Local Search Engine Marketing: Get in the game or be ignored.

Yesterday, I met with a brilliant, local, business person. His multi-million dollar company is now growing to other cities and states. Clearly no dummy, this guy knows what he’s doing. Charming and charismatic, and a brilliant marketer, he uses radio and small amounts of other “traditional” media almost exclusively.

Here’s my big “BUT…” You knew it was coming. (Its not that big…is it?)

It is actually.

By his own admission, he now realizes he’s “left his back door wide open” to online competitors. (His analogy not mine…rather fitting however.) Just because he doesn’t understand “that Internet stuff” he wrongly assumed his customers wouldn’t miss him there. Oops.
This is what we discovered:
1. Four competitors had purchased his company name as a Google “key word” or search term. Meaning, when local customers try to find his company online using his well established brand name, paid for with prime-time radio spots, it could be his competitor’s web-link that gets clicked, not his. (Ouch. Is this happening to YOUR company?)

2. When searching online, for the services he provides and using Google, Yahoo and MSN (representing more than 90% of ALL search traffic when combined) he was no where to be found. His biggest competitors were ALL there however, some of them so bold as to use his companies name as their ads headline!

3. Finally, we discovered that his competition was paying nearly $5.00 per-click or per-lead (PPC, PPL) for certain terms on their Yahoo! search ads, and it appears as if they had been paying this (and much more at times) for many months.

To quantify this ongoing missed opportunity...

We discovered there had been over 129,000 searches conducted for the products and services his company offers during the past 60 days over a number of search networks. The research showed an expected 110,000 searches over the next 60 days. However, his company did not appear on ANY of the first 6 “search result” pages. (Although this is only closely estimated traffic and not just local in scope – I hope you get the picture. He certainly did.)

Finally, it’s safe to assume his competitors would not be paying such a high “click-rate” and doing so for so long, if the conversion from “click” to actual “lead” wasn’t there. In other words; it must be worth it, because online – EVERYTHING is tracked and accounted for. If it works you know how well, who and when.

Conclusion:

You don’t need to be an e commerce enabled company to benefit from search presence…

Online product research conducted by consumers in the past year (2004) was responsible for driving $180.7 billion in offline spending, compared to $106.5 billion in direct online consumer spending.*

By using a search engine and typing in the description of products and services they are looking to buy as well as the city or area they want to buy it in, users are literally asking for information on YOUR services.

Forget all the Internet-geek double speak and confusing terms… this stuff is simple…

If the 2004 Kelsey Group report** that says as many as 1 in 4 searches are “local in nature” is to be believed (IE Sacramento car dealer” for example.) you’d better ask yourself what words and/or terms a customer might use to find your company online, go to your favorite search engine, enter those terms and see what you find.

Only one of two things will happen. They'll either find you or they will find a competitor.

The choice seems clear, either you is or either you aint.

About me: I am the recent past Online Business Development Manager for The Sacramento Bee’s Internet division (Sacbee.com, Sacramento.com and SacTicket.com) and co-founder of Left Brain Studios – an interactive lead generation company.

I often speak for Northern California trade groups and marketing associations, please contact me should you have an interest in my speaking for yours.

Sources:
*Dieringer Research Group http://www.thedrg.com/d/mcr/aics/bulletins/20041001_offlinespending.htm
** The Kelsey Group Report: http://www.kelseygroup.com/press/pr040211.htm