If you change your perception about “Offsite SEO” as being about just creating backlinks to your website and think about using them as stand alone lead valves that can generate a call or storefront visit by themselves by getting your compelling message seen in multiple places where prospects are looking for your products and services.
[leadplayer_vid id=”525F3AACA6FC5″]

Leave your comments and share this post  below if you found it helpful. 

Transcript

BACKLINKS VS. LEAD VALVES

Hey, this is Jack Mize with JackMize.com.

You know, one of the most common misconceptions about local internet marketing is that it’s all about driving traffic to a website. And, in reality, when we’re talking about marketing, we’re really talking about getting our prospects to engage. Getting our prospects further along, closer to doing business with us or some kind of transaction.

And the reality of that is, it doesn’t have to happen based on a website. There are so many properties out there, internet properties out there that you can put a compelling message on. A lot of people think about those as backlinks. Let’s get backlinks, which is really just a link back to our website. What a lot of people refer to as the money page, because they think that’s where all of the transactions happen. That’s where all of the engagement happens.

And it’s just not true. There have been a lot of different studies from different groups that measure the behavior of local consumers and what’s been consistent over the last several years is that a local consumer that’s ready to buy, a purpose-driven consumer, a purchase-driven consumer, really, is after a few things before they are after a website.

One, they’re after a phone number. If they’re a purchase-driven consumer and they’re ready to engage and they know what they want, one of the first things they look for is a phone number. How can I contact you?

And number two is: where you’re located. What’s your address? Are you close? Where can I do business with you?

Number three is: what are your hours of operation? When can I do business with you?

And then, only after those three, is where the website generally falls onto these lists, when they’re compiling what local purchase-driven consumers are looking for.

So, think about the way that you behave when you are looking for a local product or service. A lot of times, it’s not a website. You may make contact with a business based on their Google+ listing. You may make contact with them based on a business listing that they may have within their MerchantCircle. It may be off of a Craigslist or a Backpage or an online classified ad that popped up in the search engines.

What I really want to have you think about is not to think about these properties as just backlinks. Don’t think of YouTube or any other web properties as just a backlink to your web page. But think about these as actual lead valves. Think about these as an opportunity to present your compelling message to generate a call or a store-front visit directly from that consumer, without them having to go to your website.

Oftentimes, I don’t want a website. A lot of local websites, frankly, are really bad. But a lot of businesses and even consultants feel that everything needs to direct them or get them to the web page. And it’s just not true. You can generate a lead, you can generate interest, you can get a consumer to engage, if you have your compelling message in other places.

And that’s one of the first things that I did when I started working with local businesses and working in local internet marketing, was let’s get your compelling message found in multiple places where local consumers are looking for your product and service.

So, if you’re doing anything like backlinking by using press releases or you’re working on doing online classified ads or your business listings, like MerchantCircle, Yelp, your Yellow Page listings, I want you to think about those beyond just being a backlink and think about those as being standalone marketing pieces.

Get your compelling message into that business listing, into that ad, and try to get the contact, try to get the engagement without even having to get them to your website. Because that’s really what it’s all about. It’s about generating the lead. It’s about generating the engagement.

I just want you to think about that. If you have any comments or ideas, please leave a comment. And if you like this tip, go ahead and share it out on the social networks. I certainly would appreciate it. I look forward to seeing your feedback.

You can use the Craigslist “Video Fake Out”  method as well, if you want to send them to your own landing page.

[leadplayer_vid id=”524492D77AFEB”]

Leave your comments and share this post out if you found it helpful. 

[leadplayer_vid id=”525329BBF4069″]

What are some other ways consumers are finding you online?  Comment Below.

Transcript

TOO INTERNET SMART

Hey, this is Jack Mize, with JackMize.com, and I have a question for you. Are you too internet smart for your own good when it comes to marketing?

And what I mean by that is, a lot of times we, as internet marketers or business owners that spend a lot of time focusing on the internet and bringing in leads and customers through the internet, we get a little overly consumed and think that a lot of times, that’s where the traffic begins. We think that any lead that comes in through the internet began and ended on the internet and it’s just not true.

