http://steadystreamofcustomers.com Complete Marketing Solutions for Local Business Owners Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:33:21 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Copyright © Steady Stream of Customers, 2010 Erik@SteadyStreamOfCustomers.com (Steady Stream of Customers) Erik@SteadyStreamOfCustomers.com (Steady Stream of Customers) Local Business Advertising Solutions 1440 Atlanta, Atlanta Local Business Advertising, Atlanta Marketing Company, Local Business Advertising, Local Online Advertising, Steady Stream of Customers, Local Internet Advertising, Local Online Advertising Complete Marketing Solutions for Local Business Owners Complete Marketing Solutions for Local Business Owners Steady Stream of Customers Steady Stream of Customers Erik@SteadyStreamOfCustomers.com No no http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/steady-stream-of-customers-podcast-icon-small.png http://steadystreamofcustomers.com 144 144 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/local-search-marketing-01 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/local-search-marketing-01#comments Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:33:21 +0000 Erik Welker http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/?p=964 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/local-search-marketing-01/feed 2 5:40 A staggering number of consumers have been using Google, Yahoo and other major search engines for years to find products and services within their local ... A staggering number of consumers have been using Google, Yahoo and other major search engines for years to find products and services within their local community. But the majority of local business owners are still not taking advantage of the massive wave of traffic and potential customers searching for their type of business on the Internet. The question is, why? Local search marketing, when properly positioned, can literally explode your business overnight. Unlike the majority of traditional marketing and advertising like the Yellow Pages and expensive print ads, local search marketing and advertising is super, hyper, ultra targeted. Just imagine if only 10 people per day sat down at their computer, logged onto the Internet and typed in ldquo;Atlanta Massagerdquo; or ldquo;Tampa Plumberrdquo; or a variety of other keywords that would directly describe your products and services. Now imagine how powerful that would be if 7 out of 10 of those daily visitors landed on your website as a direct result of those specific search terms! The truth is, this phenomena is happening right now all around you with billions upon billions of keyword search terms spanning across tens of millions of categories, many of which are extremely specific to your exact products and services in whatever town your businesses is located. Local search marketing is the key to business success because modern technology allows people to search for extremely specific and targeted products and services. This has been made possible through not only the Internet, but cell phones, laptops, iPads and other devices that have the capabilities to display digital and mobile media. The wave of the future is now, and if your local business is not properly positioned for the specific search terms that are relevant to your specific street corner and your specific products and services, you are proverbially "dead in the water." If you cannot be found when people are searching, the quality of your products do not matter, a smiling face and excellent customer service does not matter, and the deacute;cor and wall hangings within your business that provide a comforting and calming atmosphere do not matter. None of this matters if you canrsquo;t attract people to your business. When first starting out with local search marketing, a lot of businesses make the mistake of only going after one singular search term which is the name of their particular business. Let's say for example you owned a hair studio in Atlanta called ldquo;Triple Cutzrdquo; (that seems like a pretty good name for a cutting edge hair studio in Atlanta). If you were the owner of the fictitious Triple Cutz, and you were new to local search marketing, you could very well make the mistake of only listing your business using the one singular keyword term ldquo;Triple Cutzrdquo; or ldquo;Triple Cutz hair studio.rdquo; Unless you are already established in your industry and have lots of buzz going on around town about your business, or you are spending a small fortune on other forms of media like newspapers or radio commercials, these keyword phrases and search terms are basically useless. Most people will not be searching for your particular business. Instead, they will be using more general terms like ldquo;Hair Salon Atlanta,rdquo; ldquo;Atlanta Best Perms,rdquo; ldquo;Atlanta Hair Highlights,rdquo; ldquo;New Hair Style Atlantardquo; etc. And now with the evolution of "geo-targetedrdquo; search engines, your local prospects can find you locally without even using the term ldquo;Atlantardquo; or ldquo;Bostonrdquo; or what have you. Search engines can now detect your IP address and serve up ads based on your location. IP addresses are similar to ldquo;area codesrdquo; in that you can tell what part of the country or region or city someone is in based on their computerrsquo;s IP address. The best way to approach local search marketing for your particular business, regardless of the size... Local,Search,Marketing Steady Stream of Customers no No http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/local-business-advertising-part-4 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/local-business-advertising-part-4#comments