A Guide to Local Content Marketing for Small Businesses

A significant portion of Google searches relate to a specific location. People search for things like “pizza New York City” or “spa Daytona Beach” millions of times per day. That's because location is just as important for your website as it is for real estate. Tagging your content with relevant local information can draw in a sea of new visitors and keep your page relevant longer.

The Unique Situation of Being Local

Building an online presence for a local company can be a bit challenging. The strategies are different for content creation. Since being local ties your company to a specific market, you'll often see a smaller selection of topics and options.

A website's bounce rate is a measure of how many people viewed only one page without clicking another link. Some companies will naturally have higher bounce rates, like news stations. Others struggle to keep them as low as possible. The more your website demonstrates local personalization combined with beautiful design, the more likely you'll get your ratings where they need to be.

The Steps to Crafting Unique, Local Content Marketing for Small Businesses

Tailoring your subject matter doesn't have to be difficult. In fact, if you do some research ahead of time, you might find the entire process easier than you anticipated.

1. Identify the local audience. If you stay local, then you're already narrowing the scope of your content and making it easier to find your audience. However, you should fine-tune it for consistency and relatability. Think about crafting buyer personas. These simple profiles offer imaginary people for whom to write. The result feels like very personalized content for anyone who meets the target audience requirements.

TOOLS: Try Facebook Audience Insights or Neilson Prizm to see specific information about your local demographics.

2. Examine the competition and your existing content. Another great way to find useful content types is to look at successful businesses. You can peruse their articles to see if any particular topics are popular. Likewise, you'll get a good idea about what should be avoided to keep your audience happy.

Take the time to compare the content you already have. Look for things such as shares, comments and likes, which are easy indicators of the post's exposure. If you seem to be doing better, great! If not, give your content another look. You also can take advantage of analytics to see which of your topics are performing the best.

TOOLS: For analytics, Buzzsumo and Google Analytics transform page views and interactions into usable information and statistics.

3. Redefine broad tactics to make them local. Just because you're targeting a smaller audience doesn't mean you can't take advantage of broad content strategies. In fact, adding a local twist to these proven methods is one of the easiest and most effective ways to create engaging local subject matter.

One simple way to accomplish this is by crafting unique headlines. Some formats are simply more successful than others and have proven themselves over and over. Use numbers or a “how-to” approach followed by a geographical keyword. For example, “7 Fun Things to Do During a Daytona Beach Vacation” or “5 Dates You Should Avoid Las Vegas.”

TOOLS: This style of heading is wildly popular among big-name entertainment sites like Buzzfeed and Upworthy. Looking to them for inspiration can be incredibly helpful.

4. Look to the past for inspiration. If you're really running low on ideas, check out past infographics from the town in question. In many cases, you can find data that's already been fully researched. All you need to do is make sure it's up-to-date and expand into the story to craft something interesting.

TOOLS: A Google image search, of course, yields high-volume infographic results.

Once you figure out what works in your local area, it will be easier than ever to add your personal touch and creative spin to the information. Do your research when choosing topics and titles - and you're bound to see interest from your local patrons.

Local Shop Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "A Guide to Local Content Marketing for Small Businesses" was first published on Small Business Trends

How the Election is Impacting Halloween Spending (Watch)

People are spending more money on Halloween this year than they ever have before. And you might have Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to thank for that.

Before this year, 2012 held the record for highest amount spent on Halloween. And there was even an uptick in 2008 even though the country was in the middle of a recession. So it stands to reason that people tend to spend a bit more on Halloween during election years.

That could be because of all those Trump and Clinton Masks you've likely seen around Halloween stores. But it could also be because people simply need a release from the stress caused by a long election season.

Whatever the reason, trends like this are important for companies to note. If you have a store that sells any Halloween supplies, you should be aware of people's spending habits so that you can create messaging that's most likely to get them to buy.

What You Can Learn From This Halloween Business Trend?

Halloween and the election might not seem like they have a lot in common on the surface. But tons of industries experience changes like this based on factors that aren't directly related. So it's important that businesses pay attention to trends in various areas to stay ahead in their market.

Image: Newsy

This article, "How the Election is Impacting Halloween Spending (Watch)" was first published on Small Business Trends

Airstory Gets Your Team Collaborating on Content - From Anywhere

There are many small businesses that specialize in creating content for websites, and when Airstory becomes available by the end of the month, it could make it much easier to do so.

Airstory is a collaborative cloud-based content creation platform for planning, writing, editing and kicking ideas around with your team. It works no matter where they are or what device you are using.

The Airstory software brings all of the research, data points, images, graphs, notes and any other material into an outline or a doc with drag-and-drop functionality. This information can be accessed by anyone with a simple invitation to bring the entire team to collaborate on the current draft.

