Businesses Lose Web Traffic

Online marketers continue to lose ground in local search results and lost Web traffic as the savvy consumer searches for products and services on a local level in Google, Yahoo, and MSN. The consumers are looking to organic search engine placements to find what they want, and marketers continue to play catch up as a result of ignoring local search results in the organic search engine listing. Some of the highest valued keywords are local geo-targeted keywords, like “Data Recovery Services Los Angeles” with a pay per click value of $51.18, “Austin Texas DUI Lawyer” at $50.03, and “Mesothelioma Attorneys San Diego” at $50.78. With pay per click values climbing, marketers need to look at geo-targeting and optimizing on a local level with good content to guide the consumer.
Companies are clamoring to join the PPC bandwagon while ignoring the local geo-targeted keywords in the natural search. Everyday I find myself in a conversation convincing Marketing Directors, advertising execs, and small- to medium-sized advertising agencies of the value of localized search keywords, and nearly every time they reply, “I don’t search like that. “I’m not typing in my city (or zip code) when performing a search.”
Many companies are missing the boat everyday. Thousands of searches are performed on a local geo-targeted level, looking for products and services many companies are missing out on the traffic streams in the natural organic search listings, due to the lack of high-quality optimized Web content.
I’m finding that small business owners are grasping the importance of this and are optimizing for local geo-targeted keywords while more regional and national companies are completely ignoring the local search in the organics, but are paying massive amounts of dollars in pay per click and even on banner ads in a quick rush to tap into local markets to show that they are marketing on a local level.
I’ve been listening to new buzzwords from local online media outlets like hyper-local banner networks and such. Consumers are tired of clicking on geo-targeted PPC ads, and even banner ads since they are being directed away from valuable information, and instead to a shopping cart or some lead generation form at the first click, when the reality is the consumer is in a different mindset or simply not at that part of the buying cycle. They simply are not ready to make a purchase and they don’t want to put personal information into a form that in their minds could lead to more junk mail, spam or worse, the dreaded telemarketing call during dinner.
Marketers need to get back to basics when it comes to Internet marketing otherwise they are in for a long painful journey of spending massive amounts of money for no return or very little results. Marketing Directors need to realize the importance of localized organic search and make it a part of their Internet marketing Strategy.
The savvy consumers are looking for the credible source, an informative resource, or some authority on a product or service. They want to read useful information before making a purchasing decision. These searchers are drilling down in the organic search even if it takes them to page eleven of the search results to find the authority in their area.
Marketers need to be patient and consider adding informative content to attract the savvy searcher and most importantly to improve search engine visibility to increase website traffic. This needs to be done in a strategic manner to generate ROI and increase sales. Companies need to look at other outlets specializing in Web content solutions, and not take a quick cut and paste content approach to their Web content, which search engines penalize as duplicate content, and which many others view as plagiarism.