There is a big drive to help local businesses attract more customers and sales through the internet and I've decided to put together this buyer's guide to local internet marketing services.
An Unbiased View On How To Buy Local Internet Marketing Services
I'm a business coach who specialises in differentiating a business and although I help my clients to have more success online, I don't sell "done for you" local Internet marketing services.
Unfortunately, I see small businesses being exploited by "local Internet marketing experts" which is why I've decided to write this buyer's guide on how you can buy local search engine optimisation, pay per click and Google Places advice.
I am fascinated by the Internet and how it has changed the balance of power between customer and supplier and I'm the author of this Online Profits blog which promotes Internet marketing training products.
The three issues are:
- Creating a website - it needs to look appropriate but doesn't need to be anything really fancy. Think of the websites you like and use regularly.
. - Attracting visitors to the website - this is done through what are called traffic generation strategies and include getting good rankings in the search engines like Google.
. - Persuading the website visitors to take some kind of positive action - buying, calling you or joining your email list.
Can You Do Your Own Website And Traffic Generation?
Yes it is possible to do put your own website together and to attract traffic to it.
A friend of mine, Ian Brodie has a course which shows service professionals how to do create a website and get clients - Client Attraction Websites - and the same ideas will apply for other businesses too.
If you already have a website, there are courses which focus on helping you to get more traffic which are also promoted to the local Internet marketing consultants e.g. Mobile Local Fusion and Rank Mogul.
The bigger question is whether you should be doing it yourself.
Unless you have a particular interest in Internet marketing, it's often much easier to find someone who will do it for you provided they buy into your objectives.
I find that working with small business owners, there is no shortage of things that could be done.
You want a website that helps you to increase your profit by attracting customers.
The Problem With Buying Website Design & Internet Marketing Services
I may write a blog about making online profits but I quickly get confused and scared off by the terminology and technology.
I don't know about you but as soon as I hear technical words and acronyms like FTP, CMS and TCP, my eyes glaze over and my brain goes foggy. I don't understand but I'm embarrassed that I don't understand and don't want to keep admitting my ignorance. I also forget what I've already had explained and that makes me feel stupid.
I recommend that you find a local internet marketing consultant / advisor who puts in the effort to speak to you in words and concepts that you can understand.
If you don't know what you're buying and what you want to achieve, then you're in trouble and in danger of wasting your money. Ask the Internet marketing expert to explain in simple language and if they don't, move on to someone who will.
The Internet Lets You Buy What You Want To Buy When You Want To Buy It
As a business coach, I make sure that my clients understand that there are two sorts of marketing.
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Outreach marketing - like direct mail, telemarketing and most advertising - where the marketing company tries to interrupt what you're doing and thinking and shift your mind onto their agenda - persuading you to buy what they sell.
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Search marketing - like the Internet and the old-style Yellow Pages - which helps people who want to buy or are at least interested in a product, find potential vendors when it's convenient to them.
The Shift Towards Internet Marketing
The big evolution that the Internet has caused is that there has been a shift in the way customers buy and how they want to be marketed to. Outreach marketing still works but it's not as effective as it used to be because people know that if they want to find something, they can turn to Google, Yahoo or Bing and type their search into a search engine.
Hey presto, just like magic, they find the businesses that have made themselves easy to find on the Internet.
That "easy to find" is the important point. Most searchers focus on the businesses listed on page one and very few go past pages two or three.
There's been a lot of talk about Internet users changing the way they use the Internet with the rise of social media websites like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter. this graph from Alexa.com, the independent website traffic monitor puts things into perspective.
Facebook has been growing fast. Back in about 2008, MySpace was big and Facebook was the upcoming star. Only yesterday I was reading that people have started to move away from Facebook in the USA (nearly 6m), Canada and the UK so perhaps they will fade like MySpace.
But you can see that Google.com keeps on growing and that's just for the US. Every country has its own version of Google - in the UK we use Google.co.uk so if you pooled all the different versions of Google, it is much bigger than Facebook according to Alexa.
You Don't Want Any Website, You Need A Website That Works
There are millions of websites, perhaps billions.
A small proportion give their owners a profit for the time and money invested in creating them. The remainder just sit on the Internet, hardly ever seen.
A website that doesn't attract visitors doesn't make many sales.
It's that simple.
If you already have a website or you intend to get one, there are two things that you MUST focus on.
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Getting more traffic (visitors) to your website
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Encouraging those visitors to take the next step - to download your free giveaway so you have their email details and they can experience your ideas, or to call you on the telephone or email or to buy directly from your website.
How A Local Internet Marketing Expert Can Help You To Get More Traffic For Your Local Business
There are three big ways for you to get more traffic to your website.
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Search engine optimisation which is often abbreviated to SEO. This helps you to move up the rankings in the search engines for particular keywords that matter to you. Work has to be done to convince the search engines that your website is one of the most relevant to the search term.
