Affordable On-line Marketing for Small Business

Until recently, search engine optimization has been geared more toward the global market. But the search engines are constantly evolving and trying to make searches more relevant to the consumer, thus local search marketing has grown to become a viable force in the overall search engine marketing field.

Local search is searching for products, services online but using a geographical component to focus the search. Local search has been around for some time but it has not been until recently that local search has began to take off. There are plenty of statistics out there that are showing more and more folks are searching online for local products and services.

In a press release, "Local Search Continues to Gain Momentum, According to comScore" from September 2006, Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix was quoted as saying:

"Local search is experiencing strong growth as more consumers adapt to the 'always on' nature of their broadband connection, which enables them to quickly find information on local businesses. With approximately 849 million local searches conducted by Americans in July, local advertisers have a sizable market that can be reached through leading search sites."

For what currently happening with local search and other forms of online marketing that small business can take advantage of, check out our new blog Local Search Marketing Blog.

So Who Can Profit From Local Search? YOU!

Small business can now promote their "brick and mortar" business online quickly and affordably via local search marketing. Traditional belief was that only big business or those with unlimited advertising budgets could profit from online marketing. That is no longer the case.

What local search marketing does, it allows small business to put their pertinent business information online, keep it updated, and even add video, maps, coupons and more to their listing. The coolest thing about local search, is that a web site is not necessary to be listed locally online.

LRSxpress Local Search Services

As with traditional search engine marketing and optimization, simply creating a web site will not make customers appear at your local business. A small business web site still needs to follow and have the proper web site design and "global" optimization done to it. Now if the business has a local presence and thus local clientele, then optimization for its local market can and should also be done.

LRSxpress Web Services has expanded it optimization and marketing services to include local search.

The small business web site needs to remember that the search engines build their listings and rankings based on relevance and theme. Keywords, content, linking, all have an impact on rankings, whether it is global or local searches.

Listed below is some of what LRSxpress Local Service Services does but as with all of our work, we customize our services to fit your needs.

Local search is growing daily with new sites and services appearing; thus we will be adding / updating local related services as needed.

Overview of Local Search Marketing Services

When marketing a business locally online, it can be broken into two components: on-site and off-site. On-site deals will optimizing all aspects of your current web site for better local visibility. Off-site comprises the majority of local search marketing; this is all that is done regardless if you have a web site.

1. On-site Optimization. If your small business already has a web site, we can review the website's current search engine standings, traffic, content, and local optimization. We will then propose the appropriate changes or additions to your web site to make it rank better locally.

If your small business does not have a web site, we can evaluate and discuss with you the benefits of building a professional web site (if interested).

2. Off-site Optimization. We will do an online local search evaluation to determine your current local search visibility. After that initial study, we will put together a customized local marketing plan. This would / could include many of the following options:

• Creating an appropriate local business profile
• Submitting/editing (when needed) the business profile in local search related engines, directories, and IYP (Internet Yellow Pages)
• Working on your business's online reputation
• Geo-targeted PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising options
• Paid local listings
• Local link building
• Providing ideas and guidance on other ways to enhance your local online business visibility
• Setting up a routine maintenance plan to monitor and keep your local search information up to date.

Want to see an example of what optimizing local search can do? See what our local listing looked like before & after optimization.

Summary:
Local search is all about increasing your small business online visibility and helping drive traffic to your web site and offline business. Time is critical; the sooner you do it the better! Most small businesses have not taken advantage of local search so those who do, will get a leg up on the competition and better listings. Do not let this important and growing marketing technique pass you by. Contact LRSxpress today to start optimizing your local search.

Located in Augusta Ga or the surrounding area? We have some specialized services just for you.

What Does the Future Hold?

Local search is simply the first component. There are numerous other online marketing techniques that can and will help small business, two of these are social search and mobile search. To learn more, see our blog Local Biz Bits

Other Affiliations: