Local Business Archives

How to Bring Online Shoppers into Physical Stores

August 22, 2016 • Armando Roggio

Brick-and-click retailers, those with physical stores and an online shop, can use the rich data ecommerce provides to encourage online shoppers to visit the retailers’ physical stores or pop-up shops. Many ...

Local Business

How to Encourage Reviews of Your Local Business

August 11, 2016 • Bill Hartzer

When it comes search engine results for local businesses, one of the major factors that influence searchers is the number and quality of reviews. A restaurant listing with a limited number of reviews, no ...

Local Business

Using Pokémon Go to Entice Shoppers to Local Businesses

July 19, 2016 • Bill Hartzer

On July 6 and 7, 2016, Niantic and Nintendo began rolling out a new augmented reality app called Pokémon Go. Within a few days it was a hit. Kids and ...

Local Business

Using Schema Markup for Local SEO

June 28, 2016 • Bill Hartzer

Local businesses can help their search engine optimization efforts by utilizing the Schema.org markup. By adding the Schema code to your website, you’re helping the search engines identify certain text ...

Local Business

Should Ecommerce Merchants Claim Local Business Listings?

May 9, 2016 • Bill Hartzer

If you are an ecommerce retailer or a servicer provider with nationwide clients, you may not want to claim your online local business listings. In fact, there are situations where ...

Local Business

10 Local Business Customer Rating and Review Platforms

February 22, 2016 • Paul Chaney

Want to get more customer reviews? There are plenty of reasons to do so. They help build brand awareness, increase credibility, and improve search rankings. Plus, they let you know the customer's mindset about your business, and its products or services.

Local Business

12 Search Terms Local Business Owners Should Know

February 18, 2016 • Kathleen Fealy

During a recent visit to a local flower shop, I spoke with the owner about online marketing strategies, objectives, and tactics. She actively participates in social media marketing but finds search marketing too intimidating due to so much industry jargon.

Local Business

Understanding Google Local Search, with Mike Blumenthal

February 12, 2016 • Web Marketing Today

Google local search should be an integral part of any local business marketing strategy. To help business owners understand how best to maximize its value, Web Marketing Today interviewed Mike Blumenthal, a recognized industry expert on Google local search trends and practices.

Local Business

4 Affordable Brand Monitoring Tools for Local Businesses

February 11, 2016 • Kristine Wirth

Brand monitoring is a way to observe what people are saying about your business on the Internet. One of the better ways to keep track of this information is to use a brand monitoring tool.

Local Business

6 Local Business Online Marketing Essentials

February 8, 2016 • Paul Chaney

There are many online marketing avenues that a local small business could take, but which are essential and stand the best chance of ensuring success? After all, business owners have a limited amount of time to pursue marketing activities, so they need to focus on those that are most productive.

Local Business

10 Great Local Marketing Ideas for February 2016

February 5, 2016 • Web Marketing Today

Each month, Web Marketing Today gathers advice from marketing experts, to help local businesses market online with greater impact. This month, we focus on real estate and share ten great ideas from Realtors and other industry-related marketing professionals.

Local Business

4 Content Ideas to Improve Local SEO

January 28, 2016 • Bill Hartzer

Local SEO isn’t just about optimizing your business website any longer. It’s about maintaining a healthy presence online within the community and engaging with your customers and prospects through your site and on social media.

Local Business

Local Marketing: Position Yourself as a Community Expert

January 25, 2016 • Paul Chaney

In a recent installment of "10 Great Local Marketing Ideas," a monthly series we run here on WMT, Lisa Sanderson, a real estate agent in Stroudsburg, Pa., asked, "Have you ever searched online for information on your local area and couldn’t find what you were looking for exactly?"

Local Business

4 Local SEO Predictions for 2016

January 13, 2016 • Bill Hartzer

There is never a shortage of articles about predictions for the new year, and the same holds true where SEO is concerned. Here is my list of predictions for 2016 — four in all — that will affect local SEO. Review them and start making plans to address the upcoming changes.

Local Business

Local SEO: 9 Ways to Take Advantage of ‘Near Me’ Search

November 9, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Google searches that include terms like "near me” or “nearby” have doubled since 2014, with 80 percent coming from mobile, according to a Google Trends report.

Local Business

10 Text Messaging Tools for Local Business Marketing

October 28, 2015 • Kathleen Fealy

Text messaging, also known as SMS (Short Message Service), lets businesses communicate with consumers through their cell phones in 160 character messages. It gives businesses the opportunity to present relevant information, enhanced customer experiences and service, and special offers.

