Whether you emphasize community flavor or encourage patrons to
drop by your neighborhood store, localizing your site gives current
customers a better reason to choose you over larger online
competitors. Bud Matto, 37, is just one entrepreneur finding
success with the strategy: As founder of Matto Cycle, a Pottsville,
Pennsylvania, motorcycle and all-terrain vehicle parts vendor that
sells products online and off, Matto goes out of his way to use his
site to target local customers.
Although Matto's initial intention was to reach a global
audience, he also realized the importance of localization.
"[The site] gives our fairly large local clientele the option
to order a product online and have it shipped to them instead of
having to drive an hour to the shop and an hour back," Matto
explains.
To further enhance his local following, Matto recently began
advertising on Schuylkill.com, the online version
of his local newspaper, the Republican & Evening
Herald. The Herald placed on its Web site a banner ad
that went to Matto's own Web site, which the newspaper had
helped create. The move has paid off well: Since Matto began
advertising with the newspaper, online sales have more than
doubled.
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