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By Scott Spooner
The other day I was having lunch with one of my clients when he mentioned that he had just received an email from a large “Internet marketing company” that was pitching “local search”. The email claimed that my client would be able to secure Page 1 rankings, for any keyword, in the major search engines, by simply adding the name of the local community to the keyword phrase.
My client asked me what I thought about this. I told him that I thought it was a waste of his money. Let me explain.
I have worked with many clients to set-up and optimize their local search programs. Local search is a valuable service, but only if you have a physical, brick-and-mortar, type of business. This particular client has an on-line presence only; there is no physical location. As such, they are looking for customers without reference to any particular locale.
Since their customers can arrive from any point on the Internet, and since they will never stop by any storefront, it doesn’t matter if the “store” is located in California or Kalamazoo.
For that reason, and for this particular client, local search won’t really buy them any more traffic because the frame of reference of the customer is on the product, not the location.
So, if you are considering setting up a local search program (or having someone do it for you), take a moment to decide whether or not local search will bring you any benefits. If you sell exclusively on-line, you can skip local search (and mobile marketing as well, but that’s another topic). If you have a physical location, and can benefit from walk-in traffic, then local search isn’t only desirable for your business, it is becoming mandatory.
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LaShanda, the Web Tech Gurl, talks about niche marketing and how you can find your target market online. This short video focsues on business fundamentals, and offers good tips for any niche marketer.