10 Internet Marketing For Small Business Ways To Attract Local Customers

Easy Ways To Attract Local Customers

The Facts About Consumer Internet Usage

This trend continues to rise and Internet Marketing for small business must get on board with this — or perish.

Most Consumers search online for local products and services.
Approximately 35% of all Internet searches are for local things.
There are more than 250 Million searches on Google alone every single day!
Online marketing is predicted to be at least 15% of all media ad spending in 2013.

Internet technology is GREAT … But, it has caused Problems for Some Local Businesses! Here’s why:

Consumers are using online search instead of yellow pages and newspapers when looking for local products and services.
Some businesses still spend thousands of dollars on ineffective traditional advertising methods.
And, some businesses are not yet investing in online advertising and marketing. Are you?

As a Result …

Business expenses continue to rise while profits decline.
Local Businesses are struggling to get new and repeat customers.
Great customers are buying from Local Businesses well placed online.

Here Are 10 Ways Your Local Business Can Connect With Your Local Consumers

Connect With Search Engine Visibility
- You must work hard to gain better search engine positioning and rankings.
- You must search engine optimize your website using on-the-page factors, making certain that your money phrases are in your content.
- You must search engine optimize your website using off-the-page factors, persuading other sites to link back to you.
- Claim, verify and optimize your Google Places listing
Connect With Your Professional Website
- All Effective Websites MUST Have:
  1. An organized and easily navigable layout
  2. Fresh, relevant and compelling content everywhere
  3. A strong Call-To-Action on every page
  4. An integrated lead capture system
Connect With Email Marketing
- Local Internet Marketing Money Is In Your LIST!
  1. Email marketing is cost-effective, automated and easy to deliver.
  2. Email marketing helps you build trust and credibility.
  3. Email marketing allows you to generate business on auto-pilot 24/7.
  4. Email marketing statistics are simple to track.
Connect With Mobile Marketing
- There are approximately 4 BILLION Mobile users worldwide!
- By 2014, Mobile Internet usage is expected to exceed Desktop Internet usage!
- Business websites must be Mobile optimized to accommodate Mobile Internet on-the-go users too rushed to squint, zoom and scroll.
- Text message marketing promotes and connects with local audiences on the go.
Connect With Social Media
- Search engine optimization (SEO) is NOT enough! Hang Out With Your Customers and Prospects Online …
  1. Consumers spend many hours on social media sites every single day.
  2. Building relationships on sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube is necessary for business.
  3. Social media markets are so big, Facebook is the 3rd largest country in the world!
    1. China
    2. India
    3. Facebook
    4. United States
Connect With Video Marketing
- Online Videos are HOT … Perhaps, Too HOT To Handle!
  1. Videos increase your visibility in search results and positioning.
  2. Online videos help you develop trust and expert status.
  3. Videos increase conversion rates, website traffic and are the single most powerfl small business advertising!
    cVideos run on auto-pilot and set you apart from your competitors
Connect With Publish Online Content
- The Internet Revolves Around CONTENT! Effective Website Optimization Multi-Purposes Content Everywhere
  1. Publish keyword rich articles and blog posts related to your industry.
  2. Publish keyword optimized press releases to attract media attention.
  3. Publish content to online directories to drive traffic back to your website.
Connect With Reputation Management
- Do You Know What People Say About Your Business Online? Local Search Optimization Relies On The Social Proof Of Reviews & Testimonials!
  1. Pay attention to what is being said about your business online.
  2. Promote positive online reviews & testimonials about your business.
  3. A bad online reputation can negatively impact your business.
  4. Respond promptly and handle all negative remarks quickly.
Connect With Online Classified Ads
- Effective Marketing Local Business Is All About Promoting Your Business Everywhere Local Customers Hang Out
  - Online Classified Ad sites are free or are very low cost.
  - Craigslist is one of the most popular online classified ad sites.
  - Optimize your ads with effective keywords to show up in search results.
  - Images in your ads make them more attractive to consumers.
Connect With Paid Online Advertising
- Successful Internet Marketing For Small Business Quickly Learns Its Best Market From Paid Advertising!
  1. Paid online advertising is effective at gaining more exposure quickly.
  2. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is one of the most popular paid advertising methods.
  3. Google’s paid advertising platform is called AdWords.
  4. Facebook also has paid advertising to get in front of your best prospects.

