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Are Your Local Customers Finding You Online Too?
By David B. Ascot | December 17, 2008
Do customers really use the internet when they are looking for local providers of products and services? The answer is yes. Lots of my clients have started using local internet marketing and it’s doing great things for their businesses. However, there are many local businesses who still have not begun to use local internet marketing, I would advise them to do so and quickly. Local internet marketing is effective and offers a great ROI. Here’s just two reasons why:
1. Ability to target customers at the point of purchase: Like the Yellow Pages, people search on the Internet when they have a need for your products or services. This allows you to target the specific individuals who are most likely to become your customers. Most “offline” marketing methods such as newspaper ads or leaflet drops are not targeted. Not being able to target your potential audience adds greatly to your costs.
2. Poor competition: Numerous local businesses advertise offline in venues like the Yellow Pages, but have not built an online presence for themselves. The Yellow Pages is one way to get noticed, certainly, but there you are surrounded by your competitor’s advertisements. There is a lot less competition online, which means more sales and a better marketing ROI for you.
Local internet marketing is not really all that complicated. Just as with any sort of online business, your website should be focused on making sales and follow sound marketing principles. However, the most important thing is to generate the targeted traffic which will get your business increased sales. The best target market for a local business is of course, the people in your immediate vicinity.
Here are my top 5 strategies for generating targeted local traffic. Some of these strategies will be more effective than others. My advice is to test and see which ones work for you.
Strategy #1: Google Adwords
Google Adwords is the bread-and-butter traffic generation technique of local Internet search. It’s easy to set up, highly targeted and cheap. Here are a few guidelines for building effective local campaigns.
1. Compile lists of keywords including your targeted geographical area.
2. Devise ads that mention your locality.
3. Set up conversion tracking
4. Test different ads against each other
5. Test some generic search phrases too
Strategy #2: Search Engine Optimization for Targeted Local Search Phrases
1. Target your search phrase carefully
The most important thing to realise when implementing SEO is to understand that you can’t appeal to the entire world at once. Focus on one keyword or key phrase; this will maximise your chances of getting a high page ranking for this keyword or phrase. Focus is everything here.
A good way to choose which phrase to go for is to look at the conversion stats from your Google Adwords. Find a phrase that gives you a reasonable volume of searches and conversions, then target that phrase for natural (unpaid) search engine results. Or you can use this default formula, which we have found to be successful in most situations:
[your location] + [your industry name]
2. Put your key search phrase in your homepage title tags.
Your title tags include the text which appears in the top blue bar of your web browser. Search engines also look at these tags when ranking websites. Your title tags should be short and focused.
3. Build some backlinks.
Links to your site from other websites is another factor in deciding page rankings; these links tell search engines that your site is popular.
Here are some simple guidelines for building backlinks to your website:
List your site in as many online directories as possible. Trade or exchange links with other websites Write articles about your area of expertise and link them back to your website Start a blog, and link it back to your website Buy links through link-buying services such as www.text-link-ads.com. Ask friends or associates who have websites to link to you.
IMPORTANT: If possible, you want the text of incoming links to contain the keywords for which you want to rank well.
4. Use your keywords in your website content
This is not always so simple, but you can increase your page ranking by incorporating your keywords into your website’s content. Don’t overdo it, use your keywords in as natural of a manner as possible. Try using them in the headings and first paragraph, then throughout the text as it makes sense.
Strategy #3: Other Pay-Per-Click Search Engines
If your campaigns are working well in Google Adwords, try other PPC [Pay Per Click] search engines such as Overture and Sensis [Australia]. In my tests to date, these services haven’t produced the ROI that Adwords does, but they can nevertheless add value.
Strategy #4: Yellow Pages Online
This may or may not be the case for you if you are outside of Australia, but in my experience, the Online Yellow Pages provides a significantly better ROI than the print version; as much as ten times better in some cases! However, this may not be the best choice for every business. If your client/value ratio is high ($500 or more), then you may want to try Yellow Pages online. While it won’t get as many leads as some of these other techniques, it generally gives a positive ROI.
Strategy #5: Integrate your offline marketing promotions
Obviously, you should always include the website address of your business in your print ads and marketing materials. This by itself will not generally net you a lot of leads, but making your website the focus of some of your offline marketing efforts can. Try offering a freebie like a whitepaper or report to visitors in your print ads or direct mail campaigns.
Topics: Lead Generation |