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Done properly, local Internet marketing views each business as unique, and creates an affordable, ongoing marketing plan that fits business. Successful elements of mix include such things as optimization of website both for search engines and for customer conversion; carefully-planned pay-per-click campaigns, that deliver quality, rather than quantity, of leads; online publicity; appropriate linking campaigns; submission to local and vertical directories; special website promotions; customer email-marketing, and more. The secret is in getting mix just right for each business, and maintaining an ongoing program to keep business's website front and center before local audience. When carefully-planned and executed it can bring big dividends to a small business.
For many local businesses, question is no longer whether they should begin to market in local online space, but when. Currently, as Neil Street, sales and marketing director of Small Business Online sees it, incredible opportunities are being missed, as consumers search online for local products and services, but businesses do not have an effective online presence to serve those customers. But as success stories such as caterer's, or furniture retailer's, begin to spread, that gap will close, and significant advertising dollars may soon shift to local online marketing.
Neil Street is co-founder of Small Business Online, an internet marketing and web design company, based in Norwalk, CT. Email Neil at Small Business Online or call him at 203.299.0889