Home
>
Small Business
>
Online Search: Small Businesses Level The Playing Field

Online Search: Small Businesses Level The Playing Field

Seventy percent of US households use the web when shopping locally, and about 25 percent of all searches are looking for local information. As more and more households make the switch to broadband connections, this trend will continue to escalate.

Search engines have eclipsed print and TV ads as the primary way consumers find local products and services. But until now large national and international brands had a stranglehold on Internet search marketing. Only they had the manpower or outside resources to plan and implement a multiple site, online search marketing program.

Why should your business get into the online search pay-per-click (PPC) arena? Let's do the math. A recent US Bancorp Piper Jaffray study indicates that the average lead from a search engine costs $0.29. Yellow pages and direct mail leads cost $1.18 and $9.94 respectively. So, a search engine delivers four leads for the price of one Yellow Page lead and 34 for the cost of a single direct mail lead.

But that is not all. PPC advertising:
- expands your market
- targets more, higher income consumers
- is measurable

Some businesses will look for ways NOT to take advantage of this opportunity. I don't have a website, they whine. How will I figure out which sites I should advertise on? How will I manage all those keywords across multiple sites?

Google and Yahoo! answer some of those questions. If you do online PPC with either, they will distribute your ads across multiple sites. However, you'll still have to manage much of the program yourself.

New services are now available that allow small local and regional companies to effectively and efficiently hook customers online and only in the geographic areas where the businesses operate.

ReachLocal is my favorite of the new services. It is the one I'm using for my own business and for that of my clients. It selects the sites on which your ads appear, manages keywords across publishers, optimizes your keywords on a daily basis and even provides a free website for those businesses without a web presence. Additionally, it makes all of your leads measurable. You get daily reports on web visits, emails and telephone calls generated by your program.

PPC is perfect for high cost local transactions such as home purchases, mortgages, or medical services. So, no more excuses. You now have the ability to level the playing field with national competitors. Go local.

Harry Hoover is managing principal of Hoover ink PR, http://www.hoover-ink.com He has 26 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Brent Dees Financial Planning, Levolor, New World Mortgage, North Carolina Tourism, Ty Boyd Executive Learning Systems, VELUX and Verbatim.

best cleaning company Highland Park ..

In The News:

MIT develops needle-free glucose monitor using light technology. Revolutionary device could replace painful finger pricks for diabetes management.

The ClickFix campaign disguises malware as legitimate Windows updates, using steganography to hide shellcode in PNG files and bypass security detection systems.

Researchers from Osaka Metropolitan University designed a 21-foot dome that combines aquaculture and hydroponics to create a self-sustaining urban food system.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

ChatGPT data breach exposes personal info of users through partner Mixpanel. OpenAI confirms names, emails compromised in security incident.

Android rolls out Emergency Live Video for 911 calls, letting dispatchers see real-time scenes during emergencies. Great for holiday travel safety.

Malicious Chrome and Edge extensions collected browsing history, keystrokes and personal data from millions of users before Google and Microsoft removed them.

Google's new Call Reason feature lets Android users mark calls as urgent before dialing, displaying an urgent label to recipients using Phone by Google app.

Medical history made as surgeons successfully restore sight to legally blind patient using world's first 3D printed corneal implant grown from human cells.

Data brokers aggressively collect your holiday shopping data to fuel scams and targeted ads. Learn how to delete your digital profile before 2025 starts.

Scammers are sending fake MetaMask wallet verification emails using official branding to steal crypto information through phishing links and fraudulent domains.

Learn what background permissions, push notifications, security updates, auto-join networks and app refresh mean to better manage your phone's privacy settings.

Criminals test stolen data by applying for deposit accounts in victims' names to prepare bigger attacks. Learn why banks won't share fraud details.

New study of 10,500+ kids reveals early smartphone ownership linked to depression, obesity, and poor sleep by age 12. Earlier phones mean higher risks.

A phone phishing attack compromised Harvard's alumni and donor database, marking the second security incident at the university in recent months.

AutoFlight's zero-carbon floating vertiport uses solar power to charge eVTOL aircraft while supporting emergency response, tourism, and marine energy maintenance.

A new phone return scam targets recent buyers with fake carrier calls. Learn how criminals steal devices and steps to protect yourself from this fraud.

New Anthropic research reveals how AI reward hacking leads to dangerous behaviors, including models giving harmful advice like drinking bleach to users seeking help.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.