Welcome to the Local Advertising Journal! Local advertising is something that should never be pondered but proactively pursued in every way possible. Many small local and medium sized local businesses are really starting to pursue the local advertising space that online has to offer. This blog was designed for those businesses that were not too sure where to actually start their local advertising and wanted to learn as much as they could by themselves before they decided to outsource all their local advertising efforts.

Below are some of the categories that could help you with your business:

Advertising Books – At some point in time you might want to read some books on the ins and outs of local advertising and how it can help your business. We have outlined some of the best for you.

City Search – City Search is a great tool for a local business looking to get a bit more exposure. This section describes how you can use it accurately to build your business.

Google Local – Google local is a very powerful marketing tool when used correctly holds many online marketing advantages.

Local Live Search – Local live search is a great way to keep an eye out on what your competition is doing online.

Local Mobile Marketing – Mobile marketing is a way to get across to your audience that is always on the go. This form of marketing will become even more important as more cell phone providers build smart phones.

Local Online Advertising – Local online advertising comes in many different shapes and colors so it will be important to study up and learn just how each of them could impact your business.

Local Pay Per Click – Local pay per click advertising could be a very important aspect of your business. Often times just a little knowledge is needed to get this effort working just right for your business.

Local Search Engine Optimization – Local SEO will as important as your left arm. We cover some of the basics on how you can do it yourself and start getting some traffic coming to your website.

Local Social Networking – Local social networking will play a vital role in many local businesses. Never has it been easier to tap someone on the shoulder to let them know your business is around.

Superpages.com – Super pages should be included in all local online marketing campaigns. The exposure alone could get your phone ringing.

Yahoo Local - Yahoo local is an important role for any campaign. Not only for the exposure but also for the links contained within the Yahoo! Local profiles.

YellowPages – Yellow Pages are one of those things that should be relevant in every local marketing campaign. This section outlines some of the different approaches that can be taken using this effort.

Too many small business owners feel that their business might not be big enough to really need a strong promotional video teaching the community about their business or brand. This couldn’t be further from the truth. A promotional video to help market your business does not have to be very expensive. You do not have to hire a film crew and expensive actors. A short video promoting your business can be done very quickly with websites like Animoto that allow you to create your own slide show type of of promo video that can be done very quickly and easily to help with your local advertising.

All you really need is a short 45 second slide show video to help express the important points surrounding your business. You don’t have to be s highly skilled videographer to complete this project either.  Once your video is cimpleted to it accurately displays your businesses message you can then use any of the top video sharing websites to help promote your business. If you have a website for your business the first thing you need to do is put your video on your site for everyone to see. Once you have your video some quick searches to find out the best online video sharing websites. Launching your video online in as many places as possible will be important to get internet traffic to find you. Posting your video live on websites like YouTube and Vimeo are just a given but to really get people to find out about your business you will want to launch your video on sites like Viddler and Dailymotion. There are lots of great video sharing websites that if posted with well thought out video titles. Your video titles should always have elements of targeted keywords in order top get those videos ranking when people search. Your goal is not just to make the video but to also promote it.

If you own a local business with absolutely no need to venture into nation wide traffic than why would you target national keywords? If you have a local business which requires local foot traffic for business you should be targeting localized keywords on your website for local advertising efforts. Often times you can only get your hands on so many localized keywords.

You are better off starting to incorporate as many local terms as possible into your website. Using surround towns, zip codes and cities is a way you will get anybody search for anything to your websites. If you do not have enough keywords being used in your local area for what you offer you will just have to get close enough. You never know when people might start using variations on your geographic area. If you conduct keyword research and find that only a few keywords exists it is OK to start implementing variations of where your business is located. If you have ruled out the idea of competing on a national level and localized keywords are a bit scarce try utilizing variations of all boroughs and counties and surrounding towns with what you offer. It is better than just leaving things blank because than you can guarantee no visitors to your website. SEO should not be the end all be all. If you own a local business you should not put all your eggs in one basket by hoping to grow your business and drive foot traffic to your location strictly through search engine optimization efforts. It is important to utilize everything you can online. Search engine marketing comes in many different flavors such as social media marketing and press release marketing to just name a few. Utilizing blogs by posting comments with links left behind to your business is one great way to get some newly found traffic to your website.

Are you a local business that is starting to loose steam with your local advertising efforts? If you haven’t noticed everything that we once knew about business is changing. The landscape of conducting business is shifting. In which direction nobody really knows but it is changing and for those of you who are still hesitant to jumping into the social landscape with websites like Facebook you might find yourself with even more hardships than ever before.

