Why Your Geographic Location is Your BEST Niche

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Bloggers I know are not fully grasping the importance of location to blogging. It is so critical to their success that I sincerely hope every blogger will read this post.

If a giant light bulb does not go on over your head read this again or talk to me about it.

Any bloggers who provide business coaching or small business marketing advice must get this concept clearly in their minds.

We have to stop recommending businesses install blogs if:

  • There is not enough interesting content to attract THEIR POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS.
  • They aren’t willing to keep them updated and interact in the comments.
  • No one is going to be interested in REGULARLY reading about what they do.

What Blogs Interest YOU?

Would YOU really subscribe to a blog about fixing things if what you would really do is HIRE someone to do that? NO! The only people who want to read about fixing things are do it yourself types who want tips on how to fix things.

If you never repair your own car and have no intention of starting, are you EVER going to subscribe to a blog about:

  1. How to change your oil? (NO!)
  2. Or how an engine works? (How many people drive? How many of those care how engines work?)
  3. The importance of checking your brake pads? (MAYBE you MIGHT be interested in that because not doing it can cost you a lot of money, but even that is doubtful – most will NOT want to read about that.)

If you want to get HIRED to install or repair anything
WHY would you create a blog
YOUR POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS will never read?

Every business DOES need SOMEONE blogging about them but that does NOT mean they need their own blog. They could be a regular contributor to an established group blog in their niche OR they could do guest posts on multiple related blogs OR they could identify influential bloggers in their industry and create a relationship to have one or more bloggers publishing content for them – either that they provide or that they hire the blogger(s) to create.

In order to generate leads or sales, the ideal blog must be able to reach the audience each business needs BEFORE the buyer is ready to buy – because people prefer to buy from those they already know and trust.

How do you reach their potential clients?
By providing entertaining and information information
about what they care about most: themselves.

Almost everyone is interested in what is happening where they live and work – especially if you tell interesting stories that relate to them and their lives. Most businesses operate in specific geographic areas, so your blog must reach the audience that is their target market in a way that will retain readers.

WHAT IS INTERESTING LOCALLY?

interesting

Think about what your area is known for such as San Antonio’s River Walk or Australia’s Gold Coast. What is happening around you? Are there seasonal events? Many small towns in Texas have annual events with a parade connected to something produced in their area.

Who are the interesting personalities who live there or are connected to that area?  Any famous authors or historical figures? Where are your favorite places to eat or most unusual businesses you patronize? There are tons of human interest stories you can cover.

Create the most interesting blog and Twitter account
for any specific location to attract followers and subscribers!

Those followers and subscribers WILL be interested in information about local businesses, products and services if you make the way you share the information entertaining. Maybe the owner or employees are real characters, or the way the came up with the business idea is unique, or they have funny stories about what has happened over the years.

Many businesses assume since THEY know what they do so does everyone around them. They are dead wrong. Even in thriving small towns most people do NOT know every business in town. (Just because you have a sign on your business, that does NOT mean everyone in town sees it.)

Few people have any idea what else is available – even in businesses they regularly visit. They will buy what they usually buy. Unless the business is creative at sharing what else they have to offer, most of their regular customers will never know what else they could have purchased there instead of at a big box store.

Imagine how many products the average hardware store carries? Even their employees don’t know everything in the store! Even at my age, with as much as I use the Internet, and as many ecommerce stores with huge inventories as I have worked with I still see products every day I never heard of before. You could write about hard to find items or unique products too.

There is a growing interest in healthy eating with true organic and grass fed products still difficult to find in many areas.  Research that for your readers and you can grow a loyal following – and share with them where they can buy what they most want. The harder it is to find the more valuable your blog will be to them.

More people are interested in the environment now too. Your local site can write about environmental challenges specific to where you are or close enough to impact your readers. Every person is more interested in what is close to home than far away. The major media often ignores the very information real people most need to see. YOU can fill that void!

Blogs are NOT search. Search converts into leads and sales well (IF you can get on the first page of Google for your preferred keyword phrases) because buyers find you at the moment they are ready to part with their hard-earned money. If they already know about what you do they won’t need to search, will they?

Create relationships with people in your local communities
and share only what you believe in – and that trust can
benefit many small businesses in your area.

You can see an excellent example of how to make a blog about a local area highly interesting by going to District365.com to read about Things to Do in Washington DC. Rohan from @365thingstododc45 was the first to comment in this post. Since I tend to get a lot of comments, I’m sharing what he wrote here:

“Wow, I think you perfectly describe what I’ve been doing in Washington DC. It started out as a hobby (well it’s still a fun hobby for me) but I have been getting a bit of interest from local companies and it has really been a life changer for me in many ways.”

See? This isn’t just some pet theory of mine. It is simply logical that if you create an interesting site that reaches a specific local audience, intelligent businesses will recognize that and want to advertise with you and/or get featured in your blog. It is a simple way to position your blog where the money is.

As availability of information on Twitter and Facebook goes up, searches should go down. Already, more people are asking their Facebook friends, Twitter followers, or others they know online what to buy and where to buy it. THAT is the future of business.

Business success is like surfing. You need to predict where the next wave will be in order to ride it. Make sure your clients are where the waves are – and not sitting alone in the sand  of their lonely blog where no waves ever arrive.

Every business needs to have an online presence.
What you most need to know is in the GrowMap
Small Business Internet Marketing Starter Package.
Use it yourself ~ Be sure to share it with your favorite small business.

Published by

Gail Gardner

Founder of GrowMap, Small Business Marketing Strategist, freelance writer and BizSugar Mastermind Community Manager.

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