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Small Business Local Search Traffic Examples

July 20, 2009 By Eddie Perea Leave a Comment

GoodNews Small Business Local Search Traffic Examples

Here are two videos that illustrate the potential in local search available to small businesses in my area.  In both videos I show niches which have a good number of searches and plenty of opportunity to leverage social media and Web 2.0 to steal some of this traffic.

If you are in a service business such as flooring, plumbing or design, it would only take a couple of new customers each month to open your mind to the potential in local optimized search-engine friendly blogs with social media. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Video Tagged With: Blogs, Business Search, Flooring, Interior Design, local business, local search, Local Traffic, local web traffic, monetizing, Niches, Plumbing, Search Engine, Search Traffic, Service Business, small business, Small Businesses, Swf, Traffic Examples, Video, Video Two

Making Money From Non-Customers

July 20, 2009 By Eddie Perea Leave a Comment

LocalSearch Making Money From Non Customers

Ok, today’s post will deal with the basics of monetizing your site. So what do we mean by monetizing?  Simply put, it is the method of generating revenue from visitors to your website – whether they purchase your services or not.

As I discussed in my last post, the opportunity for forward thinking business owners to leverage local search is huge. The first step is to have a search engine friendly blog with fresh relevant content updates regularly, optimized for local search that points back to your website (this is your own lead generation system). Note:  blog creation, setup, installation, content creation and local search optimization can all be outsourced and this is an area where we can help a small business.

It is not enough to throw up a static website and post variations of the same ad 25 times on craigslist (go back and watch the video - notice that there are no craigslist ads appearing on local search for plumbers).

There are literally thousands of people searching online every day for what your small business service offers so if you are relying on craigslist or free ads services but not properly optimizing for local search, you are leaving lots of money on the table. In fact, you may be capturing only a fraction of a percent of the available business out there.

So if you have a small business website now, what happens when they visit you?  Well, if they do not give you their information or inquire about your services, you probably make nothing from them. This is where a search engine friendly blog with fresh regularly updated content can bridge that gap and put more revenue in your pocket.

3 Quick Ways To Monetize Your Blog

AdSense – This is Google’s free advertising system that allows you to create a campaign and put the ads on your website.  Ads are rotated and delivered based on the content of your website.  Traffic from people clicking on these ads makes you money.

Here is an example:

monetizead1 Making Money From Non Customers

Affiliate Advertising/Sponsored Ads – There are tons of products relevant to every business niche out there that you can promote on your site with banners. When visitors to your website or blog click the banners, they visit the product sale site.  If they buy, you earn a commission.

Here is an example of a sponsored ad:

monetizead2 Making Money From Non Customers

Information Products – This is one of the best ways to monetize the website traffic because you can make all of the money if the information product is one you created. If you have expertise in an area, creating a simple eBook or info product that would be of value to consumers is a great way to add revenue to your business. The good news is it is simple to do but if you do not have the time or desire, this too can be outsourced and we can help here too.

The bottom line is in today’s tough economy, as a small business owner you need to expand beyond what you have been doing. Just go back and look at the video - there is so much opportunity right now (In my next article I will post another video for the local travel niche in my area to show the volume and potential for a forward thinking local business).

For some examples of monetized blogs, click the links below and look for the monetized areas (usually at the top or right side of the site).  And, notice that these do not look like what you probably think of as blogs.  In fact, if you do not have a website you can use your blog as your website. We provide a selection of over 20 templates that can be easily customized in a variety of ways.

For more information or a free consultation, fill out our contact form and we will get back to you asap.

http://www.playfootballnow.com/

http://hourlycareers.com/

http://b–studio.com/

http://simplemomblog.com/

Filed Under: Small Business Strategies Tagged With: Ads Services, Affiliate Advertising, Content Creation, Content Updates, Creation Setup, Free Ads, Free Advertising System, Gap, Google, Lead Generation System, local business, local search, Lots Of Money, monetizing, Outsourced, Plumbers, Relevant Content, Search Optimization, Small Business Service, Static Website, Website Ads, Website Traffic

Local Search Potential For Small Business

July 18, 2009 By Eddie Perea Leave a Comment

Revenue Local Search Potential For Small Business

Local search for small business is an untapped market at the moment and for local businesses that leverage this source of leads, it could be a windfall of revenue. Could yours be one of them?

I put together this video showing an overview of the potential for your business and I used conservative numbers.  You can see that the opportunities to generate leads for your business by effective use of local search are incredible.

Check it out.

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Performing searches with a sample of service businesses yielded a range of daily searches from 3000 to 8000 people in my local area (Atlanta) that are looking right now for services from small businesses.

How do you capture some of this business?  I’m willing to bet even a small percentage of this traffic would translate into potentially thousands each month for some of you reading this.

