Local Storefronts Looking for Customer Traffic Advantage Must Sign up for Local Search
August 30, 2010 by Mary Ellen
Local marketing. Brick-and-mortar marketing. Storefront marketing. What do you know about real-life marketing?
“Look. I get that marketing has changed. But I want to know when I can do it? It’s great to know the other merchants in the area, but does that bring in a customer? I’m interested in specific things that bring me more customers. Or, do I just need to wait for the economy to improve?”
“How can you guarantee a successful promotion? What works in advertising today?”
There’s no one answer and that may be the confusing factor for many entrepreneurs.
Local is bigger than ever. But the locale is different. Interested in knowing more? Read on to find out about location-based marketing.
Begin your local marketing by registering with the three main local search engines:
Why? For one thing, mobile search is coming to the forefront of today’s business. In year’s past, the yellow pages dominated many business advertising expenditures. When competitors increased the size of their ads, you were forced to step up or be left behind.
“Over time, the single greatest opportunity is to rule the local search landscape. Twenty-30-year olds go straight to their mobile browser or Google maps to find everything – shoes, food, insurance, a dentist, you name it. If they don’t find you by doing that, then you don’t exist.” –John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing, February 2010
So, step one is to set up your keyword optimized profile in local search engines.
Google Places lets you optimize 200 characters for keywords in five different categories. In other words, your description can run slightly longer than a tweet on Twitter. Five different categories gives you listings for five products, for example.
Before you rush in and slap it up, think about adding more than simple operation information. For example, highlight payment options, or mention the fact that customers can find easy parking in front of the store.
In talking with one client, I encouraged her to use photos. Not only are they eye-catching, but pictures can be search friendly.
You can also add up to five YouTube videos. Videos, which are quickly indexed by the search engines add interest and character to your site. You may even trump the competition as you add to your presence.
Yahoo! Local, another free service, also offers businesses a place to display address, phone number and web site URL; again, you can put your business in five categories, listing products, services, or brands.
Bing Local lets you sign in with a Windows Live ID and improve or update your listing anytime to suit your needs. According to Bing Local, users can find businesses near them or near where they want to go. Best of all, it’s free.
Take the time to beef up your web presence with the addition of these three local search engines. You will find your web presence increasing and have the opportunity to drive traffic directly to your store.
Next? How will you maximize your online presence? We’ll talk about the advantages of mobile applications like Foursquare and Yelp and what those reviews might mean to your brick and mortar business in our next segment of Local.
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