For local businesses that take their marketing efforts online, you must keep in mind that the strategy is sometimes different than offline marketing. Lets use Squidoo for an example.

When you are ready to create a Squidoo Lens, you will need to come up with a topic for your post. The number one mistake local businesses make in posting, is that they create a lens that talks about their website. This is not the place to advertise your website. What you want to do is make your blog post on topics that support your website.

The key goal for your blog posts are to provide useful information to the reader. If you do not provide useful information that the visitor is looking for, then you will fail.

The number one reason people do searches on the web is to find a solution to a problem they are having. They need an answer or information. You want to supply the visitor with an answer or information that they are searching for. And it should be something that is related to your website.

For example: Lets say you run a small business that sells auto insurance. Don’t create a lens that talks about what your company has to offer. What you want to do is to create a lens that informs people on how to choose the best auto insurance. You could also create one on what to look out for when purchasing auto insurance.

If you give the reader information that helps them, you are more likely to get a click through to your actual website. Remember, a lens is not the place to pitch your sell or talk about your website.