Internet Marketing Course BLOG

MarketingVOX
January 22, 2009

Dave’s Comments (Internet Marketing Course Blog): This overview by MarketingVOX of how consumers find and choose local small businesses is VERY interesting, especially if you are a bricks-and-mortar small business owner! The article basically says that consumers of local small business goods and services search for those services online, preferentially contact those businesses that have a Web presence AND can be found in a commonly used search engine (Google, Yahoo, MSN). If you’re a small business, it’s time to say, “Goodbye Yellow Pages (print AND online), Hello Google!”

“Though 63% of consumers and small business owners turn to the internet first for information about local companies and 82% use search engines to do so, only 44% of small businesses have a website.

What’s more, half spend less than 10% of their marketing budget online, according to research from Webvisible and Nielsen (via MarketingCharts).

The research, undertaken to learn how internet users find local businesses from which to purchase products or services, finds an accelerating trend toward online media for local search. At the same time, it uncovers a significant disconnect between the way small business owners act as consumers vs. the way they market their businesses online. Webvisible calls this disparity “the great divide.”

Tools for Finding Local Business

The survey found search engines, by a large margin, are the most popular source for finding local information.

The list of top sources for local information:
82% use search engines (such as Google, Yahoo, or MSN).
57% use Yellow Pages directories.
53% use local newspapers.
49% use Internet Yellow Pages (such as yellowpages.com or superpages.com)
49% use TV.
38% use direct mail.
32% White Pages directories
Of those surveyed, 50% said search engines (such as Google, Yahoo, or MSN) were the first place they looked when seeking a local business, while 24% chose the Yellow Pages directories.

Overall Satisfaction with Search High

An overwhelming majority of searchers (92%) are happy with the results they get when using search engines, despite the fact that 39% report frequently not being able to locate a particular known business. Webvisible said this means that while searchers don’t always find the specific business (no online advertising/no website, etc.), they may choose to contact a similar business with a stronger online presence.”

Read the entire article online by clicking on the following link:

‘Great Divide’ Separates Small Biz, Online Consumers

Technorati Tags:Business, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Web Marketing

Link to: Internet Marketing Course

by Dave Ingalls
Internet Marketing Course Blog

We ALL know how important backlinks are to the ranking of our Web pages by the major crawler-based search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc.). Backlinks, also known as incoming links, inbound links, inlinks, and inward links, are links from Web pages on other Web sites to pages on your Web site.

And I’m sure MANY of us have felt the frustration of searching Google and Yahoo with our keyword phrases and finding that one or more of our competitors rank HIGHER than we do for that phrase!

So what do you do about it? I just had what an old boss of mine called a “BGO” (Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious) on this very subject!

Here’s a neat little trick I recently pieced together (I’m sure I’m not the first to do so!) while I was updating the “Linking Strategies” information on my Internet Marketing Course Web site:

Go to GOOGLE, enter one of your keyword phrases, and note the top search results of your COMPETITORS.

Now go to YAHOO Site Explorer and enter the Web page address (URL) of your competitor’s top ranking Web page in Google for that important keyword phrase.

Click the “Explore URL” button.

Next, click on the “Inlinks” button, and choose “Except from this domain” from the drop down menu.

You will then be presented with a list of Web pages that link back to that well-ranking Web page of your competitor. It’s Yahoo’s list of backlinks, not Google’s, but if Yahoo’s found them, you can be sure that Google has as well.

Now go thru that list and look for likely candidate Web sites that might also be interested in linking to a page on your Web site.

Also, before sending your backlink request, be sure to find the link to your competitor’s Web page from the target Web site so you can craft your request in a similar fashion to what already exists.

Technorati Tags:Business, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Web Marketing

Link to: Internet Marketing Course