How To Use Local Search Marketing

Small business owners must understand that Internet Marketing is the key to adding new customers and growing their business. There has been a major change over the past several years in how people find information about proucts and services in their local market. This move from traditional advertising outlets is creating a lot of stress among small business owners that want to know what to do to create a powerful local internt marketing presence.

What is local search and why as a small business owner do you need start using it right now.

Have you have ever used a search engine to find a business or some information in your local market? When you type in keywords that have local search terms it is because you need a product or service in your local area.

A good example would be... a person looking for a lawyer in Arizona would type into Google "lawyers in Arizona" You might even try putting in the zip code or streets to drill down even further. Many people are using mobile phones or computers to get this information. The search results will come up with a list of local businesses that fit your request.

The Local Web has replaced the World Wide Web!

This evolution towards local internet search did not happen overnight. The move towards searching for local businesses online did not just occur overnight.

The fact is, as more and more people got online and became Internet savvy they started to realize that they no longer needed to go to the Yellow Pages everytime they needed a local business. It became more popular as more small businesses built websites and started to market more aggressively online.

As the number of local searchers and the number of local businesses marketing online grew, it led to the birth of local search.

Local search online is simply faster and easier then thumbing through a fat Yellow Book. Small business owners are no longer seeing the results they once did from their expensive Yellow Page ads. In fact, the big fat books won't be around much longer!

Newspaper advertising, once the main source for small business owners needs to be addressed next. Newspaper circulations have been dropping for years now and it is not going to change.

First of all. we live in a give me the news right now while it happens world now and the newspapers are always a day behind. It is hard for a subscriber to justify the cost of the local newspaper when they can go online and get their news up to the minute and free.

Unfortunately, small businesses are having trouble justifying the cost of newspaper ads when they don't pull the customers anymore.

So you see, your customers have not disappeared they are just looking in different places to find what they need.

The key is understandin how you can get your business in front of these local customers.

Let's not make this complicated. Why? Because it really isn't dificult to understand if explained in simple marketing terms. To reach these prospects you must first find out where they are searching for your type of business and get your message out there where they can see it.

Here are the 3 most important areas to get started.

1. Local Search Listings - This is the new Yellow pages! People use local search listings when they want to find a local business. The first place they look is the major search engines with Google places being the most popular. But, they also include numerous local directories that Google uses to validate your business listing.

To appear in the local listings results you do not have to have a website because it is a business listing that gives the searchers all the important information about your business. If you have a website you can provide a link to it in your local listing page.

Regardless of how small your advertising budget is you need to get into the local search listings. Local Search listings are quickly replacing the Yellow pages as the 'go to' place for finding local businesses.

Getting your business listings to show up on the first page of Google is a powerful way to generate new customers.

2. Free Search Engine Results Section - Also called the organic results on the search engine results page. You cannot achieve good results without using SEO. The free search engine results is the most popular place for searchers and receives the most clicks. The problem is, if your website is not on page one, you are lost and will receive very few clicks.

There is no excuse for every small business owner for not having a website because it can be your most powerful marketing tool. It allows potential customers to see what you have to offer and learn more about you and your company. Unfortunately, many small business owners paid a website designer that had no experience in SEO and ended up with a website that does not show up in the search engines.

Before you build a website you need to find a Search engine website designer. Your website must be optimized to conquer the keywords people are using to find your business in the search engines. Finding a website designer that knows search engine optimization is your first priority.

Another important reason you need to have local business listing is that Google uses the local directories and in less competitive search results will place your listing on page one of the organic results.

3. Social Media - This is the most scary and misunderstood part of local marketing. Why? Social media is really new and most people have very little useful information on how to make money using it. The fact is, social media is exploding and cannot be ignored. With over 500 million members Facebook cannot be ignored any longer. Video viewing on Youtube has surpassed TV viewership and Twitter is exploding as a way to connect with people instantly.

You must realize that social media is not the place to blast out your sales message to unsuspecting members. Social media is not where people are looking for sales pitches, so don't do it. They do not come there to be blasted with marketing messages.

However, you can engage with people by creating Facebook fan pages, Youtube channels, and reach Twitter followers by offering interesting information about yourself and lead them to your business without the sale pitch.

Social media is huge and is getting bigger everyday so start slow and learn how to use it right.

Local internet search has come a long way from 10 years ago and is changing the way small business owners attract new customers. Traditional media is losing its power as local search continues to explode so you need to get on board now. The ones that use local internet search to attract and maintain customers and the ones that are out of business.

In closing, I want to discuss the power of mobile search and why it is the next big thing for your business. Smart phone use is growing fast, and people are searching for local businesses without using their computers. Google has already gotten into mobile search in a big way because they see the future.

Your potential customers are driving around and searching from their phones and are ready to buy right now. If you target the under 30 crowd you better get moving!