Local Search Internet Marketing: Google is placing a massive emphasis on local search internet marketing. The current ‘analysts’ view is that 30 – 40 % of searches are now locally based and that this figure is expected to continue to grow.
People and businesses are actually beginning to be seriously turned off by talking or dealing with people in far off places. The classic example of that scenario is when call centres are located in other countries and often the ‘language barrier’ became a real problem. Some very large British businesses have had to rethink their approach in this area as it was becoming a real issue for their customers.
Now this issue can be applied to many businesses as people seem to be coming ‘back to local’. The internet has been absolutely great, that cannot be underestimated, for opening up a world of opportunity to easily contact and do business with people in far flung places. What is interesting though is that people like meeting people and that’s very unlikely to ever change. It’s almost like it’s come full circle!!!!
With all the technology that underpins the internet and the endless opportunities it can present the real interesting thing now is that the internet is taking on a real local aspect. Just as you can search for and locate something or somebody on the other side of the world you can also reach-out locally to the people and businesses that you really want to meet, develop business partnerships and a whole realm of other reasons to make contact.
From a local search internet marketing perspective, what does this mean for your business?
What opportunities could it open up for your business if you really get on board with local search internet marketing?
How do you take the bull by the horns and embrace local search internet marketing to really develop and enhance your business?
Essentially a lot of the hot topics like social networking at a base level are in fact nothing new. When you add technology to the mix though it has enabled things to happen on a scale never seen before, and this can be achieved with much greater speed and efficiency. Internet marketing in general can be a mine-field make no mistake, local search is a part of that, but if you use the tools and technology effectively it can open up a whole new world of opportunity BUT it has to be relevant to your business.
Internet Marketing and Local Search are most definitely not a one size fits all!
If an internet marketing consultant is trying to sell you a default list of offerings you need to ask them to justify why they are all needed. A local search campaign that works for a particular local business may not be particularly relevant to another. The other issue, particularly for smaller businesses new to internet marketing, is the danger that they ‘bite off more than they can chew’.
I generally recommend a staged approach as it enables a business to make informed decisions based upon the relevant data and move to the next stage. The key to successful internet marketing is all about understanding what is working and what needs to be tweaked, fine tuned, adjusted etc.