When it comes to online marketing, there are two realms in which to operate:

1)  Free online advertising & exposure

2)  Paid online marketing

Let’s talk first about your options with free online advertising since this is the option that most business owners are interested in.

Under the umbrella of free online advertising solutions, you’ve got a few options that are powerful and effective at driving new customers to your busines.

Free online marketing solutions

• Google Places:  this is where local businesses get exposure in the top search results of Google – both on desktop and laptop computers, and on mobile devices.  Google Place pages for business owners are associated with a Google Maps listing and can be identified at the top of Google search results by the red map icons (click for an example).
• Content Marketing:  this is one of my favorite methods because it gives you, the business owner, a lot of control over what people see and read about you and your business.  Content marketing is best facilitated with a blog being integrated into your website.  With a blog, you have the power to create your own content on your own time schedule.  All of this content can be quickly crawled and indexed by Google, thus allowing people to search and connect with your business website.
• SEO (Search Optimization):  a lot of times, SEO is referred to as the dark side of internet marketing.  Basically, SEO refers to the process a website owner takes to get their web pages into the top organic rankings of Google, with the ultimate achievement being the #1 organic listing in Google’s search results.

All of the free solutions above are readily available for any and all local and small business owners.  These are powerful tools that will help your business connect to customers who are online searching for your business, products, and services.

And giving the fact that over 97% of local consumers turn first to Google to research products and services, these solutions are a must have in the arsenal of online marketing tools for small and local businesses.

Paid online marketing solutions

Let’s highlight some of the more effective paid online marketing solutions available to small and local businesses:

• Google Express:  this is the pay per click marketing solution for Google Places page owners.   When someone searches for a local product or service that triggers the Google Places results, Google Express ads will be highlighted at the top with a blue map marker, and also with a blue map marker on the map itself – both on computers and mobile phones (see example here).
• Google Adwords:  just like Google Express, Google Adwords is a pay per click marketing solution.  This means, you set an initial budget, and Google will maximize clicks on your ads based on that budget.  Read more about Google Adwords with our free Google Adwords – What’s in it for you?  (PDF download here)
• Facebook PPC:  Facebook has their own pay per click marketing solution.  Just like with Google Adwords, you’ll create an ad > set your monthly budget > and then Facebook will maximize your ads’ exposure based on your click budget.

What’s Best For You

Now the question is, what’s the best solution for your local or small business?

I’m of the opinion that no business should be without some sort of strategy that maximizes the free online marketing solutions.

Every business these days needs to have an online presence because, quite simply, your customers are online researching your products and services.

And if your business doesn’t have content published online, or your local business doesn’t have a Google Places or a Facebook Places page, then I guarantee your competitors do – and your competitors would now be capturing all of the attention and conversations.

So the free online marketing solutions are, in my opinion, not an option.

But the paid online marketing solutions are really a matter of your budget.

If you have at least $500 per month to apply to pay per click marketing, then I’d say this is a great option for you to explore, especially local targeted campaigns – of which, Google Adwords, Google Express, and Facebook PPC are all capable of achieving.

Contact us today to learn more – let’s talk about your internet marketing needs.

Or call us now @ 706-363-0335