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Most business owners, over the past decade, will have invested in some kind of advertising with the good old Yellow Pages or indeed their online equivalent, Yell.com. But how much has search engine marketing and the growth of mobile internet and the use of Google Places reduced its relevance and increased the importance of a strong website for small businesses?
At Ready Made Designs, we have noticed a large increase in very traditional small businesses that historically had a minor or dated website presence, bucking the historical trend of buying Yellow Pages advertising and instead investing in renovating their existing website or even commissioning their first website.
So what’s behind this change? The Internet has been around now in mainstream marketing for close to 15 years, so why are so many small traditional businesses strengthening their website presence after years of neglect or in some cases, outright denial?
No one will contest that the high street is a difficult environment in the current economic climate. Small business and stores are looking to generate new business in the most economical way possible and they certainly see an enhanced and professional website as a great means of achieving this.
Small stores are also looking to the growth and efficiencies that ecommerce offers in abundance and broadening their markets from just their local areas.
Most significantly, small business owners are waking up to the power of local search marketing and the Power of Google Places. Astute business owners now want a clean, clear website, acommpanied bya professional brand, easily found by mobile Internet users on the major search engines.
With limited marketing budgets, their spend is moving back to their own website and away from directory websites and printed material such as the Yellow Pages, where once your period of spend is up, your presence is withdrawn. With a well planned and professionally executed website, search engine optimised for its local market, its presence is here to stay, 24/7, 365!
