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The Web Is Going Local

The web is constantly changing.  That’s a constant.  Everywhere you look people are talking about web 2.0, social media, etc.

One of the trends I’ve been paying careful attention to is the rise in Internet use for local businesses.  I’ve been working with several local clients, and the results they achieve online is nothing short of amazing.

Just this morning I read an article about a restaurant with an email list of 1,667 subscribers who regularly has 300 people respond by using a coupon in their email offers.  That’s close to an 18% sales conversion rate for one email a month.  You can read more about that here…

Most “expert” online based businesses would be hard pressed to get an 18% sales conversion from an email list. 

The web is moving local.  Local businesses who are getting in early are dominating their marketplaces using local pay-per-click and pay-per-call strategies. 

If you’re new to looking at local online marketing, pay-per-call might be a new term to you.  It’s simply a pay-per-click strategy where you only pay per phone call to your company instead of per click to your website.  Most local businesses are more comfortable with the phone than the web, so it’s a quickly expanding option. 

As this is definitely one of my interests, you can look forward to more updates and articles on local online marketing in the future.  In fact, I’ve even teamed up with Sharon Odom Fling from http://www.geolocal.net/blog/ to put together an upcoming CD training series about this subject. 

On it, we’re even covering how webmasters and online marketers can get into the local action and take advantage of this trend.  A large number of people looking to start their own business go after “internet marketing” which is the most crowded overhyped market there is in my opinion.  Local online marketing is virtually untapped in many areas.

So while everyone is talking about Web 2.0 and how the overall web is changing, don’t miss the changes that are taking place on the local level.  The results are often surprising if you haven’t been paying attention.

Written by Terry · Filed Under All 

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Comments

3 Responses to “The Web Is Going Local”

  1. Shaune Clarke on January 11th, 2007 10:38 pm

    Hi Terry,

    I did an interview today with a client who has a new brick and mortar store. I was interviewing him for the copy he needs for his new website, etc.

    His words…

    “We’re getting customers from our site. I’ve done a search on myself and realize that I need to be in that top 3.

    (He entered his company name, city and state)

    It really made an impression on me that he had done a local search — that it was that “known” to do that.

    I asked him about the Yellow Pages — Both Online and Offline — to him “Internet Presence” was much more significant.

    I mentioned this experience to a colleague.

    He says,

    “Oh yeah, a friend of mine with a prefab homes business was saying the same thing — customers coming on the lot having been to his website first. He wanted more.”

    Business owners are “feeling” how the Internet can fuel their local business.

    A bit more…

    I mentioned it to my girlfriend who said that many of her co-workers use Google to find local businesses.

    Again, I didn’t realize it was so popular to do so.

    Whoa… forget Web 2.0!

    Very wise you are Mr. Dean.

    Shaune

  2. Terry on January 12th, 2007 8:57 am

    Hi Shaune,

    I’m very pleased to see you lurking around here. Just recently I went to one of your websites, and your copy was so engrossing that I read every word of the site.

    That doesn’t happen often as I consider myself a professional skimmer. Yet, you made such a connection I wasn’t able to skim yours at all.

    Bravo for you.

    Anyway, I definitely appreciate your comment and your valuable addition to the local business angle.

    Terry

  3. Rebecca on September 9th, 2008 6:51 am

    Would love to view Shaune’s website…just to see such compelling copy.

    Thanks,

    Rebecca

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