No one likes wasting money. However, if you aren’t tracking the results for your Internet marketing efforts in order to figure out which tactics are working and which aren’t, that’s exactly what you’re doing. There are many techniques used in Internet marketing (i.e. SEO, local SEO, social media marketing, PPC, email marketing, banner ads, etc.) and chances are, they aren’t all going to work for your business.

Since it’s likely that your clients aren’t familiar with the variety of Internet marketing techniques out there today, when asked how they found your business, they’ll resort to the generic, “I found you online” response. This is why reports are so valuable, they’ll help you figure out which online marketing efforts to ditch and which to invest more time and money into.

Although Core Data Providers (CDPs) are useful when it comes to getting your business information out on the Web, one of the key services that CDPs are missing is reporting. Without reporting you will not know which keywords are working and which to discard, how many people are being exposed to your listing, whether your PPC ads are being clicked, which search engines people are using to find your business, how many people are requesting driving directories to your business from Google Maps, etc.

Once a business is added to the CDPs’ records, it may never be updated or monitored again. This is how outdated information gets picked up by directories. Local Splash has customer service representatives standing by during regular business hours to help with customer concerns and keep information updated.

Local Splash provides the following reports to our clients:

• Keyword tracking (which keywords are working and which aren’t)

• Audience tracking – (locate where consumers finding you are coming from)

• Pay-per-click ad reports (these give information such as how many people have seen your ad, how many people clicked on your ad, where those people are located, which search engine they used to find your business, etc.)

• Placement history ranking reports (you can see instantly where you are in the search engine rankings from the Local Splash back office)

• Google Maps statistics (see how many people have seen your listing in Google maps, how many people have requested driving directions, top search queries, etc.)

These reports provide valuable information that will not only prove what your Internet marketing campaign is doing for your business, but also show what changes need to be made in order to target and get the most out of marketing online. Local Splash monitors these reports for our clients in order to make sure they are utilizing all of the Internet marketing tools that are best for them.

Although CDPs get your business name out on the Web, it’s clear that being listed in their database is not enough. CDPs do not provide your business with the tools, reports and monitoring that you can get from Local Splash. This is why working with Local Splash is a great option for business owners looking to expand their business to the Web.