December 18, 2017 | By:

How to Successfully Market Your Local Business Online

With today’s digital landscape, having an online presence is now considered a necessity for every business, regardless of size. Every smart business owner knows how important it is to take a digital approach to marketing their business in order to reach their target audience and gain visibility. If your business is not online, you’re missing out on a significant number of potential leads. If it is online, it could always be better.

For local and small businesses, online marketing can seem to be extremely overwhelming especially when working within a limited budget. The truth is, online marketing is a lot more cost-effective than traditional marketing methods, and there are many resources and tools that businesses can use for free. Here are some tips on how you can get started with marketing your local business online:

1. Set up a business website

A website can be used to accomplish a variety of marketing strategies—from showcasing and selling your products and services to gathering a customer list and establishing your brand identity and reputation, among many other things.

Building a simple website shouldn’t cost all that much. For a low fee, you can register your domain name and then use an open-source platform like WordPress to create a website or opt to outsource your web development needs to an agency. Google My Business also has a free tool called Website Builder which helps local businesses build a single-page website that can easily integrate with Google My Business accounts.

2. Submit your business to online directories

Many customers turn to online directories to find information about local businesses that they are looking for, just like how we used to look through the yellow pages of phone books back in the day. Registering your business in online directories is free and only takes a few minutes to set up.

Local listing sites such as Google My Business, Bing Places for Business, and Yahoo! Small Business are among the most popular business directories online. You only need to provide basic information about your business, such as your address, phone number, and business hours.

If you have a website already in place, search engines may have automatically listed your business from directories such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, The Real Yellow Pages, Angie’s List, and Thumbtack. All you need to do is claim your business from these directories and make sure your company information is correct.

3. Create social media profiles for your website

Social media is now a way of life for most people, which is why it’s important for businesses to include social media in their marketing strategy too. For local businesses, social media is among the most cost-effective marketing tools: it’s free, easy to use, and gives the opportunity to reach a worldwide audience with ease if you know what you’re doing.  

Each social media platform, however, has its own demographic of users and unique set of features and services. Knowing who your target market is and what services and products you offer will help you pick the most appropriate social media platform to use. For example, if you are selling handmade crafts, image-centric sites such as Instagram and Pinterest are your best choices. 

Social media can open many doors to opportunities for your local business. An example would be, for a very small amount, you can run ad campaigns on Facebook to boost engagement. People can also conveniently get in touch with you through your social media page, which is a good way to establish customer relationships.

4. Network with bloggers and local influencers for PR

Small and local business owners often struggle with getting the word out there that their business exists. Word-of-mouth marketing can still be applied digitally by networking with local influencers and bloggers to help you with press releases. PR is a powerful marketing tool to help your business generate publicity.

Social media is a good medium to find bloggers and influencers within your area. Look through their bios and location, and see if their niche is relevant to your products and services.

Bloggers accept sponsored posts, brand ambassadorship, and product reviews for a minimal cost. In return, you can also share their articles and promote their blogs; it’s a win-win situation for both parties.

The internet has made it far easier for many local businesses to get started with their marketing efforts. With the proper strategy and patience to learn the technicalities of digital marketing, you can successfully promote your local business online.

If you want to know more about marketing your business online, or if you’re interested in working with a reputable digital marketing agency in Fort Worth, Texas, give Ilfusion a call at 888-420-5115, or send us an email [email protected].

Tags: , , , ,

Categorized in: , , ,

Featured Articles

February 1, 2018 | By: Ilfusion Team

How To Start an SEO Campaign in 6 Steps

Starting a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaign can be tricky for any digital marketer. How do you begin? What is the most important element to implement? How do you know if it’s working? Don’t be overwhelmed, though. Starting an SEO... view more

September 26, 2017 | By: Tinny

5 Signs You Need to Hire a Marketing Agency

Marketing is a crucial part of your business strategy. It’s what keeps the gears turning and the driving force of your company’s sales. For small businesses, marketing is important in getting the word out there that your company exists and... view more

September 21, 2017 | By: Tinny

Key Advantages of Video Marketing for Your Growing Business

There has been a rise in the use of mobile devices to access the internet, and there are no signs of it slowing down anytime soon. In this era where most people thrive on living on the go, video marketing... view more

September 13, 2017 | By: Tinny

5 Things You Need to Know: Image Optimization for SEO

If you’re a company whose content strategy relies on images, or if your business blog is image-heavy, it’s high time for you to think about optimizing your images for SEO — if you haven’t done so already. While there isn’t... view more

August 2, 2017 | By: Tinny

Tips on How to Choose the Best Keywords for Your Website

When you have an SEO or PPC campaign, it all starts with one basic element: keyword research. Keywords are the driving force that enable web crawlers and indexers to find your page through the throngs of websites in the world-wide... view more

July 26, 2017 | By: Tinny

Top 3 Search Ranking Factors You Should Know About

Landing on the first page of Google’s search engine results is one of the ultimate marketing goals of many website owners. While Google is keeping mum on what exactly gets you to the top of their SERPs, there are factors... view more

June 28, 2017 | By: Tinny

The Importance of Social Media in SEO

Nowadays, social media has inarguably become an indispensable tool in any marketing strategy. SEO, of course, is also one of those tools that have evolved with the many trends and changes that has occurred through time. This leads marketers to... view more

April 27, 2017 | By: Tinny

5 Ways to Dominate Google’s Search Results in 2017

Here’s how to place your website at the top of search engine results. Creating a website that doesn’t rank well in Google’s search engine results page (SERP) doesn’t translate well to your overall business effort. In recent years, Google has... view more

July 2, 2015 | By: The Conductor

Let’s talk about “The Fold”

We hear it a lot; client feedback that is focused on what content is and is not “above the fold”. To be perfectly honest, this old newspaper term can be a cause of frustration when it comes to good user... view more

June 3, 2015 | By: The Doctor

The Turbit

This crazy ol’ world of ours is spinning faster and faster everyday. Not literally, as we would all be slung to our spacey-doom. I mean figuratively we are all moving more quickly and filling every moment with some bit of... view more

May 6, 2015 | By: Ilfusion Team

How Your Website Can Survive Mobilegeddon

Think your website is mobile friendly? Think again. Google’s new functionality changes have created a frantic need for websites to be optimized for mobile. Mobilegeddon is upon us, and your website could be at risk. See infographic below.

April 23, 2015 | By: El Jefe

Website Cost: A Day at the Ballpark

A question that I get on a regular basis (read: every day) is, “How much will my new website cost?”. To which I typically say something like, “Well, that varies based on the amount of work that’s required to complete... view more

April 7, 2015 | By: The Inventor

Are you a Webspammer?

SEO practices are very different today than how they were even just a few years ago. The number one key to ranking well in search engines today is to create unique quality content. First post it on your website or... view more

March 25, 2015 | By: Ilfusion Team

Social Media Happenings

Ilfusion loves to bring you news on the newest social media functions and trends. Recently, there have been three major happenings in the social media world. Meerkat, a new app that has risen to fame due to the 2015 music... view more

March 12, 2015 | By: The Conductor

The Big Picture

Whether you’re laser-focused on a specific project, or taking a comprehensive approach to your marketing efforts, one aspect doesn’t change: always look at the big picture. Companies often shop at least a few agencies when they’re considering engagement with an... view more