Tag: Local Optimization

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How Internet Marketing Works

Let’s say you have a business website, but you haven’t generated many leads from it. When you search for keywords related to your site on Google, you either don’t show up in the search results, or you show up on the 8th or 9thpage where no one ever looks. Perhaps you have a social media Facebook business page, but you have few likes and even fewer people “talking about it.” Your lack of success on the Internet probably has nothing to do with your business idea but your Internet marketing strategies. In fact, your ideas are most likely excellent, and all you need to get more customers is increase your visibility. In other words, you need help from a professional online marketing company like Summit Marketing to help you with your Internet marketing strategy.

Internet marketing is all about increasing your visibility. The more visible you are to people who are looking for your products and services, the more opportunities you have to generate leads and increase your sales. Internet marketers have a few different ways to increase your visibility that include one or more of the following types of online marketing.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Over 31% of people are turning to the Internet to shop for goods and services, and nearly all of those people will use a search engine to get there. That means in order to capture those potential leads, you need to show up on the first page of top search engines like Google and Bing. SEM works by employing a few different strategies to help search engine crawlers read, index, and rank your content. If you don’t currently rank for search terms related to your site or you rank low for terms related to your site, NOW is the time to change that by investing in SEM. SEM includes search engine optimization and paid search. Summit Marketing can help you with both.

Social Media Marketing

People are constantly browsing social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and more. Not only are people catching up with their friends and family, but they are also liking and following businesses. This is possible because the businesses buy social signals to place it on social media platforms, which lead people to their websites. Your social media platforms is essential if you want to expand your reach. One of the best ways to get more business from social media is to create a profile and host a giveaway or contest.

Content Marketing

Content marketing bleeds into all other aspects of your online marketing strategy, so a good content strategy should be included in all of your Internet marketing efforts. The more excellent content you generate, the more search engines like you and the more people like you. You can take all of your fun ideas and turn them into a YouTube video, Infographic, or blog post that people will find helpful and want to share.

Google says there are over 5 billion searches conducted on a daily basis. That means people are continually searching daily for information, products, and services. In fact, in the time I’ve been writing this article, I’ve stopped by Google 3 times to look for products (baby booties, baby earmuffs, hard drive for a Mac … in case you were wondering), and Facebook about 10 times to distract me from actually finishing my work (entered a giveaway for $250 in free Dream Dinners … in case you were wondering). That means the more you can do to increase your visibility on the Internet, the more you can capture the attention of customers who are looking for companies just like you. For more information about small business SEO services, call us at Summit Marketing today. We would love to help you get started!

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How To Build A Good Online Marketing Strategy

In today’s market economy, companies must have a good online marketing strategy. With the new technology developments quite a number of companies are going online for their marketing needs. This is due to the fact that the internet is an inexpensive way of doing business especially in advertising and marketing. Do you know why the majority of businesses’ marketing efforts fail? The answer is simple; they don’t have a good online marketing strategy.

When you work online, in everything you do, you need to have a marketing strategy that is outlined and able to be duplicated easily and consistently. The last thing that any company wants is to spend time, money and effort, only to find in the end that it does not work. Even worse is that they don’t even know “why” it didn’t work.

It is very important that you know how things work, why it works and when it is going to work. A lot of people try the social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and Youtube as part of their marketing strategies. They also try other strategies like blog posting and article marketing for the purpose of getting more traffic. But none of these work without the total online marketing strategy in place.  One piece of the puzzle does not give you what you need to complete it.

In order to be successful with these types of social media marketing efforts, you need to have a really good marketing strategy that will help you understand how and why your marketing works.

Below are tips that you need to do in order to be able to build an effective online marketing strategy.

TIPS ON CREATING AN ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGY

Tip 1
Create/Identify your message

It’s important that your strategy marketing template has a really good keyword in it so that you can be found by your target market when they search for your product or service or problem that you have a “resolution” to.

Tip 2
Pick/Choose your media

You can do reputation marketing, local search marketing, video marketing, article marketing, RSS feeds or bookmark strategies, and even Pod Casting. Just start with one that you are comfortable with and don’t move on to the others until you can develop a good marketing strategy that works for you and your market.

Tip 3
Get your message out to the market place

You can start by syndicating your content through out the social media sites.

Tip 4
Track your message/ traffic

When you create a video, upload them at YouTube, Viddler and all kinds of different video sites. Make sure you track the traffic to see if the strategy is actually working. This is one of the best ways to build an online marketing strategy. If using local search marketing then Google Analytic is another great tracking tool.

For more information about strategies that will help you develop the best online marketing strategy call us at 888.557.1258.  And if you want a FREE report to find out where you rank in Google Maps compared to your competition go to: Online Marketing Strategy www.MyLocalSearchRankingReport.com
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How Much Time Will Your Customers Spend In A Car To Pay You A Visit?

