East Portland Chamber of Commerce February 5 th, 2009 – Scott Hendison How to market your local business online for little or no money.

East Portland Chamber of Commerce

February 5th, 2009 – Scott Hendison

“How to market your local business online for little or no money”

Free or Low Cost Marketing

Always mention or list your website anywhere you ever have the opportunity

•Email signatures

•Business cards

•Stationary

•All printed media

•Store signage (interior and exterior)

•Door Hours

East Portland Chamber – 2.5.09


Before attempting to “market online”, check some basics on your site, and ensure that you’re “ready” to make a first impression.



Check some basics on your site…

1.Phone Number visible on every page

2.Contact Us link visible on every page,

3.Complete Contact info, address, map

4.Home Page greeting adequate?

5.Got a mental definition of “success”?

6.Got Google analytics installed?

Assuming you’re “ready for traffic”…



All of the search engines are showing local listings at the top of their results…

Users are changing their internet behavior radically, based on what the search engines are showing them.

Change drives feature demands, and new features drive new demands.










Each search engine has it’s own local business center now, offering business descriptions, store hours, specialty information, and user reviews.









Since most local businesses are still unclaimed at each local business center, they get their information from a variety of sources on the web.

Claim yours before someone else does.

List with these 12 local directories, IMO




Links to free signup for these directories

Google - http://www.google.com/local/add

Microsoft - https://ssl.search.live.com/listings/BusinessSearch.aspx

Yahoo - http://listings.local.yahoo.com/

BOTW - http://local.botw.org/helpcenter/jumpstartproduct.aspx

Yelp - https://biz.yelp.com/signup/

YellowPages.com - http://listings.yellowpages.com/Services/ServiceClaimSearch.aspx

Superpages.com - http://advertising.superpages.com/spportal/business-listing

Local Eze - http://www.localeze.com/manage-business/index.asp

InfoUSA - http://dbupdate.infousa.com/dbupdate/index.html

Insider Pages - http://www.insiderpages.com/

OpenList - http://www.openlist.com/update/

City Voter - http://cityvoter.com/


http://www.google.com/local/add

https://ssl.search.live.com/listings/BusinessSearch.aspx

http://listings.local.yahoo.com/

http://local.botw.org/helpcenter/jumpstartproduct.aspx

https://biz.yelp.com/signup/

http://listings.yellowpages.com/Services/ServiceClaimSearch.aspx

http://advertising.superpages.com/spportal/business-listing

http://www.localeze.com/manage-business/index.asp


Begin with GetListed.org -



Be prepared to spend few hours, but there’s no reason you have to add them all at once.

Some (including Doogle) require telephone or snail-mail verification, but most don’t.


Free or Low Cost MarketingBefore adding listings, make a template of information including… •Search Commander, Inc. •Scott Hendison•Founder - CEO•11124 NE Halsey St.•Portland•OR•97220•241•877-241-4453•Short Description - 80 characters or less•Med Description - 150 characters or Less•Long Description 200 word version if desired



Consider building the “online personality” of your business via social networking tactics, but remember…



“Social Network Marketing” is sort of an oxymoron, and only a moron would be unashamedly and blatently commercial.

Online community involvement requires passion and commitment.

Without the passion, you will not only fail, you will do permanent damage.



Social Network Marketing is an oxymoron, and only a moron would be blatantly commercial.

Online community involvement requires passion, and without it, you will not only fail, you will do permanent damage.



Never write a fake review posing as your own customer or client.

Never claim as your own, or write a fake review of, a competitors business.

Never just “add to the noise” in a social environment, unless you have something to say to at least ONE PERSON.



You NEED This

Help a reporter out

HARO

Peter Shankman


Free or Low Cost MarketingScott Hendison - 503.946.6881

[email protected]

http://www.twitter.com/shendison

SEO Website Reviews

http://www.SeoAutomatic.com

Content Management Systems

http://GetWordpressed.com

Oregon Web Hosting

http://www.pdxtc.com

Search Marketing Services

http://www.SearchCommander.com


East Portland Chamber of Commerce February 5 th, 2009 – Scott Hendison How to market your local business online for little or no money.

Documents

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