December 4, 2008
This year, Black Friday sales were steady, and Cyber Monday numbers exceeded expectations. How did retailers manage to achieve such satisfactory results during the current economic slump? They offered several cost-saving specials and heavily advertised those specials.
If you are a storeowner, now is the time for drastic measures. Analysts believe retail sales - both online and offline - will drop drastically by the end of the holiday season. Therefore, storeowners must step up their game and continue to offer savings great enough to motivate reluctant consumers.
Online storeowners, as well as offline retailers who own Web sites, should set aside a portion of their budget to advertise online. Pay-per-click advertising is a wonderful promotional strategy because it allows advertisers to target locally. Pay-per-click ads appear only when a user is searching for the products and/or services offered by the advertiser. Additionally, pay-per-click advertising can be seasonal. So, if a storeowner wishes to advertise online only during the holiday season, he or she has the option to do so.
Some businesses may not have the budget available to create an online advertising campaign. Every storeowner, however, can afford to take ownership of their online business listings. Online business listings are similar to yellow page listings, but they are more targeted and they provide more value to the consumer. An online business listing appears only when a user is searching for a specific business category in a specific town. The listing not only provides the interested consumer with a business’s address and phone number; it also provides them with a map of the business location, driving directions to the business and business reviews written by past customers. The most amazing thing about online business listings is that they are free. Sites like ThinkLocal® and Yahoo!® Local are great online business directories that will provide any business with the additional exposure they need during this crucial period in retail.
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General, Internet Yellow Pages, Local Search, Small Business | Tagged: advertising, black friday, business listings, cyber monday, online advertising, online business listings, pay-per-click, Pay-per-click advertising, retailers, thinklocal, yellow page listings | 
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Posted by thinklocal
January 5, 2009
As a small business owner, you want people to come to your business - consumers who are seeking your products and services. You also want to be able to compete with larger businesses that can offer more and charge less. Well, you aren’t alone.
The majority of U.S. businesses are small businesses. Most of these businesses possess similar weaknesses and experience the same threats and obstacles. Despite their likenesses, many small business owners neglect to do their part to help other small business owners.
Every business owner is also a consumer, and like all consumers, business owners have the power to choose who they support. Therefore, the next time you need a product or service, consider doing business with a small business owner in your area. Then encourage him or her to do the same. Every little bit counts.
Online business directories like ThinkLocal® or YellowPages.com™ make it easy to find a variety of local businesses. Online business directories are quick, convenient and free to use!
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General, Internet Yellow Pages, Local Search, Small Business | Tagged: local businesses, online business directories, small business owner, small businesses | 
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Posted by thinklocal
December 22, 2008
No matter what you’ll be celebrating this holiday season, odds are you’ll be enjoying those celebrations with family and friends. For many of us, that means traveling, whether out of town or just down the road, will also be included in our holiday festivities. No matter where you’ll be celebrating, local directories, including ThinkLocal® and Yahoo! Local®, can provide you with information that will make your trip all the merrier.
If you’re going out of town and need to find a place to stay, find information for local hotels, bed and breakfasts, or even campsites if you’d like to get back to nature. Think you’ll need a break from your family? Find the perfect place to unwind by comparing customer reviews for local bars and nightclubs, and make sure you also look up local taxi services to guarantee your holiday is both fun and safe. Local search directories now include features like maps and local weather, so shortly before you make your trip, visit a site like ThinkLocal® to help you pack appropriately and plan the best route. If your trip isn’t completely booked up with holiday festivities, you can find something fun going on around town by checking out the local search directory’s event feature.
Keep your holidays fun, festive, and hassle-free by gathering all your travel information from one place: your favorite local search directory.
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General, Internet Yellow Pages, Local Search, Mobile, Small Business | Tagged: bed and breakfasts, campsites, hotels, local directories, local search directories, local search directory, maps, taxi, taxi services, thinklocal, weather, yahoo! local | 
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Posted by thinklocal
December 17, 2008
The recession has struck, and your sales are suffering. Although you may want to keep everything the same, you have to make some changes. One change you should consider is altering your pricing.
Many retailers across the country have lowered their prices in order to motivate consumers to buy. Keep in mind that lowering prices may lower your bottom line, as well; however, it may also help you make sales that otherwise would not happen. When deciding your discount rates, consider using percentages versus fixed dollar amounts. This will help you make adequate earnings on low-priced products, as well as high-ticket items.
Popular discount rates include 25%, 30%, 40% and 50% off. Clearance items can often reach up to 75% off. Some retailers even offer savings on top of existing savings, such as an additional 15-20% off all items, including sales items, or free shipping on large orders. Whichever rates you choose, you should identify an expiration date. Deadlines will force consumers to take immediate actions.
Once you have your plan in place, advertise your savings. You can use the same promotional methods you normally use, but make sure you adjust your ad message to reflect all the wonderful deals you are offering. Also, remember that you can update your free ThinkLocal® online business listing so that it highlights your limited-time offer. Once the sale is over, you can go back in and re-edit your listing.
There’s no denying it. Consumers will buy if the price is right. For that reason, you should consider making some changes to your price list if you’ve notice that your sales numbers haven’t been doing as well as expected.
