| 1. Offer Services at Cost - And Do a Great Job | | | | anywhere from $100 for a cheap and nasty job to |
| I know you didn't get into business so you could do | | | | $100 000+ for a top of the line e-commerce website |
| work at cost - that's not what I'm saying. The point is | | | | with built in SEO and social media integration. A |
| to get the word out in the marketplace that there's | | | | services based website probably doesn't need to |
| somebody out there doing great work - doing it at | | | | spend more than $2500. The second part of this |
| cost is just to more people through the door, so there | | | | equation - Pay Per Click Marketing (PPC) is an |
| are more people out there that could potentially refer | | | | advertising system whereby you target people typing |
| work to you. You can think of that initial lost margin as | | | | keywords in Google and other search engines. Your |
| advertising expense. Word of mouth is probably the | | | | ad will display on the right hand side of Google, and |
| highest quality advertising there is, as the leads | | | | sometimes above the main search results. Every time |
| generated weren't "sold" on you but were | | | | somebody clicks on your ad, a cost is accrued - this |
| recommended to you by their family or friends. | | | | can theoretically cost anywhere from 1c to $100, but |
| 2. Set Up Beneficial Partnerships & Alliances With | | | | most of the time you'll probably be paying.50 to a few |
| Related Companies | | | | dollars a click. The great thing about PPC is that you |
| This tip is based on the assumption that you have | | | | can create a campaign in a couple of hours and be up |
| connections with people in your industry and parallel | | | | and running immediately, and if it's going great guns and |
| industries, so if that isn't the case, get out there and | | | | you're fully booked out, you can put it on pause. |
| mingle. It can be hugely beneficial to have a formal or | | | | Tracking your results and your ad spend is also really |
| informal arrangement with another company that | | | | easy with Google's system, called AdWords (Google |
| compliments rather than competes with you - so you'd | | | | is the main player in the PPC market). The ROI is often |
| either be looking for companies that do the same thing | | | | fantastic and there is no minimum spend requirement. |
| you do - but services another location - or a company | | | | 4. Yellow Pages Online |
| that offers a related but non-competing service. You | | | | You'll hear it said over and over again, "The Yellow |
| could either set up a system whereby you pay a | | | | Pages is a dying advertising medium, it's only use is to |
| spotters fee for each lead, or you both pass leads on | | | | fix wonky tables, and it costs thousands a year for a |
| to each other without a monetary attachment. In either | | | | tiny little ad!". That may be true, but the Yellow Pages |
| case, the leads are easy to convert, as you come off | | | | online still has some legs - it's a little cheaper and it |
| looking like a recommendation. | | | | leads to real leads. In any case, you can track exactly |
| 3. A Website + Pay Per Click Marketing | | | | what enquiries Yellow sent you with your website's |
| Getting a website created can greatly vary in cost, | | | | statistics, so if it's not performing then just don't renew. |