Mastermind Group for Local SEO

[salerock]

Gentelmen,

I am sure that you've heard about mastermind groups. A place to grow, share experiences and build connections. Ever felt stuck with a client and needed help? That's what a mastermind group is for.

I recently started my local SEO business and got my first client so far, I want to invite people who are in a similar situation and want to share ideas around building a mighty business.

I'm from Germany, therefore not much a competitor for you guys all around the world.



Shoot me a quick pm, or reply here if you're interested. We will limit the places to max 15 to maintain a high quality.

I look forward to boosting our businesses

 

[BreaknBrix]

I already run a local SEO skype group but it became inactive cause 90% of the members were leaching from the top 3 members (I was one of those people). All the guys who claimed to have years of experience were asking noob questions over and over so I start deleting most of them from the group.

I also have a local SEO journey going on in the journey section. I'm doing that for my own brick and mortar biz. For now I dropped all my clients just to focus on my own biz and funnel.

But if you want to network, join my group, or create a new and better group, I'm down.

We'd have to do another reach out (like you're doing now). I wouldn't even bother screening people cause most people will lie their ass of to get in. Then after we have say 30-40 members, we start deleting all the noobs.

I know this concept will offend some people, but I learned all the basics on my own. They're not very hard to learn. It's the more advanced stuff that I care about. For me, it's not about rankings. It's about building a large, diversified, funnel that effectively screens, qualifies and drives traffic & sales.

When I do work with clients I don't bullshit them. I don't sell fancy packages like you see on WF. I know that the only thing they care about is CUSTOMERS. So that is ALL I focus on. Everything I do is on a commission only basis. So if I'm not driving traffic and sales I don't get paid. A lot of Local SEO's don't do this. They sell packages that don't do shit. They create weak content, weak funnels, weak everything. Then clients complain and they endlessly make excuses trying to shift blame onto Google or other factors rather than their own lack of experience.

Anyway, hit me up if you wanna brainstorm and organize something.

-BB

 

[Zwielicht]

I already run a local SEO skype group but it became inactive cause 90% of the members were leaching from the top 3 members (I was one of those people). All the guys who claimed to have years of experience were asking noob questions over and over so I start deleting most of them from the group.

I also have a local SEO journey going on in the journey section. I'm doing that for my own brick and mortar biz. For now I dropped all my clients just to focus on my own biz and funnel.

But if you want to network, join my group, or create a new and better group, I'm down.

We'd have to do another reach out (like you're doing now). I wouldn't even bother screening people cause most people will lie their ass of to get in. Then after we have say 30-40 members, we start deleting all the noobs.

I know this concept will offend some people, but I learned all the basics on my own. They're not very hard to learn. It's the more advanced stuff that I care about. For me, it's not about rankings. It's about building a large, diversified, funnel that effectively screens, qualifies and drives traffic & sales.

When I do work with clients I don't bullshit them. I don't sell fancy packages like you see on WF. I know that the only thing they care about is CUSTOMERS. So that is ALL I focus on. Everything I do is on a commission only basis. So if I'm not driving traffic and sales I don't get paid. A lot of Local SEO's don't do this. They sell packages that don't do shit. They create weak content, weak funnels, weak everything. Then clients complain and they endlessly make excuses trying to shift blame onto Google or other factors rather than their own lack of experience.

Anyway, hit me up if you wanna brainstorm and organize something.

-BB

That's very interesting that you do your work on a commission basis for local SEO. I'm considering doing something similar with a potential client I've been speaking with (I usually work with my clients using a contract and a monthly retainer fee).

I actually did local SEO a year ago for a few clients, but I also dropped my clients (once the contracts expired) to focus on my own website and to develop better techniques. I was effectively ranking their websites for the keywords I researched (one client even got several new clients of her own), but I felt I wasn't doing good enough and that I needed to learn more.

 

[salerock]

Thank you both for your replies, I'm not suprised on how people talk bullshit all day to get in a group for secret knowledge. Truth about this is: You don't get shit from the group, when you don't put it into action.

I wanted to open this group for a special reason: I started doing the local seo thing and none of my friends has a clue about what I'm doing. It's hard to be the best possible seo agency if you don't talk to others in the industry or everybody is watching you like it's magic. Furthermore it's about the coaching, I belive that you're the average of the people that you surround yourself with.

@BreaknBrix: Why don't you keep clients or build a site to sell leads? Seems like you have the knowledge to rock it.
@zwielicht: How was your client business going?

