One of the topics I saw frequently discussed among budding Internet marketers this past year was the idea of providing Internet marketing consulting services to ‘local’ businesses.

The idea was to set up shop as an Internet marketing consultant who would help small businesses in the local community establish or grow their Internet presence, and promote and sell their products or services online.

Perhaps the only thing I found surprising about the discussions I saw was that some people seemed to think the idea of selling consulting services to small businesses was so new.

Since when was providing consulting services to small businesses a new idea? What do you think those very same local accountants, lawyers and insurance brokers have been doing over the past century?

And in terms of helping small businesses go online… well, go back to the late 1990s when just about every graphic designer decided to become a web designer… in order to help small businesses go online.

Okay, okay, I don’t mean to be negative. But there’s something in what I just said that probably needs some attention.

Firstly, though, I should say that I DO recognize that those aiming to become ‘local’ Internet marketing consultants are NOT the same as the average local web designer. In fact, the difference is much like the difference between a marketing consultant and a graphic designer. I get that: the idea is to help businesses use the Internet as a medium for marketing and conducting their business, not just have a nice looking website.

I also agree that now IS a great time to get into this game. More people than ever are using the Internet to look for local businesses and services, rather than rely on the local newspaper or printed Yellow Pages directory.

And nor are people necessarily using the online version of the Yellow Pages. Sorry Yellow Pages, but you’re facing stiff competition from the local search feature offered by Google and the other major search engines. Not to mention the various online local directories that have sprung up.

And just as more people are looking for services online, so too are small businesses migrating online. But, to highlight the opportunity for savvy Internet marketing consultants, many such businesses are doing it woefully.

For example, I still see plenty of businesses throwing money away on pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. Simply because they don’t know how to use PPC advertising properly. I’m not talking about knowing advanced tactics and techniques; I’m talking about knowing some basics.

Just yesterday I went looking for something online and was shocked to see that MOST of the companies running PPC campaigns had:

1. Poorly written PPC ads.
2. URLs in the PPC ads going to their home pages, rather than dedicated landing pages. (And you can forget about split-testing).
3. Poorly designed websites.
4. Websites that did NOT allow you to buy online.
5. Websites that required you to contact them for a quote.
6. One site that wanted people to order by sending them an email!

…and too many other Internet marketing mistakes to list.

And here’s the thing. All it took was for ONE business to have a halfway decent website and that DID allow me to buy online, that got my business. Everyone else lost money when I clicked on their ads.

I bet you’ve seen various other kinds of local businesses wasting their money like this. And these are the ideal types of clients because they already spending thousands of dollars online.

In other words, they’re not the kind of local business you need to persuade to invest online (trust me, there are plenty of those and you want to steer clear of them). On the contrary, businesses that are already pouring money into PPC are generally serious about (a) spending money on marketing and (b) the Internet as a marketing medium.

What’s more, if you have a solid grounding in Internet marketing, you’ll be able to make just basic changes to both save and MAKE these businesses a wad of money… a portion of which they should be glad to pay you (however you seek to charge them).

Okay, so these are all good reasons to be excited about providing Internet marketing consulting to local businesses…

Is there a downside?

Yes, there is… and it has EVERYTHING to do with why you probably wanted to start an Internet business in the first place.

On the other hand, there are possible solutions to this problem.

I’ll discuss the downside and the solutions tomorrow…

This entry was posted on Monday, December 29th, 2008 at 5:30 am and is filed under Feature, Internet Marketing Niche, Search Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.