As a “marketing tool”, your website has a job to do. Should it be “fired”?

It may look pretty – but is it increasing sales and leads? 

If you’re one of the 54% of local businesses in the U.S. that have invested in a website, congratulations! 28% of consumers give more credibility to local businesses that have a website. You’ve taken the first step in “getting online” – and if you have any level of optimization or analytics your certainly ahead of the curve…

(source: www.blog.diyseo.com)

Increasing your local visibility and reaching new customers and clients is most likely one of your goals – so promoting that site via SEO, PPC and Social Media is the next natural step, but wait! Is your site built/designed to convert?

If promoted and optimized correctly, your attracting your most relevant, local ready-to-buy prospects, but what happens when these visitors get to your landing (or home) page? Do they call? Email? Sign-up? Buy?

From a content/design perspective, the most important elements to drive measurable action and conversions include:

• Clear contact information – this includes your phone number (local, not toll-free) on every page, as well as your physical address (and map/driving directions if your retail). Also, a “contact us” page is a natural place for much of this information as well; it also makes it easier for visitors to contact you. From a SEO perspective, it’s critical that this content be included and consistent with your local listings data.
• Call-to-action statement – or some type of special offer/discount to drive contacts (phone calls or emails). What’s your deal this month? Are you providing free consultations or estimates? How about printable coupons?
• Price/product information – a recent survey indicated that this is perhaps the most important factor in converting visitors into customers. Be clear in communicating your products or services…

Remember – successful local online visibility is dependent on your websites ability to communicate who you are, what you do, and where your located; but once your “found” – your site’s job really begins.

So is your site optimized for conversions? Here is SEL’s 8-point checklist:

8 Point Checklist For Your Local Business Website

If you can answer yes to the following 8 questions then you’re doing a good job. If the answer isno, then you have some work to do – but the rewards will be all yours.

1. Do you have your physical address on every page of your website?
2. Are your contact details – i.e. phone number &/0r email address – displayed near the top of your website?
3. Do you have a full list of services & prices on your site and is there a clear link to them from your homepage?
4. Do you have a special offer on your website and is it clearly visible on the homepage?
5. Was your homepage updated in the last 7 days?
6. Do you have a blog or ‘latest news’ section on your homepage?
7. Does your website look better or worse than your top search competitors? (be honest here)
8. Do you have at least 1 positive quote/testimonial from a customer on every page of your website?

From a local search optimization point of view, it’s essential for local businesses to include local terms (aka “geo-modifiers”) in their site content and link building activities. Google needs to know where you’re located and which areas you serve in order to return your business as a search result for a relevant, local search.

Some fantastic local SEO tips researched and included in last weeks “Locals Only” column. Specifically; 

• How do searchers go about their search for local businesses?
• Do most searchers use local modifiers or not?
• Do searchers expect to get local results for a generic, non-local search term?

This panel consists of 1,250 “local consumers” based in the U.S. (broad mix of ages, gender and location). We received 1,081 responses to this survey; this findings include: 

• 60% of searchers said that local listings with a photograph grab their attention more than standard listings.
• The survey also shows that 17% of searchers never use a local modifier in their search terms, with this percentage rising to 21% among younger searchers. However, older searchers are more inclined to add a local modifier to their search terms — 63% usually do.
• People generally use street names when they’re looking for a specific business — i.e. they know the business name and its location but they are looking for contact details, driving directions or some other specific piece of information.

Read the entire article here.

According to BIA/Kelsey, total small business ad spending for online media increased to almost 40% of total ad spend in the fourth quarter of 2010, up from 22% in the third quarter of 2009. By 2015, it’s estimated that 70% of small business marketing budgets will go to digital/online media (mobile, social, online directories, online display, digital outdoor), performance-based commerce (pay-per-click, deals, couponing) and customer retention business solutions (email, reputation and presence management, websites, social marketing, calendaring/appointment-setting).

In this weeks “Locals Only” column, Stephanie Hobbs discusses some “Considerations in planning your 2012 small business ad budget“. These include:

• Mobile websites. They have a lower bounce rate and higher customer conversation than traditional websites, so moving forward with creating a mobile site will reap additional rewards down the line. More on mobile here.
• When considering third-party advertising partners such as Yellowbook360, business owners should be careful in who they choose. Criteria that needs to be considered includes the company’s history & experience, contractual requirements, special incentives and their network/ad distribution across the Internet. And watch out for those crazy “guarantees and claims” out there!
• While social media has received well-deserved hype for its ability to create new connections between local businesses and their customers, Yellow Pages continue to provide strong and reliable leads to local businesses.