Local Business

Hyperlocal Marketing: 5 Ways to Drive In-store Traffic

October 19, 2015 • Paul Chaney

The dictionary defines the term hyperlocal as “relating to or focused on a very small geographic community.” Hyperlocal marketing, therefore, consists of marketing activities that also concentrate on a tight geographic circle. Most local business marketing fits within the hyperlocal category.

Local Business

Beacons: Local Retail Game-changing Technology?

September 14, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Beacons, a new technology designed to drive customer loyalty and in-store sales, is growing in popularity among larger retailers. But is it something smaller retailers can use?

Local Business

Local SEO Ranking Factors for Multi-location Businesses

August 27, 2015 • Bill Hartzer

Google has made significant changes in the last few years concerning how it ranks websites for businesses that have multiple locations and now frowns upon many of the optimization techniques that were used in the past.

Local Business

Google Local Search Updates Could Affect Your Ranking

August 17, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Google just made a series of updates that have bearing on how well local businesses appear in search results. Here's a rundown of the changes and how they could affect your ranking.

Local Business

8 Mobile App-building Platforms for Local Business Use

August 3, 2015 • Paul Chaney

The rapid rise of mobile device use has forced local businesses to rethink their marketing strategy to include mobile-optimized websites, mobile advertising, and mobile-enabled customer loyalty programs.

Local Business

6 Local Business Online Marketing Platforms, Apps

April 13, 2015 • Paul Chaney

For a small business, managing multiple online marketing channels is a complex process that can require a sizable amount of the owner's time and resources. Knowing how to produce content that resonates with customers and prospects, learning the nuances of how various channels work, and understanding the contribution each makes to ROI, only adds to the challenge.

Local Business

Pros, Cons of Facebook Local Awareness Ads

March 26, 2015 • Rodney Hess

These days, advertising is almost a necessity when promoting your small business on Facebook. In 2013, the average organic reach of a business page’s post was anywhere between 12 to 16 percent of its total audience — a number that has decreased steadily ever since. A 2014 report from Social@Oglivy found that the number is now closer to six percent.

Local Business

13 Local Business ‘About Us’ Pages, to Inspire

March 19, 2015 • Kathleen Fealy

Analytic programs show that the About Us page is one of the most viewed pages on a website, second only to the home page. Below are examples of local business About Us pages intended to inspire you. These pages aren't perfect, but they communicate the story of the company and its owners, engage the consumer in a unique way, and represent the brand or personality of the company.

Local Business

How to Use Yelp for Local Marketing

March 16, 2015 • Paul Chaney

Yelp enables people to search for local businesses based on customer ratings and reviews. It covers a broad range of industry sectors including food, beauty and spas, health and medical, home services, and many more. As a business owner, you can use Yelp to showcase your products and services, and connect with customers and prospects in your local area.

Local Business

10 Great Local Marketing Ideas for March 2015

March 13, 2015 • Web Marketing Today

Web Marketing Today asked ten industry insiders to share their best advice for helping local small businesses market online. Here’s what they had to say.

Local Business

Beacons to Help Physical Stores Combat Ecommerce

January 15, 2015 • Marcia Kaplan

Brick-and-mortar retailers have been hard at work trying to lure online shoppers, who often visit physical stores to see and touch products, and then make purchases online. I previously addressed this ...

Local Business > Merchant Voice

Brick-and-click stores should offer free pick-up

December 9, 2014 • Elizabeth Hollingsworth

Free shipping is commonplace for ecommerce companies. For brick-and-click companies — those with online and physical stores — free pick-up can be a helpful shipping option for ecommerce customers that ...

Local Business

Google’s AdWords Express Helps Manage Local Campaigns

August 22, 2014 • Melih Oztalay

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Web Marketing Today. Practical Ecommerce acquired Web Marketing Today in 2012. In 2016, we merged the two sites, leaving Practical Ecommerce as ...

Local Business

Ultimate Guide to Using Instagram for your Local Business

July 28, 2014 • Kunle Campbell

Instagram is an image-based social network that was started in 2010 and acquired by Facebook in 2012. It’s seen rapid growth since its inception, picking up a million users in its first two months. It now claims about 200 million members, a 23 percent growth in 2013 alone. Roughly 60 million photos are shared daily on Instagram.