Online marketing for local businesses.
In this day and age, every business needs to have a website. Anymore, this is NOT arguable. A business presence on the web is as ubiquitous as having the business name in the yellow pages USE TO BE. Your clients expect it. If you want to be taken seriously, you need a website. More importantly, the web WILL BE the yellow pages of the future, if it isn't already.
If you want an example of why you need to have a website. If you need to convince yourself that even your little mom and pop shop around the corner could use some web saavy, you need not look any further than Google. Google has become the defacto standard for how you find something on the web...anything. This one fact may surprise you though: over 60% of the searches done on Google are done by people who are looking for something LOCAL; either a business, a service, a bank, a plumber or even that mom and pop that you didn't think needed to be there. And if you're not there when they're looking for you, you're missing what has and will become the new yellow page paradigm. Heck...even Yellow Pages has missed this transition.
You may be surprised to know that there are three places you can show up in a Google search. The first is known as pay-per-click. These are the text ads shown as "sponsored links". Any busiiness can show up on the first page of search results just by placing these ads. The ad can be geographically placed meaning it will only show up in your local market. Businesses literally bid on search terms relative to the business products and services. The bid represents what the business is willing to pay Google every time someone clicks on that ad, which in turn links to the website. Bids can range from $.10 to $50.00 PER CLICK. Yup, some injury law offices will pay $50 per click just to get a potential lawsuit client to consider their services. That may sound like a lot, but this is a very market driven process and businesses usually won't bid more than the business will sustain. That said, if you do this and your website was built by your cousin Jimmy, don't expect a lot of conversions. Too many businesses make the mistake of thinking anybody with a copy of Front Page understands the marketing nuances of presenting your business online. Big mistake!
The second place you can find your website in the search results is the place you are normally looking for down the left hand side of the page. Getting to the top of the "organic" search results is the holy grail of business. This has in fact launched many businesses into stardom. 80% of searchers will select at least one of the top three organic results if it looks like the answer to what they are looking for. Owning this position for highly competitive terms is not a random occurance. Google is very specific about the pages it places in the search results. Businesses who understand the value of this position will seek guidance to make sure their website can at least find its way to the first page of results. Gaining a top three position is not luck anymore. Its intentional and its big business.
The third place you can find your website in the search results is in the "local" listings. Google tries very had to place businesses GEOGRAPHICALLY in the list based on the location of the searcher (determine by his IP address) or the location specificed by zip code. If you ever wondered why Google has MAPS...now you know. If you want an example of how this works, type your business category (where you might be found in the yellow pages for example) and add your zip code to the search. You should see above the organic listings, the "local" listings and if you have a website with your address published, you SHOULD see your business in the listings. WELCOME TO THE NEW YELLOW PAGES! By the way, if you're not there, Google will let you add and edit your listing free of charge.
Want a peek at the future? Want to know how Google can connect to just about every person on the planet (at least every person with a cell phone)? You may have heard that Google is developing and buying cell phone technologies. They've been pretty quiet about it. Get your cell phone out and if you have text messaging: do this. Type the same business category you used for your business in the above example, followed by the same zip code and send the text message to 466453 (spells "GOOGLE"). If you just want a general example: type "tow truck" and a zip code and send to 466453. Within 20 seconds, you will recieve one or two text messages identifying businesses in that zip code. Say good bye to "411"! Say goodbye to 555-1212. Say goodbye to Yellow Pages. This is just too darn convenient! Say hello to your future. Don't miss it.
Contributed by Greg Newell
WSI
We deliver complete web marketing solutions for $999
www.wsiNetReturns.com
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