Should a business market on local search engines or with website

Many small and medium enterprises choose to pay money to search engines like Local Search and True Local to reach customers. Are they doing the right thing?

Tradies and retailers need a constant source of leads and sales to survive. For a builder for instance, the chance of repeat business from a single customer is pretty low. Most people do not build many homes for themselves, so builders pay for a listing on search engines to constantly generate sales leads.

For many business people, local search engines certainly provide a valuable service. In fact, for a new business, search engines will be the main source of sales leads.

One problem is that the cost of the leads provided by search engines is high. There are the annual listing costs in terms of basic listing and then upgrading so as to beat competitors to leads. On some search or directory websites, there are fees to view the details of potential costumers who have found your listing.

Another option for businesses looking for leads is to create social media posts on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. The potential of social media to be a major driver of sales for retail and service industries is high and social should be a part of every marketing campaign.

The major problem with social media is that the members or content creators do not own or control their social media pages. They can be taken down, suspended or cancelled at any time by the site owners. If a business relies on Facebook for sales and leads then they will be severely affected if their pages disappear with no redirection in place.

The best way to control your own marketing is to own and operate your own website. You own the domain ( licence or lease technically ) and have total control.

Some of the benefits of having a business website are: Read the rest of this article at Interwebs.com.au

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