Call Now
Answer Local Search Optimization Questions: 612-235-6060

15 May 2012

Give Me Search Engine Optimization And I’ll Give You Targeted Sales Leads

Targeted Sales Leads Are The Goal Of SEO

I talk with a lot of business owners and executives. One of the biggest problems I’ve been hearing is the dearth of targeted sales leads. There are, of course, plenty of books written on just this subject. Some will say, buying leads is the way to go. Others will say that success comes only through referrals. Lately we’re hearing about the Internet being a bountiful source of qualified leads.

Targeted Sales Leads Are On The Internet

The Internet is a big place. How do you go about finding sales leads on the Internet; or, rather, how do targeted leads go about finding you and your company? We’ve touched on this before: the Internet, in a sense, is an enormous library and search engines are its card catalogs. As we learn to search and find what we want on the Internet — when we want it — we respond less and less to offline media. How, then, can you be found by these eager buyers on the Internet?

Do You Need Targeted Sales Leads?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a tactic the goal of which is to get more business and more customers. Filling your sale funnel with sales leads is a marketing strategy accomplished online by three tasks:

Be found by search engines
Be found on 1st search engine results page
Maximize the number of website visitors

What Are The Requirements For Targeted Sales Leads?

Of course, nobody can know your business better than you. In order to attract targeted sales leads, we must understand the products and services you sell. Furthermore, your unique selling proposition allows prospects to see the difference between you and your competition. Who is your very best customer? Why do best customers stay with your company? We must identify your buyer personas before you can use the keywords that your best buyers actually use to search for you.

SEO Benefits Targeted Sales Leads

For many, that is a lot of work, especially all of this thinking about your business from your customer’s point of view. Why go to all this bother? Google recently remarked that every day four billion searches are conducted, one billion of which seek something local to buy. Done right, SEO benefits you in several ways:

Search engines respect your website and place it on the first search results page for specific keywords.
People searching for specific keywords will find your website on the first search results page.
Being found by more searchers, more visitors will visit your website.
More people visiting your website could translate into new business.
Organizing your website to better be found makes your website more interesting to visitors.
Organization of web pages and content to better be found makes your website more interesting to visitors.

SEO Deliverables Result In Targeted Sales Leads

Whether you do your SEO yourself or pay somebody to do it for you, you’re hoping for more customers, aren’t you? SEO sits on the marketing side of business and can deliver the following:

A defined service area by which to be found in local business results;
A manageable list of keywords and phrases for which great prospects are actually searching;
Distribution of keywords by web page, focus and intent;
Organization of web pages by intent, theme and relevance;
Every web page detailed by keywords, title, headers, descriptions and service area; and
Solid foundation and flexible design for ongoing and growing first page search engine exposure.

Some SEO Expectations Are Targeted Sales Leads

Although black hat wizardry may fool search engines quickly, the history of search engine algorithm changes indicates that these tactics are short lived tactics and not strategic. Following sound relationship marketing principles, your online properties will attract great customers and steadily build great new business over time. The time factor must not be underestimated and optimal progress may not be appreciated before three to six months. Some keywords are more competitive than others and will take longer to show first page search engine results. Competitors want first page search engine results, too, and some competition will slow your website progress.

Targeted Sales Leads Are The Goal Of SEO

Being found is not enough; nor is being found by a lot of people. Being found by enough of the right people is the only true success in marketing, regardless of medium. Success is more a function of converting great leads into great customers than it is in simply attracting large numbers of random visitors to your website. Targeted sales leads, then, are the ultimate goal of search engine optimization.

Call Now
Answer Targeted Sales Leads Questions: 612-235-6060

12 April 2011

How To Get Great Customers With Online Marketing For Small Business And Search Engines

Online Marketing For Small Business Creates Great Customers!

