Local Business Web Marketing – It Starts With Keywords
So, you want to market your local business on the internet. Great idea! And timely too, since that’s how most consumers are finding local businesses today.
But where do you start? Most people would say “throw up a website” and see who finds it. Well, you can do that, but the best way to start is with a strong foundation. And that’s keywords.
All your local business web marketing MUST be based on using keywords (or keyword phrases) that your customers use to find you. Read that last sentence again several times. What it means is that if your prospective customers are online looking for your business or more likely, what product or service you offer, the goal is for them to find your business near the top of the search engine listings when they click enter.
Most importantly, keywords are the link between the big search engines like Google and Yahoo, and your customers. The search engines WANT web searchers like you or me to find what they’re looking for. If people regularly find what they’re looking for on Google, lets say, they’re much more likely to keep using Google. And that makes Google happier and richer.
So, when you build your web marketing components (website, blog, online ads, article posts, press releases, etc.) around the keywords that YOUR customers use to find you, you will create a powerful foundation that will bring you a steady flow of new customers.
How do you find these keywords for your business? Well, there’s a whole science behind keyword research. And that’s beyond the scope of this post. But here are a few basics:
1. Keyword phrases can describe a major type of product or service your business provides – like dental implant surgery. Or it can be the profession you’re in – e.g. “carpet cleaner“.
2. Usually, when targeting a local market, your main keyword phrases should contain a geographic location. This will prevent you from having to compete with every related website around the world. For example: “dog grooming lexington kentucky” would be much easier to target than simply “dog grooming”.
3. Keywords can also be a major brand name you sell – Bosch dishwashers Cleveland, for example.
4. Stick to the major keyword phrases that describe your main types of products and services, or type of business. Don’t get overly detailed with hundreds of keywords.
To start with, brainstorm a list of 30-40 or so keyword phrases by putting yourself in the mind of your target customer. What would THEY type in to find you. After that, you can use some more sophisticated methods or tools.
After this, narrow down the list to maybe the 10-15 biggest traffic phrases. There are a variety of ways to do this, but again, it’s beyond the scope of this post.
Then, incorporate these keyword phrases into all your website pages, articles, blog posts, and in whatever media you are using on the web. This will enable Google, Yahoo, and Bing to find your content and eventually show it to potential customers when they type in the same keywords you’ve used.
But, know that there’s a right way to do this and a wrong way. This is one reason why the whole field of search engine optimization exists. Everyone wants traffic to their website and Google (among others) know this. So, they like to see keywords used “naturally” as they would in normal, every day writing and communication. If they see online content with unusually large number of keyword phrases “stuffed” into it, this may cause the search engines to discount it and “rank” it lower.
Again, your goal is to get your content (website pages, articles, blog, videos, etc) ranked as highly as possible so potential customers find it more easily. Research has shown that most people today are too impatient to look much beyond the first page of search results. So, giving the search engines what they want in the form of great content and related keyword phrases will get you to the top!
See our Keywords for Your Business page for more information to help with your local business web marketing.
Trade Show Marketing For Local Businesses
Marketing your business at local events, trade shows, or expos can be an excellent way to build traffic. As much as I am a believer in the power of web marketing, there’s nothing like face-to-face contact with a prospect to create a bond that can turn him/her into a customer.
Recently, I participated in a local B2B Expo as an exhibitor. I love doing this as it gets me away from the computer and puts me in direct contact with potential customers. I’ve done a lot of these types of events over the years and it’s always rewarding. So, I thought I’d write a post about how you as a local business owner can use trade show marketing to your best advantage.
But, first I have a bit of a rant. I see this “old school” tactic used ad nauseum at trade shows and events as a “cheap attention getter”. It’s used because the exhibiting company can’t come up with anything more compelling for their prospects related to their business or have nothing else interesting at the event to engage prospects. Please stay with me as I promise I have some great ideas later on which you can use to make trade shows and business expos a dynamite business builder. In the meantime, you can find out what strategy to AVOID when doing trade shows.
