Its commonplace in today’s internet age to for people to assume that all search engines, portals and internet directories essentially all do the same thing.  While all of these services are designed to gather and present information to the end user the way the deliver results and how the get them are different.  After all, all newspapers essentially report the news, but they all report it differently.  This is why demographics are so important when considering the search engines you want to target for online advertising as the target audience can be widely diverse.

Search Engines are the most popular way of finding things on the web and on any given day over 60% of those online use a search engine to find what they are looking for. Search Engines like Google, Yahoo!, and MSN have strong brand visibility and loyalty but you will be surprised at how diverse the demographics are for the people using them.

So what do I mean when I refer to demographics? I’m talking about key factors like age, sex, education level, and proficiency on the web. This factors change depending on the person who uses MSN versus Yahoo versus Google, and then there are the other smaller search engines that are designed to a more targeted audience. These niche search engines drill down even further in segmenting the user demographics.

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We have alot of experience working with medium and large business on their online marketing initiatives. Whether there looking for Search Engine Optimization, Paid Search Management, or any of our other services it generally a smooth process as they have come to understand the value of online marketing and the increast in sales it can lead to.

We are a privately held company, a business that we treat more like a family,and know many people who have small business’s but have no knowledge of advertising online or why it even matters. We decided to reach out to them and test out a new product we had in the mix developed for these types of business’s and while they still don’t completely understand how it works, they understand the internets power as every single ePowerPackage we have set up has led to increased sales and walk in traffic.

Our local marketing package is an all in one solution for companies that dont have a marketing team and dont want to complicate things. They know they need to be online and they want someone to handle it. The truth is that its more important than ever to be found online. With more and more people turning to online search instead of opening up the Yellow Pages( I will get several emails now from Yellow Page Industry types ). In fact, over 55% of local searches are now conducted online with over 65% of those people purchasing local goods and services.

This numbers cant be ignored and with a package like this that not only provides a website, but provides Google, Yahoo!, & MSN local submissions, lead generation, and much much more a small business simply cant go wrong.

Normally, I take the opportunity on our blog to talk about general topics but we are so excited about this product, its performance and what it can mean for small business in this economic environment that I simply had to talk about it.

Find out more after the jump

Customer: “How can I get higher placement in search engines?”

“Really pay attention to the words you are using to define your brand. Get creative, I mean you’ll never rank with generic keywords such online marketing or local house painters. Also be sure you include words that give your geographic location and don’t forget to include variations of your words since people are always misspelling their searches.

Customer: “Ok I can do that, anything else?”

“Yes, there are about 4 other things you can do. Is your website spider friendly?”

Customer: “I think so but I’m not exactly clear on what that means.”

“Two things; steer clear of Flash, Java, frames and DHTML and most importantly make your site clearly named, easy to navigate with correct HTML and no broken links. By clearly named I mean fixing the file names that your pages use to represent a searchable keyword like Ferrari.com/F40/racing-history. This will allow spiders to more easily navigate your entire site for proper indexing.”

Customer: “Thank you, that helps a lot. Next?”

“Many people believe, as do I, that your TITTLE tag is one of the most important aspects in ranking higher with a search engine’s algorithms. So instead of a tag that reads Bob’s Boat’s put in something along the lines of Bob’s Boats – #1 Boating Super Store in SoCal.

Customer: Actually a friend told me about this so I have done that.”

“Good. The last two aspects you must address are content and incoming links. Obviously the key here is as much content as you possibly can but remember it must still be very clear, concise, easily searchable and maintain keyword density so don’t write jumbled, incoherent content and think it’s going to help because it won’t. It will actually hurt your rankings. Finally, make sure that every site out there that needs to know about you does. Of course stick with industry specific and relevant directories and do not get involved with any link schemes.

Customer: “Got it.”

“Ok, well these 5 tools should give you a good start with helping you achieve higher rankings so good luck.”

Customer: “Thank you so much.”

The trends they are changing. With more and more businesses of all shapes and sizes realizing how important it is to have visibility on the world wide web the case for more targeted way of web site optimization has gotten stronger. This year at one of the major industry expos all the buzz was on Local Optimization and what it can do for business. While this has been a goal of Search Engine Optimization for some time its only recently become a true possibility.

Local business can benefit in many ways from Local Optimization efforts and going with an online marketing firm that truly specializes in this type of service is to your benefit. Many SEO companies focus their efforts on national brands and gaining rankings for their clients on a very broad level. This leaves small business out in the cold trying to figure out how they can get in the game efficiently and effectively without incurring the costs of national online marketing campaign .

So you might be wondering what’s the difference and why should I consider going local?

Well these are valid questions that often come up with many of our clients.  The fact is that if your a business that relies on local clients and customers you dont need to spend your marketing dollar on attracting online searches from across the country. You want to be featured in relevant search engines that drive local traffic to your site. For example, your a local restaurant that wants to make sure that when people search for a great place to eat in your area you come up as a top listing. It would not be relevant to your business for someone in another state to find you when searching for a local eatery. While you may want to be listed in national directories for people traveling the bulk of your business will be local traffic.  Local Optimization targets is efforts on providing your business visibility on a local level first to drive traffic to your website and more business to your door.

Online statistics show that consumers are going local at a rapid pace. More and more searches are done looking for local business’s that are relevant to consumers as they look for goods and services online. Making sure your optimized locally is the key to growth for your business and if you haven’t considered a presence online until now then maybe its time you take a look.