Small Business Internet Marketing and Local Business Online Advertising

Small Business Internet Marketing Local Business Advertising Online How to start small business internet marketing and local business advertising online is a question that many small and medium sized businesses are pondering as more and more consumers disregard Yellow Pages books and other forms of traditional print media and move online to find what they are looking for.

The Internet is dramatically changing the way we do business and all the major companies are dominating online advertising leaving small and medium sized businesses in dire need of an Internet advertising solution for connecting and interacting with local consumers who are moving online in record numbers.

Many businesses who have created an online presence for themselves are quickly realizing that a pretty looking website does not equate to being found among the millions of websites online. Add to that the cost of dealing with designers and developers, and many businesses have no hope of competing in today's Internet savvy communities.

One effective way is to utilize some of the many article and press release directories available online to announce your arrival into the online community. Providing concise informative information is the key here. It is not about flogging off your business products but about providing solutions to consumer problems.

Think about what solution your product or service can provide and write an article about that, not about your product, but what solution it can provide. Save the product details for the author's resources box.

Another way small and medium businesses are trying to compete is through pay-per-click (PPC) programs like Google Adwords. Unfortunately most of the high target keywords and search terms have been become highly competitive and are generally cornered by major companies with large advertising budgets. And, to add fuel to the fire, there are now real concerns about click fraud.

Is Click Fraud and PPC Advertising a Problem?

According to Click Forensics, the overall industry average click fraud rate was 17.1% in the 4th quarter of 2008, up from 16.0% in the 3rd quarter of 2008. The problem, which is not new, is companies get paid based on how many times users click on online ads. Fraudsters develop computer programs that simulate user clicks to drive up traffic, and artificially inflating revenue. -Source: Peak Solutions/SEO Since 1999

What this means is if you and I are real estate agents and I find out you are advertising on a pay-per-click search engine, I will get up at 6am and start clicking on your ad until I use up your daily budget to stop the ad from appearing on the search engine for the rest of the day to improve the promotion of my ad on the same search engine.

What About Organic Search Optimization?

The most effective form of search engine marketing is organic search engine optimization or SEO as it is more commonly known. Internet keyword search studies confirm that keyword searchers prefer the organic search listings 6 to 1 to the pay-per-click sponsored ads found at the top of the pages above or to the side the organic searches. But SEO is a whole other story.

What About Geo-Targeted Advertising?

However, new small business Internet marketing technologies and strategies are opening the way for small and medium sized businesses to succeed in their business advertising online and compete in this lucrative online marketplace. One of these strategies' is geo-targeted advertising which is driving online shoppers back into local stores and into using local business services.

It works by identifying the online shopper, gamer or surfer's IP address and pushing out advertisements for local businesses onto those websites. These ads can be seen popping up everywhere from major search engine pages and gaming sites to the ever popular social networking sites like YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and other high traffic sites like eBay.

So it's not surprising that local has become one of the hottest words in advertising. Attracted by the enormous growth opportunities, everyone, including the world's largest technology, search and media companies, is gravitating toward local business advertising.

Smart business operators are laser-targeting their advertising campaigns by selecting zip/postcodes suited to their business needs. This means their ads only show up on websites when and where potential customers from their designated areas are online.

When the consumer clicks on an ad they are directed to, in many cases, a mini-website complete with text links, images, videos, discount coupons, and even interactive driving instructions. Never before have small and medium sized business owners had such real time control of their online branding features combined with a powerful local advertising presence.

To top this off, many sites are providing these small business internet marketing ads with no hosting, design or set-up fees and, no contracts terms. Is this the online solution small and medium sized businesses have been looking for to accelerate their business advertising online?

Couple this with effective business opportunity lead generator and prospecting systems and video response marketing solutions and you have the complete small business internet marketing package.

Video Response Marketing
Small Business Internet Marketing Solutions Business Advisor Paul Holcroft shows small business how to effectively market themselves online utilizing the latest online technologies and strategies including easy online video marketing solutions, business opportunity lead generator and prospecting systems, unlimited domain/website hosting packages and local geo-targeted advertising.

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Local Business Internet Marketing: Why It's Now Essential for Local Business Survival and Success

Local business Internet marketing is becoming crucial to the success of many local businesses; the old slogan "Think globally but act locally" pertains more to consumer practices now than it ever did to activism or any other cause to which it may have once been applied. It is clear that consumer behavior has shifted to now using the internet more than any other method to locate goods and other needed services.

Today, a consumer's purchasing journey often does not begin with a trip to Main Street or the mall, or even with the phone directory, but rather it begins with online search. Local business Internet marketing and advertising are crucial because it places the businesses message right where consumers are searching, and more importantly, the message is seen at the exact time that the customer is most likely to respond.

Efficient local business Internet marketing should aim to build loyalty among Internet users who find the business online through internet search, by appearing as an authority in that particular area, and pointing out the advantages of dealing with that particular enterprise. Often offering an incentive to sign-up to a newsletter, so as to capture that particular visitors information for future marketing efforts is a great idea as well.

Even if a consumer can purchase something online for a slightly lower price, they are more apt to want to buy it locally in order to avoid shipping delays and perhaps not have to deal with using a credit card online.

Local business Internet marketing is crucial even for local businesses such as hair salons and automotive service centers that do not compete against online retailers. This is because for many consumers, the Internet has replaced the phone directory as the most comfortable and efficient place to find a local business or required service. The trend toward searching online is massive, and is only likely to grow further in the years to come. Here, too, internet offers such as downloadable coupons and web only specials are ideal tools to entice and retain customers. Of course proper Search Engine Optimization and a well thought out Search Engine Marketing Plan are needed to ensure that your local business Internet advertising will be noticed and acted upon by your potential and existing customers.

Therefore, any local business which ignores the potential of Internet marketing does so at its own peril and will clearly lose customers to their local competitors who do harness the power of the Internet for locally oriented online advertising. Businesses which take the time and effort to invest in search engine optimization and proper management of their website will get the most out of their efforts, because their advertisements will be found first in online search, and be considered more authoritative, with the effect of being an updated and magnified version of the bold Yellow Pages ads of old.

Many Web design and marketing firms specialize in local business Internet marketing/advertising, and the best choice is often a firm that is located in the same area as the client itself, especially as a synergy between client and service provider could extend further, considering that both are businesses located in the same area but providing completely different services. A local service provider is likely to be more familiar with the language, customs and particular areas that need to be targeted. Nevertheless, with so much information about any locale available online, and with any astute business owner knowing that it is his own responsibility to provide guidance to any marketing provider, a local business Internet advertising client could find professional and highly cost efficient service even from a provider located many time zones away from their business.

The key to hiring an online marketing consultant or company is choosing one with experience and one that has implemented previously successful campaigns at a reasonable cost. Of course, someone who is just starting out may also be a good choice if they can demonstrate a successful case study, because they may be willing to do the job at a much lower price and with far more enthusiasm to please the client in order to begin to build their reputation.

What you just learned about Local Business Internet Marketing is just the beginning.
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Local Business Internet Marketing

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