Customers Are Looking for Your Small Business Online

Will They Find What They’re Looking For?

Consumers now use the Internet more than any other source when it comes to searching for local businesses. In fact, a recent Nielsen study found that 82% of consumers use the Internet to search for local services – more than any other source.

This is big news for your small business, since it means consumers are looking for the goods and services you provide in search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask.com. The big question is, “Will they find you?” If you’re still pouring all your marketing energy into phone book, newspaper or billboard advertising, you may not be reaching consumers where they’re looking. A small shift in resources to the Web could significantly increase business for your location, and help you reach more interested buyers.

Consumers have changed the way they search for your business. According to the Nielsen research, consumers are using the Yellow Pages less and the Internet more than just two years ago. If you’re not familiar with how the Web reaches your customer, try to do a search for your business in your local market; you’ll most likely find that your competition shows up in those searches. They are probably getting a lot of the customers who went to the Web looking for you. If you’re not spending at least a small percentage of your marketing budget to fix this problem, your competitors will continue to get your customers.

There are many different providers of services to help you optimize your website for search engines. If you don’t have a website, companies like Radius Online provide you with one for free, when you sign up for on of our local search engine optimization programs.

Starting your local online marketing program today will make a significant impact on your sales and profits in 2009. Feel free to contact us if you’d like to learn more about how to reach customers that are already looking for you at 1-866-575-8057 or sales @ radiusonline.com.