If you want to learn more, fill out our contact form and we will contact you.

My next post asks the question:  How do I make money from people who do not use my service or buy from my store?

Filed Under: Featured, Video Tagged With: Bet, Business Search, How Do I Make Money, Leads, Leverage, Local Area, local business, Local Businesses, local search, local web traffic, People, Service Businesses, small business, Small Businesses, Traffic, Untapped Market, Windfall

Optimize Your Business for Local Search

July 17, 2009 By Eddie Perea 1 Comment

SmallBusiness Search Optimize Your Business for Local Search

Optimizing your small business for online marketing to capture local search traffic is the first step in lowering your costs for generating leads. The more leads you have the greater your opportunity to increase revenue.

The first step in the process is to find ways to position your business online in a way that focuses on local search traffic – people from your area looking for your service or product.

Quick Ways To Optimize Your Business For Local Search

Get Listed: Make sure you have submitted your business information to places like the Google Small Business Center, where you can add your business to Google Maps, Yahoo Local, Yelp and CitySearch.

Optimized Local Ads: On a regular basis you should post ads for your business on sites like Craigslist and USFreeAds.

Website Optimization: Two simple things you can do is first make sure your business address and contact info are listed on every page of your website and second, be sure to include on your site the areas of your community that you serve. These are key to geographically targeting your business online for local search.

Coupons: On Google Maps you can create a coupon for your business that appears on your listing. I personally use Google Maps to find local businesses as I find it’s a great way to locate something I need close to where I live and will usually go with the business offering a deal.

Links and Reviews: Post links and reviews of your business on your local business association or chamber websites. Ask the business development manager how to have your business featured. Links from local associations back to your website are a great way to improve your visibility on local search.

That’s it for now. Implementing these strategies is the first step. Additional things to consider are search engine optimized blogs, fresh relevant content and targeted pay per click advertising.

On our next post, Making Money From Non-Customers, we will give you an overview of how you can make money from people who may not buy your service. Who wouldn’t want that?

Filed Under: Small Business Strategies Tagged With: Business Address, Business Association, Business Development Manager, Business Online, Citysearch, Craigslist, Google, Google Maps, Google Yahoo, local business, local search, Money Fr, optimizing, Pay Per Click, Pay Per Click Advertising, Relevant Content, Search Coupons, Search Google, Search Traffic, Small Business Center, Usfreeads, Website Optimization, Yelp

Economic Climate Killing Local Business?

July 17, 2009 By Eddie Perea Leave a Comment

smallbusinesssurvival Economic Climate Killing Local Business?

I know, it’s a tough way to open an article but many small businesses are  hurting for revenue and in some cases, this economy is putting hard working people out of business.  Here is the good news:  You can turn it around if you find yourself in a position of near failure, by expanding your focus on what you do to drive business to your door.

Whether you are a service business or a brick and mortar small business retailer, changes to catapult your business in tough economic times are available and very effective.

Welcome to Small Biz Online Helper

We provide information on expanding your local business using resources to capture local website search traffic for…what else? To make you more money of course! Especially today, it’s getting harder to find ways to justify spending even more money on advertising to get customers calling you or visiting your store so you need to be smart and strategic in your advertising and marketing efforts.

Right now, today in Atlanta (where I live) there are thousands of people each day searching on Google to fill a need related to a service or product that a local business provides and this is true no matter where you are located. Are you capturing any of that traffic?  Would you like to?

In this tough economy it is important that you explore all methods to generate leads and the internet is one that works very well for local businesses.  I know – my family has been in locksmithing for 3 generations and we feel the pinch too.  Adding targeted local search marketing to our business strategies has started to turn the tide for us.

The good news is this:  it is not that hard to setup a lead generation system using local search for your business that drives people to you.

Our site provides information that applies to any local business and you may already have a website (which is only the first step in capturing business from local searches) and that’s great BUT having a website does not generate traffic to your business. A website is the online equivalent of your business front door – you still need to get people in the door.  We can show you how and provide resources to point you in the right direction.

Maybe you are too busy and do not have the time to learn it on your own.  If that’s you, we can help by doing the setup for you to get you going.  Your job from that point is to maintain your free resources and drive traffic to your business (we show you how). Your job? Collect the money.  Believe it or not, this is VERY simple to do.

Stay tuned for my next post Optimize Your Business for Local Search.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: 3 Generations, Brick And Mortar, Business Strategies, Economic Climate, Economic Times, Google, Lead Generation System, local business, Local Businesses, local search, Local Searches, Locksmithing, Marketing Efforts, Search People, Search Traffic, Service Business, small business, Small Businesses, Tide, Using Resources, Website Search