Reach Local? Any Ideas

waboehler

My son works for Reach Local and after failing in the yellow pages and trying a couple of local magazines Im starting to worry nothing is going to work to help get through these slow times. I am in the South East so we are just now feeling the effects of the recession as everything moves slowly here even the bad stuff.
Anyway, I dont have a website yet so I know I have to do that first. He has offered to do google adwords for me (not through his company) and is certified in whatever those guys are certified in.
Bottom line, my business is in large paving jobs, cement pours, and decorative concrete (think poolside). I have a niche market but my customer worth is very high and profits are fairly good (in those particular areas).
Any ideas on how to get over the hump?

MOTB

Whenever I have started a business (having done so four times over 22 years), I began by learning the market opportunity as well as the competition. Do not say there is no competition or then you really do not have a big opportunity. Find the competition, and study their website, to see how they do their SEO (Search Engine Optimization), what groups or associations they belong to, what trade shows they may have attended, etc. Usually learning about your competition will help you see clearer about what may work and what may not work.
Brian

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Helping contractors find work, manage jobs, communicate with others and get paid quicker using software over the Internet

waboehler

I do know most of my competition; and for the most part we all work together. I am in South Carolina though; its the good ol boy system for bid work down here. The websites I see arent anything other than template sites from the yellowpage companies for the most part. Luckily I do know where to get a functioning website, my main concern is whether to tackle adwords with the help of my son or trust the company he works for. I do have one "friend" in the business that is his customer and it seems to work well for him but then I read horror stories on here about people's advertising woes.
I worked as a project estimator for over 25 years with a mid size company until they shut down our industrial work a few years ago. My first 3 years out on my own were great and there was plenty of work, now I cant compete price wise in this market and I need alternative sources of income (different type jobs) or more marketing to bring in some new business.

zookies

I was just listening to a reachlocal sell job, one thing we have going for us is a well established website, and I was interested in an added bump from them. Their deal was to run a twelve 'cycle' (approximately one month per cycle) campaign and get one cycle for free. They would track and optimize keywords and use a tracking phone number, placing adwords and remarketting content placement advertising.

Bottom line, we have plenty of money if we wanted to do it, but they seemed to have too much hard sell and not enough provable metrics to take a plunge with. We may toy with a smaller campaign, but I bet we don't use them at all.

That said, even though it takes a year or two to get web traffic going, and you may be out of business by then, start RIGHT NOW and work on it a little every couple of months. Only use your nieces and nephews, and pay them a couple of bucks an hour. And write, write, write. It is your insight and tutorials about your business that will connect prospect searches to your business. The internet is an awesome lead tool, but there is a vigilance required to develop it into a sales generator. After you get going, which takes a year or two, it is free free free !!!!!

On the other hand, the google pros, like reachlocal, are no more useful than yellow pages guys, even though they say they are better. We have spent money on both, and found the best bet is to keep our money and work on the internet marketting ourselves.

calpub

How much were they asking for this campaign?

waboehler

On a side note...advertising wise

I have been signed up on Angies List and Im debating Service Magic as Ive seen some limited successes with one of the companies I do work for. I have registered my domain name and will be putting together a web site in the near future.

Lumpy

Search this site for lots service magic feedback. It is 98% negative.

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Fran Yetso Construction
professional remodeling

alanmoore

Campaigns at ReachLocal are based on the Average Cost per Click for your industry, the Actual Monthly Searches for what you provide and Where you want to attract clients from? After that, its a simple math formula to estimate budgets.

Campaigns that run extremely well are as follows: decks, fences, roofing, plumbing.

alanmoore

What office is he out of? I work in our Baltimore office.

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Alan Moore, Internet Marketing Consultant
"Common Sense Ain't All That Common"

bsharwood

If you're not afraid of getting reviews from your customers, our site, HomeStars.com isn't a bad way of getting business. Basic listings are free and getting reviews are free (just point your customers to your page)

The reviews drive great content, which you probably don't have time to create.

But I'd also say it's to be used combined with other things together. And don't forget to get yourself on the google local, yahoo local and all those things. It takes some time, but it's totally worth it.

JohnD

Contact me maybe I can help... You have the right idea but without a website (IMHO) you are losing an opportunity to reach folks that go straight to the web when they are looking for a contractor.

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Contractor Service Provider