To achieve a high-level of online visibility and internet marketing success, local businesses need to consider multiple factors…  

Courtesy of GannettLocal.

There is one form of marketing that has endured countless economic slumps, technology advances and the peaks and valleys of supply and demand. Word of Mouth. Church Chat. Grocery Store Gab. Coffee Talk. Let’s call it Grandma Marketing.  Picture a gaggle of grannies sharing recipes, funny stories or gossip.  Word of mouth is people sharing stories and experiences about what they like or dislike about a particular product, service or business. Word of Mouth still exists in its natural habitat though, and through the wildfire growth of social media, there’s unprecedented ways to measure and exploit marketing through Word of Mouth.

As a business owner, you are an advertiser whether you like it or not. And not taking control of the word of mouth around your brand is every bit as critical as mismanaging your books or inventory. Consumers, more often than not, give advice to close friends and family. Anybody know a good mechanic? A fair-priced plumber? A tasty pizza place? A trustworthy doctor? Good. You can put your hands down.

The marketing landscape has changed forever. Paying for a listing in the phonebook or even forking out cash for a custom website is not a marketing strategy. As part of that critical list of essentials that business owners have to be committed to, aggressive marketing should rank at the top. While it’s not easy, it’s not rocket science. If you want to catch the most or the biggest fish, you have to chum the water, bait your hooks and intelligently cast your net as far as possible. Eat what you catch or catch and release based on your desired quantity and quality of customers.

Cast Your Net

Get online – web presence is a must. A decent website created by someone who knows what they are doing is a must. Create a Facebook Business Page and Twitter Account. Claim free listings like Google Places – this is the interactive replacement for the phonebook for local businesses. Do searches for directories related to your business and location and claim any free listings available. Guerilla marketing: flyers in parking lots, door to door and community bulletin boards can be time intensive and a short-term strategy at best, but is an inexpensive way to push your brand.

Chum the Water

Tell your story. Not just what you do but where you came from. Why are you passionate about your business. Take pictures of your work. Create a branded YouTube channel for your business and video yourself and your staff. Put a face to the name. Show that you are human.Start a Blog. While keeping a clean “less-is-more” website is important, blogging can more than double your online reach and gives you and your customers a unique common forum. Blogging is also a great way to capture more testimonials and allow feedback regarding your business.

Bait & Hook

Get aggressive. Following the adage, “It takes money to make money,” take advantage of budget-based advertising like  PPC or targeted Facebook Ads. Many of the afore-mentioned tactics will do much to strengthen the SEO-friendliness of your online presence. Familiarize yourself with SEO practices; every business can benefit from promotions and special offers.  Special offers should be listed wherever you are listing your goods and services. In today’s deal-of-the-day world, consumers are more conditioned than ever to find the best deal and it can be a great way to generate customer traffic with low-risk. Print still works – especially when combined with online and social marketing, so don’t rule out local community newspaper ads or direct mail.

Stay Committed

Like so many other components of a small business success, it takes blood, sweat and tears. And unless you have the luxury of time, becoming a marketing expert is no easy feat. So think long and hard about doing it yourself or trusting it to professionals who can actually cut costs.

Google +1 button

As reported by Danny Sullivan on Search Engine Land today, Google’s +1 button for websites will be going live tomorrow, June 1st.

It remains unclear if the buttons will in turn link to any broader social sharing on Google itself. Right now, the only way those within your social network on Google will see what you’ve +1′d is if you have effectively created a fresh network just for this, deliberately chosen to expose your +1 activity, and if you’re friends know exactly where to look to see this. That’s a far cry from the ease that people can share what they like on Facebook with friends.

In somewhat related news, Twitter has just released a “Follow” button for web sites, which allows people to easily follow a site rather that just tweeting articles from it’

According to a 2010 study by web analytics firm Compete, three out of five consumers “always” or “often” search online before conducting a purchase. Only 6 percent of consumers do no research prior to making a purchase.

So how can a local business balance this need for strong, online visibility with proven forms of traditional advertising?

Marketing tools may produce one level of results when used alone or independent of each other. However, when you combine the tools into an integrated marketing plan—a cohesive symphony of marketing efforts with coordinated timing and consistent messaging—the synergy increases results dramatically. The explosion in new media combined with more traditional promotional platforms means that there are more opportunities than ever to create strategic integrated marketing plans.

For some insight and expert guidance you’re invited to download this free white paper -

Marketing 360: Developing an Integrated Marketing Plan .