Are You Being “Googled”? - Local Website Advertising

Many small business owners still think that a website does not apply to their particular local business or niche. WRONG. The simple fact is that a basic five page website (with the proper elements in place) can bring you a fresh new wave of customers. Here are some interesting statistics as of March, 2009.

Pool Builders – 1,300 searches per month on Google
Florida Pool Builders – 320 searches per month on Google

Lawn Maintenance – 6,600 searches per month on Google
South Florida Lawn Care – 75 searches per month on Google

Daycare Center – 4,,400 searches per month on Google
Pembroke Pines Daycare – 36 searches per month on Google

( * source - Google Keyword Tool, March 2009)

Even though the more general term searches have much higher volumes, the search phrases including the modifiers of “Florida”, “South Florida” and “Pembroke Pines” for example, will deliver more relevant, qualified customers. You can see that as you filter down through State, Regional and City subgroups of South Florida business types that the number of average searches per month goes down. However these are much more specific searches from potential customers that are far more likely to be making a purchase.

Now, look at it this way. If 75 people were to open a phonebook (yellow pages) in South Florida and look up “lawn care”, a simple phone number listing of your local business may share a page with upwards of 100 competitors. Whereas, if 75 people performed a search on Google for the phrase “south florida lawn care” and you had a website that was properly optimized for that phrase, you could be on the first pages of Google search results shared by only 9-25 competitors. That is quite an increase in the chances a potential customer’s eye will catch your business listing.  Moreover, the number of people “Googling” instead of opening a phonebook is growing rapidly. From local physicians, realtors, contractors, lawn professionals and painters - to child care centers, plumbers, dog groomers or any small business, the concept applies.

A well advertised, basic website is increasingly affordable as well.  If you advertise your business in local print medium like “The Yellow Pages”, “The Flyer”, “The Home Mag”, “The New Times”, “Red Plum” or other local newspaper, you already understand the importance and value of local business advertising. The World Wide Web is shrinking and coming to a town near YOU. It’s time to develop a local geographic web presence for your hometown business with a locally optimized website.

Mammoth SEO Web Design specializes in search engine optimization for local business websites.  If you would like to learn more about designing a website tailored to your business, visit us at http://www.mammothinternet.com/

The Best Investment You Can Make for Your Online Business

Today’s featured article is about such a basic yet critical investment decision for small online businesses. Matt Bailey writes a great piece on these proven and very measurable tactics. Basic Search Engine Optimzation (SEO), Usability Improvements, and Web Analytics reporting and monitoring are a must to your business website’s success.

Read the Full Article…

If your business has not taken these initial steps by now,

Contact Mammoth Internet Search Solutions to help you TODAY!

You will see the impact on your Web generated leads and sales within 30 days.

SES Update - Local Search Marketing Tactics

Here’s a great resource posted by Kent Lewis from Search Marketing Standard. At the last session of the SES Conference, Gregg Stewart with TMP Directional Marketing (a $450M subsidiary search marketing group within TMP) tag-teamed with Steve Espinosa with eLocal Listing to discuss aspects of local search.

The article outlines the extremely informative presentation Stewart and Espinosa delivered and touches on the billions that will be spent on Local Search Advertising,
creating press releases and paying for listings/trustmarks from BBB, city directories and category-specific sites. They also discuss the importance of utilizing local business ads (geo-targeted) to capture broader phrases in PPC campaigns. Lewis then includes “Espinosa also highly recommends utilizing social media sites like Digg and MySpace. He recommends encouraging customers to rate and review on social media sites”. Espinoza also outlined a local video strategy. Read the Full Article …

Promoting Your Business Locally on the Internet

The advertising of the future is going online-and going local. This hot trend of
Local Internet Promotion is growing rapidly and will continue to grow in the coming years. There’s no question that consumers are using the internet to navigate their way to local brick-and-mortar retailers. A recent study by ROI Research Inc. and Performics shows that online searches influence 20 to 30 percent of purchases made at retail locations. That number is steadily increasing. More and more sites, like SouthFloridaClicks.com, are making their presence known by competing against major search engines like Google and Yahoo!. So study, plan your budget and get in on the local online advertising game.

Question: If you own a local brick-and-mortar business that sells traditional goods and services, how can marketing on the internet be effective?

Answer: If you live in a growing city, especially like those in South Florida where new people are always moving into town, people are increasingly using the Internet to find local businesses. They are new to the region and it’s a good first step in the search for local retailers, services, tradesmen, restaurants and entertainment venues. Chances are, in fact, they will look to the internet before using the local yellow pages or other printed phone directory. It is simpler and more accessible than digging out a phone book (if they even have one yet).

In July 2004, Nielsen/NetRatings new MegaView Search service found that 24.4% of searchers on major search engines conducted searches that were local in scope, averaging 4.6 searches per searcher. In September 2004, a Kelsey Group-BizRate.com study found that more than 74% of respondents said they had conducted local searches and confirmed that 20% of all searches among respondents was local. Using the Internet to find local businesses is now mainstream and will continue to grow radidly throughout 2008.

Fortunately, for a local business you don’t need a huge, complex, and expensive website to be effective. You’re not competing with the best of the best internationally, you just need to present yourself well to local residents and consumers within driving distance or a targeted region.

Some of the businesses that can be helped by local Internet marketing include: auto dealers, chiropractors, computer retailers, auto repair, physician, dentist, florist, limousine service, accountant, travel agents, locksmith, massage therapist, insurance agent, real estate agent, mortgage broker, maid service hardware retailer, plumber, lawyer, restaurant, and movers, among many, many more.

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