With regards
salerock

 

[Zwielicht]

@zwielicht: How was your client business going?

It was going well at the time. I'm assuming I just got lucky, but I managed to get a few people interested in my SEO services even though I did not have a client list on my website at the time. Currently, I need to rebuild my client list since my SEO skills got better, although I'm having trouble finding clients without using my old client list (their websites have changed dramatically or they decided to remove their old website when they changed careers). I may offer a charity SEO service to people who qualify for it very soon to speed up the process of building a quality client list.

 

[BreaknBrix]

@BreaknBrix: (question 1) Why don't you keep clients or (question 2) build a site to sell leads? Seems like you have the knowledge to rock it.

#1 - I dropped clients cause my "secret weapon" got decimated by Google.

Long story short, I got into this industry accidentally. I was getting a bunch of certifications at the time (HIC, ESA, EAA, IAQ, etc) and working for a home improvement company... that was being run by a complete idiot. My brother got me the job so it was just me, my brother, and the boss running this business.

Month after month after month passed by, and I got SICK AND TIRED of hearing other business owners, and my own boss say at least 100 times a day "where can we get leads?".. "did we get any leads today?"..."why aren't we getting leads?"... "I'm gonna go out of biz soon if I can't get leads" over and over and over the shit never ended.

So I know better than anyone, the pain many small business owners face when it comes to getting leads.
The word "leads" all by itself triggers weakness, vulnerability, greed, all sorts of emotions in these people (and myself tbo).

That's why I dropped my position at the time.... and sourced my "secret weapon", who was Ceasar SEO. I took a risk and it paid off huge. I found out every site I sent this guy, he would rank #1. And before we knew it, we had more leads than we could handle. So me and my brother told my boss to "fuck off" (he was an asshole anyway) then we licensed & insured our own biz. We used Ceasar to get all our organic traffic. Then I started ranking G locals, youtube videos, spamming classifieds, facebook, etc and before I knew it me and my brother alone we clearing $50k / months. Around that time I started taking on new clients. Just because my brother couldn't keep his mouth shut about how his brother (me) was a "marketing genius" (which I'm not). Also, the clients I took on, I didn't build them funnels like I did for my own biz. All I did was give them a nice site, about 50 pages big, got Ceasar to rank them, then would forward them the calls. These guys went from selling 0-1 job / month to 5-10 jobs month which was a huge improvement for them.

Then me and my brother wound up getting on CBS TV, from a youtube video I made, and shit got out of control. Our former boss got jealous as hell. Started stalking our marketing. Calling us twice a week to say petty shit like "you have a picture in 1 of your YT videos from a job we did (his biz) can you plz take it out"? So I'd just delete the videos, edit and rerank them. He was trying everything he could do to sabotage our new found success. Not only did we have a successful biz but I had taken on other clients, and I made a serious enemy (my former boss) by not helping him out (which I couldn't, cause he was now a competitor).

Long story short though, I had relied too much on Google. More than half our traffic was coming from G so this recent PBN update wiped out more than half my traffic. Then there was the pigeon update which also hurt me. Then right after that every single one of my sites got hacked. So I went from having an incredible series of good luck.... to somewhat of a nightmare.

That's why I've dropped my clients right now. We went from consistently clearing 50k month (net) in our own biz, to now around 15-20k month. My clients also got smashed. So I told myself "I need to innovate". I need to diversify. I need to rely less on "free" traffic methods (that are known to be volatile). I need to rely less on Google. I need to be on the edge all the time. So now I'm talking to developers, getting classified bots built, working on solo ads, renting lists, but I'm also building my own PBN. No more buying PBN links. I can no longer expose myself or any of my clients that way. Any PBN links I built will come from my own network.

#2 - I already made sites.

Problem is, many of those sites took a hit like I said. And on top of that I would >> NEVER sell leads. Noooo way. A lot of marketers don't realize this basic fact. But what really separates YOU from your competition, is your ability to extract more value from the marketplace than they can. If Google determines the price of a click to be $45, and you make on average $300 per click, but your competitors make $800 per click.... you will never be able to gain the edge you need. Your competitors will outspend you in every way and pour hot oil all over your business.

If I started selling leads, I could probably sell them for $50-$100 each. Maybe a bit more. But to me, that's the stupidest thing I can do. Let me remind you, I come from the contractor side of marketing. Not the marketing side of marketing (if that makes sense). So I know damn well the real value of a lead. Why should I sell 3-4 leads, make a few hundred $$$.... when the buyer is going to flip those leads for 5 figures and pull a 4-5 figure profit for themselves?

