loving GSA forum - davebel & gooner

lisaser

When your up against everything life can chuck at you and it's a lot, i have a lot on my mind.. people like davbel & gooner are the guys who give you a breath of fresh air. I am trying to get my gardening website up and running and ranked in the local area.. i have yet to put in action but these 2 guys have been a true asset to the forum, i wish i could help pay them back one day, i wish i had loads of money because if i did, i would help these 2 guys straight away.

I am a single parent, trying to improve my knowledge with gsa to get to grips with it.. i am not sharpest knife in the tool box, im not greedy but all i want to do is make my daughter happy, i have a long way to go and yet to start my gsa campaign but hopefully i will get there.

positive energy people.. please pray that i get there and karma will come back for you.

kind regards,
lisa xx

ohhh and thank you sven for been a genius and bringing hope into peoples lives, as thats what gsa has given me, hope that i will get some clients. my business is gardening which some of u may laugh at, as i tend to plants etc when people are away on there holidays.

will i succeed, will i not.. 2 great guys have start pushing me in right direction to get website at least started... i hope it ranks, fingers crossed though, must remain positive.

thanks again guys xx

Ferryman

Keep it on, even if you don't succeed at once (few of us do) it is worth it in the long run - gradually you will have the valuable skills (read: consulting, seo etc.) to rank a website and websites that make you a nice income

2Take2

Hi @lisaser, yea they're both smart guys, who have contributed a lot to the forum.

Just as a side note, and don't get me wrong as I think that it's great that you want to build a website and learn SEO (and you should definitely do that if it interests you), but IMO for more immediate gains you would be better off promoting your business off line.

In your position I would get some flyers printed up, choose a local affulent area, and get out there hand delivering them to your potential clients. Best to do this on a nice day at a sensible time, so that you can engage with anyone who happens to be outside with a quick non pushy 10 second sales pitch (something like "hi, I'm xxx, and I'm just starting up a new gardening business in the area, etc.), obviously being as charming as you can.

Also post them up in the local newsagent etc, and maybe look at getting an add in the local paper. Use virtual phone numbers with a local area code to track these, or simply ask anyone who phones up how they heard about you. Invest more in the marketing chanels that are working, and simply drop anything that isn't straight away.

What you are aiming for are referrals, so aside from doing a good job (which is the easy part), always turn up on time and looking presentable, and remember that people buy from people they like, so always be helpful and charming to your clients (even if you don't like them lol), and give them the occasional freeby, like cut their lawn or something, making sure to let them know that you have done it.

You can also ask them if they know anyone else who might need a gardener, or even have a system where by you offer them something in return for referring you to their friends, I don't know, maybe trim their hedge or something?

Also get some business cards and give a few to each of your clients to make it easy for them to refer you, and as you gain momentum, keep reinvesting into the business to push yourself above the competition and enhance your company image (Sign written pick up, branded uniform, etc.)

Also, if you can convince the customers to let you, then having a free standing sign that you put up outside their property before you start, and then remove when you finish for the day would probably work well too.

If you do the above, within a year you will most likely have more clients than you know what to do with.

Sorry for the long post, I got a bit carried away. lol

gooner

Thanks @lisaser you're very sweet and everybody here helps each other, as you've found this is a really great forum.

@2take2 gave some great advice, it didn't really occur to me that you could promote your business in that way, but i would say his ideas will probably get you some business quicker than the SEO.

Jesse

As you say it's always about "hope" for those who desperately need a way out. It's about making things less painful and sleep today believing a month later is better off.

Statististically speaking maybe you're worse off 90% chance with internet marketing a month/year later because internet business is about the rich richer the poor poorer unlike a decade ago. Of course there's 0.1% chance of a jackpot online.

As @2take2 says offline somehow has better chance not just because of ROI, but also because of the support system and social safety net I would argue.

davbel

Wow @lisaser, that's very kind of you to say, but as @gooner says, we all try to help because all of us at some point were new to SER.

I'd also say +1 to what @2Take2 says.  All very good advice.

flowerbaron

@lisaser +1 to @2Take2 also.
Some businesses are better suited to offline promotion. Particularly those concentrating on a very localised market. Remember being at the top of Google for a particular keyword phrase doesn't give you anything if no one is searching for those terms.
The starting point of any SEO campaign is keyword research - are people actually searching for what I'm targetting?

lisaser

@2Take2 @ flowerbarondavbel @Jesse@gooner
Ferryman

Thank you for all you advise, kind words, I will take it on board and hopefully can get some work this summer.

I send good karma all your way

Thanks guys,

xxx

spammasta

@gooner is god. Got back to my PMs in two minutes with solid advice.Its these few people who make this awesome.

coneh34d

2Take2 +1 on that advice. Use those traditional marketing methods-they work. I get over 30% of business from either repeat or referral. Treat your clients like gold. There is nothing better!