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SMX “Local Search Marketing Tactics”

The session “Local Search Marketing Tactics” at SMX 2009 in Santa Clara looks at a variety of local search tactics that are not necessarily tied to your physical location’s listing.

Atif Rafiq from Yahoo pointed out the important of local search marketing. He focused on discoverability—making your business easier to find.

Santa Clara, California, United States

How to enhance discoverability?

  • Enhance listings in Yahoo Local -- Yahoo Local search is evolving within web search.
  • Use Search Monkey -- Search Monkey allows site owners and publishers to share structured data with Yahoo. Consumers can customize their search experience with enhanced results.
  • Geo-target a campaign to a specific area -- Keyword phrases and ad copy should include location of the business. It always good to integrate offers and promotions into the campaign.
Scott Dunlap's topic was related to "Tracking and Measuring Online/In-Store Shoppers." Most of people who shop online end up buying in a local store. The most important question is how you track traffic to conversion when people are finding you online, but make a purchase at a local store. Here are some solutions.
  • Get local data out by geo-locating product data for different stores
  • Use a concierge to gather visitor data online -- shoppers click and the store needs to call to verify in stock. Then the store will send a claim check for pick up.
  • Offer online coupon code for instore use
  • Implement bar code to online products so customers can print that off and come in with it to purchase from the store
  • Send out a post-purchase survey to customers
Matt McGee's topic was about "Hyperlocal Blogging." He emphasized the importance of local blogging.

Why local blogging is so important?

  • Growing interest in local stuff online
  • Traditional media declining
  • Local web sites often lacking
  • Search engines love good blogs
Because of all these factors above, local blogging is a way to take advantage of local search and turn this into an opportunity.

Few tips on local blogging

  • Find local events and use the events to blog about. This is the best way to push traffic flow to your website.
  • Use photos & video
  • Do basic SEO on posts
  • Don't overdo self-promotions
William Scott defined local search as location specific for goods and services. It often leads to an offline purchase. Local search is a long-tail search so it's easier for business that implements local search marketing tactics to rank high on SERPs.

How to maximize local listings with SEO?

  • Links to local profiles
  • Leverage social bookmarking -- Use social bookmarking to build links for local profiles
  • Keywords in title and ad copy
Dennis Yu discussed about how to do local search marketing when you are a local business with many different locations. He emphasized the importance of social media and use Facebook and MySpace ads for local search tactics. Facebook and MySpace ads normally produce higher quality traffic than traditional PPC, and business owners usually spend less per click. Twitter can also be used effectively to target local businesses. What you can do is to create a custom background for Twitter and use it to create trust with others and allow them to promote for you through social media marketing.

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Sales & Marketing Sales & Marketing USA & Canada United States California Santa Clara