The Niche Marketing Blog

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An often overlooked, and under written, subject in niche marketing is the home-based business. Today’s article focuses on location based marketing for the home-based business owner.

Geo Tracking or location based marketing is a relatively new social media platform that allows small business owners to engage and reward their customers. Home based business owners have different concerns for safety and promotions than those small business owners that operate a store front.

Three tips for using location based marketing as a home based business owner:

1. If you are a home based business you must use your own discretion on deciding if you will participate in listing your business on the various location based marketing sites. Remember, social media is about “compound friending” so friends of friends will see that they are at your business and know where you are located. If you meet with clients at a public place consider using that address. Encourage your clients to sign in for their outdoor fitness class or program.
2. You can still reward your customers by using Merchant Circle coupons, Twitter Coupons or other various applications. Do you have a referral or rewards program? As a home based business owner you can encourage loyalty by having a rewards program. It is ok to let your customers know that you appreciate their loyalty. You may offer a program where after so many purchases they get an item for free or receive a discount. Incorporate a discount day. You can use social networking to promote a product or discount on a certain day of the week such as Twitter Tuesday and provide a discount for your Twitter followers or Facebook Friday for your Facebook followers.
3. If you are a home based business owner you can still actively participate in location based marketing. Use this as an opportunity to promote other business owners and engage them in conversation. Use it as a rapport building tool or use it to keep an eye on the competition. Review what your competitor who has a store front is offering.

Location based marketing is growing. Is your business ready to embrace this new avenue to promote your business online? Are you ready to let your loyal customers help you promote your business by increasing your online presence? When you employ my three tips for the home based business owner you will be able to make the decision that is right for you and your small business.

Jaynine Howard is a retired United States Marine and former psychotherapist. She is the owner of Dream Catcher Business & Life Coaching. Founded in 2006, Dream Catcher Business & Life Coaching helps business owners, nonprofits, and individuals nationally and internationally turn their dreams into wealth and success. Coach Jaynine and her team of associate coaches will help you jump start your business and life through business, career, and life coaching. Jaynine is a member of the Jacksonville-Onslow Chamber of Commerce, the Carteret Chamber of Commerce, the American Psychological Association, 24/7 Coaching, and Coachville. You can learn more about Dream Catcher by visiting http://coachjaynine.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jaynine_Howard

http://EzineArticles.com/?Geo-Tracking,-Location-Based-Marketing-and-the-Home-Based-Business-Owner&id=5151844

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Technorati Tags: Home business, location-based marketing, niche marketing strategy, Small business

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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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More articles for you to read:

How Local Search Works in 2010

This year, 34 local search marketers, small business owners, web developers, etc., have contributed thoughts and opinions on what matters most when it comes to ranking in the Google 7-pack, Yahoo’s local business listings, …

Publish Date: 06/07/2010 8:30

http://www.smallbusinesssem.com/how-local-search-works-in-2010/3338/

Local Search – This Isn’t Your Daddy’s Internet | Practical Local …

Local Search – This Isn’t Your Daddy’s Internet. By Richard Geasey. Related Articles. How Local Search Marketing works | Local SEO Tutorial · Does the Internet show the true colors of your business? Share/Bookmark …

Publish Date: 06/07/2010 13:06

http://practicallocalsearch.com/local-search-this-isnt-your-daddys-internet/

Technorati Tags: internet marketing, local search, Scott Spooner, Search Engine Optimization, Small business