OK, sure, if you’re big business like Wal Mart or Amazon the Internet is great. But, what do search engines have to do with online marketing for small business? In short, search engines are a tremendous opportunity to be found. How’s it working out for you in the Sunday newspaper classifieds? How many new customers found you in the yellow pages last month?

Online Marketing For Small Business Works Locally

Truth be told, right this minute, right here in the Twin Cities, eager buyers are searching for what you offer. Anticipate these eager buyers and you have the opportunity to stand up directly in front of each of them and tell them your great story. Once you identify the buyer personae of your greatest customers, what’s to stop you from stalking your perfect prospects? Isn’t creating great customers the best action you can take in growing your business? Is it possible to have too many great customers?

Search Engines Help Online Marketing For Small Business

Let’s look closely at typical search engine results to see what’s in it for you. For the sake of illustration, we’ll use Google. Sure, lately we’re seeing a lot of commercials about Bing, and certainly Facebook, too, has an impressive number of searches. Google recently reported four billion searches every day, one billion of which are seeking to buy locally. With two-thirds of all search engine searches, Google epitomizes the online search experience.

Depending on your specific search phrase, the Google search results page may contain three different types of results:

Paid Search And Online Marketing For Small Business

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising may appear above all other results and/or down the right side. First and foremost, know that these are paid advertisements. Every time somebody clicks on one of these ads, whoever placed the ad pays Google. From the time you sign up to the time you start seeing results can be as quick as a few hours. Paid advertising can quickly pull prospects, test landing pages and gauge the market.

Local Business Results And Online Marketing For Small Business

Have you noticed the maps? Unless you’re totally oblivious to the Internet and online search, these last two years of online marketing for small business are remarkable because of the local business results.

Google and the other search engines realize that there is an enormous demand for local and neighborhood search results. Why? Because eager buyers are shopping and ready to buy; but, they’re not prepared to put a new house in a shopping cart and purchase it from Amazon. For many items consumers still insist on buying from a person. They still put the relationship before the deal. And that is great news for local business.

Getting on the map is not a function of paid advertising. Nor is it simply a matter of having a great website. Local business results feature businesses that are remarkable in their community. First, they claimed their listing in the local directories, such as Google Places, Yahoo! Local, Yelp, etc. Second, these businesses made the effort to standardize their listings everywhere, including using the same local telephone number and spelling consistently. Third, customers find them remarkable enough to leave online reviews, endorsements and testimonials for local business. The search engines are gathering many public reviews into the local business results.

Organic Results And Online Marketing For Small Business

Last but not least are the well known organic results. They are called organic because they are the “natural” ordering of all web pages cataloged across the Internet. Although, different search engines rank and order web pages differently, the notions of credibility and trust and back link references from other websites are shared. Clearly, if your business is found on the first page of Google results, eager buyers searching for what you offer may click on your link. Also, the more eager buyers find your link the more likely your business is to sell. Although, many say organic results are “free,” do not forget that consumer searches vary and the search engines change their rules to appeal to searchers.

SEO And Online Marketing For Small Business

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of appealing to search engine algorithms in order to place high in their rankings. Effective online marketing for small business must consider SEO because each business must be found by buyers if they are to sell. Neither SEO nor marketing, however, is simply a matter of adding some ingredient to your website. If marketing is the relationship between a business and its marketplace, and every relationship begins with a single conversation, how many conversations with eager buyers do you want online?

Online Marketing For Small Business Creates Great Customers!

Is it possible to have too many great customers? Search engines are a tremendous opportunity to be found. Right this minute, right here in the Twin Cities, eager buyers are searching for what you offer. Is creating great customers your goal in online marketing for small business?

Call Now
Online Marketing For Small Business Answers: 612-235-6060

8 March 2011

Are You Pitifully Marketing Local Business? Lessons To Turnaround Local Business Marketing

Marketing Local Business Turnaround Lessons
Marketing Local Business Effectively Succeeds

All small businesses catering to the real world ought to get started by focusing within a local area on a small niche market. There is a continuous demand around the world for effective strategies for marketing local business to the community. Regardless of this large number of businesses searching for ways to market within their local area, most end up failing. Why is this happening? How is it that so many well intentioned business people fail marketing their local business?

