Dec 29 2008
Marketing your site… Local Search or Search Engine?
When creating your advertising campaign you might find yourself asking yourself this question… To answer this question ask yourself another series of questions.
- What areas can I provide service to?
- National - Google, Yahoo, MSN - You probably should look into some sort of SEM program.
- Local / Metro Area / County / 3 - State Area - Superpages, Google Local, Yellow Pages, Yahoo Local, MSN Local - Look into a small budget Pay Per Click $50 - $1000… Or Fixed Fee Local Search listings.
- Can I afford more than $1500 in marketing expenses for my online advertising? - If you can’t do a targeted Local Search. If you can then do a National SEM with conversion tracking.
- Is my site user friendly? - If yes then follow the criteria in the first question if not then please work on your site and then determine your marketing budget for the year and refer to question one…
With that said Local Search is mainly focused on advertisers whom only service a local area or a national company who can provide local services. National Search or best said as Search Engines are best used with a national company who does a product based business and can ship nationally or internationally. A national company can also used Search Engines for branding purposes. Local Search Benefits:
- Local Appeal - Customer feel more comfortable with you when they can see that you are a local company.
- Top Ranking for low monthly cost.
- Targeted Ads - Focus only on the clients you can serve.
National Search Benefits:
- Large amounts of traffic - Get your brand known!, Potential to sell ad space on your site.
- Targeted to your potential client base - Target Demographically
- Listed on well known search engines
