Local Online Advertising

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1 Making Everything Easier! Local Online Advertising Learn to: Plan and launch an effective local online advertising campaign Set up a Web site that draws local traffic Maximize your presence on top search engines Inside find out how to get a $100 advertising credit from Yodle! Court Cunningham CEO of Yodle Stephanie Brown Local business consultant

Get More and Do More at Dummies.com Start with FREE Cheat Sheets Cheat Sheets include Checklists Charts Common Instructions And Other Good Stuff!

2 Get More and Do More at Dummies.com Start with FREE Cheat Sheets Cheat Sheets include Checklists Charts Common Instructions And Other Good Stuff! To access the Cheat Sheet created specifically for this book, go to Get Smart at Dummies.com Dummies.com makes your life easier with 1,000s of answers on everything from removing wallpaper to using the latest version of Windows. Check out our Videos Illustrated Articles Step-by-Step Instructions Plus, each month you can win valuable prizes by entering our Dummies.com sweepstakes. * Want a weekly dose of Dummies? Sign up for Newsletters on Digital Photography Microsoft Windows & Office Personal Finance & Investing Health & Wellness Computing, ipods & Cell Phones ebay Internet Food, Home & Garden Find out HOW at Dummies.com *Sweepstakes not currently available in all countries; visit Dummies.com for official rules.

3 Local Online Advertising FOR DUMmIES

5 Local Online Advertising FOR DUMmIES by Court Cunningham and Stephanie Brown

6 Local Online Advertising For Dummies Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ Copyright 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) , fax (978) Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) , fax (201) , or online at Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/ or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITH- OUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZA- TION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ. FULFILLMENT OF EACH COUPON OFFER IS THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE OFFEROR. For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at , outside the U.S. at , or fax For technical support, please visit Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Control Number: ISBN: Manufactured in the United States of America

7 About the Authors Court Cunningham is the CEO of Yodle, a leading local online advertising company that works with over 6,000 local businesses across America. At Yodle, Court oversees all aspects of operations and strategy, including technology, product development, sales, and marketing. Prior to joining Yodle, Court held the position of COO at Community Connect, a niche social networking company, where he lead consumer marketing, product management, and development efforts. Before that, as SVP/GM of the Marketing Automation group at DoubleClick, he was instrumental in establishing DARTmail as the industry leading marketing solution. Court received a BA in English from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. For more information about Court and his company Yodle, go to Stephanie Brown has been evangelizing Internet marketing since In fact, she specializes in helping clients use many of the tools and techniques contained in this book to grow their businesses. Over the years, she has held management positions at marketing firms and Internet companies, where she has led teams in creating customer-focused online solutions for accounts big and small, local and national. Today she is a partner at Word Communications, an integrated marketing firm in Albany, New York. Her clients are a living laboratory for exploring the latest best practices in , social media, search marketing, landing page design, Web analytics and optimization, and offline integration. Stephanie can be reached at sbrown3@nycap.rr.com or www. wordcommunications.com.

9 Dedication Court Cunningham: I want to dedicate this book to all small business owners, the hardest working people I know. Stephanie Brown: This book is dedicated to the people and the dogs I ignored during the researching and writing of it. (You know who you are.) I also dedicate this book to my mother, Helga Olsson, and my stepmother, Ruth Brown, whose examples have always taught me to persevere. Authors Acknowledgments Court Cunningham: A large number of people on the Yodle team played significant roles in creating this book not the least of which was Cam Lay who was instrumental in helping to organize the content of this book, leveraged his own marketing background to give us another set of eyes for each and every chapter, and arduously provided the first round of edits. Additional content contributors from Yodle included Joseph Sievers, Michael Baker, Arpan Jhaveri, Milind Mehere, and the invaluable John Switzer. Finally, I want to thank the Yodle Marketing team members who provided further feedback including Kara Silverman, Herman Mallhi, Allyse Coughlin, and Alisa Adler as well as our Senior Director of Marketing, Joel Laffer, who encouraged me to do this book in the first place. Stephanie Brown: It would be a sin not to acknowledge the two people who worked tirelessly (and occasionally feverishly) to bring the best out in this book: Editorial Assistant David Idema, whose wry humor makes this a fun read, and Yodle s Cam Lay, whose steady support and gentle task-mastering got us through. Eat your peas!

10 Publisher s Acknowledgments We re proud of this book; please send us your comments at For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at , outside the U.S. at , or fax Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial Project Editor: Jean Nelson Executive Editor: Steven Hayes Copy Editor: Jennifer Riggs Technical Editor: Michelle Oxman Editorial Manager: Kevin Kirschner Media Development Project Manager: Laura Moss-Hollister Media Development Assistant Project Manager: Jenny Swisher Media Development Associate Producers: Josh Frank, Marilyn Hummel, Douglas Kuhn, and Shawn Patrick Editorial Assistant: Amanda Graham Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case Cartoons: Rich Tennant ( Composition Services Project Coordinator: Katherine Crocker Layout and Graphics: Christine Williams Proofreader: Susan Hobbs Indexer: Potomac Indexing, LLC Special Help Leah Cameron, Teresa Artman, Becky Whitney Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director Publishing for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher Composition Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

