Posts Tagged ‘local community’

Creating Content For Your Local Business Directory

If you are contemplating building a local business directory to service your local community then it is highly recommended to create a viral point of reference.  Casual browsers and serious surfers can use this as a go-to point whenever they are seeking local information. Make it into a local news and information source.  The local information can be provided through selected RSS feeds pertaining to local news and entertainment. Other important categories include:

• food
• events
• local business news
• financial and economic news
• local weather reports
• surf, ski or other local sporting activity conditions
• latest shopping promotions
• sporting events
• latest local results
• the list is only as short or as long as your own imagination.

RRS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds allows a site to automatically gather information from all over the net which is topic related.  The results in a site to provide local content that local surfers regard as useful in one go-to location.

A word of advice though; when gathering information to use on your website recreate it without breaching any copyright laws (a disclaimer that we are not providing any legal advice here).  Be sure proper credit is given where required.  Better still give the original author or provider credit where credit is due and add your on take with a brief comment to complement the content thus making it original.  Read and understand all agreements made to carry the information on a given RSS feed and abide by them.

Don’t just provide content that can be found everywhere else on the Internet.  Present it in a manner that either entertains, enlightens and educates. Achieve this balance and you will ensure surfers will return again and again. Attach your personality and “voice” to the presentation of the content. This brands your site so it becomes the talk of the local community.

Brand yourself in a manner that others recognize, clearly promoting your message that basically sells itself.  If done well, local businesses seek you out for a listing on your directory. This is what will set you apart from the many directories that merely provide links with very little content.

The quality of the content you produce can also be syndicated out to other websites that deem it valuable enough to share with their visitors. This has the effect of greatly enhancing your exposure and your brand within the local community.  It also optimizes your site in order to gain higher rankings in the search engines.
Never dismiss the importance of quality content in taking your local business directory to another level. It is what creates a brand awareness that is recognizable.  This affords you the ability to network within the community to even greater enhance your brand.
Your brand is your ticket to riches if you create it with trust, maintain it with integrity and develop it with honesty.

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Developing A Local Business Directory Into A Thriving Web Portal

Creating local business directory that you can on sell for a lucrative profit or as the foundation to a successful Online – Offline Consultation Business requires you take a completely different angle.  The goal is to have it bringing profits on a regular basis while servicing your local community.  It must grow above the more generic type of local web directory.  These are portal type websites that flood the search engines with as many local long tail keywords to be found in the search engines.

Most local business directories are no more than link farms.  They offer little value outside of listing local businesses in their appropriate categories. Your local directory needs to be different.  It must be made attractive to entice local businesses to list with your directory at premium prices as opposed to the cheaper or free local directories.

How can you, as the local online – offline consultant provide that winning edge? You need a concept that will have local businesses seek you out opposed to a Yellow Pages(TM) utility type portal.  A first step is to create a full page description of the local business on the website. That is, from a generic A-Z category reference page – your links page – you redirect the surfer to a separate full page description which still resides within the website.

The enhanced page could well include a video interview with the local business owner to create a more personal feel.  This immediately starts to build trust and familiarity that that a casual local surfer will better identify with.

Also include a well placed link (or banner) on the page to make contact easy and intuitive. Include a strong call to action message directing the surfer to click the link (or banner) to instantly jump to the local business’ website. If the local business has not yet got an online presence, full address and operating hours details must be clearly shown.

The sky is the limit here.  Use your creativity and imagination to create a page that you would be proud to have on your own corporate website.  That way you know the owner of the local business will be profiting by displaying it.

The benefits of such a page to your local directory in the eyes of Google(TM) and the other search engines is greater exposure and higher rankings all around. Because you are providing relevant local content search returns will organically rank highly in any of the search engines.

With some basic search engine optimization for multiple appropriate keywords and phrases, as well as meta tags and some other tricks, the results for the business can be quite astounding.  This, in turn gives the local business exposure and positive results that they will be more than willing to pay a premium for the service.  It is demonstrably targeting responsive local shoppers that walk through the door from successful directory portal searches.

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Getting it right, right from the start

Any offline to online transition consultant knows that the future sustainable relationship with a client depends on understanding the needs and expectations of the business actually in the process of transitioning from the offline world to the Internet.  It is extremely important to ensure that the right virtual presence is created.  Without a proper base from which to grow, no matter how flashy the site, the traffic will just not be able to sustain itself profitably.

The first and most basic task is to identify the actual needs of the business. If the focus is on the local community, and the business’s perceived role within it, there is no need to try to drive traffic from the ends of the world.  Similarly, any business that sells physical products strictly on reduced price structure has no real need to develop the persona of an expert in a given field.

But there are many times where the business is actually looking to expand and redefine itself in the process.  The Internet offers a wonderful opportunity to develop a “persona” that is completely different from the brick and mortar store setting.  In this case, the vehicle used to promote the expertise is much different from one that is displaying pure price point.

There are lots of ways to promote on the Internet, but the Home page is the most important.  The choice between blog and more standard website is critical.  Although a combination of both is often used, it is the focus of the development on one or the other that can spell the difference between success and failure.  As a general rule of thumb, if the information to be delivered is of a mainly static sort, maybe the business only desires an electronic business card.  Then the choice of the more standard website, with its ability to influence the way the pages are viewed in a somewhat structured way with the proper selection of menus and buttons, is usually the best way to offer exposure.

When the client has the requirement to build an aura of expertise, or a personality of sort is required, then this is most efficiently provided through the use of the blog format.  The blog is much less static and offers the ability to create a “web star” and hordes of followers.  This is something the more traditional website would have a difficult time providing.

You can have the best graphics and copy writing skills, but if the original platform for delivering the message is not appropriate, leading to a confused message and experience, serious problems will surface.  Even the best designed site will have problems delivering the original expectations of the contract if the experience is wrong.  Getting it right, right from the start is often the difference between success and failure in any project.