Local Internet marketing continues to replace conventional forms of marketing like print advertising and Yellow Page advertising.
As recently as 2-3 years ago, the number of people browsing the Internet for local companies was minimal. Nevertheless, times have changed and having an Internet presence is no longer optional. It’s mandatory as we transition increasingly more to a digital society.
Even if you have little or no Internet presence right now, it’s not too late. You can still carve out a position for your company online and start getting more clients from the Internet. But you can’t wait around much longer, because your competitors are starting to figure this out, too.
To get you started, here are the pillars of a successful local Internet marketing plan:
The Foundation – Your Business Website
It all starts with having a well-optimized web site. That means your website needs to have great info for the visitor, it needs to be simple and easy to navigate not to mention visually pleasing to the reader.
Your web site is the initial impression a prospective customer will have of you and your company. Like it or not, initial impressions do count. And if your web site is unorganized and contains irrelevant content, and basically just looks amateurish, prospective clients will click away within a matter of seconds and get in touch with one of your competitors. That’s merely the cold, hard reality.
Therefore, before you do anything else with your local Internet marketing efforts, make certain you have a nice-looking, professional web site. Don’t cut corners here and have your nephew in high school re-do your web site for you, otherwise your website will most likely wind up looking like you had your nephew in high school re-do your web site for you
Instead, invest a couple of dollars and hire somebody that does web site design for a living. It won’t cost a fortune, and as long as you find a decent designer I guarantee it’ll be money well spent.
Now You should Promote Your Site
Ok, now that you have your web site all spiffed up and looking great, you have to actively promote your website. You can’t just sit around and wait for visitors to show up. Maybe 10-12 years ago you could get away with that, but not today. In today’s world, you need to have a proven method to get your website found.
Again, it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Just some fundamental strategies like article marketing, video marketing, blogging, a little bit of social bookmarking and perhaps a simple Facebook Fan page will do wonders.
Three of the biggest secrets to making your promotion a smashing success are (A) providing valuable free content to visitors at your website, (B) Locating other web sites to link to your content, and (C) executing your plan month after month on a consistent basis.
If you just do the fundamental promotional procedures that I’ve outlined above, and you do them consistently, I believe you’ll be pleasantly surprised by just how quickly your website zooms up the search engine rankings.
Then as soon as you’ve achieved good rankings in the search engines and you’re experiencing a steady flow of daily visitors to your website, you then will want to keep your foot on the gas and keep doing what got you there. Otherwise, as time goes by your search engine rankings will gradually start to slip and you’ll be pushed out of the top spots by your competitors.
Add In Local Search Strategies
Local search is still an emerging search technology, but it’s evolving extremely rapidly. Google, Yahoo and Bing all have their own versions of local search. However, just as Google is the dominant player in the natural (i.e. organic) search listings, they are also the dominant player in local search , too.
If you are a local company owner in Florida, let’s say an interior design firm, you would want to engage local clients in your area by focusing on geo-targeted search phrases like “interior design Florida” or “interior design Fort Lauderdale” instead of just the generic search phrase “interior design” which could be featured in search engine rankings all over the globe.
You’ll also need to claim your free local business listing in what’s known as “Google Places” , too. Do this as soon as possible. Here’s the link:
http://www.google.com/places/add
By claiming a listing in Google’s local database, Google will then mark your business’ geographic location on Google Maps. Then, when somebody does a search from either a regular computer or cell phone, as long as Google can identify the GPS location, they will display local search results that correspond to that GPS location. That’s why it’s so imperative that you get your company listed in the Google Local database immediately.
You’ll also want to get your company listed in numerous local business directories , too. Some of the more popular local directories are Local.com, MerchantCircle.com, Local.botw.org, Superpages.com and Yellowpages.com. The more, the merrier.
Building a prominent web presence isn’t rocket science. And whether you decide to make it happen on your own or hire a dependable firm to do it for you, the most essential thing is that you get out there and do it as soon as possible so you do not get left in the dust.
For more great information on online marketing for local businesses, visit Mark Brinker Associates at http://www.markbrinker.com.