When marketing your local business it can be difficult to judge how far you should extend your catchment area for attracting new customers. Small businesses neither have the time nor the resources to waste on targeting consumers who may not consider them local enough to be a viable business for them to use.

It’s more beneficial to target those consumers in your immediate area, but how do we know how far is too far for a local business? Just how ‘local’ do you need to be to attract new customers?

Enlisting the help of our US consumer panel this single, simple question was asked to them:

How much time are you prepared to drive for to visit a local business?

A panel with 13 business categories were asked to enter a driving time against each category.  There were over 800 responses (all US based) to the poll and the answers are displayed & analyzed below.

Driving Times to Local Businesses Infographic

Courtesy of www.brightlocal.com

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Google My Business Local Listings Categories – Don’t Finish Claiming Your Google My Business Local Listings Categories Until You Watch This

Google My Business Local Listings Categories

If you are not already on Google My Business Local Listings, then you are missing out on traffic and potential business you could get from the right Google My Business Local Listing categories. There are some things you can do to make sure you are properly optimized to not only get more traffic from Google My Business Maps Listings, but to also make sure it is the right type of traffic. It all starts by claiming your Google My Business Listings page.

Many businesses have not even claimed their Google My Business Local places page and this means they are missing out on traffic they could be using to make more money. If you need more business, then you should certainly make sure you claim your page and you begin to work to optimize your page properly for your type of business.

How to Use Google My Business Local Listing Categories to Get More Business

Not only do you need to claim your page on Google My Business places, but you also need to optimize it and make sure you show up for the right categories. For example, if you are running a Mexican restaurant you will want to show up for Mexican, but you may also want to show up for another food category as well. It is all about what your business provides and the more categories you can show up in the better off you will be.

The major thing is to figure out what people are going to type in to find your business. This is not all that hard to do and if you just ask a few of your current customers what they would type in if they were going to try to find you it will give you an idea of what categories you may want to use.

You also want to make sure you are not just in categories that are very general. Using the example above it may be a good idea to be in the “Restaurant” category, but you would also want to be in the Mexican category and any other category that is more specific. People will not just type in restaurants to find you, but the type of restaurant you are.

After you have figured out what categories you want to target the next step is to optimize your page to show up in the local results for those categories. This is a very powerful strategy to get more people in your doors and get the business you really need and want. If you need more business, then the Google My Business Map Listing categories can certainly help you get it.

 

There are many benefits to showing up, not only in the local results, but high in the results. If you are the first choice on a list of 15 or 20 choices in a specific category, then you have a better chance of getting the business instead of the other choices on the list. You can easily get to the top of this list and reap the benefits.

The first way to get to the top of the list is to claim your page and customize it for the type of business you are running. You can add an actual website, information about your business, your hours of operation, and much more to give potential customers an idea of what you can provide for them.

The second thing you want to do is start getting reviews about your business. It only takes five reviews and you will get the gold stars next to your business name in the local search results. This can put you higher on the list much faster than anything else. Just implement a strategy to get real customers to review your business on your Google My Business places page.

The last way to get listed higher is to use a company that specializes in optimizing Google My Business Local Listing pages for specific categories that you are targeting. This will help you to show up at the top of the list for your specific categories and you will be able to get more business and more profits with the help of a professional company.

Having your Google My Business places page listed high in the local search results will bring more people to your website and to your actual business. This is a great way to gain more business and give your potential customers a better chance to find you quickly and easily. Just make sure you are optimizing your page for specific Google My Business places categories that make perfect sense with the product or service you provide.

If you’ve enjoyed this information and would like to get more local search marketing tips,  you can also contact us here or call 916.382.7229 to learn more about Google My Business Local Places categories.

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Online Marketing Videos Improve Conversions

How Online Marketing Videos Improve Conversions

Still not convinced that you need and Video production company and an online video marketing company  as part of your marketing campaign?  Rather then just tell you how great video marketing is we are going to show you some stats that will open your eyes on just how important and vital online marketing video is to the success of your business.

Who Is Watching Online Videos?

Both Accenture and Search Engine Journal, 85% of internet users in the US view online videos on a regular basis. In March 2011 alone the US viewed 5.7 billion videos online, which included 4.3 billion online video advertisements (Comscore, March 2011 Online Video Rankings).

That is a massive amount of people watching a ton of videos, including advertisements.  And while most of us tend to skip right past annoying ads on the TV with new technology devices such as our DVR sets, viewers tend to be much more receptive to online ads.  One obvious reason is that online ads don’t last long, most are under a minute while TV ads can be 3+ minutes.  At most, an online ad is a short 15-45 second blurb that is thrown in between different online videos.

Videos Can Help Conversion Rates

So we have billions of people watching videos and ads online every day. That is great but what makes it even better is that videos have been proven to increase conversion rates exponentially for a number of companies in a number of different niches worldwide.

