Webinar: Common Local Search Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)

jennifer — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:43:26 +0000

Started off yesterday morning with a local search webinar with Gregg Stewart of 15miles. First off, I really like how they came up with their name – which happens to be a great tidbit about local search.

More Useful Factoids

The name “15 miles” refers to the fact that roughly 80% of consumer purchases to happen within 15 miles of their home.

Local search grew 46% this last year while general searches grew at 31%

After searching, consumer activity breaks down to look like this: 46% contacted business via phone, 37% visited the location, 11% used online contact

What Kind of Local Strategy?
Another strong point that Gregg brought up that was many businesses don’t have a comprehensive view of their online marketing strategy. As he put it, it’s not an either/or but an and strategy. This includes efforts in paid search, organic search, internet yellow pages, social media and mobile content. Just because you’re doing well in one segment doesn’t mean that you should scale back or ignore the other ones. The most successful businesses will realize the benefit of having a wide-ranging plan of attack to stand out against their competitors.

Resources for Local Search

If you haven’t already, there are many resources that you can take advantage of in starting your local search campaign. Gregg recommends: internet yellow pages, major search engines, Angie’s list, local search sites (Citysearch/Yelp), industry related blogs (including your local chamber of commerce) and more. Here’s a handy list of tools from Duct Tape Marketing.

Direct Marketing » local search

Webinar: Common Local Search Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)