Image credit: cnythzl | Getty Images Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. The following excerpt is from Robert W. Bly’s book The Digital Marketing Handbook. 18 percent of local searches lead to a sale. 50 percent of mobile searches are looking for a business name, address, phone number, or service information. Whether you’re selling local or nationwide services, you need a website that will find and qualify prospects for you and weed out everyone else. You need a sales funnel so that when potential clients come to your site, you can take them through the service-selling process: You can generate an inquiry, qualify the prospect, fulfill the lead, follow up, give a cost estimate or proposal, and close the sale. In the service-selling funnel, you offer some free information to people who respond to your marketing. For the people on the email list you rented who did not respond, you can keep marketing to them; each time, more will reply. These leads are then put into a follow-up email sequence that can include emails, phone calls, and other contacts. Others don’t buy your services.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
The following excerpt is from Robert W. Bly’s book The Digital Marketing Handbook. Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | IndieBound
You may think the web is better suited to merchants who sell physical products like books, CDs, home decor, furniture, clothing, toys, and the like. But a well-designed website and accompanying multichannel marketing campaign can also sell professional services such as copywriting, coaching, book cover design, plumbing, interior design, and dozens of others key services consumers are searching for.
What if you’re a plumber or contractor, or you want to offer job search coaching, resume writing, or tutoring to people only in your local area? Is a website, which can reach people globally, the best idea for you? The short answer is: absolutely. People use the web to find local businesses more than they use the Yellow Pages. According to search engine marketing company Hang Ten SEO:
- 46 percent of all searches on Google are local.
- 18 percent of local searches lead to a sale.
- 50 percent of consumers who performed local searches on their smartphones visited a store within one day.
- 34 percent of consumers who performed local searches on their computer or tablet visited a store within one day.
- 50 percent of mobile searches are looking for a business name, address, phone number, or service information.
The bottom line is, it pays to have an effective website for your service business even when you serve…
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