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Your Thoughts on Having a Local Blog in Your City About Local Marketing

by Anne-Marie B
8 replies
Just wondering if any offline marketers have a blog in their local city about online marketing which could help the local business community understand more how local marketing works. Most local businesses don't really understand terms such as SEO and first page rankings and so on.

My idea is to have a blog and create content such as blog post and screen capture videos about simple things like:

-Google Business Page
-Citations
-What is a Mobile Website
-Domain name selection
-What is SEO

Most local businesses don't understand these things and they get cold calls about first page rankings and SEO but don't really don't understand what it all means and how it can help them.

My idea is to create a blog and openly share content on local marketing with blog posts and videos. I wouldn't give them step by step details but just basic info so that they understand what it all means. I would also have an opt-in form and offer an ecourse on how to do their own marketing .

I believe that once local businesses see how much work is really involve that some of them will end up hiring a consultant to do the work for them. I think by giving away free content it would make you look like an expert in your local area and you will end up getting clients.

Having and email list of local businesses would be a great way to build your reputation and show them that you are an expert. Once they would see your blog and all the content that you share there is no doubt that they would contact you for help because they see you as the expert.

I had seen this idea before from a local marketer who was showing the local businesses how to do it all themselves and it ended up working really great for him. He was getting hired by many of the local businesses.

Anyway, just wanted to share and hear your thoughts.... thanks for reading.

Anne-Marie
#blog #city #local #local business #local marketing ideas #marketing #offline marketing #thoughts
  • Profile picture of the author animal44
    If they don't know about it, why would they be searching on it?
    Our best customers don't spend time online, so they'd never find your stuff...
    Don't get me wrong, it's worth putting stuff out there that shows your expertise, but you're almost certainly going to have to work to get the best customers...
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    • Profile picture of the author DABK
      Because they search for the solution to a problem the blog solves (assuming the blog owner presents the info using the right keyword).

      If no one searches for how do I set my Google + page niles, michigan but business owners in Niles, Michigan search for how do I grow my business and the blog has at least one page about growing my business and that page is about Google + and SEO and whatever?

      It can work quite nicely.

      Originally Posted by animal44 View Post

      If they don't know about it, why would they be searching on it?
      Our best customers don't spend time online, so they'd never find your stuff...
      Don't get me wrong, it's worth putting stuff out there that shows your expertise, but you're almost certainly going to have to work to get the best customers...
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    Great idea. As you talk to, or email prospects, you can provide the URL.
    Whether they read it or not, it will give you credibility.

    Tweak the content into an Amazon book - kindle and hard copy.
    Again, publishing gives you credibility - establishes you as an expert.
    Giving away free copies to either version is a great tactic.

    Some may take your ideas and try to implement without you. Others
    will realize that it is a better use of their time and money to have you
    implement for them.

    Dan

    PS. - Of course, the Amazon book, or a chapter, can be used as a gift to
    build your email list.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mav91890
    I think it'd just be better to focus on your company's blog and if you want add in posts geared towards you local position.
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  • Profile picture of the author Anne-Marie B
    I really appreciate everyone taking time to respond and give me some feedback. I have been thinking about creating a product on Udemy about how to market a local business but I like the idea of creating a Kindle book also, it would be faster. I am still not sure about the blog and how I should do it. I will have to do more research.
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    • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
      Originally Posted by Anne-Marie B View Post

      I really appreciate everyone taking time to respond and give me some feedback. I have been thinking about creating a product on Udemy about how to market a local business but I like the idea of creating a Kindle book also, it would be faster. I am still not sure about the blog and how I should do it. I will have to do more research.
      No research, just do.
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      "If you think you're the smartest person in the room, then you're probably in the wrong room."

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      • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
        I think the blog would be useful to use as proof of authority, when prospects look you up on Google. But not as a prospecting tool.

        I would write several well written blog posts, that will get read, and shared. Quality is more important than quantity. After you have 50-100 blog posts, that can easily be formatted into a Kindle book, or even A Createspace print book.

        But, as has been said before, the vast majority of prospects aren't going to be researching this information. You need to prospect.
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  • Profile picture of the author kemdev
    I'm thinking through this in another way.

    People search for SEO and web design locally. I've gotten a couple sales from searchers in my local area, and I live in a fairly small city/town. Are people searching for information on those topics specifically (citations, Google+, optimization tips, etc...)? Probably not.

    But I'll bet there's people searching for marketing advice.

    ContractorMarketing360 does a good job of this. They rank for "contractor marketing" and a whole buttload of other terms. FindLaw does it with "lawyer marketing." I'll bet there are big players as an example for most niches.

    For those nationwide terms, there's going to be a lot of SEO competition.

    But to the OP's point... what about locally?

    What about registering yourcity+marketing.com and creating a blog covering different marketing topics? As an offliner, naturally you would gear the content towards the Internet and why online marketing provides a higher return, has a lower cost of investment, is trackable, etc...

    SEO competition will be weak, depending on how large the city is. In terms of scalability... you could do this for cities in a 50, 100, 1,000 mile radius. The possibilities are endless. And I think this is more to the OP's point.

    I don't post often but this thread got my gears turning. Gonna be a long weekend.

    EDIT:

    A quick search for three nearby cities came back with positive results. Not a lot of search volume for any particular keyword (marketing in _, or _ advertising) but hundreds of related keywords with a little bit of traffic. I think the Planner lowballs search volume anyway. But regardless, a well constructed blog would rank for a good chunk of those keywords and definitely drive targeted traffic.

    Something to think about.
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