Small businesses don't even need a website to be found on the web these days. Google ( and Yahoo ) allow you to have a Places page that you can add your business details to. These places pages will then appear in the Local search results. Google has an 80% market share of internet searches, so this is the most important Places page to get ranked well.
Most customers of local businesses live within 8 kilometers of your business. Local marketing is to potential clients and customers in this area.
Your Places pages will get you onto mobile too. Google has set them up with mobile versions, and there's a bunch of things you can do with them.
Position in Local results is influenced by 1) the number of online reviews 2) the number of mentions in a country's online directories - called citations 3) the distance of the business physically from the searcher ( a searcher can also set their location in the left column of Google's search page ) and 4) the Places page set up correctly. It's also being found this year that a website set up well for SEO is helping Local Places page rankings.
These things would be done as basic local marketing:
1) Add the citations and reviews that are needed to rank high in the results for your main business area.
2) Claim and create your local listings on Google and Yahoo ( if not already ).
( Your Google Places page will also be available on mobile phone. )
3) Set up a coupon and matching QR Code ( Quick Response ) that will take people directly to your Places
page link.
• Photos of some products or your shop/warehouse
• Business address & a local phone number
• Business details such as opening times and methods of payment • Customer/client reviews
You'll need a short video to complete a Places page. We can creat this for you if needed.
You'll also be given a review card for your clients to fill out. Send them to us and we will post them onto the web. Google will find them and add them to your places page.
Maintaining a good ranking in Google Local involves 2 main things:
As more people start using their Google Places pages you will need to keep adding reviews to stay ahead. We will do this for you when you send us the review cards. We will also add your business to 2 local direcectories each month to keep the back-links increasing.
95% of SMSes get opened, and usually within the first few minutes.
For example, you can have a sign that says Text "offer" to 123 234 to receive a free gift. When someone texts the word to you, you then have their phone number in your database. If you build up a list of phone numbers, then you can SMS them specials and news. When business is slow, then send out an SMS.
Mobile Advertising is something that you may want done in addition to the basic local marketing.