Just think about it.

In home improvement, this is how it works. I once generated a lead off Craigslist (of all places) that was closed by a client for $80,000. My commission on that job was low 5 figures. Had I sold that lead to him for $100 or even $400.... I'd feel like the biggest idiot alive.

Marketers really need to understand the value of what they're selling. They need to realize that Google provides estimates on clicks based on what most people are willing to pay. What they fail to realize is.... most businesses are broke as fuck. Your average company can't even afford to buy adwords. So the prices of these leads gets deflated to accommodate the the so called "99%". While the 1% see's these leads for what they really are.... gold mines waiting to be plundered and exploited.

I'm not saying I'm part of the "1%" cause I'm definitely not. But when I do my research, when I apply new techniques for my own biz... I always try to model what those guys are doing.

-BB

 

[koolkake]

I already run a local SEO skype group but it became inactive cause 90% of the members were leaching from the top 3 members (I was one of those people). All the guys who claimed to have years of experience were asking noob questions over and over so I start deleting most of them from the group.

I also have a local SEO journey going on in the journey section. I'm doing that for my own brick and mortar biz. For now I dropped all my clients just to focus on my own biz and funnel.

But if you want to network, join my group, or create a new and better group, I'm down.

We'd have to do another reach out (like you're doing now). I wouldn't even bother screening people cause most people will lie their ass of to get in. Then after we have say 30-40 members, we start deleting all the noobs.

I know this concept will offend some people, but I learned all the basics on my own. They're not very hard to learn. It's the more advanced stuff that I care about. For me, it's not about rankings. It's about building a large, diversified, funnel that effectively screens, qualifies and drives traffic & sales.

When I do work with clients I don't bullshit them. I don't sell fancy packages like you see on WF. I know that the only thing they care about is CUSTOMERS. So that is ALL I focus on. Everything I do is on a commission only basis. So if I'm not driving traffic and sales I don't get paid. A lot of Local SEO's don't do this. They sell packages that don't do shit. They create weak content, weak funnels, weak everything. Then clients complain and they endlessly make excuses trying to shift blame onto Google or other factors rather than their own lack of experience.

Anyway, hit me up if you wanna brainstorm and organize something.

-BB

90% of my clients, I have a commission basis with as well. They do help me with a monthly payment, however the real money comes from these commission based contracts. From an SEO'ers point, this kind of changes the perspective on your business. At first I didn't like it at all. Not only are you doing a lot of work at the beginning for little pay, but you're also putting some of your eggs in the basket of that business you're doing SEO for. It's a lot more risky than doing just normal SEO work, because you're relying on the success of that business in order for you to get paid- which can depend on other internal factors of that business you have no control of.

But, once you are successful, watch the money come in!

 

[BreaknBrix]

90% of my clients, I have a commission basis with as well. They do help me with a monthly payment, however the real money comes from these commission based contracts. From an SEO'ers point, this kind of changes the perspective on your business. At first I didn't like it at all. Not only are you doing a lot of work at the beginning for little pay, but you're also putting some of your eggs in the basket of that business you're doing SEO for. It's a lot more risky than doing just normal SEO work, because you're relying on the success of that business in order for you to get paid- which can depend on other internal factors of that business you have no control of.

But, once you are successful, watch the money come in!

Oh.... hell yes.

I hear you loud and clear! It took me 3 months working my ass off, not getting paid a penny just to build out my first lead gen site. If I had to guess, I'd say I put in around 600+ hours of work. And I paid for and did everything on my own. The hosting, the site, the graphics, the content, the SEO, the call fire numbers, G local, citations, social media, etc ... everything.

That was a very dark, scary time. I had just started paying this guy $400 / month to rank my first site and was going crazy building out a funnel with no idea of what to expect.

But like you said, once that traffic starts to flow in OMG. The money is insane. I've posted this on WF before. But after Hurricane Sandy hit NJ, I cleared 6 figures in in the 3 months that followed. Shit was crazy. Had I been selling leads at the time I would have probably made 10-20 grand lol.

-BB

 

[tony_d]

what really separates YOU from your competition, is your ability to extract more value from the marketplace than they can

This is absolutely the nail on the head - 100%.

It's not about anything except how much of the value you create that you can retain for yourself.

