Advertising in Raleigh Durham is a key success factor for your business!
So then the question becomes; how can I advertise effectively and afford-ably in an area as diverse and online as Raleigh, NC? When I sat down to write this post, it dawned on me that not everyone does this for a living so some simplification is in order to make sense of all the options available. Let's start by categorizing the forms of advertising available to your business: print, television, radio, Internet, word-of-mouth and social networking.
Comparatively; print, television and radio tend to be very expensive when viewed side-by-side with the other categories. This factor alone discourages and prohibits many small business owners in the local area from capitalizing on these mediums.
Online advertising has become the small business owner's golden egg over the past few years.
In a recent post, we outlined the types of IYP/directories (Internet yellow pages) available for your business to use. Let's now talk about how we optimize this content to be sure Google and other search engines recognize your efforts (and rank your website accordingly for the Raleigh, NC area). There are a number of factors; so we will start with a few basics must do's:
- NAP (name, address and phone references must match exactly between your website and these Internet directories)
- Your telephone number should have a local area code (1-800 numbers are okay but they hurt your local ranking if a local area code/number is not present)
- Pick the correct categories when you list (e.g., a company specializing in landscaping services should list landscaping services as one of their business categories)
We'll address more of these topics in greater detail over the coming weeks; however, start here and watch the results come in. You won't be disappointed!