So, I’ll give you an example. Within the medical industry, whenever I’m consulting with doctors and dentists, podiatrists – any general medical practitioner, it doesn’t necessarily have to be high-end cosmetic or elective surgery, but just any medical practitioner that is looking to generate more patient activity for their practice, one of the first things I look at is what they’re doing online. And oftentimes, they’re spending a lot of money on Pay-Per-Click, on SEO services, going after key phrases. Long-tail key phrases. Things that they’ve used keyword tools to determine what’s the best key phrase.

So chiropractors may be going after ”back pain” in their City. Dentists may be going after “pain-free dentistry,” “sedation dentistry.” And without stopping and thinking about how do their consumers, how do their patients go about finding a new doctor. And here in the United States, oftentimes, people don’t start their search on the internet for a doctor.

I want you to think about that.

The average person isn’t going to Google and type in My City or My Neighborhood Podiatrist. In reality, most people, especially if they have any type of insurance through their job, through their work, they go to the insurance provider list first, find out which doctors in the general five to ten mile radius accept the insurance that they have, and then they’ll Google that doctor’s name directly.

So oftentimes they’re not even typing in keywords. They’re not even typing in those problem solution keywords, because, if you think about it, no matter how great your marketing is as a doctor, as a medical practitioner, if you’re not on that patient’s insurance and they have insurance, chances are they’re not coming to see you. They’re going to find somebody that’s on their insurance list.

Especially in the medical industry in the United States, with insurance the way it’s set up, people don’t Google a doctor and then see if they’re on their insurance. People go to their insurance, see who accepts their insurance, and then they Google that doctor’s name.

So one of the most powerful things that someone in the medical industry can do is optimize for their actual name as it is presented inside their insurance directories, rather than spending a ton of money on key phrase-type SEO and Pay Per Click.

Really, what I want you to think about by going through this exercise is stop, take your internet marketing hat off and think about how do prospects really find your business. How are prospects looking? Think about how many prospects come because of a referral. Oftentimes, if they’re referred by someone, they are Googling your business name. Your name, rather than your actual key phrases.

This falls into the bucket of the “who you are” marketing. So you can have all the greatest stuff out there based on key phrases, but if someone Googles your name and there’s not a lot there or it’s just stagnant or sterile directory listings, you may be missing a big, big opportunity.

Sometimes we have to not be too smart, or too internet smart for our own good and really think about how prospects may be finding us outside of just a direct search on Google. Think about that and you may have some big holes that are very, very easy to fill in your business , to be able to capture those leads and capture those prospects that are finding you differently than you may have thought.

If you have any comments, please put them below. And, of course, if you like this tip, please share it out. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. I appreciate it all. Thank you very much.

[leadplayer_vid id=”524341B00947C”]

Clickable Image Wizard
[iframe src=”http://www.jackmize.com/tools/adwizard/simple_ad_maker.php” width=”100%” height=”300″]

THAT’S NOT MARKETING!

That’s SEO.

Don’t get me wrong, Search Engine Optimization is important, but in order to get any benefits out of SEO we must first have a compelling message on the other side of that click.

Whether you are a business owner or a consultant that helps business owners with this internet thing, you must not overlook the fundamental reason we are doing this.

To Get More Customers, To Make More Money, To Grow Our Business.

In order to do this we must make our prospect “Pick Us”.  You can be number one on Google, have a million backlinks, all the SEO juice in the world but if you miss the most critical step of actually convincing the prospect to pick up the phone, fill out a form, make a trip to the store you have failed.

What is the Minimum Effective Dose for accomplishing this?

You must get inside the mind of the local consumer!

Let’s examine this in four sections.

Who are the local consumers we want to reach?

How are they searching?

What are they searching for?

How do you make them “Pick You”?

Who are the local consumers we want to reach?

The good news is that this should not be difficult because we are all “Local Consumers” on a weekly, daily, sometimes hourly, basis.

However, for some reason, we ignore those instincts when we put our internet marketing hats on.  We immediately start thinking in terms of SEO and website ranking. Stop that. It’s not time yet.

