Local Network Marketing Leads
It's true that the internet works globally, but you can find some free help and good advice by pursuing local lead generation.
You can sign up for a free account at Google that will augment your internet business with local business traffic. On your Google search bar, type in Local Business Center. This takes you to a place that offers lots of tools -many of them free!- to help you create a local business listing at no cost. Whether your business is based on the internet or in the neighborhood, you shouldn't miss out on the marketing opportunities it offers. As you sign up for an account, you enter your business's name, address, and phone number. Google identifies you geographically, and it creates the listing while you enter data. It shows you the listing your potential customers will be looking at, and if you're already listed as a business with a name variation, you can claim it or correct it. These initial steps allow you to enter your website address and email contact information. You can enter how you prefer to do business and what forms of payment you accept. There are also tools for uploading photos and videos. These last two items must comply with Google's Terms of Service. You can include up to ten photos, which might include your logo, your storefront if you have a physical location, or photos of your products. Use the video option to tell customers about your business. Once you create a video, you upload it on YouTube and then enter its URL. Using Google's Local Business Center (LBC) puts a wealth of information at your fingertips. You will be able to find out how many times your business came up as part of someone's search efforts. If someone has clicked through to your website, you'll know. And, if people are clicking on Google's interactive map to get directions, you can tell where your prospective customers come from.
Take a detour from the LBC to discover Google Maps. If you've created an account on the LBC, click on My Maps and search for your business name. You'll find an interactive map that you can customize to include specific information about you, your business, and your products. As you create your map, you can insert photos or videos relevant to your business. This tool allows you to insert a link to your website along with a description. And if people search for your business, they can look at comments or reviews from others. You can also share your map with others. If you have a blog, post it there.
Going back to the LBC, Google also provides you with the keyword phrases that lead people to find your website. For instance, if you provide sleep aids, do customers find you by searching for snoring remedies or insomnia cures? That's priceless information that allows you to bid on the keywords that are leading people to you. Once you've verified and claimed your account, whenever you visit your business "dashboard" Google will show you statistics about the past month's activity. You'll be able to distinguish between actual customers and those who just looked at your ad. This is a place that will help you create ads and choose keywords. Google AdWords ties into the LBC, and you can buy an ad to display on Google's search results pages. You only pay as people click through to your website, and it's possible to keep costs minimal. Try setting a limit on the amount you want to spend each day-say five dollars, and you can pay a dime whenever someone clicks on your ad. There is a keyword tool that presents synonyms for your suggested keyword, and it tells you how much it will cost to use that word or phrase in a Google ad. Or, you can access a search-based keyword tool. This tool directs you to enter your URL, and then it scans your website and chooses the words it deems relevant to your product. Google also tells you how much traffic each keyword or phrase has accrued, and an estimated bid to help you place in the top three spots in searches. Additional data analyzes how often your ad is showing up and which of your website pages is most relevant for the keywords you're using.
The LBC provides many tutorial videos and pages. You'll learn about snippets and meta tags and why you should insert your keyword phrases in them. A snippet is an introductory piece about your business that Google will take from your website, especially if you haven't written a meta description. Once you've chosen your keywords, you need to include them in your website's meta tags, meta description, and in a snippet on your home page. Don't forget that MLM stands for multi-level marketing. You should cover all levels of marketing, including your own backyard.
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