How Local Search Engine Optimization Can Save The Local Business Owner!

Have you ever wished as a local business owner that you could get more people to discover your product and/or service online and wind up becoming your customer?  In the past,  the only companies who could profit from a local internet marketing campaign were those major corporations with regional and local branches across the country.  Since these companies were well-funded, they could afford to hire full-time internet marketing consultants and search engine optimization (SEO) gurus that typically cost tens-of-thousands of dollars every year.   As a result, the micro-business owner was basically crushed, being that they simply could not afford the exorbitant costs associated with online advertising.  The only chance that a local business owner had online was maybe a little pay-per-click (PPC) and trying to use traditional marketing methods like direct mail and yellow pages to drive traffic to their website.  However, in this century, all the old-school methods of marketing are slowly becoming extinct.  Alas, the future of the local business owner seemed bleak at best….. until….

October 27th, 2010.  This could go down in history as a watershed day for the local small business owner, yet the vast majority didn’t even know about it. Chances are if you are reading this, you probably have no clue what we mean.  It was that day that the biggest, most powerful search engine company tweaked their algorithm to benefit the local business owner.

What do we mean?  That was the day Google decided to disrupt the internet marketing world.  Before you had to compete with EVERYONE on the web, whether they were in India, China, or the USA.  Now the game has changed.   Why did Google do this?  Here are just a few reasons we think why:

• Google is in the business of selling advertising.  Period.  Being that well over 90% of all businesses in the world comes from the small business owner, Google was ready to monetize this untapped market.
• Google understands that the local business owner is typically struggling and probably can’t afford to advertise online via PPC.  So they implemented a FREE strategy to help small businesses get found easier online, via a program called Google Places.
• However, the biggest reason is still bullet-point number 1!  Google gets about 65-70% of search engine users.  Yahoo! and Bing comprises the other 30% of users.  The reason Google has dominated the search engine market is because they have done the best job of matching the users’ search for information with the best results from the web.  So as long as Google gives its searchers better results than everyone else,  more people will continue to use Google, and that means Google can keep charging its advertisers for ad space!

So what does that mean to you, a local business owner?  Well, the good news is that the majority of internet users are researching the web for information BEFORE they make an OFFLINE, local purchase!  Don’t believe it? Check these stats:

1. Based on a study by Google, over 73% of all online searches have local content on some level.
2. Over 82%  of local searches result  in offline action, according to comScore Networks, the leading online research company in the world.
3. 91% of all Internet users use a search engine to find information
4. Over 50% of all purchases are preceded by an Internet search

In essence, Google realized that in order to continue to dominate the search engine arena, it must satisfy the end user, the online searcher.  As a result Google took its program, Google Places, which had been around for a while, and evolved it.  So here is why on October 27th, 2010 everything changed for the local business owner–

Anytime Google believes its search user is looking for information that is somehow related to that searchers LOCATION, Google will automatically display relevant local businesses at or near THE TOP OF PAGE ONE!

That means if you are a local business owner, Google is giving you preferential treatment over the rest of the internet universe, because that is what is most likely to make its users happy!  If you truly understand this, you should be whooping and hollering and dancing around!  This will allow people in your local area who are searching for your product and/or service to find you easier online than ever before!  This increases the likelihood of coming to your store to make an offline purchase and adding to your profits!  YEAH!!

BUT….. (you knew there had to be a BIG but coming…lol)  there is some bad news too….  Not everyone who has a local business will be able to position themselves to benefit from this.  Will you be one of the “lucky” few who will be smart enough to capitalize on this and take action?  Do you want to know what you need to do to get an unfair advantage over your competition?  Then visit our local search engine optimization page to learn what steps you need to take to win at local SEO!

Hey, leave a comment, will ya?