Facebook should not scare you as a business. There are many different ways to approach this website. It is important to know that it doesn’t matter whether you are a mid size company or small local business local advertising and marketing using Facebook is very important. if you have this idea that Facebook is just a fad it doesn’t matter. Even if that fad last a little while, it is a little while you can become visible. You do not have to become an expert in Facebook in the first week you use it. It is ok to take it slow. It is not OK to ignore it entirely. Launching a Facebook fan page allows your audience a place to meet other customers, clients and friends who either use your product or service. Once you start building up fans on your Facebook fan page you can then send out notes that everyone sees as your business. One terrific way to bring in new traffic to your business and your website. Leaving messages on your Facebook fan page is one great way to stay on your audiences radar. Building awareness and traffic to your website requires creating multiple streams of traffic effort. Neglecting Facebook will not lead to anything but missed out potential new business. Don’t stress about if it scares. One thing at a time. Start by just setting up a personal profile catered towards your business. Include an album for pictures of your business, store logos what ever you use to promote and conduct your business. Then set up Facebook fan page for your business and do the same. It is one of many areas you should be creating pathways to your website in order to grow your business online.

For all of you local business owners who not yet decided to venture into the online space you are only hurting yourself and your business. For many years maybe you where right, the internet wasn’t a place for you to get business. Things are different now. More and more smaller local businesses are taking a firm stance with local advertising, local online marketing, including your competition. How would you like to loose business to your competition  down the street? Most likely you already are. More and more people are turning towards the internet to find what they need. Everything from finding a cleaner to drop their clothing off to plumbers and pizza. If you are not visible in the search engines you could be taking the initial steps to shutting the doors to your business for good.

Here are some important factors to remember when tackling local advertising and local online marketing:

1. Search Engines Heavily Trafficked: Phonebooks are on their way out and local listings online for your business are in. More and more people are turning towards Google maps, Yahoo local and MSN foer all their local searching needs. Many new phones come equipped with some of these prgrams as default settings so how do you expect for people looking for items locally to finding.

2. Build Business with High Rankings: It takes a bit more than just launching a website these days. You will want to work yourwebsite so you can achieve high rankings in the search engines for what you offer. If you offer Pizza’s in NYC your goal is to be visible in search engines for when people use “pizza’s in NYC” to find what they need.

3. If you Need Help Hire Someone: if you are not to sure how to find your way around the internet it is important to hire someone that understands what they are doing. It might seem easy at first to  accomplish everything on your own but if you are in a competitive space online it will truly require an advanced approach coupled with an aggresive link building campaign in order to become visible.

If you are like many small business owners right now you would like to see your door swinging open a bit more than usual. The economic crunch has cause many shoppers to hold on to their money a bit more tightly than usual. What many small local business owners don’t realize is that there is a great deal of local advertising that can be done online for free they just require some time and effort to get them done. Here are some quick and easy ways you can start to gain exposure online without spending any money, assuming you have a website.

1. Blog Commenting: Get online and research all the various blogs that your audience might be on reading. Chances are there are some blogs that focus on a local audience right near your business. By reading these blogs and leaving educated comments with a link on various blog posts you can become visible online to your audience almost immediately.

2. Local Profiles: Google, Yahoo and MSN all have local search engines dedicated towards helping small businesses like yourself gaining exposure online. These local search engines have slowly taken the steam out of phone books and will eventually halt all phone book printing as more and more people use the internet to search online.

3. Social Networking: Firing up a Facebook page and a Myspace page will be crucial. All social networking websites allow you to break things down to a local level by reaching out to people by geographical location. For all those local business owners that feel that the social networking websites are a waste of time need to strongly reconsider those thoughts.

4. Email Marketing: Although some email providers offer a free account for the first 100 emails provided after that email marketing is still relatively low in cost assuming you don’t have 50,000 emails to upload. Many local business will not have to worry about that many just yet. A quick and very effective way to get in front of your customers and create some repeat business. Just don’t spam people and don’t go buying huge on targeted lists. Build your list by asking your customers and offering a submission form on your website.

5. Online Publicity: Write a press release announcing your business or website and choose one of the many different free PR distribution services available. Also get on the websites of all your local newspapers and submit your press release. It is not guaranteed they will take it but they might just publish it if they need to fill a story somewhere last minute. It doesn’t hurt to try it.

If you are a local business that makes a living of selling products or providing a service than you know that budgets are tight and most businesses are being very careful they way they spend any marketing dollars right now. Most businesses are avoiding anything that has a long term goal on it but it is important to not avoid it entirely. There are many ways you can market your business or yourself online that only cost you time. If you have a business that has seen the door swinging open much less than usually than a few hours per week to brand your self online really should be a problem. Now is not the time to roll over and take a hit, it is survival of the fittest and only the best will be left standing when the dust settles. Here are a few ways to keep your branding moving forward.