Wed, 23 Jun 2010 20:20:45 +0000 Erik Welker http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/?p=955 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/local-business-advertising-part-4/feed 1 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/local-business-advertising-part-3 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/local-business-advertising-part-3#comments Wed, 23 Jun 2010 20:05:54 +0000 Erik Welker http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/?p=948 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/local-business-advertising-part-3/feed 0 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/local-business-advertising-part-2 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/local-business-advertising-part-2#comments Wed, 23 Jun 2010 19:57:54 +0000 Erik Welker http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/?p=945 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/local-business-advertising-part-2/feed 0 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/local-business-advertising-part-1 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/local-business-advertising-part-1#comments Wed, 23 Jun 2010 19:51:27 +0000 Erik Welker http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/?p=941 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/local-business-advertising-part-1/feed 1 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/local-atlanta-advertising-agency-set-to-auction-atlanta-chiropractor-website http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/local-atlanta-advertising-agency-set-to-auction-atlanta-chiropractor-website#comments Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:01:22 +0000 Erik Welker http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/?p=883 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/local-atlanta-advertising-agency-set-to-auction-atlanta-chiropractor-website/feed 1 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/custom-video-quote-for-www-atlfitness-net http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/custom-video-quote-for-www-atlfitness-net#comments Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:33:48 +0000 Erik Welker http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/?p=851 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/custom-video-quote-for-www-atlfitness-net/feed 1 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/3-secrets-to-crack-the-atlanta-local-business-advertising-code http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/3-secrets-to-crack-the-atlanta-local-business-advertising-code#comments Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:23:43 +0000 Erik Welker http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/?p=683 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/3-secrets-to-crack-the-atlanta-local-business-advertising-code/feed 0 7:39 From a distance, local business advertising can appear extremely intimidating to the average local business owner. Imagine hovering over the city of Atlanta in a ... From a distance, local business advertising can appear extremely intimidating to the average local business owner. Imagine hovering over the city of Atlanta in a helicopter watching cars zipping in and out of different lanes and going in all directions while passing one another and fighting for pole position. At the surface, it looks extremely chaotic, seemingly without organization or structure. But below the surface, inside each individual vehicle there is someone special trying to deliver a special package or make it home for dinner on time or pick their kids up from school... everyone has their own special path amongst the chaos. Your business is also very special to you and to many other people who rely on your services day in and day out, whether someone enjoys a simple cup of coffee and a bagel at your local neighborhood coffee shop each morning to start their day, or an urgent courier delivery that absolutely cannot be late. Every business is special, and therefore every business has a special place amongst the chaos and confusion of the local business advertising world. The trick is the find that special place where your target audience is listening! 10 years ago, literally any local business owner could throw a little advertising money at the wall and at least some of it would stick... and good money could be made with very little advertising skill or experience. But that's not necessarily true in today's advertising world. Not only that, but the world population is growing at a staggering pace. The combination of more and more people and business owners fighting for pole position in your mind, and the fact that consumers are getting smarter about making buying decisions makes life extremely difficult in the local business advertising world. Oh, and lest we forget about the ldquo;sagging economyrdquo; to boot? Listed below are three (3) ldquo;secret ingredientsrdquo; that can help you ldquo;crack the local business advertising coderdquo; and put your local business back on track for success. *Please keep in mind that advertising, especially online advertising is an art form, and there are increasingly few people and companies who understand marketing and advertising as the art form it truly is. In fact, online marketing and advertising is one of the only ldquo;business art formsrdquo; still in existence today that is not driven solely by statistics and numbers. There is an amazing level of creativity and creative thought that goes into getting your message into the minds of your target audience. Not only that, but itrsquo;s constantly changing amongst a constantly changing group of consumers. Although