Local
Internet
Marketing
Local internet marketing is
becoming increasingly critical as consumer behavior
continues to evolve at a lightening pace. Potential
customers are completely tuning out the traditional local
advertising methods of newspapers, billboards, local TV, the
yellow pages and Val-Pak type of coupons and instead are
going online to search for local services and goods.
Where Should You Start Your
Local Internet Marketing Efforts?
Currently local online
marketing is a hit or miss battlefield. There are pockets where it is highly competitive
and the level of local web sophistication is very strong.
Then there are the smaller markets where you can quickly
make an impact. In the less competitive areas you may not
even need a website to get a top three ranking on the local
maps.
The first thing to do is to make sure that you have
claimed your local business listings in Google, Yahoo
and Bing/MSN. Understanding
how
the local search maps work is also critical to
your local internet marketing success.
Just as larger corporations deploy a comprehensive SEO
Services approach which includes a thorough understanding of who your
strongest local online competitors are. This involves:
- Where they rank on the
various local maps
- Their primary categories
- The keyword phrases
that they target
- Do they have a web site?
- How strong are their
citations?
- How many reviews do they
have?
Depending on the size of your
marketplace getting you to the top of the local maps
shouldn't take a tremendous amount of time. We have seen initial results in as little as three weeks.
Getting the Basics Right
While local internet
marketing isn't magic there are specific fundamentals that
must be in place to maximize your efforts. We meet with our perspective clients to get a complete understanding of
their goals, their budgets and
what makes their business remarkable.Then we can go to work.
It is certainly true that
you do not need a website to get listed in the local
business centers and to get customers talking about you. But
in competitive marketplaces it is virtually
impossible to crack the top ten without one. And being
listed but buried on the 5th or 6th page will not drive any
new business your way.
A local business website doesn't need 30 or 40 pages. We have found top rankings from businesses with 10-15 page websites.
Link Juice has significant experience with
small business web design that will showcase how you
stand out in your community. These can be simple
informational sites or geared to
lead generation - either way we can help.
We are also big believers in seeing what works. You can't
improve what you can't measure which is why we make sure
that all of our clients install a
solid web analytics package. We have found
Google Analytics
to be ideal for the small business owner.
This provides the site owner with invaluable information
on where their visitors came from, what keywords drove them
there and in the case of lead generation web sites did they
convert - very powerful stuff.
Test, Analyze and
Fine Tune
Once you have your business listed and your website in place your work
is not done. This is where the savvy business owner really shines. In
addition to Google Analytics there is also a tremendous amount of useful information from the Google
Local Business Center stats.
Typical testing for a lead generation web site may include creative (do they click
more if the contact button is here or there),
promotional offers, email sign ups, etc. Then
measure how these changes to your overall
goals.
Significant testing may also be done with
Pay-Per-Click Marketing. Link Juice has been involved
with PPC for years and we know how to leverage this as a
positive ROI internet marketing strategy. Targeting new customers
in this channel can pay
huge dividends.
No matter what type of testing is done the basic methods are
always the same:
- Decide what to test
- Analyze the results
- Fine tune
- And test again
Are You Ready for Advanced
Techniques?
If you are in a hyper
competitive market once you have mastered the basics you will be ready to
move on to more advanced strategies. By partnering with Link
Juice you will have an expert that can guide you through the
mine fields. Advanced techniques can be as simple as
spicing up your Google local listings to building Fan Pages on Facebook. We have been closely following the twitter uproar but we just haven't found this to be worth the time and energy - yet. We will continue to monitor and when we seel that our clients will get
a positive ROI on it we will present it.
We have found one of the best ways to keep your small business
clients informed is with blogs.
This gives you total control over adding fresh content on a
regular basis (also a huge advanced SEO technique as well). A health club owner could blog about the upcoming "Biggest Loser" competition. Or the restaurant looking to build more lunch business could promote a free appetizer with every lunch for groups of four or more. The possibilities are endless.
Our clients have also found great success in staying top of mind with targeted
email marketing programs. This can be as simple as
reminding them that it is time for their favorite four legged
"best friend" to come in for their 4 week
grooming appointment or reinforcing that free appetizer offer for the lunch crowd.
So no matter where your small business is located, no matter
what stage of development your local internet marketing
program is in. Link Juice can help you take this to the next
level with our affordable approach to small business online marketing.
Contact us today for a free consultation!
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