There are several ways to obtain leads from online marketing. Among the most popular: email marketing, SEO, PPC, and instructional/marketing videos. The problem with many of these methods is that they come with a cost. And with SEO it’s often hard to quantify your efforts. Sometimes relying on the SERPS to hand you leads just isn’t enough when you’re trying to kickstart your small business.
Community Engagement Is Free and Effective
A great method for finding communities within your niche is to search Google for forums/communities that support your industry. For example, if I’m a real estate agent looking to sell homes in the Atlanta area I would head straight to Google and type in “Atlanta real estate forum“. I would look for community-driven sites, either in blog or forum form. Scouring threw the various threads and posts, I would look for people that want answers to their problems. The great thing about these forums is that the more you participate the higher your rating/authority becomes and many webmasters will allow you to post a link back to your site.
Community Engagement For Consultants
It may be harder to engage when you’re selling physical products than if you’re selling your expertise. The beautiful thing about working as a consultant is that you’re overhead is limited to yourself and in most cases, a computer. Selling advice is a coveted profession to be in. I’ve been an SEO consultant for going on four years and the beauty about my vertical is that every business that wants to create an online presence needs my services, so I can dip into any one of these forums and generate leads.
Reddit Reddit, Reddit
Reddit is for more than looking up gross pictures and cats with Hitler mustaches. It can be a great source to find those who are looking for your services. I am frequently on answering SEO-related questions that users may have. On each thread I answer I try to include a link back to SunBird. I’ve since picked up three clients using this method. Participating in these online communities isn’t always easy but ultimately pays off as a great pay to interact with future clients and build leads without pouring money into advertising.
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