Internet marketing is one of the most important types of marketing you can utilize as a small business owner, and one of the least expensive; yet many small businesses are not using this vital resource nearly to the extent they should.
Since the majority of small businesses owners are not leveraging the power of local search marketing in their advertising campaigns, your business will be at a tremendous advantage over your local competitors. You will be seen as the “expert” in your city for your products and services, ensuring consistent businesses growth for years to come.
With a little work, you can easily dominate your local market online, increasing your customer volume each month, without the hassle and expense of pricey radio & TV ads, billboards, or other “traditional” means of advertising.
Did you know…
- 63% of Americans have substituted the internet and local search for phone books
- Yellow Page usage has dropped 55% since 1999 and continues to do so by 4% every year
- 84% of searchers are looking online for a local business
- 73% of online activity is related to local content
- 74% of computer users perform searches for local products and services
- 82% of local searches result in an in-store visit, phone call, or purchase
- The site ranked at the top of search results gets 42% of all clicks
But…
- Only 44% of small businesses have a website
- 50% of small businesses spend under 10% of their marketing budget online
What does this mean for you as a small business owner?
The number one ranked site in Google gets 42% of searched traffic. Are you getting this business, or is your competition? 39% of internet users report being unable to find a particular known business online, so even your current customers may be looking online for you in vain.
If almost 75% of your potential customers are using Google to find you, yet your business is invisible to them, your customers are buying from your competitors instead of you every month. The good news is that by optimizing your online presence for local search results, you can easily tap into a huge resource of new customers who are already searching for you.
So how important is internet marketing to your local business? As you can see, it’s pretty damn important!
