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If you’re a novice in the online world, you may be curious about the benefits of internet marketing for your small business. The local search landscape is rapidly evolving, and getting found online, generating new leads, and measuring and tracking results is more important than ever for local businesses trying to succeed and generate growth.
Despite the continuous fluctuations in system, staying on top of the current online marketing techniques is fundamental to the success of your business. We’ve outlined a few methods you should try below.
The Benefits of Internet Marketing
Local Search Services: If you’re a local business owner who is marketing to a specific geographic area, you need to employ your marketing dollars to attract people who are inside your target area. If you haven’t narrowed your geographic scope, you’re essentially wasting money on marketing to people who are unlikely to become customers. This is how to approach local search:
- Claim and Optimize Local Listings: Many businesses do not realize that listings like Google Places, Yelp, Yahoo and Bing Local are complimentary or already exist and need to be claimed. Listing your business information on each of these platforms greatly increases the chances that you will be found by your target audience.
- Create Geotargeted Landing Pages and Content: Targeting specific geographic areas with specific services in close proximity to your business location(s) is important. You want to help people find you with minimal effort, and with geotargeted landing pages, they’ll be much more likely to find your company when they search for services in their area.
- Keyword Research and Analysis: Consumers cannot find you if you are not using their se terms. This is where the expertise of a local internet marketing company is especially beneficial: They’ll do the research to find what potential customers are searching for online locally and they can integrate this information into your website to improve your local search rankings.
Email Marketing Services: Email marketing is an increasingly effective way to encourage repeat business and customer loyalty. It is a growing resource for local businesses and researchers estimate that United States firms alone spend $2.468 billion on email marketing by 2016, up from $1.5 billion in 2011. Furthermore, email marketing is reported as second only to search marketing as the most effective online marketing tactic.
However, many local business owners are missing a tremendous sales opportunity because they don’t understand how to appropriately use email marketing to their advantage. If you don’t have a set email marketing plan with a set schedule and objectives and you’re not marketing to past, present and potential customers via email, you’re losing valuable business!
Content Marketing: According to a Content Marketing Institute (CMI) 2013 Survey, 86% of B2C (business to consumer) companies are planning to keep or increase their current content marketing spending this year. 54% of B2B (business to business) companies are planning to maximize the benefits of internet marketing by increasing their content marketing spending in 2013.
This shows that demand for content marketing is increasing, and the primary reason is that the only way to rank on the first page of search engines is to consistently write exceptional content that people want to read and share. For small local businesses this takes more than just compelling ideas and an engaging writing style. There is still an underlying content formula that must be understood and followed to achieve ranking success.
A local internet marketing company should have the expertise to write the following types of content:
- Blog content
- Website Page content
- Social Media copy
- Newsletters
- Press Releases
Furthermore, they'll understand the following keys to content marketing success:
- How to write for the web and search engines
- An understanding of what is relevant content
- How to facilitate content sharing
- What makes content "go viral"
Conversion Optimization: The point to all of the above is conversion – Turning a visitor to your website into a customer! All websites and online marketing strategies are NOT created equal. Understanding your website’s strengths and weaknesses is the first step, and ultimately many businesses find that they’re able to significantly increase their conversion rate through comprehensive analysis, website restructuring, and improved customer targeting methods.
Request Free Local Marketing Audit and Strategy Session: To fully experience the financial benefits of internet marketing, it is vital to go with a proven local marketing company with experience generating businesses growth. You can do all the above yourself, but to create long term profitability in your business, minimize marketing costs and maximize efficiency, hiring a company that provides local internet marketing services is the perfect choice.
