So you want better local results from your Internet marketing?   To do that, you need to make the search engines know that you are local and the one they want to feature. To do that, you need help from other sources.

My 5 quick and easy local Internet Marketing Tips.

• Let it be known that you are local.  Name your city or neighborhood in articles and in the tags on your website/blog. Don’t stuff it, but reference the city or your neighborhood whenever possible in the article.
• Make sure your Google Places is filled out with all the information.  Street, service area, photos, video, coupons, etc…
• Join local business organizations that have an active website and membership directory.  Fill out your membership information completely. That includes your location and make sure it is accurate in their website. Include links back to your website/blog. Check it often.
• Get a Gravatar and Use it!  These are avatars connected with your email address. When you log onto a website to post a comment or a review and use your email address, the gravatar will often times show up with a link back to your website.
• Comment, offer reviews, opinions on other websites.  A great example of this is Yahoo Ask.  In there, you can answer other peoples questions with reference to your city.  “Here in Las Vegas, I use…”  Plus cite a local website, (even yours) as a source for your answer.  Making sure your Yahoo profile is properly filled out with the location.

The idea is to get other location based websites to point back to your website.  The better the website the link is coming from, the better the link, the better Google likes it and will use that information in the search engine rankings.

Groupon is a 18 month old Internet company that connects your business to the consumer.  They send out one email a day with a tremendous offer from a local business.  Usually 50% off of whatever you want to offer.  Once enough people signal they want it, the deal is on.  The customer gets the coupon, Groupon gets the money and the customer information.  You get access to a bunch of new customers and about 50% of what Groupon collects.

(See today’s Vegas Groupon deal)

Google wants it and rumors say they are paying around $5 billion for it while it’s street value is about $2 billion.   Squawk on the street goes both ways, my take is that its a bargain at that price and Google wants to make sure they get the prize.

Why?

• Google knows the value of local search.  The ability to deliver emails to the local community is the way to go.
• Name Value.  Google is known as a search engine and a business marketing company.  Not a consumer marketing organization.  The consumer knows and trusts the Groupon name, it’s emails get opened and read.
• Google would be buying an established brand, like they did with YouTube.  Not having to start from scratch or by buying a copycat.
• There are copycats cutting into Groupon’s market.  Most are owned by the local news media organizations and they are selling to a smaller audience who sees it for what they are, desperate.   It’s the original and Google will enhance the brand.

I see Google using what they already have in local search algorithms being matched with the Groupon knowledge base and growing it from there.  Meaning your profile at Google Places will become even more important to your Internet marketing success.

Aside the fact that Groupon cuts a mean deal with the merchants in exchange for the customers it can bring you as well as the exposure, Groupon is a business model designed for the future.

Don’t believe me?  They are in 35 countries and growing.  Able to send out one email a day from one LOCAL merchant.  That’s a lot of cities, a lot of days to fill up and a lot of merchants wanting in on their list.  Local search is important.

Groupon’s success proves to the small business/merchant that the the Internet is no longer this big, wide open, wild-wild west of a place.  It can now be successfully tamed for the local small business person wanting to market right to their neighborhood. That’s a big deal for you and a big advantage to you when competing with the “big boys” of your marketplace.

To those business owners who have held out on building a website or adding a blog to their website, this is a wake up call that you need to get online and get local.  That you need to market on the internet and to include local Internet marketing strategies to compete and to survive.

Need Help with Your Local Internet Marketing?  Call Me (702) 443-7015

Hope This Helps
Mark Anthony