| While search engine advertising has been a great | | | | Minneapolis can advertise on the more general |
| advertising medium for businesses capable of or | | | | terms, then specifying a geographic area they'd |
| interested in marketing their products and | | | | like the ads to appear within.The options for this |
| services to a national or international audience, the | | | | include picking specific cities, metropolitan areas, or |
| effectiveness of this type of advertising was | | | | even a distance radius from a specific point. For |
| limited for businesses interested in advertising to a | | | | example, maybe the realtor only wants to |
| local market until very recently.For example, a | | | | generate leads from within 30 miles of their |
| realtor with a web site in Minneapolis is likely | | | | home.Does this work?Yes, it works very well. |
| interested in advertising on search terms such as | | | | There are very few types of advertising online or |
| "homes for sale" and "sell my home." The only | | | | offline where you have such detailed control over |
| problem was the realtor would have to advertise | | | | who you are advertising to. Basically it's pretty |
| to everyone in the country who happened to | | | | hard to beat advertising to people who are |
| type those terms into search engines. This was | | | | searching for what you sell and happen to live |
| wasteful and ineffective because the vast | | | | close to your business. And, since this is pay per |
| majority of visitors clicking through to the site | | | | click advertising, you are only charged when |
| would not be qualified visitors since they lived | | | | searchers click through to your web site.Local |
| outside the realtor's regional market.At that time, | | | | Advertising TipsPromote Your Location - You'll |
| the only work around to this was to include a | | | | definitely see better conversion rates for your |
| regional qualifying term next to each search | | | | local advertising if you include your physical |
| phrase, so instead of advertising on the term | | | | address on your web site. We recommend |
| "homes for sale" the realtor would have to | | | | including this in the footer of every page of your |
| advertise on "Minneapolis homes for sale."What | | | | site to reinforce that you're local to the |
| about the prospective clients who live in | | | | prospects.Track Performance - When you use |
| Minneapolis, but only type in "homes for sale?" | | | | local advertising you will still have to compete |
| They're likely just as qualified for the realtor, but | | | | against businesses willing to advertise nationally on |
| it there wasn't a way to target this type of | | | | the same search phrases. This means search |
| searcher. The gap between forcing advertisers to | | | | terms can get expensive but your conversion |
| use regional qualifying terms or advertising to a | | | | rates should support this. However, as with any |
| national market was finally closed this spring by | | | | form of advertising, it's important to track what's |
| Google.Local TargetingTargeting a known | | | | working.Ed Kohler is the president and founder of |
| geographic location of searchers became a reality | | | | Haystack In A Needle - - a full service web |
| earlier this spring when Google launched their local | | | | marketing and search engine positioning firm |
| targeting program. So now the realtor in | | | | based in Minneapolis, MN. |