Peter Thiel wrote a compelling piece on this a while back.

If you take the approach that 'he who bears the risk should also bear the reward in equal proportion', and then set about building a model that allows you to generate massive value and also comfortably take all of the execution risk, you're in absolutely the best position you could ever be.

I take anywhere between 20-40% of my clients revenue, by charging either a flat-fee per job they book, or a percentage of the job value. It took a little effort and intelligence to build the systems that allow us to track conversion effectively, but now that I'm there, I'd have it no other way. On my best sites, a trickle of just 10 or 20 unique visitors per day turns into solid $xx,xxx/mth, over and over again.
I'm quite sure that, in many cases, I make more each month from my clients businesses than they do - but, they're delighted to pay it, because I've assumed all of their marketing risk, and their phone just keeps ringing.

Again - BB is 100% on the money. Don't just create value - capture the value.

 

[BreaknBrix]

This is absolutely the nail on the head - 100%.

It's not about anything except how much of the value you create that you can retain for yourself.

Peter Thiel wrote a compelling piece on this a while back.

If you take the approach that 'he who bears the risk should also bear the reward in equal proportion', and then set about building a model that allows you to generate massive value and also comfortably take all of the execution risk, you're in absolutely the best position you could ever be.

I take anywhere between 20-40% of my clients revenue, by charging either a flat-fee per job they book, or a percentage of the job value. It took a little effort and intelligence to build the systems that allow us to track conversion effectively, but now that I'm there, I'd have it no other way. On my best sites, a trickle of just 10 or 20 unique visitors per day turns into solid $xx,xxx/mth, over and over again.
I'm quite sure that, in many cases, I make more each month from my clients businesses than they do - but, they're delighted to pay it, because I've assumed all of their marketing risk, and their phone just keeps ringing.

Again - BB is 100% on the money. Don't just create value - capture the value.

That article was insane man. Great read.

First time I heard this concept was from Rich Schefren in Dan Kennedy's "The Ultimate Lead Generation Method". It was a set of 6 DVD's I torrented and the first 1 (from Schefren) goes on for almost an hour about this.

I've also heard Dan Kennedy talk about it many times. Then Eban Pagan also spoke about it in his "Get Altitude" seminar. And now Peter Thiel.

I remember Schefren talking about how so many business owners are focused on chasing leads, rather than extracting more value from the leads they're already generating. It's such a simple principle but 1 of the most powerful I know of. If you have to sell 20 jobs to net the same profit your #1 competitor can make from 5 jobs... you're fucked. It doesn't matter how many leads you generate, they will outspend and dominate you everywhere you go.

And I hear you about the 10-20 clicks thing. The brick and mortar business I own with my brother... when we were generating 20-25 clicks / day were consistently breaking $50k / month. A little over half would go back into the biz then me and my brother would split the rest.

It's exactly what we're working on now.

We have 2 goals for 2015 -

1) consistently pass 50 clicks / day
2) extract at least 20% more from every job we sell

If we succeed at this, in 2015 our business will gross 1.3 million as opposed to the $580k we're looking at this year.

If we put $792k back into the biz (60%), that leaves us with $508k / 2 = net of $254,000 I *might* make next year just from our 1 brick and mortar biz. It's not gonna be easy, but it can definitely be done.

-BB

 

[salerock]

That is a good amount of money and quite a healthy ROI.

I'm watching the videos with Dan Kennedy on Youtube right now.

There is a lot of value inside this: He mentioned to sent offline incentives instead of your typical online stuff, which will get you full possibilities to market to them instead of just sending them your mails. One way you could implement this for local seo is to make a small course on any related topic, burn it to dvd and put it into the mail. The cost will be not that high and people will be more likely to give you their credentials.

salerock

 

[BlackxHat]

If you guys are awesome with SEO, why not make your own site(s) and make $ off that (instead of proving SEO services)? That's where the real, long term money is. You obviously won't make as much money right away as with providing SEO service but still...

 

[bizhack3r]

Dude keep preaching! Your post really shows your marketing knowledge and it will def help some noobs on this forum. I am in the same boat as you, I have been on the contracting side and marketing and I agree with you 100%. Would love to talk to you more and join the group. I am a proven entrepreneur and I am always in the mood to make some $. Send me your Skype bro let's talk.

 

[cburton81]

I love mastermind groups that are set up with "masterminded" people. I set up one once but it slowly got infiltrated by slackers.

 

[salerock]

Sent some skype request out, see you there!