Small Business owners attempting to attract a local audience online can cheer at the newest trend in the search industry - Local Search. Google and Yahoo have both recently rolled out tools to make it easier for users to search online listings in a specific city, state or zip code. For small business, this development means an opportunity to reach your local market online.

Try out these new tools for yourself ....
Google's Local Search
Yahoo's Local Search

To see the difference, first do a search for a term like day care on your favorite search engine. Chances are there are millions of matches from all over the country. Now try the same search on Yahoo or Google's local product and see the difference. These results are closer to a yellow page match. The results list the business' address, phone number, related web links, the distance from my location, may have a map and driving directions. Other options allow the user to further narrow their search to "Adult Day Care Centers" or "Child Day Care Centers."

Finally, it makes sense to optimize your website for local versions of your keywords including cities and zip codes. Make sure your web site shows up on local searches. If not, Contact Us today. We have affordable Local Marketing Solutions for your small business.

Local Search Advertising

Amazingly ;-) Right on the heels of these new search technologies, the major search engines have developed a variety of ways to monetize Local Search. Local advertising options allow businesses to advertise to regions, cities or even within a specified radius of their physical location. A small business who was previously lost in a sea of listings on a national scale, can now compete locally for the traffic that matters most to them.

Google allows advertisers in its Google AdWords program to target their ads to users in a particular city, DMA market, or even by a radius from their physical location. This insures that the advertiser is getting the most qualified visitors to their web site.

Yahoo announced a new localization tool in 2004 called LocalMatch^TM. LocalMatch allows site owners to advertise their business specifically to users within a target geographical area (0.5-to 100-mile radius around your location). These local results are shown to users who use Yahoo, Alta Vista, Lycos and other sites in their network.

These new targeting options make online advertising a great marketing strategy for small businesses. Both of these programs operate using Pay Per Click billing methods.

Here's how Pay Per Click (PPC) works:

1. Advertisers set up accounts using a major credit card
2. Advertisers select keywords they wish to bid for and set their bids
3. Advertisers submit details for their ad listing. This may include a title, description, basic business information like payment accepted, hours of operation, etc.
4. The ads either go online immediately or after a short editorial review.
5. Once the keywords are online an advertiser pays the amount they have bid for a particular keyword only when a visitor clicks their listing and visits their website. In this sense you are paying for guaranteed traffic for targeted keywords delivered to your target market. PPC bids generally start out at $0.10 per click.

Successful strategies for PPC advertising include identifying the best keywords and writing compelling listings to encourage targeted traffic and enough information to discourage clicks from unqualified users. On the administration side there's also a need to develop a realistic budget, maintain your desired positions and bids and monitor the results of your campaign through tracking software and conversion analysis.

Contact us today at 314-324-5360. Talk to a search specialist about how SEO Gateway can help your small business drive targeted, local traffic to your website.