Forget the tire kickers, entertainment seekers, bored searchers. We want to speak directly to the “purchase driven consumer”.

That’s the local prospect that is ready to buy. Their credit card is out, they are ready to jump in their car (or are already in their car). They’ve already decided they are ready to buy, they are just trying to figure out who they are going to buy from.

They have a problem or desire, they are prepared to spend money on it, they just want to make the right choice and feel confident they are picking someone that has the solution.

How are they searching?

Today the local consumer is also the mobile consumer.  Smartphones and tablets are outselling PCs and are becoming the device of choice for browsing the internet.

Remember, we are just targeting “purchase driven consumers”, so we must consider that when they are ready to engage they want to find information fast. We live in a microwave society. WE WANT IT NOW! Why not give them what they want?

When local consumers are ready to buy they don’t want to dig through pages of “who we are” “look what we’ve done” “our awards”…  especially when searching on their phones.

If you are like me, when you are ready to buy, you want “fat finger friendly” information, and you don’t want to work hard to find it. This may surprise you, that information doesn’t have to be on the businesses website!

What are they searching for?

First of all, marketing online to local customers is not all about having a website. Get that completely out of your head. If I was banned tomorrow from having a local website I can say with certainty it wouldn’t stop me from generating local customers online.  Not one bit.

Why is that? Because local, purchase driven consumers aren’t looking for websites.

Think about it. When you are ready to buy locally, are YOU looking for a website? Take your internet marketing, SEO blinders off for a second and start thinking the way you do as a purchase driven consumer.

Over the last several years research has shown that local consumers are looking for:

• Phone Number
• Address
• Hours of Operation
• Maps

Only then do websites fall on the list, and that’s if they don’t find what they are looking for first!

So along with the information above, your compelling message needs to be included in business and directory listings, Google Places, Social Media sites…  Anywhere local consumers might find you. That’s not necessarily a web site.

Change Your Mindset

When developing your compelling message don’t get pulled into the SEO trap of thinking more traffic, more clicks, more customers…

Click Volume Doesn’t Equal Customer Volume

What I mean is don’t think typical SEO keywords and phrases.

Think in terms of solving problems.

Instead of “Dallas Mortgage Broker” think “Dallas First Time Home Buyer Loans”

Lower search volume? Of course.  But you are speaking to “purchase driven consumers”.

I’ll take ten purchase driven prospects seeing my compelling message over 1000 clickstats on a website.

How do you make them “Pick You”?

Well this is actually one of the most important but neglected ingredients in the recipe.

So they find you online… Along with a page full of your competitors. Why should they pick you?

I’ll tell you why. Because you do what the others don’t. You speak to their problems and provide the solution.

Here is a simple formula for doing this.  Make sure your compelling message speaks to these simple thoughts occupying your prospects mind.

1. This business probably won’t understand my problem.

2. How do I know they are qualified?

3. My situation is unique. This probably won’t work for me.

4. What’s my risk for looking into this further?

Your message doesn’t have to go into deep explanations of each of these. You just want them to feel that you understand their problem and they should take the next step and make contact.

Here’s an example using the mortgage term I mentioned earlier for someone searching for a “Dallas first time home buyer loan”.

If you are thinking about buying your first home, you probably have a lot of questions.

“How much can I afford?”,  “How much down payment do I need?”,  “What kind of credit do they look for?” “Have I been at my job long enough?”.

What you’ve done is acknowledged issue number 1. “Maybe they do understand my problem”.  You don’t actually have to answer these questions in your compelling message.  You want them to make contact to get those.

We continue…

At Acme Mortgage we’ve helped hundreds of Dallas families get the right financing for their first home…

You’ve just acknowledged issue number 2. Established that you are qualified based on factual past transactions. Yes, it can be as simple as that.

And we’re confident we can help you.  Even if you think home ownership is out of your reach, give us a call, you may just be surprised.

Number 3. Check!

To get a fast, free, no obligation review Call 555-555-5555 or fill out our simple home buyers help form and see how Acme Mortgage can help you realize the dream of home ownership today.

And number 4. You’ve just eliminated the risk of contacting you to find out more.

But most importantly. You’ve given this prospect every reason to “pick you” by speaking directly to their problem.

Just spending a little time to think like a local consumer, how they search, what they look for and acknowledging the thoughts that are going on inside their head will put you miles ahead of your competition.

Houston, Texas, August 20, 2013 — Online media marketing strategist Jack Mize announced yesterday the book, “Small Business Big Ideas” had reached two different Amazon top-ten best-selling book lists. The book scored a #7 spot in both book sales and the Kindle store. This double best-seller is cooperatively written by a consortium of local and media marketing experts.

The authors are all experts in their own specialties and each gives their best advice on their favored approach to marketing. Jack Mize sets the stage in the opening chapter explaining how the internet can bring new clients to any business.

Writing on aspects of mobile marketing are Dr. Blanche Hayden and Lonnie Stanley. Dr. Hayden writes on the strategies of mobile while Mr. Stanley covers mobile marketing for real estate.

“Small Business Big Ideas” covers general marketing as Doug Simpson writes on the power of focus in your marketing, Louie Lambrianidis writes on buyer psychology and on free publicity, and Mark Eland reminds us “It is not about the website”.

Robert Stanley shows 5 ways to attract new clients through the internet, and Eloise Edwards-Giron reminds us why we need a mobile website.

Dr. Fabio Moro’s chapter on Facebook opens the discussion of social media, and Carlos Rosario writes on social accounts. Heather Stewart gives advice on PPC advertising and Eric LeRiche writes on QR codes and there place in traditional advertising. Rebecca Holman covers becoming a local celebrity and secrets for the 21^st century

Video marketing for local businesses is the subject for Virginia Drew, Brian Lee and Mike Taylor. Each author addresses a different aspect of video marketing.

The book was created as a group project and released in hardcover. With the widespread adoption of the Kindle device and the books’ quick rise to the top-ten, releasing the book through the Kindle store seems to have been a wise decision.

Sometimes we even feel that we have a gift or heightened ability for being able to recognize opportunity.

That is really where the deception begins

If you think back to when you first discovered that entrepreneurial spirit, you probably felt pretty strongly that the real key to success was your ability to recognize opportunity.

Well. If you’re like me, you probably spent A LOT of time recognizing opportunity. Be honest with yourself. How many “million dollar” ideas have you had? A few, I bet.

How many of those million dollar ideas have actually turned into a million dollars? Not so many, if I had to guess.

What is the biggest obstacle or reason they didn’t turn into a million dollars? I’d be willing to bet it’s because you had another million dollar idea that took its place.

The ability to recognize opportunity is certainly not the key to success

We get smarter. We soon discover that in order to be successful we can’t just recognize the opportunity,  we also have to act on opportunity.

Take Action! Right? 

Well, I found myself taking action several times a week in the form of pulling out my credit card to buy the latest whiz-bang-secret-Ninja-loophole easy button secret strategy.

Sound familiar?

Sometimes we think that we are pushing our business forward, towards success, but in reality we are following the next shiny object.

So recognizing opportunity and then taking action on that opportunity a very common trap that we fall into.

So what is the real key to success?

That’s the million dollar question for sure, but  I will tell you that my success, my business and personal life, really changed and began to grow exponentially when I learned how to ignore opportunity.

Yep. Ignore it, stop reacting to it.

That was the real key, at least to MY success – when I discovered the ability to recognize an opportunity but not take action on it or to recognize an opportunity and maybe even tell the person who brought me that opportunity that it was a great idea with a great chance of success but ‘I just don’t have the bandwidth to take it on.’

When I learned how to do that … things started really exploding rapidly.

The fact is, a lot of people can recognize opportunity. How many times  a week do we see that next big ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity come around. More importantly, how many times do we take action on that opportunity at the expense of the previous opportunity?

Think about this for just a minute. How many projects do you have about 80% finished? Right now. How about 90-95% finished?

What would happen if you ignored some seemingly incredible opportunities so you can get that one thing finished?  I would guess from experience that if you can get that one piece of your business finished, really focus on completion… That’s when you’re really going to start seeing growth and rapid success in your business.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Leave a comment below and share your thoughts on the Deception of Opportunity and how it can be avoided.