Let me introduce you to the concept of “Trade Show Flotsam” or TSF. What I’m talking about is the worthless tide of logo giveaways that clue-less businesses pass out at events. I’m sure you’ve all been to shows, events, and expos and received innumerable garbage like this ….
- Cheap Water Bottles made out of toxic plastic
- Magnets that you don’t need or want on your refrigerator
- Key chains – who needs even one more?
- Pens that run out of ink before you’ve even written one check with them.
- Foam pop-can sleeves. Does anyone actually use these?
- Ugly, cheap tote bags you wouldn’t be caught dead in public with.
And there’s far more similar junk I could fill up several pages with. One reason I call it flotsam is that if the trade show hall were to have a big flood come through, this junk would be the last stuff people would try and save and would just wash up at the other end.
But, why do businesses use this strategy? The main reason is a desperate attempt to engage people at shows & events. A secondary reason is to implant their brand name with visitors by giving something with their logo on it. Banks are particularly guilty of this practice. Maybe it’s because no one wants to talk to bankers unless they’re desperate for money!
But all joking aside, I walked around our B2B Expo before it started and saw several exhibitor tables almost completely covered with TSF. There was almost nothing pertinent to the product or service they offered, save for signage.
As a business owner, I am strongly recommending you to NOT fall into this trap. No matter how boring YOU may think your product or service is, there are much better ways to engage trade show visitors to have an interest in your business. Let’s go over a few ideas.
Obviously, your goal in having a table or booth at an event is to find prospects for your business and then convert them into customers. Assuming you’ve picked a good event that is likely to have visitors that match your target market, the trick is to engage people walking by in a way that gets them to stop and learn more. That should NOT require you to “bribe” people to stop by attempting to shove a plastic water bottle they don’t want in their hand.
1. Eye-catching, interesting displays – first, try and come up with a display that gets peoples’ attention. It must shout out a key benefit of what your product or service can do for someone. Ideally, it would also be interactive so visitors become engaged.
2. Product sampling - giving away a sample of your product or service is one of the best methods to get customers. This works well for food or consumer products. Notice that I said your product or service. This does not mean giving them a piece of TSF made in China or India.
3. Offer to do an onsite consultation – depending on your product/service, you can offer to do a mini-consultation with your prospect right there. Example: if you do website design, use your PC to pull up the prospect’s website and offer some ideas.
4. Have a drawing for a free item or service – here’s a biggie. ALWAYS, ALWAYS have a vehicle at shows to capture contact information of interested prospects. Then, follow up with them.
5. Pass out quality, well-written marketing pieces – this is a no-brainer, but I’m always amazed at the poorly composed marketing copy I see in literature passed out at events.
6. Be enthusiastic – if you or your employees can’t be excited about your offering, how do you expect visitors to be interested? I often see bored-looking employees manning trade show booths who look like they’re just passing time. Yes, shows can be long, but just rotate people more often.
7. Offer a great deal for prospects – having a “show special” is a great way to sign up customers. You can also pass out coupons for free items or a good discount off a popular product or service.
The key concept here is to always offer VALUE to people. Whether it’s in your product or the information you give prospects. That’s the best way to convert them into long-time customers. And always stress the benefits of doing business with you – not boring features. For example, your prospect wants to look and feel younger, not buy a 12 week weight loss program with healthy, low calorie meals.
So, I hope that you have a new perspective on doing trade shows and events. They’re fun and are a great local business marketing tool.
Text Message Marketing For Your Local Business
You probably know what SMS, or Text Messaging is, right? If you don’t send text messages yourself, your kids probably do. But, here’s A HUGE tip: I guarantee you absolutely that many of your local customers or clients are using text messaging with their smart phones.
Mobile Marketing for your business will be VERY BIG in the future. It already has started actually. Here’s a few facts you may not be aware of:
* There are over 51 million smart phones in use now and more every day. In a few years, virtually all phone will be “smart” with internet access.
* In the 4th Quarter of 2010, Smart Phone sales exceeded personal computer sales for the first time ever.