1. LinkedIn: If you are an accountant, web designer or any type of service related business LinkedIn is a website dedicated towards business minded professionals can meet and network right from the comfort of your computer. LinkedIn is filled with opportunities to be able to engage in conversations and discussions with other industry professionals that might be looking for what you offer.

2. Blog Commenting: Do some research online and find other industry related blogs that are regionally targeted to your specific area and start leaving some educated comments on blog posts to get web traffic over to your site.

3. Set up a MySpace and  Facebook Page: Yes I know that people talk about all the hype about these sites and many people are clueless how to use them but it is important you venture into this area real soon, like yesterday. These social networking powerhouses allow you to search regionally and by demographics so you can really isolate the type of customer you are looking and then try connecting with them.

4. Twitter: Now for someone who still is not sure how to set up a MySpace page Twitter might be a little difficult to understand but just realize that you need to be there. Just look at it as the fast moving forum discussion you will ever see. You can see thousands of little conversations and really chime in at any moment. Over time this will brand your business or your name depending on which direction you are taking on Twitter.

5. Your Website: Before you look at all this other stuff take a look at your website first. Do you have one? If not climb out from under the rock you have been sleeping under and build yourself a decent website. Get someone that knows what they are doing not one of your buddies who took a class five years ago. If you do have a site ask yourself when was the last time it was updated? If the last time it was updated was during the dot com boom you are probably due for a revamping of your website. People judge a book by it’s cover every you go. Personal branding is important so make sure your website is new, fresh and inviting.

If you are a small town business local advertising on and offline will still be very important. More and more people are taking those clunky phone books and putting them in the trash. Does your local business have the potential to sell online as well?

If you have a business that could very well sell your products online why are you missing out on that opportunity? having local foot traffic is great but you could also move your product through a website online. Aside from just being visible online to your local community a website selling your products online could help you grow your business tremendously. With the emergence of portable internet devices like iPhones and PDA’s more people are searching online when they want to find something they want to purchase. What happens if what you sell starts to become competitive and all of a sudden you have multiple businesses offering the same products? At the very minimum your small town business should have a website in order to have a web presence of some kind. Are you a business that tries to collect email addresses from your customers? If you do then you should be executing an email marketing campaign and staying in touch with your audience. You could be emailing them new products and driving business also to the website and encourage some online purchasing as well.

Even if you are a small business in a small town you should have a web presence. You never know when you might want to start selling your products online and building your online community and following.

Businesses of all sizes need to be able to monitor their reputation online at real time. Whether you are a smaller local business or a large corporation your online reputation can quickly put a dent in incoming sales. With so many whistle blowing websites out there today making it very easy for angry clients, disgruntled employees and even competitors to be able to take a stab at your incoming revenue stream. These sites are very easily found and there are more of them growing everyday. StepRep allows for easy monitoring on all skill levels by using your Google log in to monitor your name. Sites like can Twitter can spread negative press at a rapid pace and programs like this allow you to catch it quickly.

StepRep is a new online reputation management tool designed to not only monitor your results but allow you to fight them from one central location. More and more people conduct almost all their research online and more and more are searching a companies name or personal name before conducting any business. If you have complaints under your name in search results this could send that potential client heading in the direction of your competition. StepRep takes things one step further by also monitoring the social profiles for any negative chatter. Often times by the time you catch wind of your negative press the damage has already been done. The longer you allow any negative press to anchor itself into a search result for your name the more difficult it will be to move down the road. StepRep allows 100% real time monitoring so you can quickly react and respond to any negative chatter associating your business.

If you are one of those local companies that has spent a great part of your existence doing cold calling and direct mailing and think that will last forever, think again. The internet is not just a fad but rather a very powerful business tool, that goes beyond local advertising.  Sure there is a great deal of clutter online that you have to sometimes push through but once you push through it the potential could be endless.  If you are a new comer to the internet game there is no need to worry. There is still time to catch up to your competition. Don’t be discouraged and not do anything because that just won’t help you at all. Here are five different local area you should place your website to increase visibility online. All these website below allow you to fill out a full profile with a link to your website to help with your link building efforts.

Local advertising online on all these websites should be a must.

1. Yelp

Yelp has become an industry leading website for reviews all businesses. Your fans can come and comment on how great your sandwiches are or how wonderful your coffee tastes. Yelp allows you to build a community of people that can learn from others who have used your business. If you have a local business that has a strong following of groupies you should be here.

2. Going.com

If you own a club or a hip trendy restaurant Going.com is a place you want to be on. With a large young crowd looking to do things when they go out this website is ideal to be in front of your crowd. With the ability to post up coming events that might be occurring at your establishment this place is perfect.

3. Merchant Circle

Merchant Circle is a networking for businesses website. Each profile allows you to launch your own blog and fill in a full profile with direct links to your website along with a map of where your business is located.