11 Contents at a Glance Introduction... 1 Part I: Getting Started with Local Online Advertising... 7 Chapter 1: Online: It s Where Your Customers Are...9 Chapter 2: Engaging Your Advertising Arsenal...19 Chapter 3: Planning Your Online Advertising Campaign...43 Part II: Setting the Foundation for Local Online Advertising Success Chapter 4: Building a Great Web Site: The Key to Online Advertising Success...61 Chapter 5: When You ve Hooked Your Customers, Reel Em In!...87 Chapter 6: Analyzing Results for Long-Term Gains Part III: Doing the Advertising Part of Local Online Advertising Chapter 7: Demystifying Search Engine Marketing Chapter 8: Getting Web Traffic for Free: Practicing Search Engine Optimization Chapter 9: The Nuts and Bolts of Search Engine Advertising Chapter 10: Saying It with Chapter 11: Linking Up with Directories and Lead Aggregators Chapter 12: Targeting Customers with Banner Ads, E-Newsletter Ads, and More Chapter 13: Hanging Out on Social Networks Chapter 14: Generating PR Buzz Chapter 15: Using Offline Channels to Drive Online Traffic Part IV: Keeping Your Customers Coming Back Chapter 16: Staying at the Top of Customers Minds Chapter 17: Leveraging Customer Data: Reach Out and Touch Em Part V: The Part of Tens Chapter 18: Ten Local Online Marketing Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them) Chapter 19: Ten Steps to an Effective Local Online Advertising Plan Chapter 20: Ten Considerations When Choosing a Local Online Advertising Partner Index

13 Table of Contents Introduction... 1 About This Book...1 Conventions Used in This Book...2 What You Don t Have to Read...2 Foolish Assumptions...2 How This Book Is Organized...3 Part I: Getting Started with Local Online Advertising...3 Part II: Setting the Foundation for Local Online Advertising Success...3 Part III: Doing the Advertising Part of Local Online Advertising...4 Part IV: Keeping Your Customers Coming Back...4 Part V: The Part of Tens...4 Icons Used in This Book...4 Where to Go from Here...5 Part I: Getting Started with Local Online Advertising... 7 Chapter 1: Online: It s Where Your Customers Are Understanding Online Consumer Trends...9 The Rise of the Search Engine...11 Google, the big kahuna of search engines...11 Customers use search engines to find you...12 Local Search: The Latest Search Frontier...12 Big demand + Tiny supply = Pay dirt...14 Thinking local: It s only natural...14 Methods You Can Use to Advertise Online and Their Benefits...16 Going beyond search engines...17 Targeting the right prospects...17 Turning clicks into new customers...18 Taking an active role in optimizing results...18 Chapter 2: Engaging Your Advertising Arsenal Getting Your Business Found Where People Are Looking...20 Leveraging search engines for success...21 Getting found organically...23 Using local search listings...24 Running pay-per-click ads...25 Seeing how you look in Yellow...29 Getting listed on directories...31 Lead aggregators...33

14 xii Local Online Advertising For Dummies Driving Direct Navigation Traffic...34 Going viral with blogs...35 Using social networks...35 Using other free media vehicles...37 Going from Offline to Online: A Lesson in Cross-Pollination...38 Getting Seen with Banner Advertising...39 Moving Out with Mobile Advertising...39 Mixing and Matching Your Methods...41 Chapter 3: Planning Your Online Advertising Campaign Making a Pact to Plan...44 Positioning Your Business for Success...45 Setting Your Goals and Expectations...46 Knowing what will happen...47 Setting reasonable expectations of success...48 Identifying Strategies for Success...49 Lead generation...49 Lead capture...50 Lead nurturing...51 Creating a Time and Action Plan...52 Establishing a Realistic Budget...55 Determining the right amount to spend...55 Determining your potential return on investment (ROI)...56 How the numbers all come together...57 Part II: Setting the Foundation for Local Online Advertising Success Chapter 4: Building a Great Web Site: The Key to Online Advertising Success Asking the Right Questions before Building Begins...62 Reviewing your Web site building options...65 Finding a template that best fits your Web site...66 Thinking it through...68 Finding a professional Web designer...69 Web provider directories...69 Understanding Your Site s Role in Your Overall Strategy...69 Having a conversion strategy...71 Knowing what to measure and why...72 Creating a Framework for Success...73 Selecting, registering, and hosting a URL...73 Mapping out your information...75 Setting the Mood: The Right Look and Feel...83 Look and feel basics...83 Common Web site design mistakes...84 Striking the Perfect Balance between Information and Promotion...85

15 Table of Contents xiii Chapter 5: When You ve Hooked Your Customers, Reel Em In! Implementing Proven Landing Page Techniques...88 Defining landing page and home page...88 Using the power of landing pages...90 Understanding the elements of the landing page experience...90 Engaging Customers with Two-Way Communication...92 Understanding and implementing chat...92 Raising your conversion rate with chat...94 Letting the pros set up a chat feature...95 Using proper chat etiquette...95 Effectively Using Interactive Elements...97 Online coupons...97 Online video...99 Capturing Customer Information Online forms Virtual phone services Closing the Deal Chapter 6: Analyzing Results for Long-Term Gains Using Cutting-Edge Reporting Tools Web analytics in a nutshell Where the magic of metrics comes in Choosing a Web analytics provider Understanding Key Metrics Where are your customers coming from? What content are visitors consuming? Which offers are visitors clicking with? What does it cost to get new customers? What is your lead-to-sales ratio? Optimizing for Improved Results Split testing Testing page elements Part III: Doing the Advertising Part of Local Online Advertising Chapter 7: Demystifying Search Engine Marketing Understanding Organic and Paid Search Organic search results Paid search advertising Understanding How Consumers Rate Search Results Pairing Organic Search with Paid Search...137