Local Business Online Marketing: Increase Your Exposure Today

Are you searching for local business online marketing tips? You’re in luck.

In the business world, your exposure means everything. It’s actually a pretty simple concept to understand. The more people that are aware of what your business has to offer, the better.

Assuming your business offers a quality product line or service, marketing is essentially a numbers game. What is your current marketing strategy?

If you haven’t yet implemented internet marketing into your strategy, now is the time.

Can the Internet Help?

You’re here today because you’re interested in learning a few local business online marketing strategies. First of all, congratulations on your entrepreneurial drive. This rare trait will assuredly help you build your business efficiently.

Billionaire Microsoft mogul Bill Gates recently made an interesting comment regarding internet marketing. And considering this man’s success, his remarks may be worth listening to.

Bill Gates said, if your business is not on the internet, your business will be out of business. This is an incredibly interesting quote that will continue to ring true. So how do you go about implementing local business online marketing strategy?

Setting up Shop

When looking to jump into the internet marketing realm, first thing is first; set up shop. Like your office or store in the real world, a website/blog on the internet is your home base and work shop.

This is where you will house all of the necessary information regarding your company. Efficiently maintaining a website or blog will allow your business to establish an online presence and garner a following.

But how?

When the modern consumer, locally or globally, is interested in making a purchase of some kind, they consult the internet. Through the power of search engines, such as Google or Bing, these consumers locate the products/services they need.

This a major reason as to why the internet is so incredibly useful. When an internet surfer types in a given search query, Google’s predetermined algorithm does its best to produce the most appropriate results. Because of this, you can do some local business online marketing by creating web content that targets popular search terms in your industry.

As an example, let’s say I own a local Pizza shop and I live in San Diego. A popular search term in your area might be ‘San Diego Pizza Delivery’.

If I write a blog post using that search term, the odds of my website ranking on the first page of Google increase dramatically. This strategy is referred to as SEO; or search engine optimization.

Expedite the Process

While running a website/blog and SEO can be efficient local business online marketing strategies, getting started can take some time. In order to rank on the first page of Google, you have to post your content on an authority website.

A new domain name is not aged enough to be considered an authority. As you can see, starting from scratch can be tough.

Luckily for local business owners, there are some programs allows you to promote your business on their aged domain/authority blog for a relatively low price. Alternatively, if you’re looking to implement a local business online marketing strategy fast you can purchase an aged domain. This will cost you more than buying a new one but you’ll have the advantage of being able to rank in the search engine more quickly.

15 More Press Release Writing Rules For Better Exposure

In my last article I shared 15 tips for effective media release writing.  I understand that to the business owner writing a press release might seem like a daunting task at first to you. However, with a little knowledge and practice you will be able to write a news release that gets results. So in addition to the previous 15 tips I shared with you, we’ve developed 15 more guidelines for writing and distributing your press release.

1. Include Company Information – If your company is going to take the time to write a news article, you should probably take the time to write a paragraph about the company. This gives the reporters a little background information on the business and qualifies the source of information.

2. Interest Your Audience – Keep your audience and the publications readers in mind. Before writing your press release you should consider why the news matters to them. Ask yourself if you’d want to read the press release, if you were in their shoes.

3. Compelling Headlines – Just like the rest of your marketing, you need a headline that will catch the attention of your intended audience (in this case the news editor). It will likely be the first thing the editor reads. If it doesn’t catch his attention, it will also be the last.

4. Personalize The Angle – As soon as possible, you should provide your personal angle. The personal angle on the news is usually what is getting your organization plugged in the story. An effective way to do this is by utilizing quotes from well-known or qualified individuals.

5. Keep Up-To-Date – News by its very nature should be current. If the news in your release is outdated you shouldn’t be sending it. Yesterday’s news is today’s history.

6. Build Credibility – Quotes from your company’s senior executives should do. News releases are taken a much more seriously when the boss’s name is on the line.

7. Condense The News – You should try to tell the entire story in the first paragraph. The rest of the release can contain more details. But it’s nice to know that if everything else is cut, you still got your main points across. Being “top heavy” is a good thing.

8. Positive Perception – If the local community could perceive your news in a negative manner, you should take extra care to highlight the potential positives of the announcement.

9. Deal With Facts – News articles should include factual information. Leave the opinions for the editorial column. It is OK, however, to include quotes that feature opinions.

10. Appropriate Demographics – If you have an executive that better matches the demographics of your target audience, it is a good idea to use their quotes in the story. For example, a magazine on women’s business is much more likely to run a story, with a female spokesperson.

11. Get Permission – When including individual’s quotes in your press release it’s always a good idea to get permission. Verbal permission is always that is usually required, but this can prevent future problems as well as clarify any misunderstandings.

12. Make Yourself Reachable – Provide a specific contact person with a phone number where they can be reached. Don’t make contacting you a challenge. In fact it’s a good idea to include an email address, web address, and fax number as well.

13. Relate to Popular Topics – One method that can earn you coverage is link your news, organization, or business to popular news. Many news stories do nothing more than explain how a particular industry is affected by something else that happened.

14. Show Professionalism – Using a professional layout and avoid sloppiness to indicating seriousness. Understanding and abiding by industry standards for writing press releases is a great start. For example, always write your press releases in the 3rd person and end your press releases with “-30-” or “XXX”.

15. Verify Accuracy – When it comes to numbers, names, and locations it’s easy to make mistakes. You should always double-check everything to avoid embarrassing mistakes.

If you apply these rules for improving your media releases, you substantially increase the chance of your media release being published. To discover even more ways to improve your press release writing you should read these press release rules.

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