Are these indications that local business marketing is not effective? Is it because business people, although qualified professionals, are not capable of carrying out local marketing tasks successfully? Local marketing is really about establishing your business presence within a specific area, getting eager buyers shopping for what you offer to recognize and respect your brand. Traditionally, there have been numerous ways to market locally, such as radio and TV advertising, telemarketing and print advertising including magazines, newspapers and Yellow Pages. With the advent of the Internet, however, traditional marketing is waning in effectiveness because consumers no longer respond to intrusive advertising.

Even though all of these methods continue to be effective to a smaller degree, we have found it much more affordable and effective to advertise our local business online. Marketing local business online is a broad topic comprised of different strategies. Yes, everybody today has a website. Regardless how pretty your website looks, the true tests of effectiveness are the number and quality of the leads your website produces. How many eager buyers shopping for what you offer contacted you last month because of your website?

Start Marketing Local Business To Nurture Prospects

For starters, not every visitor to your website is immediately prepared to buy. Email marketing targeted at local businesses is a good way for people to continue learning about your business. Social media marketing is also powerful at promoting your brand in your community. Individuals more closely relate to businesses within their community than from dissimilar geographical locations. Additionally, we are a very visual culture and video is a fantastic way to tell your local business story to a local audience. Becoming familiar with these facts helps you to take advantage of and use the strength of marketing local business online.

Search engine marketing is also readily directed at specific geographic areas and regions. Considering the simplicity of this strategy, in addition to effectiveness and affordability, it is the first I recommend that you consider implementing these days. Pay-Per-Click advertising is also readily directed geographically, but due to cost you need to allocate additional marketing budget. Last but not least, increase your website traffic with effective search engine optimization and basic back-linking techniques. SEO is really about publishing the rich, relevant and rewarding content search engine users seek. Back links are testimonials elsewhere on the Internet endorsing your local business by putting a link to your website on their website.

Many people question the effectiveness of search engine optimization for local business marketing. Basically, anticipating the key words and phrases that eager buyers type into the search engines allows you to be found wherever they look. Google facilitates this through Local Business Results and Google Places. Yahoo! and Bing are also eager to provide local business results because all search engines recognize that millions of eager buyers are searching to buy locally.

Marketing Local Business Speaks To Your Community

Marketing your local business is essential if you want any new business from your community. When you fully understand and implement some of these techniques, then your local business will profit from local customers. Every business is different and one size never fits all. Try these techniques marketing local business online and determine which combination best profits your business. Besides that, understanding the strategies and options available enable you to plan effective local marketing that best benefits your local business.

19 December 2010

What is a Search Engine?

Why does the Search Engine matter to you and your Local Business?

Welcome to the Brilliant Ideas About Internet and Money Frequently Asked Questions Series, Part 4: What is a Search Engine?

Search Engine Marketing Is Marketing Local Business Online

Previously, we discussed What Is Inbound Marketing? quoting Seth Godin:

“Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them.”

Marketing Local Business online demands a rigorous understanding of how best to be found when people search the Internet for what you offer. To best understand HOW people search for what you offer, it is necessary to understand the tools they are using. As I write this, Web Search Engines stand head-and-shoulders above other search tools; and Google dominates all Search Engines with more than 80% Search Engine marketshare.

Before we can understand Search Engine Marketing (SEM,) we must have a working relationship with Search Engine mechanics. Effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is predicated on creating content that people want to find in a way that the Search Engines will notice and catalog and make readily findable by those hungry seekers.

What is a Search Engine?

A search engine is a tool used to find interesting information in a database. In recent times, such search tools are computerized. In its simplest form, the electronic card catalog at your public library is a search engine.

Although search engine is a general class of computer programs, the term is often used to specifically describe systems like Google, Yahoo! and Bing that enable users to search online media, the World Wide Web and Usenet newsgroups.

What is a Web Search Engine?

A Web Search Engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. Web Search Engines work by storing information from billions of web pages, which they gather from the web page code.

Web page contents are gathered by a Web crawler, or spider — an automated Web browser that reads every line of code in every web page, and follows every link on each page. Contents of each page are analyzed to determine how to index it for later retrieval. The index allows information to be found quickly.

