How to use your website to reach local customers

W.W.W. stands for World Wide Web. Your website is accessible to nearly anyone on this planet that has access to the internet, with the exception of countries such as North Korea, China and a few others that have government controls on internet access.

I have SiteMeter on most on my websites and that tells me that I get visitors from not only Indiana, but nationwide and worldwide every week.

Your site most likely gets visits from across the globe too. But unless you are prepared to ship your products around the world, or send yourself around the world to provide a service, then you most likely care most about reaching people in your town.

There are a couple of ways to get the word out locally about your presence on the internet. As I write this at the end of March 2008, there is a slow way and a quicker way to promote your website.

The slow way is to buy ads on the internet that have click-able links such as Ad Sense from Google.


A quicker way is to include your website address on and in all your local advertising marketing. And I mean all of it. It should be on your business cards, the cash register receipts, your sign, your delivery vehicle, your invoices, your voice mail, your paper or plastic bags, your name tags, your EVERYTHING!

Your website address needs to be in your radio commercials, your T.V. ads, your billboards, your newspaper ad, your phonebook ad, your direct mail piece, and your Little League sponsorship ad.

Now I'm going to tell you how to crank it up to the Next Level. That is through internet connectivity with local websites.

If you are going to advertise with a radio station, TV station, or Newspaper, make sure you also advertise with clickable links that go from their website to your website. Why?

It is easier for a consumer to click on a link than manually type in your web address. Misspellings can send potential customers somewhere else on the WWW. You may have a dot com address and your competitor has the same name except theirs is a dot net address. I've seen it happen. Clickable Links eliminates these errors.

Also clickable links use the basic principles that made traditional media advertising successful in the past. That is, you are getting exposed to a larger audience.

One last item about presenting your website in print. Use Capital Letters To Separate Words.
Today I saw www.twomenandatruck.com on the side of a vehicle. A better way to present it would be www.TwoMenAndATruck.com because it emphasizes the name, not a collection of letters.

The choice is up to you and your budget.