Archive for the ‘Small Business’ category

Local Businesses Look to Internet to Help Maximize Reach

March 5th, 2010

Are SEO Agencies Meeting Local Business Needs? 

In a recent post I  joked about all the different ways I use a phone book besides actually looking for a phone number. While I’m not perusing for phone numbers in a book, I wonder if the same holds true for most households.  Are local businesses catching on to the internet as a method of local business searching? 

As recently as a few years ago, you’d have to be specific in your searching to find the right business. Yahoo and Google crawlers did not pick up on the locality of the user conducting the search. Because I live in Utah, if I wanted to throw my five-year-old son a birthday bash at Chuck E. Cheese’s I made sure I entered in the search field: “Chuck E. Cheese’s Salt Lake City”. It wasn’t terribly cumbersome but I do appreciate that all I have to do now is just enter Chuck E. Cheese’s.

Interent searching is smarter today. Nothing can be easier than just entering the type of service, or the exact name of the business and voila, results are split second fast (at least on my cable connection), and thanks to Google Maps I can see the location and contact information of the business in proximity to my location. If local businesses are not already trying to tap how they can boost exposure through  ever-popular local search methods, they soon will be.

The question is are these small businesses going to take the time to cite their business on internet directories and regularly conduct DIY SEO? Business owners may soon realize the work it takes to get a high listing on Google Maps and will be reaching out to an SEO agency for help. Perhaps these businesses will have the budget to have an outside consultant get them to where they want to be. An SEO agency may have a range of plans that fit the needs of different types of clients.

If you are an SEO agency and offer local businesses an SEO consulting plan, can you commit the resources to this emerging market and still maintain favorable margins? At Boostability we’re aware that high-performing and reputable SEO agencies retain top talent to effectively manage their clients’ needs. What may be challenging is meeting expectations for local businesses with smaller budgets. 

Our main goal at Boostability is to provide the tools necessary to cut through the tediousness of cumbersome SEO tasks. Our campaign management software is designed to address multiple domains with clear cut automated workflow for each of them. SEO analysts can log in to the tool online and follow the set of instructions.  SEO agency managers can view the progress their analysts are making and provide input.

In addition, our software tool includes centralized dashboards and reporting that can be accessed internally to review campaign status.  Clients may also have access to reporting to follow the progress of their campaign.

If you want to learn more about how our suite of tools can help create additional business opportunities please contact us at sales@boostability.com

End of an Era: Yellow Book, Dead?

February 4th, 2010

101 Ways to Use a Phone Book

Last time I flipped through a thick yellow book to find help was over 10 years ago. This was a result of my being new to town and embarrassed about driving around without a muffler. I remember scanning the pages in the automobile section looking for service shops. There was AAA Muffler & Brakes, AAA Muffler Man, Midas, and Tank’s Mufflers ‘N’ Donuts (just kidding about the last one – but can you imagine the combination?).

There must have been 50-plus local services. It was hard to know which one to pick. Beyond the cheap “triple-A” tactics to nudge for first place in service name listings, paying a little extra for bold red font, or a few eye-catching star stamps, I wanted to know about their reputations, prices and wait-times. 

Turning the next page I saw quarter-page ads. These shops pay a lot more for their heightened exposure, adding graphics and wordage to attract me.  They listed benefits, spelled out guarantees and, on some layouts, pasted Hot Rod cover models holding mufflers in one hand while adjusting stilettos in the other hand.  

Times have certainly changed. While yellow books still get regularly tossed on my driveway, they serve different purposes, such as:

  • A booster seat for my young’ins
  • An x-treme fly swatter
  • Last resort toilet paper

I have bookshelves overflowing with editions and I need to pare down. Can spring-cleaning come any sooner?

These days, for mufflers and much more I turn to the Internet and I bet you do too. The Internet has become so much more effective at finding a local business I need.

An article published by  David Clarke, an Internet marketing consultant, former Yellow Pages sales rep, and obvious Brit, explores the current challenges small businesses (SMB) face with their marketing plans. Should SMB continue to spend chunks of their budgets on ads in phone directories that modern society may not cracking? 

Check it out at: http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/internet-marketing-vs-yellow-pages-529254.html

To learn more about our local online marketing services visit us at boostability.com

–JK