[leadplayer_vid id=”5202C5579C34A”]

Like This Tutorial?  Hit the Like Button

Access the Facebook Like Configurator Here

Want To See How I Put Optins and Calls To Action In My Videos?  >>Click Here And Watch This

Make sure to use the Share link and not the address bar link

The Control Wizard is not endorsed by YouTube or its Affiliates. However we do respect their products and Terms of Service. By using the Control Wizard you are agreeing to be bound by the terms and conditions of YouTube which can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/t/terms

[leadplayer_vid id=”51D9CF04A2B41″]

Audio Only [powerpress]

Transcript

Hi, this is Jack Mize with JackMize.com and the Online X-Factor Podcast. You know, one of my favorite quotes is: In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is King. The reason is that puts such a spotlight on the fact that as an expert, as a business guru in your field you have to understand that being an expert doesn’t mean that you have to know everything about your industry or your business. That’s really a big psychological roadblock that a lot of folks have when they think about wearing that badge of expert or guru.

Sometimes they feel that they’re not deserving of this title or not deserving of people looking at them as an expert or guru because they really don’t know everything. There is still more they need to know.

The fact is there are no experts or gurus that know everything about their field of specialty. It’s just not possible.

What I want you to do is shift your thinking and your mindset around what an expert is and what the criteria is for being a guru in your business or industry. That is you meet a few criteria. (1) You generally know more than your prospects do about your business and industry. I’m talking about the breadth of knowledge. You probably feel okay about that. You probably feel that you do know more than probably 90%, 95%, 99% of the population about your particular field or your specialty.

Knowing more than your prospect is one of probably the easiest criteria for you to meet. You probably feel okay with that.

Two is that you’re able to help your prospect. That’s very important because just knowing more isn’t enough. You have to really be able to help them with the information that you have. Also, you have to be willing and able to share that information in order to help them.

Then there are the parts that you don’t know. You really have to be okay with saying: I don’t know. If you’re asked a question, if you’re presented with a problem or someone is looking for a solution and you don’t have the answer, one of the first things people think is: Let me create something. Let me come up with something for now to let them know or tell them.

That’s really where you start feeling bad or doubting yourself as that expert or guru. It’s okay to say: I don’t know. But as that expert or guru you have enough passion around your business – your industry- that you are willing and able to go out and find that information and then come back and share it with the people who are following you and looking for that solution.

When it comes down to it…think about that. You know more than your prospects, which you probably do. (2) You’re able to help your prospects. (3) You are willing to share that information to help your prospects. (4) If you don’t know be okay with not knowing, but be willing to go out and find the answer to share with your prospects.

When you do that you should really feel good about your position as that expert or guru. Remember it’s not about you calling yourself the guru or expert. It’s about positioning yourself as that educator and advocate for the success of your customers and prospects.

When you’re an educator and an advocate for the success of your customers and prospects then they are going to be the ones that are going to call you the expert or the guru in your industry.

I’d be willing to bet that you know more than you think you know and when you really get around and start talking to others that are outside of your industry you start to realize that.

Being an educator and advocate isn’t about just spewing out technical details and little bits of information and trivia about your business. It’s about sharing solutions to those common problems that folks have.

When you can share those solutions that then gives you the ability to help your prospects which is exactly what you want to do as that expert or guru.

I want you to think about it. I really want you – if you have that problem of the psychological roadblock of ‘I don’t want to get started with this’…or ‘I don’t know if I want to start a book. I don’t know if I want to put out press releases positioning myself as this because I don’t know everything about it’… I really want you to go back, re-examine and think about how much you do know.

You know more than your prospects. You’re able to help your prospects. You’re willing to share that information and you’re willing to find out information that you don’t know the answer to. You’re willing to get that information to share with your customers and prospects.

If you meet that then you should absolutely feel good about being looked at and wearing that badge of expert or guru because that’s exactly what your customers and prospects are going to look at you as when you become their educator and advocate for their success.

Go ahead. You know more than you think you know. In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is King. This is Jack Mize of JackMize.com and Online X-Factor Podcast.