Tag Archives: local marketing

Is Your Small Business Using Online Local Marketing?

By Allan Joseph

As a small business owner, if you do not take advantage of the Internet, then you are missing a huge opportunity to promoting your products and services. Using online local Internet marketing tactics can transform your small business marketing into BIG business marketing.

Nearly 50% of businesses have taken that first essential step to getting online: building a web site. That’s great but, unfortunately, just having that small piece of real estate on the web isn’t enough. It’s a start, so let’s build on that by reviewing some basic things to do with the web site first. The appearance and the content of your web site should be simple and valuable. Whoever visits your site should find it attractive and should be able to clearly understand your company’s benefits. Try having enough information on the site to answer the most frequent questions that your prospective customer might have. Even more, have information on the site that explains what they SHOULD know, but don’t know to ask about. Again, just putting up a site on the Internet isn’t going to be enough to bring more business, but make sure it is done right.

The key to using your web site to drive more traffic to your business, with phone calls, online purchases, or in-store visits, is capture the attention of people searching for your goods and services online. The number of people using search engines, such as Google, to find local businesses like yours is skyrocketing. Recent studies show that many more people are searching the web for local products and services than picking up the “handy” yellow page book. Google and its rivals have figured that out and they are investing heavily to designing their search engines to cater to that audience. Therefore, you need to do THREE THINGS right now to benefit from that trend.

1) First, construct your web site to conform with what the search engines want to show their users. Specifically, find out what the online searchers are typing into the search box and write your web site’s content to accommodate. That is often referred to in the Internet marketing community as on-page search engine optimization (or SEO).

2) Second, promote your web site in as many places as possible (online and offline). “As many places as possible” includes, but is not limited to, these activities: finding web pages online where a link to your web site can be placed; adding your business information to online local directories; adding your business information to social media sites; creating content in the form of articles, videos, images, reports, etc. and posting it on a variety of online content sharing web sites; and others! With a little creativity, you will find that there are more opportunities to reference your business and link back to your web site than you’ll ever be able to do.

3) Third, manage your reputation online. If you do nothing else, you should be monitoring what people online are saying about you, your business, your competitors, your suppliers, and even your customers (if you’re B2B). Many tools exist to monitor these conversations.

If you want to attract more customers, then take advantage of the Internet by making it easy for people to find your business when they are looking for it. Nowadays, people are using the Internet as their primary source for researching local businesses. If you understand that and implement these three steps, you will be in a great position to attract that audience. If not, your competitors will.

If you are a small business owner that understands the value of the Internet as described in this article, then you’re ready to take action.

Click this link to find out more about affordable local online marketing.

Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Local Marketing With Discount Coupons

By Denise Gabbard

Everybody loves a bargain, and that is why discount coupons are so popular. Indeed, just the perception that some product or service is a bargain can drive sales. Think of grocery stores that offer buy one, get one free coupons as an example. If roasts are $5.50 a pound, but there is a BOGO offer, the net price is really $2.75 per pound. Now, if that is roughly equivalent to the sale price that they sometimes offer, it really isn’t that great of a value. However, I would hazard a guess that the BOGO coupon sells more of those chuck roasts because the bargain perception is there.

Discount coupons for many types of services and products can be offered. They can be an integral part of a marketing campaign, and lend that bargain perception that drives traffic and sales to a business. Certainly they cannot build customer loyalty, but they are wonderful for generating awareness of a business, helping a business to be more competitive against large or chain stores, and extending market reach of a small business. Once they come through the door, it is the merchant’s job to WOW them and keep them coming back.

Local search marketing sites offer community building networks, local support structures, and the go green initiative all wrapped up in one neat package. These sites give businesses the opportunity to increase sales while helping to improve the community and maximize their advertising dollars. The sites allow each business to advertise and they will do significant internet marketing on behalf of the community as a whole and the integral pieces of it by promoting the business to thousands of individual buyers and other businesses who are interested in local marketing.

Businesses can design a discount coupons program that gets attention from the community. Another plus in our tech savvy world is that discount coupons can be printed or delivered by text message to potential buyers right on their cell phones. Coupons can be great tools to find out what local buyer’s hot buttons are. Create a few different offers and see which is the most popular, and then leverage that knowledge for the next campaign.

Because local community sites are visited for news and events, they are frequented more often than an individual business’s site would be. Take advantage of that by offering a great discount coupon to get new customers in the door, and then dazzle them with your service or product to keep them coming back for life!

Denise Gabbard is a professional writer with a keen interest in online marketing of all types, including discount coupons programs that can extend your local reach around the world.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Denise_Gabbard

Affordable Local Marketing Techniques

By Liz T Jones

Effective local marketing is necessary to expand a business and increase profits. Business owners do not have to spend a ton of money to lead a successful advertising campaign. Internet presence, social media, and print media are all tools that do not cost a lot. With a few easy techniques, local businesses can easily reach hundreds of customers.

The first step is to create a website. The Internet is a very powerful marketing tool and its benefits should not be underestimated. Well-designed websites with high search engine rankings can reach thousands of people. Establishing a presence on the Internet is essential for any company to succeed in today’s technology driven world. Local business marketing should always include targeting potential customers through the Internet. Creating a website is easier and faster than most people think. The key to designing a website that will attract visitors is making it user-friendly. Include essential elements such as services or products offered, pricing, and contact information. A website should be well organized, and people must be able to find what they need easily. Hire a search engine optimization expert, so that customers can easily find it when searching for relevant keywords.

Another aspect of the Internet that can be very useful is social media. In recent years, social media websites have become very popular. Millions of people use them every day. Creating an account is easy and can provide many benefits. It is a great way to get exposure, advertise, and communicate with clients. The page should be updated often with any news or specials, and the comment option should be enabled, so that users can leave valuable feedback.

Print media can also be a successful marketing tool. Contacting local media can put the spotlight on a new or existing business and attract more customers who might not have known about it before. Press releases are another way to reach out to local residents. Another way to take advantage of media outlets is putting an advertisement in newspapers and magazines. Include any details that might get a reader’s attention such as discounts or specials.

The Internet is arguably the best way to promote a business. The number of people that can be reached through social media and a well-designed website is limitless. Contacting small media outlets is a great way to target local residents. Take advantage of local marketing tools that are readily available, create specials, and always remain professional to gain and keep a loyal following for many years to come.

Author is a freelance copywriter. For more information about local business marketing, please visit http://www.local-marketing.com/.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Liz_T_Jones