Are you the owner of a local hotel or motel or even a bed and breakfast that has seen a slowdown in traffic? It is important to analyze what you are currently doing online for marketing efforts. Yes people are traveling less but when they do its is a much more local type of vacation. More vacationers are keeping a tighter radius to home and local advertising and marketing for your hotel could urge them to stay at your establishment. Local hotel internet marketing will be a very important component for you online marketing strategy.

There are many ways you can make yourself visible in the search as a local establishment offering lodging services.

1. A Blog: Launching a blog on your website and writing about things that vacationers do in your area will allow your web traffic to see that you exist and offer lodging services for a vacation they might be planning. A blog will also give you credibility as an expert in travel in your area.

2. Local Search: Having your business listed in Google maps, Yahoo local and MSN local will be very important when vacationers start to look for places to stay in search engines. As their search queries start to drill down to localized keywords if your business does not show up in the local search results how do you plan on your web traffic finding you?

3. Search Engine Optimization: This should be one of the very first things that you do but having a 100% optimized website so that searc h spiders can find you easily will also be important. It is important that web traffic starts to see your website coming up in search results often so that you can start developing search engine traffic to your site on a regular basis.

For all you pizza shop owners out there now is the time to stand out and shine and let everyone know you have the best and freshest pie in town. Even though many people from coast to coast right now are holding onto their dollars but they still have to eat and most people will look for inexpensive options to feed their family.

Consumers are looking for inexpenisve ways to eat and provide food for their family more than ever. Pizza shop marketing at this point in time should be on the rise. Owning a pizza shop is a very competitive business to be in during good time and during rough economic times that will only get worse. There are many ways to promote your business online. If your pizza shop doesn’t have it’s own website this should be the first step. Optimizing your website with localized keyword phrases will allow your website to climb in the search engines for when your audience looks for pizza shops in your area. Also launching a website blog and using localized news for some possible topics of events occuring in your area will allow you to gain exposure in your area for your pizza shop. There are many things you can do online to become visible and provide local advertising opportunities for your business. With the emergence of mobile computing and so many people using their cell phone to find what they need it is important to be visible everywhere.

There are many local business across the globe wondering just how and what they can do in order to drum up new business other than local advertising. People are holding tight onto their paychecks right now so it will take a great deal more than it has in the past to really get in front of your audience.

Many local business owners realize that they should launch a blog but are clueless on what they should write. if you are a business who targets local business try to identify characteristics of your audience and then write about other things that they might enjoy to attract them to your business. If you are a florists than writing about various flower shows in your area would be a way to attract your audience. Or even events that revolve around purchasing flowers like wedding information. You can write about the 5 top wedding chapels or reception sites in your area targeting a wedding crowd that might purchase flowers from you. By tackling attributes from your audience you could attract others to your website and essentially increase business. There are many ways you can pull like minded customers over to you online, this is just one that works well.

For any local business who has not yet ventured into the online space it will be even more important now than ever to do so.

Many businesses think that you must have a national business in order to get anything out of social networking on websites such as Myspace or Facebook. This could not be anymore further from the truth.

If you take a look at all the groups in Facebook you will quickly see that many localized groups have formed. Everything from people to like a certain bar or restaurant in a specific city to groups dedicated towards sports teams. making connections and engaging in discussions is what these websites are all about. Both of these websites allow you to search for other like minded individuals by geo targeting the searches. This way you can break down your target audience even deeper. This is only one way out of a multi pronged approach to locating your immediate audience. As more and more people use social online networking to grow and expand their own personal brand along with their businesses brand it is important for you to be there. Chances are many of your competitors are already online making connections and reaching out to your audience. Launching local online advertising profiles and create conversation is also a form of link building which will drive power to your website in the search engines. You want to creat as many different pathways to your website in order to maximize it’s full potential.

Many business starting up these days feel that if they don’t have people on the opposite coast talking about their product than they will fail. Many start ups feel they have to have to have world wide or even nationwide recognition almost immediately. This is not usually the case.

It is important to be able to become visible in your immediate community through local advertising online. If a business down the street can’t find you what makes you think one two states over will see you? Having a local presence and grabbing local business will allow a business to have a nice healthy, organic nation wide growth. A business needs to be able to crawl before they can sprint. Building a solid foundation in the local community will allow that business to stem from a solid business footing. This can be started by implementing some local search terms into the website so that your local audience will begin to see you in search results. many businesses like to work with local businesses so that they can meet face to face.

There are many ways to find your local audience through advertising and marketing. Everything from launching a blog to building a Myspace page for your business. Using the right keywords can quickly bring in a great deal of local traffic to get people landing on your website. Local advertising, marketing and social networking locally will be a large component moving forward in 2009. Chances are your competition is already on social media websites so it will also be important for you to be on there.