Reach Local Prospects with
Search, Social Media and Retargeting Ads

Local businesses can now advertise effectively on the Internet . You can target potential customers by town, zip code and demographics. With a small budget you can reach the customers who want to buy from you.

As powerful as this is, the process has become incredibly complex. A successful local presence for your business requires a strong web design; organic search; paid ads on Google, Bing and Yahoo with our Suffolk pay per click advertising agency; listings in Google Maps; listings on local business directories; a social media presence; ads on Facebook; citations; articles; blog posts; newsletter and copy writing; and many other resources.

It is a lot of work, and can yield great results for your company. For companies to "do it themselves" it is almost a full time job. That's where we come in. We do the heavy lifting for you.

Be Found in Your Local Market

It Starts With A Strong Website for Your business

When people think about advertising online, they think about search engines, social media and advertisements. But where do those things take prospects? You guessed it, to your site.

Let us share a secret with you. Your website is one of the most important parts of your local marketing strategy. You spend time and money getting prospects to you, but what do they see when they arrive?

Our Nassau web design company can DOUBLE (yes, double) your results from your marketing by improving your website. If you send in 1,000 prospects , how many respond today? How many call, submit a form or place an order? If you want to double your sales, you have two choices: (1) double your advertising spend, or (2) double the performance of your site. Which would you rather do?

To improve the performance of your site, our team will work with you, review the website and your goals. We will identify the products or services you want to promote . We will rebuild, build or update your site to maximize your performance.

Successful Local Marketing Requires a Multi-Pronged Approach with a Strong Website, Powerful Search & Laser Targeted Online Ads

Be Found by Local Customers in Who Want Your Products Or Services

Local search should be the cornerstone of your online marketing program. The best prospects are the "hand raisers" - the customers who need to buy your products or services now. Those who really need products or services will search online for solutions. You need to getting in front of them when they search.

Our local search campaigns focus on promoting you where your customers are found. Yes, you want to be found for your own address, but you also want to be found as a provider of services other towns near . If you service 15 towns (for example), you want to be associated with as many as possible.

A mixture of paid search, search engine optimization and map listings (Google My Business) get you in front of your audience, so when they are ready to buy, they can find you.

Even services from our display ads gurus on Long Island deliver value, targeting these ads geographically.

Organic Search / Local SEO

Organic search refers to the "natural" listings shown in the search engines. They are not paid ads, but are listings shown because they relate to the keywords people search, in the areas where they search (like ).

With organic search, we first update your website to include all of the content you wish to be found on. If you want to be found for a service, it needs to be discussed on your website. If you want to be found in a market like , we need to be sure you have content relevant to that market.

Beyond the website content, our SEO company in Suffolk also focuses on relevant links from authoritative sites on the internet. Thousands of links from junk sites will HURT your listings in search. Rather, our focus is on getting higher quality links from better sites. We work to turn you into an online authority for your space.

Local Maps & Google My Business

In addition to organic SEO, local businesses also need to work on their map listings. For many industries, Google, Bing and Yahoo will list local businesses on a map. In those listings you may see reviews, along with other information about those businesses.

Google has created "Google My Business" which is a business profile about your businesses. It is shown when people search for you by name. It is also tied in with local searches (using keywords) such as as well as paid ads on Google (Google Adwords).

All of these need to be configured, updated and maintained regularly. Fresh content, active review growth and engaging content all contribute to Google seeing you as more relevant, more popular, and deserving of higher ranks in search.

Organic Search and Google My Business Information are the Foundation. You Need Paid Ads to Reach Those Not Searching

Social Media Nurtures Your Existing Customer Relationships

Once you have a customer , you want to nurture that relationship with them. You need to stay "front of mind" so when the need arises, your customers will think of you.

All too often, companies work with hundreds or thousands of customers, with no interaction between sales. As an example, if you are a plumber and they need your service once every few years , many will not think of you first, and just search Google for a plumber.

Nurturing campaigns via email and on social media address this. By releasing engaging content on a regular basis, you stay "front of mind" with prospects . Your name is fresh.

Even if they don't click through and read blog posts, etc., they continue to see your name. When they do have a need, there is a much greater chance they will remember you and just call you, without looking at your competitors!

Social Ads Bring In New Customers Who Are Not Searching Today

Think about how large your town or city is. What percentage of customers will call you today? In a town of 20,000, with 5,000 families, a plumber receiving 10 calls would be quite busy. That's only 0.2% of the town!

Search relies on prospects having a need right now, and hoping they choose your listing amongst 15-20 shown on the home page of Google. But what if you brand yourself - make yourself known to them? The chances of them coming to you directly, or choosing your listing on Google go up dramatically. This is where paid advertising campaigns on social media (such as Facebook) come into play.

With Facebook, we can run ads targeting prospects by zip code, gender, age, income level, occupations, interests and more. You can get your ad in front of those regularly. Some will see your ad, realize they have a need and call. Others will see you, remember you, and call when that need appears. Either way, you are branding yourself as the expert in your market!

Nurture Prospects and Customers for Maximum Value

Nurture Prospects and Customers with Email & Retargeting

Acquiring a new custommer or prospect is great. However, many are not ready to buy the first time they speak with you. Even if they do buy, what are you doing to get them back?

Prospects often require 6-12 "touches" before they decide to buy. You got them to your website, that's one. To convince them to buy, you may need to do more. That's where nurturing campaigns come into play.

