How Start-ups Can Attract More Local Customers To Their Websites

If your start up has just launched a website one of your main concerns will be getting your website designed to attract more local customers. It is a lot easier than you might think. It doesn't require being a computer whiz or a computer programmer to make it happen. A focused effort using the right words, will get the right people, coming to your website in no time flat.

Many new website owners aren't aware that the local search arena is a little different than competing in the global search market. There are a lot of success stories detailing how local search can pay off for businesses in some big ways. When you target a mix of local and regional traffic, using the appropriate keywords, and making sure your website is part of your sales funnel you can replicate these successes using any website.

How To Attract Customers Who Are Ready To Buy

In a recent New York Times article on Internet marketing Perrone Maintenance Corp., a carpet-cleaning business in Brooklyn, N.Y., discussed how he started his search for more website traffic by advertising on Craig's List. His ad attracted more paying customers for his business, but it had to be updated every week.

People who are ready to spend money often use classified advertising to find a company and a set of keywords different from people who are just looking for information. When individuals are ready to purchase they often will use buying indicators in their search terms and keyword phrases. These are words like buy, purchase and compare that are added to the general search term such as, " where to purchase laptops".

According to recent research 33% of the Internet audience online are ready to buy and looking for businesses to spend their money with. To get them to your website you need to make sure that your content has buying indicators sprinkled throughout your pages.

Start-ups using these terms and phrases will let the search engine know that your page is a place for people to buy your product and not just a source for information on your market.


How To Get Customers To Return To Website Faster

Today, Mr. Perrone says, he gets about 90% of his business from his website that targets New York area customers. Your content should tell local customers that you are in their immediate area and why they should buy from you rather than all of the other choices in the marketplace.

Valuable content should do more than attract a lot of Internet traffic to your website. You should be able to use it to get customers into your sales funnel and build repeat business.

In order to encourage visitors to return to your website try posting coupons and freebies on your website. A coupon that has a significant savings will motivate them to come to your store sooner. If you give them a coupon after a store purchase for a discount for an online purchase you can get them back to the website faster.

Website Traffic Tools

These are just a handful of the traffic tools that every business start-up's website should contain to attract more local traffic. There are also a variety of free E-books on just about any subject you can imagine, that make good gifts to your customers, if they are related to using and caring for your products.

The fuel that drives the biggest part of all Internet traffic is finding quality relevant information. The goal is to align local customers who plan to spend money with one of your sales messages that will direct them to the product that offers the benefits they desire.

Starting A Business

In a down economic cycle starting your own business might be one of the things you consider doing, especially if you're unemployed for a long period of time and have some management experience. Or maybe, you just have that burning desire to break free of the 9 to 5 routine.

I read an ABC News story on how a woman started a business with virtually no money, and decided to share a few of the nuggets that I gleaned from that report in this blog.

Having a huge nest egg to start a business isn't one of the essentials. Many businesses can be started for less than a 1,000 dollars and some for a few hundred. What is important is that you plan your work and work your plan.

There is a Bible story in Genesis 29-31:55, about a young man who lacked the finances to buy his own herd of animals so he contracted to tend his uncles herds in exchange he would receive any the spotted cows and goats that were born, as his wages. That was his game plan, to get the stock he needed to start his own herd.

The young herdsman developed a plan to feed the animals a special diet which he hoped would cause them to produce more spotted offspring than usual.

In today's competitive marketplace a businessman can greatly increase his or her chance for success by having a written plan. I've identified some simple steps for planning a business. If your back is up against the wall and you need to create an income, here a some useful tips to get you started on the right track.


Tips for Starting a Business

A written plan for a start-up doesn't have to be extensive and formal like a corporate business plan. You can start out with a simple one page business plan. It should link together your planning, marketing, strategy and execution.

It's mostly an outline, to clearly show 4 key things, the mission , the company's objectives, the strategies and the actionable steps.

The mission should answer, Why does your business exist?

Objectives, indicate what you should measure.

Strategies, show things that need to be done to accomplish your business objectives.

Actionable steps, are specific things that you need to execute to make your business successful.

How To Increase Your Chances For Success

By addressing these things in advance you increase your chances for a successful business. In addition getting those profitable ideas out of your head and on to paper is a an explosive step towards getting started.

The character in our example from the bible didn't have the benefit of using a written plan, but his plan was still successful and before long he had more animals than his boss. The take-away from the story is that resourceful entrepreneurs can be successful.

Here is a link to the ABC News story I referenced at the beginning of this blog post on "how you can start a business for $100.00 or less."