LocalBizBits Local Search Marketing Information and Resources
When I first saw the title of the article “Small Businesses Should Know Their Place Online” by Stoney deGeyter at Search Engine Guide, I raised an eyebrow. But then I sat down and read a very good article.
If you are a mom and pop business, I recommend you read this. The overall message of the article is one that I have been saying for years to my clients – You need to have goals and some vision of what you want to accomplish on-line.
As Stoney says, the Internet has allowed mom and pop businesses to compete with larger businesses on-line. The problem now is that the cost of SEO is getting out of reach for the small business owners. I agree with Stoney.
I work with a lot of mom and pop businesses; they generally are a very cautious and conservative group. They really need to know and understand where their money is going before they will commit. Many of the web marketing companies I know, do not want to take the time to sit and explain everything, nor are they flexible in their pricing. Personally, I have a real heart for these small businesses, thus they make up alot of my clientele.
When I work with a small business, I stress with them, that they can do whatever they want on-line, they simply have to decide how much they want to commit (time and money) to the project. I will not start any project with a small business unless we set goals of what we want to accomplish on-line beforehand.
The whole reason I bring this article up, is because Local Search Marketing represents an excellent ROI (return on investment) for the mom and pop business. Using local search allows the small business to become more visible on-line and provide another way for potential clients to find them. Local search is definitely an area that small business can still use to compete with others on-line and can be very affordable.
So to summarize, if you are a small business, to do well on-line you at least need to:
- set realistic goals
- remember it takes time, so you need to have patience
- definitely look into using local search marketing as part of your on-line promotional plan.
