"Local search is one of the fastest growing categories of online advertising, expected to increase as much as 10% per year through 2015," writes Jon Schepke in an article at MarketingProfs. And with good reason.

Consider the ROI of a local search campaign that Schepke's company implemented for an international hotelier: "$84 in bookings for each marketing dollar invested—3-5 times greater than the ROI from either pay-per-click ads or traditional directory advertising," he reports.

Here are five steps for getting similar results with a local campaign:

Get your SEO in order. Optimize your website with special care given to terms that combine your industry and location—for instance, "Chicago life insurance agent" or "car rental in San Francisco."

Claim and optimize all your local profiles. Erroneous details in various profiles were costing one of Schepke's clients—a family restaurant—significant tourist dollars: Google called it a grocery store; Yelp had it listed as an Italian restaurant; and Bing had an incorrect street address.

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