Three essential features of Search Engines are:
crawling,
indexing, and
searching.

Search Engines evolved from Internet Directories

Archie [1990], “archive” without the “v,” was the first tool searching the Internet. Archie downloaded directory listings, not contents, of all files located on public FTP sites.
Gopher [1991] combined document hierarchies with collections of services and gateways to other information systems.
W3Catalog [1993] was the first primitive Search Engine, periodically mirroring numerous specialized catalogues.
World Wide Web Wanderer [1993] was the first web robot and generated an index called ‘Wandex’.
Aliweb [1993] was manually notified by web site administrators of an index file at each site.
JumpStation [1993] used a web robot to find and index web pages, and used a web form interface as its query program.
WebCrawler [1994] allowed users to search for any word in any web page, which is now the Search Engine standard.
Lycos [1994] was one of the first Search Engines with a for-profit business model, followed closely by: Magellan, Excite, Infoseek, Inktomi, Northern Light and AltaVista.
Yahoo! [1994] founders David Filo and Jerry Yang, Ph.D. candidates at Stanford University, started their guide as a way to track their personal interests on the Internet.
Google [1996] began as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, at Stanford working on the Stanford Digital Library Project (SDLP). Google’s first funding was secured in August 1998 in the form of a $100,000 USD contribution given to a corporation which did not yet exist.
Microsoft [2004] began a transition to its own search technology, powered by its own web crawler (called msnbot). Microsoft’s rebranded search engine, Bing, was launched on June 1, 2009.
On July 29, 2009, Yahoo! and Microsoft finalized a deal in which Yahoo! Search would be powered by Microsoft Bing technology.

How do Search Engines make money?

In 1996, Netscape sought a single featured search engine for their innovative web browser. Five Search Engines paid $5 million each to be in a rotation on the Netscape search engine page: Yahoo!, Magellan, Lycos, Infoseek, and Excite. Today, most Search Engines are commercial ventures supported by advertising revenue.

Some Search Engines allow advertisers to pay money to have their listings ranked higher in search results.

Other Search Engines seek to categorize and prioritize web pages by measures of intrinsic value and make money by running search related ads alongside regular search engine results. Such Search Engines make money every time someone clicks on one of these ads (Pay-Per-Click.)

How do Search Engines differ from Directories?

Historically, Yahoo! was among the most popular ways for people to find web pages of interest, but it operated on its web directory, contents of which were submitted by web site administrators. Web directories are databases of human-compiled results, also known as human-powered search engines.

Unlike web directories maintained by human editors, Search Engines operate on algorithms, or are a mixture of algorithmic and human input. Search Engines automatically create web page listings by using spiders that “crawl” web pages, index their information, and follow each page’s links to other web pages.

Spiders return to previously crawled sites on a regular basis to update web page changes. Everything that these spiders gather is entered into the Search Engine database.

How do I use a Search Engine?

Major Search Engines include a simple dialog box into which you type a word or phrase, and a Search submit button to begin the search.

A Keyword is this word or phrase of words in this simplest sense.

Most Search Engines support using Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT to further refine search queries. Boolean searching on the Internet may manifest in three ways:

Full Boolean logic with the use of the logical operators (rare)
Implied Boolean logic with keyword searching (typed symbols)
Boolean logic using search form terminology (multiple form entries)

When a user submits a query, the Search Engine compares it to its index and returns a listing of web page information, usually with a short summary containing page title and part of its content. Some Search Engines support natural language queries that allow the user to type a question in the same form you would ask it of a human.

What is a Search Engine Result Page?

A Search Engine results page (SERP), is the listing of web pages returned by a search engine in response to a keyword query. The SERP typically lists web pages with titles, a link to the page, and a short description showing where the keywords have matched content within the page.

SERP’s of the major Search Engines may include different types of listings: contextual, algorithmic or organic search listings, sponsored listings (PPC,) images, maps, definitions, videos and suggested search refinements. Major Search Engines visually differentiate specific content types, such as images, news, blogs and sponsored links.

