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See below some of our Frequently Asked Questions or if you have a question you would like answered don't hesitate to CONTACT US

Costs

Can I list my business free?

Yes of course! Every business is entitled to a free listing with name, address and linked phone (for mobile friendliness) in all business categories relevant to your services. 

What are the promotion options and costs available through Linku2?

Linku2 offer two types of promotion opportunities -

SMART Link Plans - These include upgraded listings in our comprehensive directory plus other options depending on the chosen Plan. They run for either 6 or 12 month terms. Costs range from $15 pm to $65 pm.

SMART Feature Plans - There are 3 options: 
Flavours - Is specifically targeting the dining sector
Seasonal Features - Cover our 4 seasons with wide visual promotion through our community section
Super Deals - Are business card size adverts that can be taken for a month at a time and promoted heavily through our social media.

What is Linku2 SMART Marketing? 

SMART Marketing is a unique strategy developed and used by Linku2 to help businesses "Work Smarter, Not Harder". Based on the strategy of SMART goals our SMART Marketing strategy is -

S - Specific - Linku2 Regional and Keyword sites reach specific target markets through focused and targeted online marketing.
M - Measurable - Linku2 send out regular reports providing stats and click rates identifying market reach. We are very transparent in our reporting and around reach and rankings.
A - Attainable - Linku2 SMART Plans offer a range of options for promotion within the marketing budget of all size businesses, starting from just $29 pm.
R - Relevant - Each Linku2 site is divided into target business categories in Regional sites or New Zealand regions in Keyword sites to ensure it is the specific local market we are reaching for each clients.
T - Time-based - Linku2 focus on delivering information, both to consumers, and report to clients at specific times and on a consistently regular basis.

By using this marketing strategy, we know, as do our clients, we are working for them to Go Local, Grow Local …

Advertising always seems to cost so much for so little, can Linku2 help?

We all know one off marketing is hard, and often unlikely to reach your audience first time (unless you have an irresistible offer which doesn't dilute your business real value). This is because we live in a world full of noise. 

Did you realise it takes each person a minimum exposure to your brand of at least 27 times before they even notice you and these 27 times should be on different platforms! No wonder a one off ad results in little return! For best results you need regularity and consistency in your advertising and messages.

Linku2 use a combination of our online links and social media connections for your business promotion. Linku2 is also, unlike big corporations (eg Yellow, Neighbourly, etc),  run from within New Zealand communities "by locals, for locals" who understand and know the uniqueness and idiosyncrasies of their own community. 

Our locally based teams understand what your specific local audiences are looking for, while Linku2 work alongside you to understand your specific target market. We work with you to identify your specific buyer persona, then target these through our Plans, affordable for every size business, hence why they are SMART Plans! 

Reach

I can't seem to reach just my target audience, without having to pay to reach people I know aren't interested in my business - can Linku2 help?

Reaching your target audience is hard! Linku2 is designed to help overcome this, firstly, by working with you from the start to specifically identify your buyer persona. We then use a range of tools to match your persona with your value target audience. 

By running "Features" alongside our business directory pages (see these to the right) this allows us to target audiences with specific interests, ages or at particular times in their lives (eg getting married or having a baby). 

We also do generic promotion as people's wants and needs change and they come into the field of vision for marketing of your services.  

If I advertise with Linku2 how is my advertising seen?

Linku2 main promotional tools are our localised and keyword websites. Fully optimised using a range of top SEO tools and fully schema optimised. Our advertiser pages are also schema and keyword optimised. 

Our comprehensive site search facility allows site visitors to search by areas and business types as well as preferred keywords. Plus, of course, we are full optimised for mobile. We use Google Analytics tracking and Google Adwords to reflect your area "In the Moment"

Each Linku2 site also has a corresponding Facebook page and Group and corresponding Instagram plus we use other Linku2 social media tools for promotion including LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest. Each of these, whilst not always well used in NZ, however increase the opportunities for search rankings. 

Linku2 also belong to a wide range of online and social media groups and services and use these to share your links and information. 

Why should I "Go Local, Grow Local" with Linku2 instead of investing my dollars in a larger, wider reaching service?

If your main target customers are within your local region isn't it is logical to advertise locally and targeted instead of diluting your precious dollars reaching a generic audience? Not only does Linku2 focus on a defined area, we further define this into 13 sector targets, eg babies, weddings, pets, property, etc through our Features plus we use Geo-marketing with Geo-targeting and Geo-location.

But local logic aside, there are also other reasons to link with Linku2 including -

1. You are supporting your local community through our Linku2 Fundraising Programme putting funds back into our local clubs and non-profit services.
2. You are helping to keep our local economy strong. By going local more job opportunities are created and you are helping boost your fellow services, hence our tagline Go Local, Grow Local ...

