You’ll hear more and more about taking your Internet marketing home business offline. It’s part and partial to the general notion that the future of Internet marketing is not in building websites to promote someone else’s affiliate product. The future of Internet marketing is promoting local businesses and helping them grow their business. This idea was borne in early 2010 at Affiliate Summit West. At least that’s what the guru’s tell me.
In a way, this makes a whole lot of sense to me. I’ve seen a lot of Internet/affiliate marketers struggle as they compete against one another. But, on the other hand, these same marketers are learning all the necessary skills to build websites, do a little SEO and just understand the fundamentals that a business owner never had the time or inclination to learn about.
So, why not reach out to local businesses? Most small business owners don’t even have websites, and those that do have sites that are largely inferior to what Internet home business owners have been building… particularly those that work with WordPress sites. Small business owners need help…
Make them your clients! Establish strong, lasting relationship. All you need to do is do your best and be honest. You could be on the ground floor of something very exciting. Remember this! Google and other very large companies are thoroughly committed to this idea of going local and supporting small businesses.
In October 2010, Google changed it’s search algorithm in favor of local business marketing. Once Google realizes that you are conducting a local search, they throw up a 7-pack of the top businesses in your local market. So, those affiliate marketers that have been building geo-targeted niche website now have compete against Google Places. Forget it!
Then there’s Facebook. This an entirely different book, but the story is pretty much the same. As you may know, they recently made their Fan (Business) pages more accommodating to small business owners. Plus, small business owners can learn how to reach out and touch more potential customers with a Facebook Fan page. And, the viral effect of Facebook is simply amazing. When you trigger a “Like” you are triggering a recommendation to your friends. And, people buy on recommendations from their friends!
If both Google and Facebook are geared toward this market, you better believe that we are too!
Think about it! Would you rather work your butt off making a couple of dollars promoting an affiliate product; or might it not be better to promote a business. When you promote an affiliate product, you are one of thousands trying to do the same in a rather limited market. When you establish a relationship with a business owner, and do a good job, you have a client for life and potentially a solid residual income. Plus, you will find that there is very little, if any, real competition in this market.