Like new customers? Then you you’ll love Groupon. Earlier this month I helped one of my local Internet Marketing clients get featured on Groupon’s deal of the day. The process was relatively easy and Groupon’s team was very helpful in getting the ball rolling. The sad part is that Groupon doesn’t feature all business types but don’t worry, we offer local Internet marketing for many business types, learn more here. Local Business Directory Creation – Add Your Business To Local Directories!

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So how does Groupon help you get more customers? They do this by simply featuring your business deal on their Website, Groupon.com. Groupon has millions of local subscribed viewers, who visit daily just to see what the next local deal is going to be. In order for Groupon to work, you have to drop some great deals, deals that are not offered by your competitors. For example, my local seo client offers regular cleaning, exam and x-ray for $150+ as a base rate however, on Groupon they lowered the price to $50 ($25 after Groupon takes its share). Why? Because people are looking for great deals and businesses are looking for more customers. If your deal is not good enough, you are not going to succeed on Groupon.

The wait was over and early February my client’s deal dropped and sold over 400 Groupons in less than 24 hours, see actual Groupon deal page: UC Dental Groupon Deal. Now that is 400 new customers from around the area! Of course the deal was outrageous and it had to be to attract 400 new dental clients. It is now up to the owner of the business to up-sell/cross-sell and collect email information to ensure positive impact and positive return on investment.

Hundreds of phone calls + website visits, the day the deal dropped, the office staff were overwhelmed with phone calls and emails. These were prospects calling to inquire about the Groupon deal, including people who had already purchased the Groupon and wanted to make their appointment. I was there in person, and I tell you, it was a total madness, one you want to experience for yourself.

Here is how you can get started and hopefully get featured on Groupon.

First, contact Groupon to see if your business qualifies to be featured on Groupon, visit the following link: http://www.grouponworks.com/get-featured and get in touch with them. If they decline to feature your business today, it doesn’t mean they will not accept your business in the future. Here is a friendly rejection email I received:

Dear John Doe,

Thanks for contacting Groupon!

Since we can only feature a limited number of businesses, our schedule is carefully constructed to highlight a variety of business types, locations, sizes, and price-points. At this time, we don’t see an opportunity to feature your business.

We have your information on file, and if it’s OK with you, we’ll be in touch if an opportunity arises in the future.

Again, thanks for writing, and let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help.

Here is how you prepare to get listed on Groupon:

1. Most local businesses do not have a Website, if you are one of them, get someone to design you a professional, search engine friendly website. This includes, logo, layout, navigation, pages with relevant content, photo gallery of your business, the more the better. Then, have a local SEO company search engine optimize your website, from bottom up.

2. Real customer reviews, not the testimonials on your website. Groupon requires real customer reviews, meaning, your business needs to have over 10+ real customer reviews posted on the Web, on sites similar to google places, yelp, yahoo maps, etc…

3. Make sure to remove promotional pricing from your website, you do not want any conflict down the line.

4. Write a paragraph about your business and what you offer, be sure to keep it short and sweet.

5. Think about the product or service you want to offer as a deal, this can vary from business to business and you as the business owner know the best answer to this question.

6. Patience, yes, if your business gets approved to be featured, it can take 4 to 6 months before it is featured on Groupon. Yeah, we know, this sucks but hey you know how the old saying goes, “good things come for those who wait”.

One more thing, be sure to select a good date for your deal to drop, avoid big holidays like new year but if you are a flower shop aim for a date that is few days away from Valentines day, it just might be worth it.

To learn more about Groupon, check out: http://www.grouponworks.com

If you have any comments or questions, please let us know.

Note: Groupon’s terms are subject to change without notice, please contact groupon for details.