Marketing online can get you business from all over the world. But many business owners aren’t aware of one of the most recent internet advertising trends which involves using the web to target local markets as well as national and international markets. And many new marketers are wary of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising in local markets because they haven’t been taught how to do it correctly. Pay per click doesn’t have to be expensive or only for the big players. Anyone can get started with a small budget and gradually work their way up as they learn more and bring in more customers and profits.
Pay per click revolves around keywords. So, the most important factor in your PPC advertising campaign is your keywords. But the keywords themselves aren’t important. It is what they represent that you need to focus on. For the purposes of PPC, keywords are the terms that consumers type into a search engine (like Google, Yahoo, MSN or any of the others out there) when they are looking for information. These words represent what the person is seeking out, what they need or solutions to their problems.
Finding out what people are typing in is easy and free. One of the free keyword research tools is the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. You just type in a term that is relevant to your business and google will show you the exact related terms that people are typing in and how often they are searching for it. If you are doing a national or global PPC campaign you can stop at these keywords. If you are doing a local campaign, you want to add in geo-targeted words.
Another way to take advantage of the local internet advertising trends is to establish a presence in the social networks and/or forums that are related to your industry. Set up your free accounts at places like Facebook and Twitter and include the website that you want to promote in your profile. Then you can start searching for other network users who are in your area and communicating with them.
This is a great way to network online without having to actually go to a networking type of meeting. But this is also a great way to make that first connection which can then lead to an offline type of get-together. Although you can set up a Facebook page which actually promotes your business, you will not be doing any kind of hypey advertising on the your Facebook profile. However, you can also do PPC advertisement in Facebook and these can be more promotional.
Remember as you are going about in your wider-scope advertising campaigns, that one of the biggest internet advertising trends right now is the shift back to the local market. This type of marketing builds your brand, allows you reach more customers and to get a jump on your competitors who haven’t yet joined the trend.