Each SERP also includes navigation to subsequent and/or previous SERP’s, possible search suggestions or refinements, suggested similar searches, and back to begin a new search.

How do Search Engines sequence results?

Initially, web site administrators manually submitted their web site information to be included in Web directories, often for a fee. Often as part of their business model, these “search engines” featured these sponsoring web sites according to the amount of fees collected.

By 2000, the Google Search Engine was gaining popularity among searchers because it achieved more relevant results with an innovation called PageRank. Google developed an algorithm to rank web pages based on the number, trust and authority of other web pages that link back to them. Google’s premise is that good and desirable web pages are linked back to more than less desirable web pages.

Now, major Search Engines operate similarly.

How each Search Engine decides which pages match best and in what order varies widely from one engine to another. The methods also change over time as Internet usage changes and new techniques evolve.

What is an algorithm?

An ‘algorithm’ is an effective method for solving a problem expressed as a finite sequence of instructions. Each algorithm is a list of well-defined instructions for completing a task. In computer science, a search algorithm is an algorithm for finding an item with specified properties among a collection of items.

There are also many algorithms designed specifically for retrieval in very large databases, such as bank account records, electronic documents, product catalogs, fingerprint and image databases, and so on.

Each Search Engine uses a proprietary algorithm to index and return only meaningful results for each search query. The index is built from the information stored with the data and the method by which the information is indexed.

While millions of web pages may include a particular keyword, some pages are more relevant, popular, and authoritative than others. Search Engine usefulness depends on the relevance of the results it returns on each search query.

Who are Search Engine customers?

Major Search Engine business models are for-profit.

Each SERP has a clearly defined topic and targeted theme. Money comes from paid advertisements strategically placed on each SERP. Each ad includes a Web link to the advertiser’s web page. Advertisers pay for these ads to attract people searching for particular keywords.

No search engine has control over the content of the universe of web pages. The better a Search Engine responds to each search, the more money that Search Engine is likely to make.

These Web searchers are becoming more sophisticated everyday. Everyday, more and more people search the Internet to find and buy more and more.

It stands to reason that Search Engines will continuously hone their search algorithms to continuously improve profitability.

What is a Search Engine? Perhaps, it is the key to your Local Business prosperity …

It’s no longer enough to sit back and wait for new customers to come to your Local Business. Fact is, in these times, your customers are more sophisticated than ever. Barraged with thousands of Buy-Me messages everyday, they are determined to find for themselves true value. They are not waiting around for your message; but, they are seeking what they want to buy on the Internet.

Therefore, Marketing Local Business online is your new imperative. Now that you understand Search Engines, how they work and who uses them for what, it is time for you to seize the day. Use the Search Engines to market your Local Business. Put yourself in front of your customers. Take the initiative.

Be found!

Eager customers are looking for you in the Search Engine …

8 June 2010

What is Inbound Marketing?

Why does Inbound Marketing matter to you and your Local Business?

Welcome to the Brilliant Ideas About Internet and Money Frequently Asked Questions Series, Part 3: What is Inbound Marketing?

Marketing Local Business Online Is Inbound Marketing

Previously, we discussed What Is Internet Marketing? itself:

“… a Marketing Relationship is a specific conversation between Business and a market. Therefore, Internet and Online Marketing are relationships between Business and customers and prospects that take place in the New Media of today, and New Media of the future.”

How have new customers found you in recent months?

Today, people find out about your Local Business in two main ways:

Passing Word-of-Mouth recommendations, or
Finding you on a search engine results page

Word-of-Mouth depends on the good will of existing customers. How would you like people publishing Word-of-Mouth recommendations online? Why not spend zero dollars marketing your Local Business?

What is Outbound Marketing?

In traditional outbound marketing companies focus on finding customers through:

Building brand awareness,
Advertising, and
Promotion

Outbound Marketing includes:

Focus on your product / service (advertising & promotions),
Focus on your transaction (sales),
Focus on your business (public & media relations),
Focus on your post-sales support (customer service), and
Focus on your customer after-the-fact (customer satisfaction)

Everyday, a typical consumer is overwhelmed with over 2000 outbound marketing interruptions!