The software saves research as cards so they can be easily accessed by the team. Once the cards are saved in the Airstory library, they can be searched and amended as needed by adding new information.

As the team continues to research, Airstory lets everyone comment like they are chatting. The in-line commenting doesn't require any additional functions. Start typing your comments, answer previous concerns and even add an emoji.

While the collaborative process is great, keeping it under control is important. User permission in Airstory lets you designate who can comment, and who has access when you are not working on a document.

When you are ready to write, outline your content by adding headings, subheads, bullets and more, and drag the notes to adjust your story. The importance of quality content can't be understated, especially with the increasing capability of Google's algorithm for detecting bad or clickbait content. As these algorithms get smarter, quality will be emphasized and it will place sites that have it on top of search queries.

So this is important for any business that stresses content creation - which is most companies these days! Airstory is scheduled for launch today and you can get an invite by visiting the site and signing up.

Image: Airstory.co

This article, "Airstory Gets Your Team Collaborating on Content - From Anywhere" was first published on Small Business Trends

Getting the Right Funding Can be Daunting – But There is Hope

Sponsored Post

Vendedy is the first social network designed to connect global travelers to street markets. Founded by Forbes30Under30 Entrepreneur Christine Souffrant Ntim, the small business's goal is to digitize the $10 trillion dollar street market economy and make it accessible to anyone and everyone.

But when Ntim started out, she had an incredibly difficult time getting the funding she needed. Watch this quick video to find out how Vendedy turned fails into sales:

When you're an entrepreneur attempting to start a small business, getting funding can be tough. That's especially true if you're like Ntim and trying to launch something bold and new. So its important to explore all both traditional and newer funding options and pick the one that best fits you and your business best.

For example, you might be able to get a traditional small business loan, just beware of prepayment and other penalties that are part of the agreement. Newer types of options to consider include crowdfunding, online lenders and non-profit lenders. You might also consider applying for a loan from the U.S. Small Business Association.

Watch more of Carbonite's “Small Business Storytellers” videos.

Image: Video Still

This article, "Getting the Right Funding Can be Daunting – But There is Hope" was first published on Small Business Trends

Feds Short-changed Small Businesses Out of $200 Billion in Contracts in 2015 Alone, Says Advocacy Group

The United States government agency responsible for supporting entrepreneurs has been accused of short-changing small business owners out of $2 trillion in federal contracts over the last ten years.

Federal law currently dictates that small businesses must receive a minimum of 23 percent of all government contracts granted, and the Small Business Administration (SBA) is responsible for helping to ensure that target is met by connecting government agencies with business owners.

Yet according to advocates at the American Small Business League (ASBL), the SBA has been “falsifying” the government's 23 percent target compliance by using inaccurate budgeting figures.

In 2015, the Congressional Budget Office (PDF) reported an acquisition budget of $1.2 trillion. This would mean that small businesses should have been legally entitled to receive a minimum $276 billion worth of government contracts that year. But according to the ASBL, the SBA only used an acquisition budget of $370 billion in its figures - thus “inflating their numbers” to show that small businesses received 24.9 percent of all federal contracts in 2015.

As a result, the ASBL asserts small business owners received just $40 billion of the $276 billion in contracts that should have been set aside for them last year, landing them with just three percent of all federal contracts.

In addition, the ASBL accused the SBA of diverting billions of dollars in federal contracts to larger companies thanks to a grandfathering rule that continued to class businesses that had grown substantially in size over time as “small”.

Those accusations led to the ASBL filing a controversial injunction against the SBA in May, although Federal District Judge Vince Chhabria ultimately tossed out the injunction (PDF) on October 18. He argued that, if the SBA has indeed falsified meeting its target requirements, it should be Congress not the courts that hold the agency to account.

In an release, ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said the court's decision is disappointing setback in the group's battle to hold the SBA responsible.

“If the lawsuit had been allowed to get its rightful day in court on the merits, the lawsuit would have required the SBA to give all small businesses - and doubly so for minority, women-owned, and disabled veteran businesses - a larger and proper share of federal procurement,” Chapman said.

“Dismissing the suit frustrates the legitimate rights of small businesses to their proper share of the true scale of government contracting.”

The SBA has yet to issue a statement following the court's decision to toss out the injunction. The ASBL has said it plans to appeal.

Two-dollar Bill Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "Feds Short-changed Small Businesses Out of $200 Billion in Contracts in 2015 Alone, Says Advocacy Group" was first published on Small Business Trends

QuickBooks Users Can Now Accept Payments Through PayPal

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU), QuickBooks' parent company, has announced that QuickBooks users will soon be able to send an electronic invoice from Intuit QuickBooks Online and seamlessly accept payment from their customers through PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL).

Yep, now small businesses can accept PayPal payments through QuickBooks.

