LocalBizBits Local Search Marketing Information and Resources
Any Spaceball fans out there? Everytime I hear the term hyper-local, I think of that movie. 🙂 Hyper-local is one of those terms that most local small businesses probably never heard of but is an important component in local search. I wanted to comment on an article that I have been sitting on for some time.
Back in July, Backfence, a hyper-local site went down for the count. This event was well covered on-line. Mark Potts, founder of Backfence wrote about his experiences at Backfence, after the site went down, on his blog. I thought it was a great article and provides insights on what it takes to run a hyper-local site.
Some of the points Mark makes are:
-Engage the community
-It’s not journalism—it’s a conversation
-Focus on strong, well-defined communities
-Leverage social networking
-Hyperlocal works
-Hyperlocal is really hard
I think hyper-local sites can be a great tool for the local small business owner. Right now, these types of sites are moving slowing and there are not many well known hyper-local sites out there. The points that Mark makes on how to have a successful hyper-local site, can also be said on how to have a successful local on-line marketing campaign.
Small business owners do not have a lot of time on their hands so they need to get the most bang for their buck, when it comes to on-line marketing. Local search marketing and all it entails can really do a lot for the small business owner. It will not always be easy and it will require some time but local search works.
If there is a hyper-local site for your community, get on it and use it to build your brand/business/service. If there is not one, you will need to probably need go to a couple of different sites to accomplish the same things, but again you need to be on-line somewhere.
As a small business owner, if you want to grow on-line in today’s market, you need to “engage the community.” You can do this by “talking” with folks on-line via local forums or blogs. Now you do not have to be on 24/7 but some regularity would be good. Using the social media and if you focus your efforts in your local community on-line, I think could only help but build your business in a positive way.
I hope to see the hyper-local sites grow in popularity but we will see. But remember small business owner you need to be on-line, locally.
Very informative article – reminds one how basic word-of-mouth and conversation is, but one of the fundamentals of marketing and engagement.
Great job! Hope to learn more from you!