They have become quite creative in blocking these interruptions, including:

Caller id,
Spam filtering,
Tivo, and
Satellite radio

Customers need to find a very good reason to visit your Local Business.

Marketing Local Business online is quite a challenge!

What is Permission Marketing?

Alternatives to intrusive and increasingly ineffective outbound marketing are based on what Seth Godin calls Permission Marketing:

“Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them …”
“It realizes that treating people with respect is the best way to earn their attention.”

For the business to engage the prospect, the prospective customer must grant either:

Explicit Permission (e.g., request email or catalog), or
Implicit Permission (e.g., follow a search engine result link)

Furthermore, Godin says:

“In order to get permission, you make a promise. You say, ‘I will do x, y and z, I hope you will give me permission by listening.’ And then, this is the hard part, that’s all you do. You don’t assume you can do more.”

What is Inbound Marketing?

Google reports more than 1 Billion searches each month for local products and local services.

Fully qualified prospects are already looking for products and services in your industry. Inbound Marketing is when customers call you to:

Make appointments,
Purchase products, or
Gain information

When customers find you and like you, you can get business from them, from their friends and from their family.

“Home delivery is the milkman’s revenge… it’s the essence of permission,”

Godin says.

Online Marketing is starting to make more sense …

What comprises Inbound Marketing?

Rick Burnes suggested an intertwined relationship between three main components of Inbound Marketing:

Inbound Marketing Content
- Content is the substance of Inbound Marketing.
- Content is the information that attracts prospects to your Local Business.
- Content includes the Call To Action that converts prospects into customers.
Inbound Marketing Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- If people don’t know you exist, how are you going to do business?
- SEO makes it possible for potential customers to find your content.

Marketing Local Business online must include both Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and SEO if you want your Local Business found.

Inbound Marketing Social Media
- Social Media amplifies the impact of your content.
- Widely distributed content will be discussed.
- Socialized content taken seriously becomes authentic.
- There is more trust when a person has a choice.

Social Media have two sides:

What you say about your business
What others say about your business

Why Inbound Marketing?

Inbound Marketing has high Value
- Cost less than buying ads, PPC, mailing lists, print, etc.
- Blogs and Twitter accounts are free to start
- Higher Return on Investment (ROI)
Inbound Marketing is Effective
- Targeting specific markets is easier
- Prospects qualify themselves
- Pre-sold customers search, find you and ask to buy
Inbound Marketing has great Timing
- Prospects search for you
- Searching prospects are considering a purchase now
- Prospects considering a purchase are more receptive to your message

Godin remarks,

“One of the key drivers of permission marketing, in addition to the scarcity of attention, is the extraordinarily low cost of dripping to people who want to hear from you.”

What are Prerequisites to Inbound Marketing?

You need to do your homework and fully understand those looking to buy what your Local Business offers.

Your Market analysis includes:

What groups of customers exist? (markets)
Which customer groups do you prefer to serve? (target markets)
What do they need?
How do their needs change? (market trends)
How do they use these products and services?
What price are they willing to pay?
How do they want to receive what they buy? (distribution)
What do you offer that meets those needs?
Who are your competitors?
What are your competitors doing about your target market?

Exactly how are your customers searching for what you offer? It’s not enough to know how you describe your offering. What matters most are the exact words prospects use to search for it.

Simply make it easy for potential customers to find your Local Business.

“The Internet means you can treat different people differently, and it demands that you figure out how to let your permission base choose what they hear and in what format,”

instructs Godin.

How is Inbound Marketing Done?

Setup your web site to attract visitors naturally through:

Search Engines,
the Blogosphere, and
Social Media sites

Don’t forget your Call To Action to convert visitors once they arrive on your web page!

The Inbound Marketing process is straightforward:

You provide content of interest to people wanting to learn or know something.
You share similar content from other people who do the same.
Interested readers come to see you as an authority in your field.
When somebody considers a purchase related to your expertise, they will come to you.

Inbound Marketing is like Word-of-Mouth with people passing recommendations online.

Seth Godin sums it up like this:

“Real permission works like this: if you stop showing up, people complain, they ask where you went.”

