If you are the owner of a local business, you are probably suffering from a drop in demand for your products or services as a result of the economic recession our country has been suffering from for the past few years. In fact statistics show that small local businesses are making 30{647aec8ab64035edf0afc86209c5078c3e68e7e342959ce73efc669d6cb5b50f} to 50{647aec8ab64035edf0afc86209c5078c3e68e7e342959ce73efc669d6cb5b50f} less than they were just a few years ago.
Some of the businesses that comprise this statistic include- plumbers, dentists, locksmiths, restaurants, cosmetic surgeons, accountants, carpet cleaners, contractors and landscapers, to name but a few.
Traditional Marketing Doesn’t Work Anymore
The fact of the matter is that the marketing techniques that were solid and reliable for local businesses to use to reach their market in the past are no longer working. This means Golden Pages ads, newspapers and other types of hard copy advertising are simply not bringing in business. That’s because people simply don’t use them anymore.
Businesses that are still using such outdated forms of advertising are throwing away thousands and thousands of dollars on ineffective marketing every month. If you are one of those people still investing in such ads, ask 10 people where their copy of the Golden Pages is. Most can’t tell you or will tell you that they put it in the recycling bin shortly after it arrived. What does that tell you about the money you are spending?
Consumers are looking more and more to the Internet to find information about the services and products they are seeking, even locally. Therefore if businesses want to reach new customers they simply have to have a quality Internet presence. And that does not mean just a lame website that a kid could have put together!
Today’s websites that rank well are well thought out, interesting, personable and informative. They utilize a variety of savvy online marketing techniques in order to stand out from their competitors. If you have a site with no keywords in it and almost no backlinks, you are missing the boat and will never get to the top of the search engine results.
