From CNN Money (increases are compared to a year ago):

1. 1. Auto Repairs  2. Home Repairs -  2.4% increase
2. People are not buying new, and instead are fixing what they already own.
4. 3. Supermarkets – 6.7% increase
   You gotta eat! Consumers are cutting back on eating out, and instead, are cooking in.
6. 4. Trade Schools – 9.1 % increase
   Many are going back to school to learn new skills.
8. 5. Personal Care – 4.5% increase
   Since the big indulgences are on hold, many are hanging on, and even increasing, personal grooming at nail salons, spas, and manicure salons.
10. 6. Accounting – 10.2% increase
    Now, more than ever in the depths of the recession,  people are consulting with their accountants.

7. Dentists – 6.9% increase
Healthcare is very recession resistant.

Full article here

Ed is out of work. Ed’s friend, Todd, created this marketing piece to help Ed’s collection efforts. According to Ed, he enjoyed an 800% increase in gross income when he used this sign.

What creative marketing are you doing ? The internet allows a local business owner many opportunities to market their business in both creative and inexpensive ways.

Summary Thought:: “Internet marketing” is just a fancy expression that means “promoting your business online”. The best part is you don’t have to spend a bunch of money on internet marketing to see real results with your brick and mortar business.

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More info on Ed here.

by Beny Shlevich

As a local business owner in Austin, Texas you know deep down in your gut that this internet thingy is not going away, and in fact, you can see it’s getting more important everyday. Yet you don’t know how to jump in. You get the calls from the companies promising to put your on the first page of Google. You know they are probably scams.

And while you may have a website, you’re not getting any business from it. The point of this post is to help you dip your toe into the internet marketing pool.

The foundation of showing up high in the search engine results is choosing the right keywords. When you type search terms into Google you are typing keywords. A keyword can be a single word, or it can be a phrase of two or more words.

Long keyword phrases that are specific but not used as often in searches are often referred to as “long tail keywords”.  Chris Anderson popularized the  term “long tail” when he published the book, The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More.

General keywords will bring a rather wide spectrum of people, but you’re not looking for every Tom, Dick, and Harry across the globe. Ideally, you want local customers who live in the Austin, Texas area.

Let’s say you’re an Austin attorney that specializes in drunk driving cases. What do you think is a better keyword to optimize on your website: “dwi” or “dwi austin texas”?

Let’s look at the Google results.

Over 13 million pages have the keyword “dwi”.

Only 404,000 pages have “dwi austin texas”

Which keywords are more likely to bring you real business?

The second keyword would mean less competition to rank on the first or second page of Google AND you’ll get better quality web traffic. Interested in doing keyword research yourself?

Here’s a link to a free quality resource to get started.

http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/