Many small businesses or single party sellers believe that a website is an expense that they don’t need and that advertising or SEO is a service which won’t assist them in increasing their sales.

Local vs Global-Can SEO Really Help?

One of the most common myths about the small or mid-sized business is that because they are only doing business in a small local area, that online advertising is not necessary or desirable. The small business owner is often taken in by this myth and doesn’t promote the website or use local SEO or SEM to locally market their business. This is detrimental to the business owner in that they are not well branded and it is detrimental to their bottom line as well. In this climate, who can afford to give away sales?

How People Find New Vendors

Whether you are local or global, people are looking for you. Most of those people, statistically are looking for you online. Consider how you and your family may search. If you’re looking for a new product or service, chances are that you’re using local search online to find that product.

Even something as small as a pizza restaurant is being searched in local areas more than a thousand times a day. Many searches take place while people are on the road actively ready to spend money on a local business.

Making sure that you’re online and able to be found means making sure that part of that business comes to you and your company.

Why Advertise Online?

Local people have the idea that the internet is global in nature and local businesses are overlooked. In fact, if you are using the right text and the right keywords local advertising will increase their business in a big way. Very often searches take the form of –for example–“Omaha fast food.” Your competition is–by and large–online and working to attain that local traffic and to edge out their competition.

Statistics from the marketing industry, specifically from Marketing Land tell us that:

  • The retail industry will spend more than 9 billion dollars on digital advertising this year.
  • Most of that advertising and targeting will take place online.
  • More than 60% of people look for a business online, even if that business is locally owned and operated.
  • If you’re not online, you are leaving nearly sixty percent of the new business on the table.
  • Local SEO is necessary in order to compete with the other businesses in your area.
  • Local business marketing brings in more than 25 billion dollars in new businesses per year

How much of that business can you afford to pass up before your business is overshadowed by those who are using online and digital advertising?

Advertising Methods

Local SEO and local business marketing using your own website, social media venues such as Facebook, Twitter, Wooxie.com and Pinterest are going to help to improve your visibility and to brand your business.

More than one method of advertising is necessary for your business growth. This is true even if you own and operate a very small business. Your competition is marketing to the local area. The trend is to advertise locally and that is a trend that can be expected to continue and to grow. The internet, social media marketing and online marketing is the wave of the present and certainly of the future. Those of us who are in business today either ride the wave or sink.