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Local Advertising Can Boost Small Business Sales

Google and Yahoo both offer geographically-targeted online promotion programs that are especially beneficial for small businesses. Taking advantage of these inexpensive programs is an excellent means of promoting products and services to your local marketplace.

To begin, all small businesses should have an online presence. And if your market is primarily localized, you should run (not walk) to both Google and Yahoo to leverage programs created for people just like you.

Let's take a look at Google first. They offer a real bargain – a free local listing! In style and content, this is similar to what you pay for in the Verizon Superpages. Just go to their Local Business Center at www.google.com/local/add/login. If you don't have a Google account, you will have to establish one (it's free). After that, simply enter your company (or agent) information and select a category for its classification. Google will mail you a postcard with a confirmation pin number that must then be entered online to activate your listing. Once your local listing is active, people within your community who perform searches within your category using Google Local search have a good chance of discovering your business. Your listing includes all the information necessary to contact you (even a map!).

Next, take advantage of Google's AdWords pay-per-click (PPC) advertising for local searches by specifying that your ad(s) only appear for searches originated within your city or region. Google provides a lot of flexibility in selecting when you want your ad to appear. Go to http://adwords.google.com for more information.

Yahoo offers some good stuff too. They provide a free basic local listing, but you are better off signing up for the enhanced local listing, offered for $9.95 monthly. Go to http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/local/ll.php for details.

Rather than PPC ads, Yahoo offers a local sponsored listing. This appears on the search results page as a highlighted listing when your keywords match a search initiated within 25-100 miles of your location. Much like PPC ads, you are only charged when someone actually clicks on your listing's link. Yahoo doesn't offer as much flexibility as Google AdWords in allowing you to modify a listing, but a Yahoo local sponsored listing is nonetheless a good deal that can send qualified prospects your way. See http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/local/lbl.php for details.

As with all online promotion, it pays to carefully construct your ads or listings. Just remember – choose your keywords wisely and write your ads so that you only get click-throughs from qualified prospects. Otherwise, you could see your advertising budget quickly wither away without achieving any sales. Fortunately, both Yahoo and Google have good tools to assist you in this endeavor.

Both the Google and Yahoo local promotions are easy to set up – all you need is a credit card and some idea of how much you want to spend monthly. Both have good monitoring tools to help you measure your keyword and effectiveness. Google also provides free centralized tracking for Yahoo ads as well, so you can monitor your advertising results all in one place.

You will have much more success with online advertising if your ads promote specific products or services. Prospective buyers who click on your ad(s) should go to a standalone page on your Website where your sales argument is presented and an incentive is provided in exchange for making a purchase or giving up their contact information. Implementing a "landing" page like this for each PPC or sponsored ad will make your online promotions much more successful.

One last thing. The Verizon Superpages and Kudzu offer free listings too. Go to https://my.superpages.com/spweb/portals/customer.portal and https://register.kudzu.com/packageSelect.do respectively to sign up. Definitely take advantage of this. Both offer enhanced listings, but this can get expensive. Hence, be sure you will benefit from it before committing yourself.

In summary, localized online promotions are a bonanza for small businesses. They provide local advertising in an economic fashion, offering a cost-effective means of reaching your target audience. So don't hesitate - with a little effort, you could see your sales double or even triple within a short period of time!

About the Author

Al Kernek is a marketing consultant and author of "Put Your Business Online."  Visit his Website (www.smallbizsmartmarketing.com) or blog (small-biz-smart-marketing.blogspot.com) for more information and free advice.