Starting Now
“What’s the best way to make money online?”
It’s a question I have heard many times. Of course, there is no “right” answer. Things change all the time.
But let’s assume that you’ve been reading about Internet marketing, maybe bought a few products, but you just haven’t found something you can really get behind.
One thing I’ve learned is that most people take for granted how much they know. If you’ve been doing a lot of reading and watching videos in this marketplace, you probably know 100 times more than the average person.
Example: Do you think your neighbor knows what page rank is?
Does your best friend know what an autoresponder is?
Every time you have read an e-book or watched an instructional video you have been learning valuable material. And most people have no idea about it.
Now consider another fact. In 2008, there were 29.6 million small businesses in the United States. The vast majority of these are tiny businesses with just a handful of employees. And the key fact is that none of those employees know nearly as much about Internet marketing as you do.
I believe this is a huge opportunity.
Virtually all of those businesses know they should be marketing on the Internet, or doing a better job of it.
Consider the local businesses in your home area.
Is the local restaurant building an email list?
If I was them, I would take an old laptop you can buy for hundred dollars, put it on the front desk, and invite people to add their email address for an instant 5% off tonight’s dinner.
With an email list they can broadcast specials on slow nights to drive business.
The same idea can work for virtually any business with walk-in traffic.
You could easily help them do that. Even if you don’t know that process 100%, you could figure it out quickly – and for very little investment.
Combine this with a twitter or text message marketing program and the restaurant can broadcast instant specials that actually reach people on their cell phones while they are out on the town.
Even if you haven’t personally done all these things, you know about them. And you could hire others to do them.
Imagine yourself as a local business Internet marketing consultant. My guess is that you could really help a lot of local businesses improve their Internet marketing.
You’ve spent a lot more time learning it then they have.
And while there are plenty of local website designers, the vast majority of them are very weak in marketing. This offers you an opportunity to partner with them, especially if you want someone to build websites while you concentrate on the higher value marketing.
If I was doing this I would charge an initial consultation and then a monthly fee depending on the services they wanted. These services might include search engine optimization, managing emails, providing the email service, managing twitter and FaceBook accounts, and mobile marketing.
My guess is you already know a fair amount about these things, or you have certainly seen products that would bring you up to speed.
Probably the biggest opportunity is in mobile marketing.
Do you know anybody that doesn’t have a cell phone? This is a monstrously growing area and offers big advantages for local businesses.
I have to confess I know very little about this mobile niche, and it probably offers the best way to differentiate yourself when doing local business Internet marketing.
If I was going into this area I would grab this Mobile Marketing course and get up to speed on it. Mobile is really important.
I would also join this free site on internet marketing for local business.
I have a membership and they’ve got lots of great resources including sample contracts, sales letters, and info on how to get started.
If you really want to build a business that helps people, leverages all the time you’ve spent building knowledge in Internet marketing, and offers the opportunity for significant and recurring income, online marketing for offline business may be a great fit for you.
Let me know what you think!
Do you agree or disagree?
March 18th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Hi Jeff,
I have followed you for a while now and love getting your emails. I even have a cbmall account, although I don’t remember the login or what I need to do with it. But still a follower.
This is an interesting post though, as I have never thought of myself as a consultant. Also not too sure I am confident enough to convince the masses that I am.
Thanks for the info, something to consider.
Ken – Alaska
March 18th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Hi Jeff
I work for a small group of companies promoting them online, my main focus being SEO and more recently marketing, it is very confusing hearing all these marketing strategies and then knowing which one to stick to. I was kind of hoping I was going to get a 101 guide from you at some point as your emails are often my morning starting point over a coffee, Could you not do a 10 easy steps for beginner marketers? If we have a base off which to work then I would find it much easier, like you said having all that knowledge is fine but using it is another thing. Hope you don’t mind my plug for my blog.
