Keep costs down - you can run local advertising online

2:59 AM Wed 4 Mar 2009 GMT

'Local services need local promotion' Click Here to view large photo

If most of your customers are in one city or region, don't pay for national advertising.

Some marine business sell products that can go to customers world wide or nationally, for example navigational computer software, GPS's, can be sold via the Internet, or brands they sell through chandleries across a country, but when it gets to consumers buying boat shoes, or offshore jackets, you need to put the item on, to see it fits.

If your business is installing electronics on boats. then your client base is probably within 200km, unless you are selling very big pieces of kit.

Chandleries are mostly local businesses -

Paying for advertising Australia wide if your client base is Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong based means you are sending your message to a lot of boaters who in reality, are never going to walk in your door or call you.

TetraMedia's Sail-World, Sail-World Cruising, Powerboat-World and Marine Business News site can set up your advertising so it's only seen by your target audience.

So if your adds are just running in NSW and a Victorian or Queensland consumer comes onto Sail-World, he won't see your add and you won't pay for a wasted message.

You benefit with reduced cost targeted advertising.

How do we know where our site visitors come from? Well one thing is for sure we don't ask them - the technical term is called Geo-location.

If you look at your Bank account number - the BSB is the unique identifier which is your Bank and Branch, e.g. HSBC -Queens St, Auckland.

There is a similar system with computers connected to the internet. Part of that unique address, the Internet Protocol (IP) Address, of your computer is the address of your Internet Server provider, so when your computer connects to a website, our servers can cross index your address and in less than a second they will know this new visitor is connected to the Internet via Netspeed in Fremantle WA or iinet in Mascot, Sydney etc.

Rigging service are local too -

If you are paying for WA advertising the Fremantle client will see it, but if not they won't. But if your potential clients are in Sydney, they will see your ads.

So if you need more clients, and who does not these days, and your business is city, region or State based, talk to us now about lower cost local advertising.

Just one more example of the targeting that makes online advertising so much more valuable than the old print advertising.

by Bob Maxwell

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