Tue 16 Nov 2010

Why Your Business Needs to use Local Internet Marketing

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iStock 000011853944XSmall 300x248 Why Your Business Needs to use Local Internet Marketing

Have You started your local internet marketing campaign yet? The Internet Has Gone Local.

If you are a small business and you are not taking advantage of  local internet marketing or local search engine optimization you are allowing your competition to get the edge and maybe even push you out of business.

Local internet marketing is fast becoming a necessity and not a luxury as many offline business owners thought of them in the past.  The recession, social bookmarking and mobile phone applications have changed the way people shop.  An online presence is a must if a small local business is going to continue to grow and increase it’s customer base.

Just a website will not be enough.  All local listings will have to be claimed and optimized for the search engines.  You need to submit your site to the search engines, local directories, business directories, mobile directories, social sites and more.  They have to be optimized for the most relevant keywords for your business and also the locations which are most relevant to your business.

Local internet marketing is becoming so important now that the major search engines are all setting up ways to give offline businesses more online exposure.  Many of which are free at the moment but will also have paid options as they evolve.  Google, Face Book, Yahoo and Bing would not be putting so much money into local search marketing if they were not sure it would make them money in the future.

You need to start your local internet marketing campaign now while many of these services still have free versions.  As more and more businesses start using these services the prices will start going up.

In a report released by BIA/Kelsey approximately 97% of consumers use the internet when researching products and services in their local area.  I use the internet for local shopping myself.  I have a limited amount of money to spend and I want to get the best product or service for the best price.

According to Steve Marshal, director of research at BIA/Kelsey, “The internet has become an integral part of consumers’ local commercial activity.  The data suggests that the balance of power in local shopping is shifting to online.”

Among consumers surveyed, 90% use search engines; 48% use Internet Yellow Pages, and 42% use comparison shopping sites.

The study goes on to say that consumers are using 7.9 different media sources when shopping for products and services in their local area.  That’s up from 6.5 in 2009 and 5.8 sources in 2008.

It’s also reported that 58% of people reported using online coupons when shopping for products or services in their local area in the past year and 19% report making appointments online, other than restaurant reservations, for health care, auto service, beauty salons, etc.

These figures are only going to increase as more people gain access to the internet. The internet has changed the way people shop locally. As a small business owner, you need to change they way you market to your customers and include local internet marketing in your marketing plan.

People are no longer using their phone books or other traditional media to find local businesses or services.  They are using the internet. Everyone is being much more careful about how they spend their money.

I do a lot of research on the internet too before I make a purchase.  Money is tight and people are trying to make sure they are getting the best product or service they can before they spend locally.

The Internet Has Gone Local. If your small business does not make local internet marketing a part of your marketing strategy, you may be leaving the customers to your competitors.

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Fri 26 Nov 2010

Bing and Facebook: More than Just Friends

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Social Media is Now Integrated into Bing Algorithm

Bing has recently announced that their algorithm will now include social feedback from Facebook.

Bing’s algorithm has used traditional factors to provide results to users’ search queries. Factors like content, anchor text, location, link popularity, and title and meta tags. They claim there are over 1000 “signals” used in their current algorithm. Although this method has been proven to work in the past, Bing has seen that it won’t be enough for the future. “Our focus at Bing on helping customers make better decisions allowed us to rethink this model a bit, as we believe in some ways the current algorithm is not perfect for the way people actually make decisions and accomplish complex tasks.”

Their answer? Obtaining information gained by Facebook from its over 500 million users in the form of topical conversation and “likes”. And why wouldn’t you? If you’re trying to obtain information about what people want, who better than Facebook to find out about people? Currently, Facebook has been using this information within their own advertising program which serves up some of the most targeted ads on the web.

When will Analytics be Integrated?

For a long while, search marketing experts have wondered why search engines haven’t effectively integrated information like searcher behavior and site analytics into their algorithm. Arbitrary link popularity data should not be the deciding factor when the engines already possess the information they need to provide quality search results. They possess all of the information needed to provide very targeted search results and arbitrary link popularity data is not it. I feel that integrating Facebook data in a search algorithm can only help in providing highly targeted search results.

 

Will “like” be the new link?

I hope not! The “like” feature on Facebook has the potential to be exploited just as links have been in the past. Spamming and link buying rendered links a useless measurement of applicability to search engines. But, if a business creates a lot of conversation on Facebook due to its quality content and effective information dissemination, then why not serve up their website as a credible source of information when that topic is searched in Bing?

What’s the Impact for Businesses?

Although it seems to be an obvious partnership of data sharing between Bing and Facebook, only time will tell if Bing is able to increase the quality of their search experience as a result. They have the tools and the information, now let’s see if they can succeed in the execution. If Bing succeeds, will you be ready? With search engine results potentially becoming more social oriented, how will it impact your search marketing results? What is your company’s strategy for managing its social media networks? How does your business market itself through social media? If you haven’t been active within the various social media platforms, maybe now is the time to consider what opportunities may be out there for your business.

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Fri 19 Nov 2010

Local Search Engine Optimization-It Does Make a Difference

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iStock 000013271594Medium 300x205 Local Search Engine Optimization It Does Make a DifferenceBelieve it or not there is a difference between local search engine optimization and search engine optimization. “If You Build It They Will Come” is a myth. The will only come if you have plenty of other search engine optimized pages pointing their way back to your main page.

