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Google and Yahoo both offer online
promotion programs that are especially beneficial to small
business people and real estate agents. Taking advantage
of these inexpensive programs is an excellent means of
promoting products and services to your local marketplace.
To begin, all small businesses should have an online
presence. And if your market is primarily localized, you
should run (not walk) to both Google and Yahoo to leverage
programs created for people just like you.
Let's take a look at Google first. They offer a real
bargain - a free local listing! In style and content, this
is similar to what you pay for in the Verizon Superpages.
Just go to their Local Business Center at www.google.com/local/add/login.
If you don't have a Google account, you will have to
establish one (it's free). After that, simply enter your
company (or agent) information and select a category for
its classification. Google will mail you a postcard with a
confirmation pin number that must then be entered online
to activate your listing. Once your local listing is
active, people within your community who perform searches
within your category using Google Local search have a good
chance of discovering your business. Your listing includes
all the information necessary to contact you (even a
map!).
Next, take advantage of Google's AdWords pay-per-click (PPC)
advertising for local searches by specifying that your ad
(s) only appear for searches originated within your city
or region. Google provides a lot of flexibility in
selecting when you want your ad to appear. Go to http://adwords.google.com
for more information.
Yahoo offers some good stuff too. They provide a free
basic local listing, but you are better off signing up for
the enhanced local listing, offered for $9.95 monthly. Go
to http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/local/ll.php
for details.
Rather than PPC ads, Yahoo offers a local sponsored
listing. This appears on the search results page as a
highlighted listing when your keywords match a search
initiated within 25-100 miles of your location. Much like
PPC ads, you are only charged when someone actually clicks
on your listing's link. Yahoo doesn't offer as much
flexibility as Google AdWords in allowing you to modify a
listing, but a Yahoo local sponsored listing is
nonetheless a good deal that can send qualified prospects
your way. See http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/local/ls.php
for details.
As with all online promotion, it pays to carefully
construct your ads or listings. Just remember - choose
your keywords wisely and write your ads so that you only
get click-throughs from qualified prospects. Otherwise,
you could see your advertising budget quickly wither away
without achieving any sales. Fortunately, both Yahoo and
Google have good tools to assist you in this endeavor.
Both the Google and Yahoo local promotions are easy to set
up - all you need is a credit card and some idea of how
much you want to spend monthly. Both have good monitoring
tools to help you measure your keyword and effectiveness.
Google also provides free centralized tracking for Yahoo
ads as well, so you can monitor your advertising results
all in one place.
One last thing. The Verizon Superpages offers a free
listing too. Go to https://my.superpages.com/spweb/portals/customer.portal
to sign up. Definitely take advantage of this. Verizon
also offers an enhanced listing, but it's expensive.
Hence, be sure you will benefit from it before committing
yourself.
In summary, localized online promotions are a bonanza for
small businesses and Realtors. They provide local
advertising in an economic fashion, offering a
cost-effective means of reaching your target audience. So
don't hesitate - with a little effort, you could see your
sales double or even triple within a short period of time!
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