I’ve been thinking and writing about web-based promotion for local markets for years but have never really found the magic formula for converting the vast potential of this “sector” into a viable, profitable service. The obvious has been staring me in the face for at least two years, but I am just now beginning to see the light.
Most local web-based promotional programs that I am aware of have been SEO based. And I have found that, in spite of the hype, SEO is a pretty lame way to generate web traffic or, more importantly, leads.
This led me to believe that traffic-generation is where it’s at. But in fact traffic is much less than half the battle. The real gold is in lead generation. Generating and getting paid for leads is called “performance-based marketing”. Clients pay for results. No results, no charge.
This is a far cry from what most local businesses have come to expect from advertising media. They are accustomed to being sold traditional media packages that give no assurances whatsoever that results will be forthcoming.
That is why offering a performance-based advertising program to local businesses is basically a no-brainer. And why there is so much potential in this area for online marketers.
For a really good “training manual” on how you can do local lead generation for local businesses see the following:
Local Lead Plan (this is an affiliate link)
Here is an extremely informative blog post where Jeremy Shoemaker describes How To Make Money Setting Up Your Own Local Affiliate Program – a local lead generation service.