Search engine optimization is when you optimize web pages for certain keywords related to a business that you want to get found for. Keywords are similar to what people would look up if the wanted to find you in the phone book or a directory but instead they are entering it into a search engine.

That could be plumbing and heating terms, dry cleaning terms, legal terms if you are looking for a lawyer, restaurant or pizzeria terms if you are looking to eat out etc., depending on what product or service you need at the time.

Local search engine optimization is when your website or web pages are optimized for those main keywords and your location or the areas that your business serves.

It makes the difference in being one of millions of websites all trying to be found for the same word and not being found in even the first few pages of search results or being one of a few websites, which are your direct competitors, differentiated by your words and your location.

At that point since you will be competing with much fewer sites you will be able to be found on the first page of search engine results and possibly even in the number 1 spot.

As a local small business owner, one of your many responsibilities is to market your business. I know that at times you probably have too many responsibilities, but marketing your business online is something you need to do if you want to increase your customer base.

The internet is where consumers are doing most of their research before doing their local shopping. If you can’t be found on the internet you have already lost that customer.

According to the Kelsey Group Blog, the U.S. online research to offline buying market is estimated at $917 billion in 2010. It is expected to reach $1 trillion next year. That accounts for almost all of retail sales in the U.S. E-commerce spending (online purchases) accounts for only 7% in the U.S.

Of the 93% of retail purchases occurring in store almost half are driven by online research. This is good news for you because the online research to offline buying ratio is expected to grow next year.

The internet has not stolen your customer base; it’s increasing it. The difference is that most people have done their research on their computer or their phone by the time they have left their homes or their car. By the time they come into your place of business they are ready to spend.

If you get your business online now and hire someone who knows the difference between local search engine optimization and regular search engine optimization you will be poised to get your share of these customers.

Are you ready for them to find you? Will they find you if they enter your type of business into the search bar? If not I can help with your local search engine optimization needs. I can show you what a location targeted online marketing campaign can do for you.

If you are ready to start thinking about local search engine optimization for your business, click on this link to visit my About Us page and watch the short video which will explain to you how I can be of service to you.

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Wed 17 Nov 2010

More Reasons to Market Your Business Online

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I believe the above article offered enough reason for you to market your business online, but for those who might be skeptics, I found another study that shows the same increase in trends of consumers doing research before shopping locally.

It is a study called “How America Shops and Spends 2009″. It was prepared by MORI Research for the Newspaper Association of America. It’s a 25 page pdf report.

It proves that internet usage trends for local shopping is on the rise. People are doing research on the internet before spending locally.

Keep in mind that it was paid for by the newspaper industry so it is slanted in that direction. Also keep in mind that it was done in 2009 so the figures are lower than in the BIA/Kelsey report.

Keep note of how much higher those figures are in the Kelsey report. They rose pretty sharply between 2009 and 2010. It will continue to rise as more people gain access to the internet. Shouldn’t you get in on the action and start to market your business online before another year passes and more of your competitors do it before you?

If you do not keep up with this new and growing trend and start marketing your business online, you will not increase your customer base. You might be lucky enough to keep the loyal customers you already have which is terrific, but with the costs of doing business increasing how long will you be able to do that?

The report covers a lot of different topics. I find pages 6-11 very interesting. it’s about the impact of the recession on people’s shopping habits.

market your business online 300x225 More Reasons to Market Your Business Online
How has the recession affected your customers’ shopping habits?

Pages 20-25 which is titled “Online Shopping Patterns” is also very enlightening. Page 24 is about shoppers using the internet to research brick and mortar businesses before making purchases.

I know, as a business owner, you have many things to do and the thought of reading 25 pages is no fun. That is why I mentioned the pages I think you would benefit from the most.Knowledge is power. Won’t you be able to serve your customers better if you understand how the recession has affected them and changed their buying habits?

Too many people realized how fragile the economy is. We are all worried about our own retirement and our children’s future because of the rising deficit. Interests rates are being kept low by the Federal Reserve. This will eventually cause inflation which means prices are going to rise some more for goods and services. You can’t afford not to market your business online.

When inflation kicks in, (we are already experiencing higher utility costs and higher food costs) people will be even more careful how they spend. Which means if you do not expand your customer base and market your business online, you could see your earnings decreasing as consumers spend less and less.

I don’t believe that people will ever go back to shopping the way they used to even if the recession ends, the economy starts to grow or jobs start to come back again. I believe that people are going to continue being careful about what they spend and continue to use the internet or their cell phones to shop locally.

Many businesses are being found on the internet today because customers took the time to review the business they visited on the internet. If you enter tires Shirley NY into Google you not only find a couple tire stores you also find review sites like City Search and Yelp and more. That’s the power of the consumer using the internet to market your business online.

Consumers also enter bad reviews when they are unhappy with the services they receive. Do you want to control how you market your business online or are you going to leave it to your customers to market your business by positive and negative reviews?

If you do not market your business online by having a website or something similar (there are other options I will tell you about that on another page), getting listed in the search engines, directories, online classifieds, review sites, article marketing etc, you are losing a lot of sales.

A targeted online marketing campaign can mean the difference between going out of business and breaking even or breaking even and making a profit. Which would you like to do? You need to start thinking about how you are going to market your business online today.

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