Marketing Local Business Online Is Inbound Marketing

27 May 2010

Tag: engine optimization

Do You Know What People Are Saying About Your Business Online?

What Is Online Reputation Management?

Why Is Online Reputation Management Important?

The Internet Has Changed Everything !?!?

What Are People Saying About Your Business?

Online Reputation Is Crucial For The BIG BOYS, Too!

What Are The Negative Effects Of A Bad Online Reputation?

What Can Happen If You Don’t Repair Your Tarnished Online Reputation?

What Happens When You Repair & Defend Good Reputation?

How To Maintain Your Online Reputation

What Are The Benefits Of Actively Seeking Online Reviews?

How To Get Customer Reviews To Build Or Repair Reputation

Always Create Positive, Branded Content To Promote Reputation!

Monitor Online Conversations For The First Line Of Reputation Defense

Reputation Repair Requires Response & Interaction

Why Respond & Interact To Fix Online Reputations?

How To Repair Your Reputation

How to Improve & Fix Your Online Reputation

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Reputation Management And Your First Impression

How Can You Repair Online Reputation?

Ten Effective Reputation Management Practices

Review Sites

Blogs

Pictures

Video Testimonials

Press Releases

Nullify Negative Keywords

Local News

Thread Authority

Facebook

LinkedIn

Reputation Management Is More Than Putting Out Fires

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Easy Ways To Attract Local Customers

The Facts About Consumer Internet Usage

Here Are 10 Ways Your Local Business Can Connect With Your Local Consumers

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Targeted Sales Leads Are On The Internet

Do You Need Targeted Sales Leads?

What Are The Requirements For Targeted Sales Leads?

SEO Benefits Targeted Sales Leads

SEO Deliverables Result In Targeted Sales Leads

Some SEO Expectations Are Targeted Sales Leads

Targeted Sales Leads Are The Goal Of SEO

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Online Marketing For Small Business Works Locally

Search Engines Help Online Marketing For Small Business

Paid Search And Online Marketing For Small Business

Local Business Results And Online Marketing For Small Business

Organic Results And Online Marketing For Small Business

SEO And Online Marketing For Small Business

Online Marketing For Small Business Creates Great Customers!

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Marketing Local Business Turnaround LessonsMarketing Local Business Effectively Succeeds

Start Marketing Local Business To Nurture Prospects

Marketing Local Business Speaks To Your Community

Why does the Search Engine matter to you and your Local Business?

Welcome to the Brilliant Ideas About Internet and Money Frequently Asked Questions Series, Part 4: What is a Search Engine?

Search Engine Marketing Is Marketing Local Business Online

“Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them.”

What is a Search Engine?

What is a Web Search Engine?

Three essential features of Search Engines are: crawling, indexing, and searching.

Search Engines evolved from Internet Directories

How do Search Engines make money?

How do Search Engines differ from Directories?

How do I use a Search Engine?

What is a Search Engine Result Page?

How do Search Engines sequence results?

What is an algorithm?

Who are Search Engine customers?

What is a Search Engine? Perhaps, it is the key to your Local Business prosperity …

Be found!

Eager customers are looking for you in the Search Engine …

Why does Inbound Marketing matter to you and your Local Business?

Welcome to the Brilliant Ideas About Internet and Money Frequently Asked Questions Series, Part 3: What is Inbound Marketing?

Marketing Local Business Online Is Inbound Marketing

“… a Marketing Relationship is a specific conversation between Business and a market. Therefore, Internet and Online Marketing are relationships between Business and customers and prospects that take place in the New Media of today, and New Media of the future.”

Call Now
Answer Reputation Management Questions: 612-235-6060

Call Now
Answer Reputation Management Questions: 612-235-6060

Call Now
Answer Local Search Optimization Questions: 612-235-6060

Call Now
Answer Targeted Sales Leads Questions: 612-235-6060

Call Now
Online Marketing For Small Business Answers: 612-235-6060

Marketing Local Business Turnaround Lessons
Marketing Local Business Effectively Succeeds

Three essential features of Search Engines are:
crawling,
indexing, and
searching.