Nurturing is the Successful Approach Most of Your Competitors Overlook - Let It Work to Your Advantage

Newsletters are the first step. Whether monthly or more frequently, get information in front of your customers and prospects. You do not want to hard sell them in the newsletters. Rather, provide userful information that establishes you as an authority.
Periodic Offers via Email Add Value. An occasional offer via email - something truely valuable to them - is a great way to reach out. Go beyond the simple 10% off and come up with more creative concepts, like a "customer appreciation Tuesday from 1:00-4:00pm." Make it fun and valuable for them.
Use Retargeting Ads to Remind Them About You. At a very basic level, retargeting campaigns are display ads (banner ads) shown to people who visited your website previously. They do not have to be an engaged customer or prospect. You can reach nearly any prior visitor! They will see your ads across the web, establishing you as a local authority in your industry, and brand your business to them.
Stay Front of Mind! We know we've used this phrase several times already, but it bears repeating. Not everyone needs your service today, but they will likely need it at some point. If thousands of people are reminded about you and your business, you can get a nice steady flow of business as their needs arise.

Retargeting & Remarketing Ads - What Are They?

One of the most interesting options - and somewhat confusing - are retargeting ads (also called remarketing by Google). What are they and how do they work?

In broad strokes, retargeting ads are ads shown to people who have seen your site and left. Maybe they bounght, maybe they didn't. Maybe they called, or for whatever reason, left your site without taking action. These users are "cookied" (anonymously tracked) so as they move to one of millions of sites that show ads, the advertsing networks can show them an ad for your business.

Remarketing traditionally referred to marketing to your list of people. Examples would include email newsletters, direct mail pieces, phone call follow ups, etc.

Unfortunately, Google has confused things a bit by naming their retargeting service "remarketing." Nonetheless, when it comes to the web, remarketing and retargeting refer to the same thing.

Millions of sites (news sites, blogs, etc.) participate in advertising networks, such as Google and Facebook. They run ads from these sites daily.

If you run a remarketing campaign with us, your website visitors will be anonymously tracked (we don't know their names), so they will see your ads as they move across these millions of websites.

Bad Customer Reviews Kill Sales

Over the last several years, Google and other sites have placed a major focus on customer reviews. Unfortunately, happy clients tend to be quiet, and unhappy customers want to tell everyone.

If you have a one or two star review, you are in trouble, call us immediately. You may spend thousands on marketing and lose 80%-90% of your potential customers because of negative reviews - a disaster!

Our review campaigns include an online outreach process to your customers, looking to bring in their feedback. We identify unhappy customers who you can then contact and work to make happy (incredible customer service!). We ask happy customers to leave positive reviews, which can dilute the impact of any negative reviews.

Some studies have shown companies with 3 star reviews can receive less than half of sales of companies with 4 star reviews! Increasing your review score can have a huge impact on sales and profits!

ALERT: some companies generate fraudulent positive reviews. This is illegal and companies have been prosecuted for committing fraud!

Local Business Directories and Citations Deliver

Local/National Business Directories

There are thousands of business directories online. Some are broad interest, such as o Yellow Pages, White Pages.com, Super Pages, Yellow Book, Manta, Local.com, FourSquare.com and DexKnows.com. Others are industry specific, such as UrbanSpoon.com, Justia (law), Angies' List (home repair) and others.

While directories should not be the primary focus of your campaigns, ads in these directories can be helpful. On the whole, we prefer ads that bring people directly to you. Google listings for these sites bring people into a directory where they then see 100's of competitors. If 100 people do a Google search, 5% may click on you. Of those 100, 10% may click into the directories, but of those people (just 10), how many click on you vs. a competitor?

That said, directory listings are a good secondary strategy to supplement your own direct campaign. These directories can receive millions of visitors per month, and some may be in your market, looking for your services.

Our marketing strategy focuses on marketing efforts that have a positive ROI. Her goal is to make sure that every effort is as profitable as possible. For some companies, these directories work well. As with all advertising and marketing efforts, we test, test, test. Those that work the best will continue, and those that do not produce desired results will be eliminated. In the end, it is about producing results for you and your business.

Citations Confirm Your Business

Citations are unique to internet advertising. Over the last 10 years, some lead generation companies abused Google. They have misrepresented their presence in the real world. They claimed to have a presence in thousands of cities where they did not have a presence. As a result, Google was showing companies that did not exist, confusing Google's consumers.

Citations are essentially a reference to your company using your company name, address and phone number. As simple as this sounds, there are many challenges involved and huge negative impacts when data is wrong. Many of the trusted directories on the Internet may list your company improperly. Some will use the word "street" while others use the abbreviation "ST." Some will use "&" where others use "and." Some may leave off a word, abbreviate a word or introduce other issues. As a result, you had inconsistent citations across the Internet.

Some of the things the search engines look at are citations to your company. Rather than having 100 consistent citations, you may have a dozen different variations. This reduces trust, and Google may rank you lower in search and on the maps due to inconsistent citations.

Part of our service for local businesses is to build consistent citations across all of these properties, and maintain them on a regular basis. This is not a "set it and forget it task." Directories routinely import data from sources with inaccurate information. Our ongoing task is to keep your citations as accurate as possible.

Call Only Ads Let Prospects Call You Straight from Google!

One type of ad available on Google is the "call only add." With the call only add, people searching Google on their mobile device can see a pay per click add that, when clicked, triggers a phone call instead of a visit to your site.

These ads take prospects directly to your company and a phone call instead of a marketing message on your webpage.

Some clients have seen great results with these types of ads, based on their industry. In our experience, you want people calling who are ready to take action, not just researching. For example, plumbers can do exceptionally well with these call only ads for emergency repair services. They need to speak with somebody now.

A furniture store, on the other hand, may not do as well, because people are shopping and want to see pictures. They aren't ready to speak to someone yet.

When you speak with our marketing experts, we can assess your business, your industry and the product or service you are offering. We will give you an idea of whether we believe it is worth testing and construct a test for you.

That said, we do strongly believe in the effectiveness of the "call only adds," as long as they are applied to the right clients in the right situations.