In our technologically savvy age, online advertising is simply the quickest, most efficient means to connect with potential clients. When in need of a specific product or service, most people turn to the Internet to locate the most reputable business in their geographical location. Search engines have now made it even easier to find local businesses by using your current location within the search.

What does this mean for businesses? There is a three-fold method for local businesses to take advantage of the birth of the digital advertising age: Search Engine Optimization, local search, and social media.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Any business that wants to stay competitive in the digital age needs to create and maintain a solid Web presence. This begins with your Web site; however, a cookie-cutter design and sparse content will not grab your audience’s attention.

Search Engine Optimization is a process developed to increase your site’s visibility by raising it through the natural (organic) listings on search engine results pages (SERPs). By achieving a rank within the top three spots on the most popular search engines—Google, Bing, Yahoo!—more potential clients will be able to find you and become your paying customers.

Local Listings
Search engines like Google and Bing have created local listing pages that give you another opportunity, in addition to your site, to reach out to your customers. Local listings present your clients with quick bits of crucial information about your business—name, location, business hours—along with a link to your site.

Obtaining a local listing is simple and can give you more of the attention your business craves. Consider the local listings as gateways to your site and, by clicking the link, customers are traveling the digital driveway to your home(page).

Social Media
With the advent of social media outlets, people are becoming more and more accustomed to interacting with friends, family, and businesses through the Internet. Your potential clients enjoy this interaction and expect to find your presence through Facebook updates and Twitter tweets. Whether they have already concluded their business with you or are just beginning their search, your social media profile can help you connect with and retain a relationship with customers.

Social media outlets are also excellent ways to promote your business by simply existing. In other words, through word-of-text advertising, previous clients can easily direct their friends—your future clients—to your profile, and you’ll be instantly connected. And best of all, it’s free!

The ways of traditional marketing campaigns have fallen to the wayside and online marketing has taken its place. With so many people using the Internet to find the products and services they need in their local area, businesses need to invest their time and money into the digital age. Solidify your online presence with SEO, local listings, and social media.

Becky Raichur
V.P. SonicSEO.com
Albuquerque SEO and Internet Markerting