Thanks
Dan
March 18th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Great Blog some good stuff… I like the one with customers typing there own e-mail address… Thanks again Jeff
March 18th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Hi Jeff
That is well said. I am one of those people that did not know anything about online marketing and I know more than before. The key is persistance keep on keeping on until you see results. I am currently using free ways to get the word out, it might take a while to work but you have to keep on trying. there are so much tools you can utilize not to mention the strategies.
well time to go. Thanks for the information
take care and keep in touch
Eric
March 18th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
Hi Jeff, I like your emails and blog posts. Only because they have more useful-stuff than what other marketers send in their emails. I am a gold member of CBmall and admire your marketing success. You send a no-hype type of frank and fair content. I am your loyal subscriber and customer and will surely buy any product/service you launch in future because I truly believe it will be of top value
March 19th, 2010 at 12:42 am
Hi, Jeff
Everything you said truly hit home. I have been aiming at being an IM consultant at some point in time but with what you said, I already could be a consultant to my local businesses. Great tips and really words to think about and put into action! Thanks again, Jeff!
Diane
March 19th, 2010 at 1:48 am
Hi Jeff,
Like Ken in Alaska I have a CB Mall account and have not yet used it, apart from buying a few products myself! I am about to launch my first blog, incorporating a review of one of your CB Mall products. I have certainly learned a lot in the last 2 years and now it is time for some action.
Thanks for all your tips they are very useful and cut through some of the confusion.
Felicite
March 19th, 2010 at 5:25 am
Okay Jeff, you hit the nail on the head again. I follow your advice as close as I can. Keep the cards and letters coming.
March 19th, 2010 at 7:35 am
Nuff Said.
March 19th, 2010 at 10:34 am
I have talked to a lot of the local business people. You would be amazed how many have no idea that they can geographically target Google ad words.
Many are afraid that they will be paying for clicks in California when they are located in Boston.
Approaching someone like this with an offer to run a local Google Edwards campaign can be an easy way to get a relationship started.
Most of these people are afraid of running up high bills. If you take the time to explain that they can set a daily budget and monitor results every day, it makes them a lot less reluctant to give it a try.
March 19th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
I am a newbie intersted in trying some free classified advertising sites.on retired income-need to make extra money to balance the budget! Have some home-made business reports like to market locally.NEED ADVICE!!
March 20th, 2010 at 8:40 am
Hi Jeff,
What strikes me as I read your post, is the simple element of time and lack of it.
I started at zero knowledge of anything, got a site going three years ago. Now I have a second one and certainly know so know so much more now than I did back then. However, things do change so fast as you said. Continuously learning what to do myself, before I present it to someone else is tough, and with a regular job, and a home to look after, it’s difficult to effectively “study”, absorb, retain, and put into practice so many of the great ideas out there. I feel so guilty that I’m not on Facebook, nor do I tweet. I want to, but the thought of adding these things into the mix is
overwhelming to me. Where will the time come from? And in the meantime, somedays feel like there are always ten other things out there I should be doing, and I’m not. Too busy writing, which is a must too.
But, I have followed your posts for three years and always enjoy getting them. I think you offer good information, especially for those who “have it all down and in order” to start with.
April 5th, 2010 at 1:25 am
An Internet Marketing campaign can be specific to the audience you want to target. Therefore, Internet Marketing can be specific to an individual user.
Search Engines offer pay per click advertisement where you can pay for specific search engine keyword phrases and when typed in the search engines your site comes up as well.
This is also termed as search engine marketing.
April 5th, 2010 at 7:30 am
Hi Jeff,
thanks for the useful postings.
Quick question: Can u recommend a good website designer/builder? I need one to build a good website that I can proudly promote my CBmall (& CBproducts) on. The ones I have tried on my own are amateurish!
May 15th, 2010 at 1:42 am
Small business play a very important role in an economy of any country.They provide job opportunities and many people depends on them to make a living.But many of this business still depends on old marketing methods.
That’s why i agreed that provide internet marketing services to this small business is a very good opportunity.If you are good enough you can even provide this services to big corporation especially nowadays WEB 2.0 plays a very important role to get exposure for your business.
May 15th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
Once again your information is practical and helpful…Thanks.
Yours is one of the few emails I actually enjoy opening and content such as the above is the reason why….
May 22nd, 2010 at 10:48 pm
Have you heard about Mojofiti.com? http://www.mojofiti.com is a website where anyone can get an international blog and every entry, email and group is translated into 28 different languages for free. It’s awesome, finally a world without language barriers!
May 29th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
Hey Jeff: I’ve been a cbmall owner now for 4yrs. I also want your readers to know YOU ACTUALLY answer the phone! I had some questions and you helped me out. You (in my opinion) are very up front with your advice. Thanks for the good blog.
Mark