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Pay per click advertising which is often abbreviated to PPC. This doesn't take the time or effort to get listed in the search engines but does cost a small price every time a visitor clicks through on the link. You'll see these sponsored listings at the top or down the right hand side of the search engine results. Pay per click is a genius invention since you can be extremely selective about where your advertisement is shown but also very flexible. When you're paying for clicks, you want to make sure that your website converts well
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Google Places which used to be known as Google Local which shows businesses in a list and on a local area map for a small number of key phrases.
There are other techniques for getting more traffic like local directories, pay per click in the content network (the advertisements you see on websites), Facebook advertising and banner advertisments on other websites. I'd see these as things to do after you've done the big three.
The Importance Of A Local Domain Name
I have a friend who sells local Internet marketing services and Lynda's website is www.stlouis-seoservices.com. That gives you a clue on one of the important factors about getting ranked well in Google.
The search engines look for relevance between the search term and the websites that may be suitable. Having St Louis and SEO in the website address helps for St Louis SEO searches.
It is just one factor and if your website isn't "local" there are other things that can be done but a local domain sends out a very clear message to Google and to prospective customers.
While Lynda and her colleague focus on the St Louis area, they can help you to get more local traffic to your website wherever you are based. Here are the links.
St Louis SEO - St Louis PPC - St Louis Local
How A Local Internet Marketing Consultant Can Help You To Improve Your Website Conversions
There are no Internet marketing certainties which is why you need to test different alternatives but there are key triggers which are more likely to get more people to take the action that you want.
Just being listed on the first page of the search engines isn't enough.
The Internet marketing techies can help you to do that but you then need to get the click.
And once you have people on your website, your visitors need to see what they are looking for and be encouraged to make contact or to buy.
You'll know from your own searching experience how it works. You type in a phrase and look down the list and perhaps four or five seem to be relevant so you click those links.
The rest you ignore.
A bit like a magnet, something attracted you to some and repelled you from others.
Then when you've landed on the website, you may read with interest or click away quickly. First impressions matter and that's why having an attractive design is important.
Some websites make it too difficult for visitors to read or just don't seem right. Other websites don't deliver on the promise that appeared to have been made.
If you're searching for a new office desk in your local area, you want to land on a page that shows you office desks and not the home page of an office superstore.
It's worth studying what makes you take action - positive or negative - in your own Internet searching and using the good ideas in your website.
The other aspect of conversion is in the copy on the website and how that copy is communicated (in writing or in a video).
Each market is different which is why testing is important. What works for a dentist in California may not work for a dentist in St Louis. Or what works for an accountant in New York may not work for a realtor in the next block.
I think you have to meet the visitors where they are if you want to be successful, Just as you would in a face to face sales call. If you pitch your solution before you understand the problem, then often your message will be irrelevant and won't create the action you wanted.
I recently needed to buy some new fence panels. I went to Google and got very frustrated because the websites weren't giving me the information I needed. They missed out and my local garden centre gained although I'd never noticed the little fence business in the corner of the yard before.
Finding The Right Website & Internet Marketing Vendor For You
There are possibly quite a few people in your local area who offer to help you design a website or for SEO, Pay Per Click and the other online marketing services.
I don't know the others but I do know plenty of Internet experts in the UK.
You want someone with the ability to talk to you in the simple language you can understand and focus on helping you to get a website that gets you the results you want.
You want more than a website, more than a website with traffic - you want a website that generates leads and sales. It's what my friend Lynda Nicholson calls a "website that works" Anything else is a waste.
Beware of claims that are high on hype - "I can help you to double your business in 3 months" or "I can get you to the number one position in Google for all the important keywords".
Beware of false demonstrations of proof of capability. It's a stroke to the ego for being number one in Google for anything. I know because it always feels good when I do it. There is a trick that local Internet marketing consultants may try on you and that's to show you number one positions for phrases that no one ever searches for.
See Paul Simister Is A Brilliant Internet Marketer (blog article) and the related Google search for the term. It will take a few days for the page to be indexed.
Look for a guarantee from the local Internet marketing expert. It's my belief that they shouldn't be profiting if you're not. If they are experts, then they should be able to make a realistic assessment of the potential.
I understand why many will ask for cash upfront because of the time commitment (in which case a guarantee is essential) but some may be prepared to delay payment until you see the results.
A good local Internet marketing expert knows that this has to be a win-win deal. For it to be good for them, it has to be good for you.
How Much Should You Pay For Local Internet Marketing Services?
For my own business coaching, I guarantee my clients a return on investment of at least 500%.
I think that's a reasonabe ballpark for Interet marketing services too.
You're obviously not going to do it if it costs more than it generates.
In fact it should give you plenty of upside potential. If a website can generate an extra $3,000 of profit for you every month, then it's worth paying $500 to $750 dollars each month for ongoing management and monitoring the statistics.
If the expected return is much lower, you should probably pay a one-off fee for the website and preliminary search engine optimisation and other traffic techniques because a website gives you marketing credibility. Then see how it goes before you lock into regular fees.
Feedback On My Local Internet Marketing Services Buyer's Guide
I'd very much like to know whether my buyers guide for local Internet marketing services has helped you.
I'd like to improve it so that it becomes a valuable resource.
Is there anything that you find confusing or is unclear?
Is there anything else you need to know?
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