Lead Gen business model

[Jon123456]

I am considering going into the Lead Generation business, supplying leads for local businesses. The only thing is, I need some leads in order to start my business - joke!!

Anyway, the idea is to create sites that attract - say - people needing a plumber and then sell that lead to a plumber.

Do you think this is overcompetitive nowadays? Much money in it? Would love to hear MJ's current view on this!

I thought about the lead gen biz model because I thought it might be easier to sell a lead than a promise, as a local seo consultant would.

Thanks,

Jon

 

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[Milenko]

The problem with search-based local lead gen these days is that local search results are being dominated by Google Place pages. It's not particularly difficult to rank a site for a local keyword phrase (like "phoenix dentist") but getting traffic to generate the leads that you want to sell is a lot tougher now that your first place organic ranking is in the equivalent of eighth place beneath a block of Place pages.

You might be able to capture leads from non-local searches but that's a broad and competitive industry that would be much more difficult to get traction in. Success with this model would require some out of the box thinking - maybe linking in offline advertising, PPC, ads/guest posts/forum participation on industry or DIY websites?

I tried something close to this on my last project (the idea being to rank a site for a local keyword phrase in a larger city and sell ads on it or rent it out) and the above ended up happening to my sites. First place in organic was easy it was beating the Place pages that was hard. I ended up scrapping that and moved on to my current project which is figuring out how Google ranks Place pages and creating some DIY materials to help local business owners improve their rankings.

 

[The Intrepid]

You're not going to get enough volume through organic search traffic for a lead business unless you're top result for a term like "auto insurance".

 

[Jon123456]

@Milenko, you are absolutely right about Google Places, although they are not always at the top of the listings and can be mixed into the search results. Lead gen can be done via Google Places and a website. Ranking with cities below 300K population is not a problem or me.

Wonder if anyone here has tried this business model?

 

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[DeletedUser2]

we tried it for 2 diff niches with good volume, and great customer value on the back end.

since its "local" you have to deal with the local people. most have been established for 10-15 yrs and already have their following.

so in short lots of work online, lots of phone calls and meetings with the local guys

only to be told by the locals that others have already tried selling them leads, and they had all been burned.

so no one wanted to buy. we scraped it.

if you were to do it, go find a biz that fits a certain criteria list, and talk to them first. half a dozen phone calls before we started would have saved us alot of time.

otherwise, its auto insurance....

 

[Jon123456]

Why not offer the leads free for 2 weeks? You can get round the objection of being burned on the leads then, since they are not buying any. If I offered a service and someone could supply me with regular leads that I made a profit on, it would be invaluable.

e.g. if someone could offer you leads of people interested in local leads for your 2 niches, wouldn't you be interested?

 

[Likwid24]

I started a thread about this a few weeks ago. I think there's plenty of room in the market. It's dominated by ServiceMagic but their service is in no way magic.

Read this: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/web-businesses-internet-marketing/32187-heres-idea-all-you-computer-savy-guys-out-there.html

 

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[Jon123456]

They are a national lead gen site. I was thinking about having a local lead gen site for a specific trade. e.g. NewYorkPlumbers.com

You can rank more easily and also with Google Places if you have a local address.

 

[Likwid24]

I'm still looking for a good Painting lead site. I've tried them all and there's nothing good out there.

 

[The Intrepid]

I have a lead gen biz that competes with ServiceMagic...

 

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[Likwid24]

I have a lead gen biz that competes with ServiceMagic...

Which one?

 

[roc]

I actually was thinking about this as well, the only that is scarring me is all Google Places. For example the poster mentioned plumbers in New York. I actually fooled around with Google and on the search New York City Plumbers there were 8 links and almost as many Google Places links. I also fooled around with the search term and was surprised to find that on some searches Google places did not even show.

My question for the experts how do you rank a site higher then Google Places, organically. Thanks everyone

 

[Milenko]

My question for the experts how do you rank a site higher then Google Places, organically. Thanks everyone

I've been studying Google Place page rankings for the past couple of months and it's rare that I come across a market (profession + city) where Google Places rankings aren't either in a block at the top of the organic rankings or mixed in with the rankings (the website + their Google Place page). Granted, most of my research uses software so I'm not looking at the actual rankings every day but the few instances I've seen organic rankings on top of Place page rankings was in very uncompetitive markets where there were only a couple of Place pages to rank.

My opinion is that Google wants local businesses to take over local search and drive out the IYP and other non-local websites (Google's Place page competition like Yelp, Foursquare, etc.) so they're intentionally featuring Place pages whenever possible.

As for why Google Places results don't show for some markets that depends on whether Google classifies that search as one with local intent - i.e. a local person searching for a local business. Local intent = Place page results.

 

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[DeletedUser2]

Why not offer the leads free for 2 weeks? You can get round the objection of being burned on the leads then, since they are not buying any. If I offered a service and someone could supply me with regular leads that I made a profit on, it would be invaluable.

e.g. if someone could offer you leads of people interested in local leads for your 2 niches, wouldn't you be interested?

you would think that.
However, I found that this business ended up on my "i suck at list" and was therefore scraped.

the locals were not willing to listen to anything.

sooo... I focus on other business that IM good at, and leave this area to others who can excel at it.

 

[Danny G]

I am going into lead gen combined with membership and when i juss read your post I remember I made a research exactly for plumbers. Well, no, it's not going to work according me. There's not enough searches, so the entry of need isnt here. And let's face it, you may offer the best service but when people arent interested and they are not looking for it ... it simply doesnt worth your time.

I already started my website. I am going in a niche where I think just 1 person is doing what I am doing ... so it's kinda fresh in that niche! There's a need and people are actually looking for it, so there's a need.

I hope it will work out. I will build it and optimize it and lets see how where my road will lead me

Lead gen is kinda everywhere nowadays .. and I was surprised that I found out that niche where there isnt almost anyone that's doing it. It took me like 3 weeks of research ... but that doesnt really matter.

Good luck Mate

 

[roc]

Good stuff everyone!

 

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[CommonCents]

Roto Rooter has to make a freakin fortune!

There was some guru selling a package for a few G's for this type of local marketing to small biz but using social media and video trying to combat the google places. Wonder how that is working out.

 

[The Intrepid]

Which one?

I can tell you in private if you'd like.

 

[roc]

I think the lead gen business has a ton of potential especially if your looking at smaller cities etc, population of 300,000 or less, you would be surprised what type of leads you could get, especially if you make the site optimized for smart phones etc. My 2 cents, Roc

 

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[somniloquist]

I ended up scrapping that and moved on to my current project which is figuring out how Google ranks Place pages and creating some DIY materials to help local business owners improve their rankings.

How is that pivot going? Are you getting uptake with local businesses? I see so many opportunities for local businesses here in LA to improve their online presence/SEM. How do you structure the service fee / revshare deal?

-Allen