initial site will be very simple, so this won't take long. Will report back with front end and back end have been fully drafted.

 

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[McFirewavesJr]

UPDATE

Finished the following:

• Company name
• Hosting
• URL
• Company colors
• Logo
• Tagline

As much as this is the "fun stuff", I couldn't wait to be done with it. I'm much more interested by the backend and getting this thing running than doing logos and other none essential crap. This took about 2 hours.

NEXT STEP

Find a Wordpress template, upload it & customizing it. Again, I'm going for something very simple and easy, so taking more than a day to do this would definitely put me in the "action faking" zone. I'm this close |--------| to having a Minimal Viable Product that's good enough to start grabbing leads.

 

[BuckF]

UPDATE

Finished the following:

• Company name
• Hosting
• URL
• Company colors
• Logo
• Tagline

As much as this is the "fun stuff", I couldn't wait to be done with it. I'm much more interested by the backend and getting this thing running than doing logos and other none essential crap. This took about 2 hours.

NEXT STEP

Find a Wordpress template, upload it & customizing it. Again, I'm going for something very simple and easy, so taking more than a day to do this would definitely put me in the "action faking" zone. I'm this close |--------| to having a Minimal Viable Product that's good enough to start grabbing leads.

Have you determined the plugins you will use?

I am as you know looking to do something similar, but am torn between using a rather general theme with a specialized premium directory plugin, or simply going for a theme with the needed plugins as part of the package, eg "Listable".

Similar to you I am waiting to have a prototype up and running before grabbing leads, but a bit stuck in analyzing mode at the moment.

Also, have you thought about automization in regards to back end? How will you handle the database?

 

[McFirewavesJr]

UPDATE

Back end + front end is finished. Saving money from my job to run first campaign. No red flags so far.

will report again after 1st campaign

 

[McFirewavesJr]

What kind of PPC campaign are you going to run? Through FB or Google? Just curious. I believe you can get started with less than $200.

Both Google and Facebook. I don't mind focusing on one or the other long run, but I'm currently unsure about which one will work best. 200$ for 1 week is indeed my budget. If you have any suggestions to make, speak freely.

 

[McFirewavesJr]

OK, only because I know this better and what I would do. Make a FB page and then socialize it and do FB Ads for the product. You can usually test individual ads for about a $1 to $5 and then once you find one that works, focus the dollars on it. This week you can at least test different ad styles and copy while saving for a substantial push.

Again, let me preface that with it being based on what I know works well for me.

This seems doable.. Could you expand on how you would socialize it. How much "socializing" would you do before running any ads?

 

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[McFirewavesJr]

OK, let me reset the conversation.

I am talking about using them with FB Ads to dive engagement, social and otherwise, for your business. So I have a FB page for my business. I then post things relevant to my business on the page (relevant pictures, I type up relevant to the business posts directly in) all to provide value relevant to the business on the FB Page. I ALSO post specific posts with information that leads to my business page selling whatever it is I am selling. I put FB Ads on those particular posts. If the ad is good, it gets a very high level of engagement and interaction. It also costs me very little to run for a fairly large amount of return.

Let me show you 3 running ads today:
View attachment 16560

Notice that for around $5 dollars each (I set these test ads for $5 dollars a day) I got a fairly decent click rate that carried through to my Ad and then my business page. So you are right. I am spending $ (not $$$) to get the traffic. BUT then people LIKE what they see on the FB Page which provides value. So the like the page and add social currency and relevancy to the FB Page. Let's say you do this, get a few hundred to thousand people on your business focused FB page that like it. They will LIKE it because of the value you provide in the articles, pictures, videos, all the normal social stuff people like to see on FB that is relevant to your page. However all links on that page will still go to your business site. When they see a new post, including one you are running an AD on, they will LIKE it, share it, and click on it to see what you are doing. This is not far off from an email list.

You will build social currency. With social currency you socialize your business site. With that you can get sales. If you provide value, have a good product that is not garbage, you will be OK.

I hope you can see it now. This post is value. For less than $15 dollars I got approximately 908 people (not counting the thousands that are already there) to go to my web page where I have made more than I spent in advertising. So yes, there is $ spent, but you have to spend to drive traffic in the beginning. Just spend less than you make. You will do that by selling something of value.

Does this make sense?

Very valuable. I only used Facebook to this day to drive traffic to a squeeze page. I actually prefer your approach to what I've been doing in the past. My typical lead is also very active on Facebook, so I guess that covers it.

 

[Aaron T]

Very valuable. I only used Facebook to this day to drive traffic to a squeeze page. I actually prefer your approach to what I've been doing in the past. My typical lead is also very active on Facebook, so I guess that covers it.

I noticed that if I build trust/engagement on the FB Page then when I do send to bridge pages it works out better with a higher conversion rate.