In January 2009 the online retailer Shoeline decided to add videos to help showcase their products, and are they glad they did!  Adding videos had them seeing a 44% increase in online sales conversions (Internet Retailer, January 2009). Zappos reported similar numbers where they were seeing anywhere from 6% to 30% in their sales for products that had a video accompaniment (ReelSEO, December 2009).

This conversion increase shouldn’t come as a surprise. Having a video on a website has proven to increase one’s time visiting on the website. Internet Retailer reported that videos not only boosted conversion rates for the online retail site Living Direct, it increased the time spent on the site by 9%.

Going Mobile & Online Marketing

So what does that mean? Marketing firms and businesses should not forget about the mobile users.

Smart phone users prefer? That’s right, Video. Why? Because it’s faster to gather information and it’s seen as a more trustworthy source than text on a page. But here’s why smartphone users are important to you:

  • By 2014, there will be more internet users than laptop and desktop users (Microsoft Tag Mobile Marketing Report, 2011)
  • 50% of all local searches are done on mobile devices (Microsoft Tag Mobile Marketing Report, 2011)
  • 46% of shoppers who are using mobile devices in stores are using them to compare a competitor’s website (Forsee Results, 2010)
  • A recent Demandware survey revealed that 83% of smartphone users all considered their phones to be more valuable than any other in-store technology for shopping, and only 16% of shoppers believed that the sales associate was the best source of information. 43% of consumers will place more trust in a sale in their mobile device than any other device OR sales associate (Point of Sale News, May 2011)
  • 77% of mobile video viewers are watching more video than they did a year ago (eMarketer 2010)

The bottom line: everyone is going mobile and mobile users are savvy shoppers.  Videos will help sell your products and services and build trust and confidence that a mobile user needs in order to purchase from you rather then your competitor.  If you don’t have a video marketing campaign, then I hope you see it is time to change and start implementing one today.

Key Takeaways

When you stop and think about video marketing and what it does, none of the stats just mentioned should be a huge surprise.  In the faceless and anonymous world of the internet, having a video allows something that once was intangible to be more tangible.

You can see what it is you are thinking about buying or using.  You can see what it does, how it performs, what it looks like, how others have experienced it.  Videos allow your potential clients to visualize themselves using your product or service and it helps them trust more o they feel more compelled to make a purchase.  And with any luck, your video could go viral which will bring in even more traffic than you could ever imagine.

Need Help With Video Marketing?

If video marketing is something you are interested in but are having trouble getting started contact us today at 888.557.1258.

Get your FREE Local Reputation Report www.MyLocalReputationReport.com and find out what your customers are saying about you online.

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Why You Need Local Search Marketing Services

Local Search Marketing Services – The Why’s!

If you have a business, one of the things that you should greatly take into consideration is local search marketing. If you are a newbie, you might be wondering what it is and what it can do to help your business grow. By reading the next few paragraphs you will gain some great insight into why you should be taking advantage of this form of online marketing.

You are using the internet for your daily transactions, aren’t you? Well, the internet is one of the top reasons why there is a need for you to prioritize local search marketing. If potential clients or customers in your locality searches in Google the services or products you offer or a problem that your company solves, then your company just might be on top of the results. With this, there is a tendency for you to establish a stable online presence, gaining new customers daily via Google Search. Therefore, those prospects or potential new business customers will  try out your products or services. See the process? Well, this is just one aspect on how local search marketing can help you.

With the demand and popularity of online shopping, people nowadays tend to check what stores are open based on their convenient time. If you will let a reliable, experienced and reputable local search marketing company handle your online marketing business, you will not have a problem when it comes to ensuring consistent visibility online. Maximize your digital exposure and get your brand out at LocalBrandAdvisor.com.

Majority of people also do not live where they work. Therefore, when certain services are needed or wanted while at work, the local familiarity is not there. Instead of making a phone call to the local handyman in the neighborhood when specific work needs to be done, they will just search online. Now, if an good online marketing agency is handling your business’ local search marketing, you don’t have anything to worry about.

Headlines on articles, videos, and posts can also tell a visitor or prospect a lot, and these are considered the best ways to point potential customers and clients to your business. If your chosen local search marketing service provider has innovative and breakthrough methodologies, you will be able to achieve a high level of lead generation.

These are just some of the best reasons why you need to have powerful and effective local search marketing when in business. However, that would not be made possible without the help of an experienced and professional agency that can always make everything is in favor of your business. If you are currently looking for one, then you are in the right place at the right time.

For years, we have been in the local search marketing industry. In the span of our operation, we have already mastered the art of this kind of marketing. Therefore, we can provide you 100% guarantee that your business will be in good hands. We also have local search marketing professionals that have the skill and knowledge on how to give your business a high level of visibility and exposure in the online world and ensure you are the “Go To” person in your local community when searched online.

Would you like to secure the reign of your business in your chosen niche and industry? Then you should make local search marketing your #1 priority because it will bring out the best in your business and get your phones ringing off the hook.

To see just where your business is ranking online and to learn how to dominate your competition get FREE access at  for a free local search marketing report.