A couple years ago things were getting along well in Calgary. Business was on the rise. People had money to spend. Malls were all filled up and you’d rarely see a vacancy unless they were renovating or redesigning the store. Restaurants lined up the streets. Boutiques were everywhere. In short, the economy was booming.

Then the year 2009 rolled around and the term “recession” came into the public consciousness. Restaurants were forced to shut down. Boutiques hung down their clothes and closed up shop. Many entrepreneurs gave up being entrepreneurs and took to finding a steady, full-time job, if there were still any. But not everything closed up for good. Some businesses proved the recession is no more than a small hurdle and that they are here to stay. What are they doing different?

They are engaged in local internet marketing.

The owners of these small businesses figured a long time ago that traditional marketing was no longer cutting it. Plus, traditional marketing is expensive. Local internet marketing on the other hand is cheap-almost free-and it provided just the right kind of exposure needed for a small business without throwing away a dime and a penny.

Local internet marketing is the use of online marketing strategies that target local, relevant customers. These days local internet marketing is essential for just about any type of small business it allows them to compete with larger corporations in terms of advertising without spending as much. It also helps get the word out about their businesses. Some even go so far as to say that local internet marketing is the future of business marketing.

Local internet marketing shot up in popularity several years ago when public behavior began showing drastic changes. More and more people were spending more and more time on the internet. Some folks didn’t mind not having a TV in the house as long as there’s a phone cable leading directly to their bedrooms. If people spent more time surfing than watching late-night shows, why advertise on TV? Local internet marketing was the answer small business owners had been looking for so long.

There are numerous ways for your business to engage in local internet marketing. For example, you could start with Twitter Local, a small desktop application designed to filter tweets by geographic location. Twitter is one of the most popular and widely-used social media service right now. So if you’re operating in Calgary, you could target local prospects using Twitter Local, and that is exactly what local internet marketing is all about.

Other options are Yahoo! local business listing, local business review websites, online Yellow Pages, Google web services such as Google Analytics, etc. You’d be hard-pressed to run out of local internet marketing ideas if you really take your time to look for them.

Small business owners should learn to thrive and utilize local internet marketing to the fullest extent. Invest a couple of hours every day to try and learn the ropes, and trust me when I say you’ll be reaping the generous rewards in no time at all.

Author Bio: Calgary Internet Marketing is a great resource of up-to-date online marketing strategies and techniques for service professionals and small business owners in the Calgary area. Feel free to visit the website at Calgary Internet Marketing for more info on consultation services. Or you can simply visit the website simply for more related articles on online marketing.

Category: Internet
Keywords: internet marketing, local internet marketing, small business