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“That sounds wonderful!” the lady was saying between bites of birthday cake. Mandy had just seen her eyes light up as she’d described her local business. “Where are you located?” When Mandy told her the lady said, “Oh, I go by there all the time! I’ve never gone in, though. Do you have a website [...]

OK, you’ve seen the statistics (and you don’t live under a rock) so you know that your local business needs some kind of online presence. Maybe you already have a website or a Facebook page, or an Etsy store. But is it enough? And how, exactly, do you know what “enough” is online? How do [...]

In our last article we showed why you can never be in too many places online. Which sounds great, in theory. But in reality you’re a busy business owner. Bigger companies often have employees whose entire job is to manage their online presence. Mostly likely, you don’t. Before you start feeling overwhelmed, let’s take a [...]

As we discussed last article, listing products for sale in as many places online as possible will help bring new customers in your door. Plus, you’ll add a stream of income that could help your business weather upcoming storms. Your options when listing products for sale online are slightly more daunting than choosing social media [...]

In the previous two articles, we’ve touched on some ways that selling your products online leads to new customers in your store. But here we want to break it down a little more. Local Customers Use Search Research from 2014 found that 80% of consumers use search engines to find local products and services. That [...]

So up till now we’ve discussed the ways in which being online can help grow your local business. We’ve seen why you should be online, how much online presence is “enough,” and shown how selling your products online will lead to new feet through your door. But we know your business is like your baby, [...]

The internet has been accused of destroying local business through relentless commoditization and ever-lower pricing pressure. You may even cringe when a customer walks into your store and pulls out a smartphone, knowing that they’re looking for a better deal on what you offer. If you ever get a chance to talk to those shoppers, [...]

Stories grow your business, and give you a way to compete against lower prices. But you may be wondering, how do I tell stories? I’m not a writer, or a good storyteller. How can I use stories in my business? First of all, we’re sure you tell stories every day. Whether it’s to customers, friends [...]

Julie is the wife of ShopOnMain’s CEO, Joe. She and Joe live in a rural area of Kentucky, and one day she was in a neighboring town to do some shopping. In one particular store, the owner told Julie she’d recently been in New Orleans on vacation. While she was there, she ate in a [...]