“PayPal is a natural fit for QuickBooks: it gives small businesses a way to tap into the 188 million consumers looking for PayPal as a way to pay,” explained Vinay Pai, Vice President, Intuit Developer Platform, in a post announcing the integration on the official Intuit QuickBooks blog.

Details of the QuickBooks and PayPal Integration

According to Pai, your PayPal data will seamlessly carry over into QuickBooks, eliminating time-consuming data entry and cutting out the likelihood of human error. QuickBooks Online users will see PayPal Express Checkout as an option within the eInvoicing product.

Other integration perks mentioned in the announcement include the ability to:

• Import PayPal payments and fees into QuickBooks.


• Have invoices are automatically marked “paid” when a customer pays via PayPal.


• Automatically sync valuable customer information with customer information from PayPal.


• Securely download other transactions, such as expenses and bank transfers, into default categories within QuickBooks.


• Automatically import from PayPal into QuickBooks.

The integration of QuickBooks with PayPal follows another announcement recent announcement that QuickBooks integrating with Bill.com. Interestingly, Xero (NZE:XRO), QuickBooks' bookkeeping and accounting software rival, also recently integrated with PayPal in a move that seems part of a wider trend to help make it easier for small businesses and accountants to send professional invoices and get paid.

“This update [integrating PayPal into QuickBooks] may be one small step for QuickBooks and PayPal, but it's one giant leap for small businesses and accountants everywhere,” wrote Dan Leberman, vice president of North America Small Business at PayPal, on the official PayPal blog.

Image: Intuit

This article, "QuickBooks Users Can Now Accept Payments Through PayPal" was first published on Small Business Trends

Microsoft Touts Surface Book i7 as Ultimate Laptop - with Ultimate Price Tag

Coined the ultimate laptop by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), the new Surface Book i7 packs a punch, in terms of performance and the bruising your wallet will take.

The announcement of the new i7 comes just as Microsoft released Surface Studio, another bruiser that is squarely aimed at taking on Apple's stronghold among creative users. And for the first time, Apple really may have something to worry about.

A Look At the Microsoft Surface Book i7

The Surface Book i7 starts at $2,399 for the 8GB/256GB; $2,799 for the 8GB/512GB; and $3,299 for the 16GB/ 1TB models. The devices feature a 6th Gen Intel Core i7, which may have real power users asking why Microsoft didn't use the newest 7th-gen Intel Kaby Lake CPU.

Since these are portable devices, the 16 hours of battery life Microsoft is promising is a great place to start. The bttery life is impressive for a power unit like this. The portability is thanks in part to the 2-in-1 design that allows users to detach the screen for a full-featured tablet with the compatible Surface Pen.

The GPU is the biggest upgrade, which lets the Surface Book address a wide range of users. From gamers to small business owners that own design, architectural and engineering firms, there is a configuration that will address most use cases.

The GeForce GTX 965M with 2GB of GDDR5 doubles the graphics performance of the old Surface Book Pro, according to Microsoft. The images the GPU delivers will be on the 13.5-inch PixelSense display with 3000 x 2000 (267 PPI) and a 10 point multi-touch.

Affordability for the Small Business

Starting at $2,399, the Surface Book i7 is definitely not for everyone. However, there are small business that can use these computers to improve their workflow, whether they are in the office, on the road or at home. If the company's specs are correct, this is a device that can replace all other PCs.

The new Surface Book starts shipping on November 11, but you can pre-order now here.

Images: Microsoft

This article, "Microsoft Touts Surface Book i7 as Ultimate Laptop - with Ultimate Price Tag" was first published on Small Business Trends

Why Small Business Share of U.S. Inventions is Declining

Small businesses are accounting for a smaller fraction of new technology creation than they used to, at least according data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). That trend has many policy makers and pundits concerned that our innovation system is handicapping small business.

While that explanation is possible, I think a more basic story accounts for the trend. Small business is a shrinking fraction of the U.S. economy.

What's Behind the Decline in Patents Granted to Small Entities?

Let's start with the facts. As the figure below shows, the share of patents awarded to small entities declined from 25.9 percent in 2001 to 19.0 percent in 2015. While the pace of the decline has moderated in recent years, the size of this decrease remains substantial. Small entities account for a much diminished slice of technology creation than they once did.

Some observers have argued that this decline reflects growing obstacles to small business innovation. The cost of patenting has risen in recent years, this school of thought argues, making it more difficult financially-constrained small businesses to pursue patent protection for their technological innovations. The USPTO has become less likely to grant patent applications in recent years, coming down particularly harshly on small businesses, research shows. A slowdown in the processing of patent applications makes it more difficult for small businesses to use the patent system to protect their products and services against imitation by competitors since patents are being awarded too slowly to be of much value to them. Finally, patent infringement lawsuits have become more common and costly to prosecute, making it more difficult for small businesses to enforce their patent rights in court.