No Comments » | General, Internet Yellow Pages, Local Search, Small Business | Tagged: bottom line, discount, discount rates, limited-time offer, online business directory, pricing, sale, sales, sales numbers | Permalink
Posted by thinklocal
December 11, 2008
Local search directories offer many benefits to a business owner: they’re effective at extending a business’s Web presence, they provide potential customers with the important contact and location information they need, and they can drive traffic to a business’s Web site. While these features can ensure that your business will be found, that is only half the battle; converting your listing’s audience into actual business is another thing.
Many online business directories, including ThinkLocal®, provide a platform where customers can leave their ratings and reviews for each business that is listed. The great thing about customer reviews, in addition to extending a business’s online presence, is their power of persuasion. Customer ratings and reviews make your business stand out from the crowd, and people are more likely to choose a business with a positive review over a business that lacks a customer review. If the search for “sushi restaurants” in your local area brings up multiple results, the restaurant with a 5-star rating and descriptive review is going to grab your attention; it may even convince you to choose that one over the others.
Customer reviews not only help to bring new customers to a business, they also provide business owners with valuable feedback on their business’s performance. Positive reviews point out features that a business owner might want to highlight in their next advertising campaign, and negative reviews let the business owner know which areas need improvement.
If you manage an online business listing, get the most out of it: encourage your patrons to review your business, and then use that feedback to your advantage.
No Comments » | Uncategorized | Tagged: advertising, business directories, business listings, customer feedback, Local Search, online business listings, thinklocal, web presence | Permalink
Posted by thinklocal
December 8, 2008
The recent labeling of the U.S. economy as “in a recession” has brought a new wave of panic over most Americans, especially business owners; unfortunately, many of us have legitimate reasons to worry. Each new day seems to bring word of another business closing its doors, or news that yet another company has been forced to let go of employees in an effort to cut costs. Although it is easy to get discouraged during times like these, we all have to try to focus on the actions we can take to improve our situations instead of dwelling on the worst-case scenario.
All business owners know that to stay afloat during an economic downturn, they must focus on reducing their costs. Many choose to reduce the budget allotted for advertising and marketing efforts, but this can be very detrimental to building and expanding their customer base. And when you don’t have customers, you don’t have revenue. So what’s a small business owner to do?
In addition to online business listings Web sites like ThinkLocal®, there are more free resources that business owners can turn to reach out to their customers and build a strong Web presence for their company. One of these resources is blogging. Blogs are an easy and effective way to build Web presence and keep your customers aware of what’s going on with your business. Instead of spending money on advertisements that show off your new product or inform your customers of your business’s new services, just blog about it. Blog posts allow you to go into as much detail as you’d like, you can load them with keywords that will help them show up in search engine results, and best of all, there are many blogs that are 100% free. Web sites like WordPress®, BloggerTM, and LiveJournalTM are just some of your free-blog options.
Once you’ve got your blog set up, check out some of the micro-blogging Web sites that are available. Sites like TwitterTM and Plurk allow you to give quick updates on what’s going on with your business, and they’re a great way to spread links to your blog posts. Twitter and Plurk also allow you to associate a personality with your business’s web presence; this alone can give you an advantage over your competition since consumers tend to choose companies that they know or feel comfortable with.
Be sure to also check out free social networks, including Facebook®, MySpaceTM, MySolutionSpotTM, and LinkedIn®. Social networking is a great way to connect with other business owners, current customers, and potential customers. Through social networks, you can get feedback on what your customers are looking for, build relationships with them, compare business strategies with other small business owners, and so much more.
No Comments » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Add new tag, advertising, advertising online, business listings, micro blogging, online business listings, small businesses, social networks, web presence | Permalink
Posted by thinklocal
November 18, 2008
Black Friday, which always lands on the day after Thanksgiving, marks the beginning of the holiday shopping rush. Most retailers offer incredible savings - and sometimes extended hours of operation - during this great shopping day.
You should aggressively advertise prior to Black Friday, especially if your business is going to hold a limited-time special. If you don’t advertise your savings, it is likely that you will lose potential sales to competitors who have gotten the word out about theirs.
You can advertise your Black Friday savings on traditional media channels, like radio, television or print. Choose the advertising channel that is capable of effectively reaching your target audience. If you have a Web site, you should also advertise online. You can create seasonal pay-per-click ads or boost your daily budget and adjust your ad copy if you already use pay-per-click advertising. Make sure to emphasize the deals you are offering.
Consumers are motivated by cost savings during the holiday shopping season. Therefore, if you make an effort to tell them how you can save them money on the things they want, then they will do business with you.
No Comments » | General, Local Search, Small Business | Tagged: advertise, advertising, black friday, business, day after thanksgiving, holiday shopping, pay-per-click, sales, savings | Permalink
Posted by thinklocal
October 27, 2008
This past Saturday, we happily bade farewell to the old, outdated ThinkLocal design and introduced the public to a brand new ThinkLocal. We gave the new ThinkLocal® a modernized look and feel and added more engaging content. In addition, we’ve incorporated the Google Search Appliance to power ThinkLocal’s search algorithms and improve the accuracy of its search results.
To check out ThinkLocal’s drastic transformation, go to: www.ThinkLocal.com today!
No Comments » | General, Internet Yellow Pages, Local Search, Small Business | Tagged: google, google search appliance, thinklocal | Permalink
Posted by thinklocal
