Our latest Search Engine Land column discusses how “SMBs Claim Their Online Business Profiles”. In this post we present a new target group of SMBs we call “Seekers”, SMBs who haven’t quite made the leap to online advertising, but are performing some kind of online activity.

Interested, informed, not quite sold but not adverse to buying, seekers are SMBs who may just prove to be great prospects for new online ad products. Armed with some knowledge of online advertising, they may just need a little help from the professionals to start engaging in more elaborate online marketing activities, and more importantly, to start spending money. Initial tests show they do indeed convert better than the average sales lead, and with up to 10% of SMBs falling in this category, there may be quite an opportunity here.

In a project we recently did for one of our customers, we looked at whether or not SMBs claim their business listing on various online directories. Owners of SMBs can claim their listings on online business directories relatively easily: they add information such as opening hours and special offers to their basic listings. The chart below shows the results of our analysis among Health & Beauty online advertisers and non-advertisers in the West Coast:

It’s no surprise that 45% of businesses who advertise online also claim their business listing on various online directories.

It’s interesting that as many as 18% of the non-advertisers we looked at invested the time in claiming their listing on various online business directories; they recognize the importance and value of online presence and visibility. This data suggests that there is an opportunity here among non-advertising SMBs – catch the ones who know the value of online visibility and convert them to advertising customers.

Targeting the right leads increases sales conversion rates. Palore can provide comprehensive analyses of SMBs’ online behavior and point to various opportunities that derive from these analyses. If you want to know more about our Sales Leads Service or if you’re interested in a custom project, contact us here.