Marketing "LOCALLY" using the "WORLD WIDE" Web
Some of my best new clients are local Small to Medium Enterprises (SME’s). As such, they are wanting to know how to marketing their business to the local Asheville or Hendersonville area over the Internet.
At first, this seems challenging. After all, as the title of this post suggests, the Internet is primarily the “WORLD WIDE Web”, not the “LOCAL Web”. The big giants are sites such as Google, EBay, Yahoo, and Amazon. These sites are clearly used worldwide.
How can a marketer, advertiser, or SME only pay for local attention on the world wide web? Here is a laundry list of ideas…
LOCAL SEARCH
Google Maps - Sign up and register here to list your site in Google by address. Other local advertising options open up as you do.
Yahoo Local - Sign in to Yahoo Local and add your business. Again, it starts out free, but other opportunities present themselves once you get started.
Citysearch (MSN Local) - Sign up and have your business listed in their partners (including MSN).
LOCAL PAY PER CLICK
(Probably the most effective right now.)
Pay Per Click Geo-Targeting - All three of the major Pay Per Click players (Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing, and Microsoft AdCenter) now have local geographical targeting these days. In other words, they allow you to show your ad to only people that live in the area you choose to advertise to.
LOCAL DIRECTORIES & SEARCH ENGINES
True Local - A local search engine that is the brainchild of Jake Baillie. Good site. Get listed.
Yellow Pages - Another site that is basically an online local directory. Listings start for free.
Local.com - Yet another local search engine and directory that allows a free listing to start.
LOCAL AGGREGATORS
Register Local - For $199 per year, you can sign up and create a master profile. They will then submit your business to local search engines and directories in your behalf.
Merchant Circle - I just found this site. You can start by listing your local business for free. They then allow you to build a page to promote your business and assist you in advertising. They also offer an interesting cross-promotional offer where you can link to other local businesses and have them link to you. All good ideas.
THE FUTURE?
There are 22 million SME’s in the United States.
Most conduct 75% of their business from customers within 50 miles.
SME’s spend $22 Billion on local advertising annually.
The Yellow Pages industry is currently a $15 Billion annual business.
MY CLIENTS?
My clients are telling me that they get far more business from the web than they do with the yellow pages. It’s exciting to see the change in motion.
Personally, I recently through out all three of my phone books the other day when Jason asked me how long it’s been since I opened one. I had to admit, it had been years.
Of course, I have a computer and the internet at my fingertips 75% of my waking hours, and I know how to use it. But I think it will be a trend we will continue to see.
Let’s face it! Advertising on the print yellow pages is EXPENSIVE! Online local marketing is not.
For more info on Local Marketing on the Web, see my previous post from PubCon.
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