Goal Post Changing

How does Linku2 stay ahead in the ever changing world of algorithms and search criteria?

A very good question! As we all know the likes of Google, Facebook and the other major online services are often changing the goal posts on us all. 

To keep ahead we now run our sites through the most sophisticated web programmes available which are continuously being updated (sometimes almost daily) to allow us to stay on top of the game. 

On top of this we regularly keep up to date with changes and repeating programmes and courses to keep ahead.

It isn't easy and can take a lot of time which is why of course we are there to keep ahead for our clients so they can get on with working in and growing their own business and leave the background stuff to us! We also work alongside Gezzmedia, an Auckland based digital marketing agency.

General Questions

Why is Linku2 so passionate about supporting my local community and how do they do this?

Started in 2004 Sarah returned from living overseas and struggled to find services and activities for her 3 kids. Frustration formulated the need for a "local only one stop shop". Living on the Hibiscus Coast, north Auckland she started her first site "Hibiscuslink".

Always passionate about retaining the importance of being a "link", and in response to requests for similar services, not just on the Coast, Hibiscuslink rebranded as "Linku2" and The Linku2 Group was formed to support other local regions and keyword industries. 

A keen member of Rotary for over 13 years Sarah has always supported the community spirit and each Linku2 team member is required to live in their local region, and be passionate with a good understanding of their community. 

Linku2 support local community and non-profit services, local events, support services and schools with FREE advertising provided due to the generous support of our advertisers. 

Linku2 also pay forward with 5% of all SMART Plan advertising dollars paid into their Fundraising Programme, used to support local clubs and non-profit services and paid out bi-annually.

What is Linku2's Purpose, Vision, Values, Customer Aims and slogan?

Our Purpose
To ignite a passion to support, strengthen, share, grow and enrich our local community

Our Vision
We connect local business to have a voice, be inspired, collaborate and grow within their local community

Our Values and Convictions
1. We are passionate about supporting our community and are strongly people and community focused
2. We value the importance of customer satisfaction
3. We encourage collaboration and support local sustainability
4. We embody the characteristics of trustworthiness, reliability, honesty and integrity
5. We offer openness and clarity in all our actions
6. We appreciate the uniqueness in every local opportunity
7. We uphold our value of social consciousness

Our Customer Aims
1. Clearly show the value we can offer local small businesses
2. Demonstrate our reach in the relevant local target markets
3. Assist our paying clients to affordably reach their target market
4. To be the first port of call within the local community

Our slogan
"Go Local, Grow Local ..."

What makes Linku2 different from other local information/advertising platforms?

Linku2 are different in a number of ways - 

1. We ensure all possible references to an advertiser links directly to their own web pages and not internally to support the advertiser and satisfy the end user needs NOT to increase our stats!
2. We offer opportunities for advertisers to be seen in a variety of formats, eg directory links, imagery adverts, links to blog posts, webinars, promotions, etc
3. We are able to offer one on one support to a business over an extended period of time. By having Plans of 6 or 12 months we are able to ensure regular targeting and real time stats and reporting
4. We never display Google ads on our pages keeping them clean, fresh, less distracting and only promoting locals who in turn support us and our community services.
5. We work specifically with a business to establish their buyer persona (if they don't already have one)
6. We are always available directly to answer any questions or provide stats or information, no running around looking for contact details

What are some of the biggest hurdles Linku2 has faced since establishing and how have these been overcome?

Having been around for so many years Linku2 has seen challenges and hurdles of all kinds from growth away from local to a global focus in the mid 2000's, the GFC which again emphasised the importance of coming back to local, the rapid speeding of our lives and the abrupt halt to this by the unprecedented Covid-19 which again has brought the focus for us all of the importance of local. 

Over the years we have used 3 different web platforms for our sites with lots of experiments, trials, tribulations, successes and yes, failures, however resulting in a now well refined system and clear understanding of both who and what we are, and more importantly who and what our clients are and how we can help them. 

Keywords are shrinking in significance for Google and other platforms so why are they still so important for Linku2?

Keywords will never totally go out of fashion, they are the connector, the relationship between you and your prospects, established and indexed by the search engine. However people do search in different ways now. 

With the introduction of mobile friendliness, voice activation, API's, semantic searching and Google Voice Search search engines have been moving more towards phrase searching and understanding the way we talk to a device when conducting a search. 

The art of keyword stuffing of years gone by virtually killed off the importance of keywords. However, our sophisticated Linku2 search system (built specifically for our sites) does work with keywords as well as key phrases as an additional internal search mechanism. 

We would never allow keyword stuffing (this would also affect our own SEO) but we do have a provision for clients to be found by using keywords of particular relevance to their services.
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