* Open rates on text messages are 95% vs. 15-20% for email. Read that again. Almost all text messages are opened up.
* 73% of new cell phone users report that text messaging (not voice calling) is THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE on their phone.
So, again, your potential customers are using their phones to text. And this offers you a HUGE opportunity to reach them FAST while they’re out shopping or anywhere for that matter. Successful businesses are already collecting cell phone numbers from customers and sending them coupons, specials, or other information. You should start doing this TODAY by offering incentives to your customers to give you their cell numbers. Then, use a paid service to send the text messages out (don’t sit there using your phone to do this!)
A few more tips:
1. NEVER spam people or send them junky plugs for your products all the time.
2. Always give people a way to opt-out.
3. Direct people to cool, interesting websites (even yours) if there’s something of value.
4. Don’t overdo it. Sending out too many SMS messages will annoy your prospects.
Value Added Tax Is Bad For Retailers And Their Customers
Granted the U.S. tax code is terribly complicated and needs simplification. And one of the ideas being floated is the implementation of a Value Added Tax (VAT) which would basically replace the national federal income tax. President Obama has mentioned the VAT in light of reforming the U.S. financially so we can reduce or eliminate the ballooning budget deficit.
Before I go into why this is such a bad idea for the U.S. consumer and for retail owners, a little more background is needed on the VAT.
Essentially, the VAT is like a national sales tax. It is only levied when products OR services are purchased. But unlike a retail sales tax, the VAT is applied at ALL levels of the buying process. So, a manaufacturer that buys raw materials from a supplier would have to pay the VAT on these materials. Obviously then, cost, in the form of a tax is added all the way down the chain.
At the retail level, the VAT would be added to the purchase price just like sales tax is now. So, retail store owners would be responsible for collecting the tax and paying it to the U.S. government. This would then increase the overhead of retailers, which is just one of many disadvantages.
But, what are the theoretical advantages of the VAT? The VAT is widely used in European countries and has helped to unify the Economic Union there. By replacing the income tax, it encourages people to save more money which CAN be a very good long-term job creator. The other big advantage is that it simplifies the overall tax code and gives people more of a choice in how much they pay. After all, the less they spend, the less tax they pay in total. Whereby with our current system, people can be taxed to a large degree based on rules and laws beyond their control.
Now for the big disadvantages. You may have already guessed some of the problems with the VAT. A huge one is that it discourages consumer spending. With 2/3 of the U.S. economic output a result of consumer spending AND being in a recession, discouraging people to spend would be a cataclysmic mistake. History has shown that almost all economic recoveries are led by consumers spending money.
Here’s a few more biggies. The VAT is a classic regressive tax. It penalizes lower to middle income people who have to spend a much higher % of their incomes than the wealthy. Also, the tax would probably reduce real estate property values by removing the main tax incentives to own vs. rent. Further, consumer prices for some items will rise substantially, adding to the risk of inflation. Finally, there will be widespread job losses in the short term. It’s estimated that several hundred thousand tax accountants, attorneys and other professionals would no longer be needed because of the simplified tax code. AND, the National Retail Federation has estimated in a comprehensive study that the VAT would result in the loss of 850,000 jobs in the first year alone.
Here is a summary of how the VAT would negatively affect retail sales for a 10 year period:
Now, you can see why this is so bad for retailers and their customers. If you own a store, you will pay higher prices for the merchandise you buy. This will force you to charge higher prices to your customers. Then, you will be forced to collect, account for, and pay the VAT’s increasing your overhead costs. Finally, your customer will respond by buying less from you due to higher prices.
I am FULLY in favor of reducing the deficit. But, Congress must start by reducing spending to more common-sense levels. There are far too many “protected interests” in the current budget that cost way too much. Also, there are other far less painful ways to simplify the tax code that don’t cause such damage to the economy.
So, if you agree that the VAT would be bad for not only your business, but for America, I would contact your local congressional represenative right away to voice your concerns. Now is the time to do it before Congress does something rash!