While the obstacles-to-small-business-innovation argument for the decline in the small business share of patents is certainly plausible, I believe that a simpler explanation is more likely. Small business's share of patents has declined simply because small business's share of the economy has fallen.

Much data shows that small business accounts for a smaller slice of the private sector now than it did in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. Consider a few statistics. Between 1998 and 2011, small business's share of U.S. private sector payrolls declined from 48.6 percent to 42.0 percent. The share of the labor force employed in small companies fell from 54.5 percent in 1988 to 48.4 percent in 2013. In 1998, small businesses accounted for 50.5 percent of private sector GDP, but in 2011 they contributed less than 45 percent.

Policy makers should certainly investigate the causes for the decline in small business's contribution to U.S. inventiveness. But I think they will find it is proportion to what has happened to small business in general.

Invention Team Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "Why Small Business Share of U.S. Inventions is Declining" was first published on Small Business Trends

It's Time to Invest In Tech for Your Small Business – Now What?

Entrepreneurs have enough on their plate without worrying about the technological needs of their new business. Between complicated and highly technical infrastructure, advanced operating systems and constantly evolving technologies, it can be difficult for the most steadfast of IT pros to keep up.

The majority of today's enterprises share many of the same IT needs, so there are some generic steps you can follow to ensure your company's capacity for doing business in the 21st century.

Must-Have Technology for Your New Small Business

Computer Hardware

Think of your computer hardware as the basic infrastructure of your entire IT operation. Personal and laptop computers, user workstations, mainframe systems, dedicated servers and even the wires, hubs and routers that connect them are all a part of your company's most rudimentary of technological needs.

Modern computers are powerful enough today that nearly any store-bought model could run a business, but the majority of consumer-oriented PCs are geared toward gaming, multimedia or online streaming. As you can probably tell, none of these applications are useful when maintaining an enterprise.

Servers provide you with massive amounts of storage that are accessible by any devices within your business network. They are incredibly helpful when launching a new business because many servers are scaleable, meaning they can be upgraded and expanded, as your IT requirements grow.

The hardware needed to run a successful enterprise ultimately depends on your area of business. For many, a system with a speedy processor and a relatively low amount of RAM will suffice. If you have a server, you can also afford to skimp on the storage capacity of your individual workstations and devices.

Computer Software

Once you decide on the exact type of hardware you'll run, it's time to choose your software. There are a plethora of options available, but companies tend to use Windows or Linux. In fact, Microsoft currently accounts for roughly 75 percent of all enterprise systems today.

In contrast, Linux is currently used on 99 percent of supercomputers across the world. There are a number of different Linux distributions available, including Red Hat, Ubuntu, SUSE and more. Some of these platforms are compatible with Microsoft Windows, which bolsters the usefulness and versatility of all systems involved, but most businesses don't require a Linux-powered supercomputer.

People who value security may want to consider Apple computers. Mac OS X is generally more secure than both Windows and Linux, so enterprises dealing with confidential or highly sensitive materials might require the additional protection.

Industrial Computers

Some businesses might require an industrial computer. They were once reserved for the largest of corporations and academic institutions, but they're now used by companies of all sizes. Built specifically with durability, reliability and efficiency in mind, today's industrial computers maintain their performance in the toughest of environments. Common applications include manufacturing, mining, commercial transportation, national defense, aerospace and more.

Industrial computers are slightly more advanced than their consumer-level counterparts, but many of the same tips apply when choosing an industrial system for your business. The speed and reliability of the computer's processor should be the topmost priority, with system RAM and storage capacity of lesser importance.

Intel has made it easy to gauge the general performance of its processors simply by looking at its name. By assigning specific codenames to each new generation of processor, they've made it easy to tell the new from the old. The first generation of Intel processors, for example, received the nickname of Avondale. The fourth and most recent generation carries the moniker of Haswell.

Mobile Connectivity

With so many consumers now using mobile technology on a daily basis, including smartphones, laptops and a myriad of other devices, it only makes sense for business to try and accommodate business on the go. It isn't a viable option in some cases, but businesses that utilize a mobile workforce typically see reduced absenteeism, improved employee morale and even greater productivity.

Apart from benefiting your new company, the integration of mobile technology with your new business can have other effects, too. Your company will produce a smaller carbon footprint, experience lower overhead costs and stay on top of the latest advancements in IT.

Supporting Startup Success Through Technology

There's an undeniable mainstream reliance on modern computing, so entrepreneurs should take every step possible when building their enterprise IT systems. Given the highly technical and advanced nature of the job at hand, you might want to recruit the help of an IT professional to judge IT needs, install infrastructure and commission software.

Republished by permission. Original here.

Technology Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "It's Time to Invest In Tech for Your Small Business – Now What?" was first published on Small Business Trends