it is highly recommended that you use an Atlanta marketing company to handle all of your online marketing, the three (3) secret ingredients below will, at the very least, provide enough education and knowledge for you to be able to shop intelligently for the Atlanta marketing company that's right for you. Code Cracking Secret #1: Forget About Bulk and Mass Advertising Most local business owners cannot afford to spray entire cities or zip codes with expensive mailing pieces time and time again, or pay for expensive, overinflated radio and newspaper ads that spray your message into the marketplace like a shotgun without there being any sort of real targeted niche audience on the other side of the pellets. While it's true that most large companies or corporations with shareholders and a seemingly endless budget can afford this style of marketing and advertising, the average local business owner cannot afford to pay several thousands of dollars, or even tens of thousands of dollars month after month for several months until that style of marketing begins to grab hold of the general audience. As a local business owner, you need to make sure that every advertising dollar counts, and that itrsquo;s reaching the specific target audience that is more likely to be interested in your products and service... Atlanta,Local,Business,Advertising,,Local,Business,Advertising Steady Stream of Customers no No http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/all-new-audio-blog http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/all-new-audio-blog#comments Tue, 08 Jun 2010 03:33:32 +0000 Erik Welker http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/?p=667 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/all-new-audio-blog/feed 1 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/atlanta-marketing-company-advises-how-to-handle-a-bad-online-review http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/atlanta-marketing-company-advises-how-to-handle-a-bad-online-review#comments Tue, 08 Jun 2010 01:05:17 +0000 Erik Welker http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/?p=661 http://steadystreamofcustomers.com/atlanta-marketing-company-advises-how-to-handle-a-bad-online-review/feed 1 3:43 It's absolutely amazing that a faceless, nameless person can log onto the Internet and bash your company or talk negatively about your business, but it's ... It's absolutely amazing that a faceless, nameless person can log onto the Internet and bash your company or talk negatively about your business, but it's also a reality that a lot of local Atlanta business owners are dealing with today. So is there a way to remove negative or bad online reviews? Some local business owners might be surprised that, in most cases, negative reviews about your company are not removed by a website ownerhellip; even upon request. This mainly has to do with freedom of speech legislation. Even if the negative comment is untrue or uncharacteristic of your business, the bottom line is that it's still having a hugely negative impact on your business in the eyes of your prospects who are searching for you on the Internet. If you can't remove the bad online reviews, then what should you do about them? The best way to handle a bad online review is to scatter, cover and smother it like your Waffle House hash browns. All jokes aside, you can even go as far as contacting past and present happy customers and encouraging them to post a positive online review in exchange for perhaps a coupon or a limited time offer of some sort. Another way to bury negative online reviews is to hire a professional Atlanta marketing company that has experience with online reputation management. They should be able to handle the smothering of negative comments and reviews within a few short weeks to a couple months depending on the reviews. If you had, for example, two or three negative reviews, but you also had 20 or 30 absolutely amazing and positive reviews, those negative reviews will begin to diminish and disappearhellip; or at least move a lot further down the page(s) where they canrsquo;t be seen very easily. One of the major obstacles you can encounter by contacting past and present clients is that you will essentially be exposing them to the negative comments while at the same time possibly inconveniencing them by asking them to perform a duty for you (i.e. write a good review). If you decide to work with a reputable Atlanta marketing company, they should be able to add more and more positive comments and reviews each and every month to ensure your reputation stays solid. It's no secret that most small to medium-sized business owners these days need all the help they can get, so the very last thing that anyone needs as a professional business owner is to have a bad reputation online, but the reality is thousands of local business owners all across the globe have negative comments posted about them on the Internet and they don't even know it. If your business has endured a recent slump in sales, perhaps you too could be experiencing the pain of a negative review somewhere on the Internet right now. Recent studies show that nearly 86% of all local consumers will research a product, service or business before visiting your business, so your online reputation is probably more important than you realize. And therefore you should take negative reviews and comments very seriously as a local Atlanta business owner. Atlanta is one of the easiest markets to become successful in if you have a good reputation and a steady ldquo;stream of customers.rdquo; Your marketing company should be able to handle all of that for you. Atlanta,Marketing,Company Steady Stream of Customers no No