Are they actually in Perth?

The great thing about Perth is we all like to support local business owners. Whether you’re buying a coffee, looking for a plumber or needing to hire party equipment. But when it comes to web and marketing services that are entirely online, how do you know for sure that the business you’re looking at is actually local?

Unfortunately when it comes to the digital marketing industry, it’s rife with competitors who promote their services to Perth locals, but omit going out of their way to tell you they’re not even in the same state. And if you’re not looking at things with a fine-tooth comb when assessing whether to do business with them, you might miss that.

Why going to for a local Perth digital marketing business is better

So you might be asking why is getting someone local so important, I mean, it’s all done online right? The problem becomes more apparent when you try to do things like reach them during your own business hours, or when you tell them you want to meet to discuss the work in person. Or when they don’t quite understand the local Perth scene, which might be important when it comes to your own business.

Having someone like us who are in the same city and state as you has huge advantages. It’s easier to reach us, at the right time and we can in fact meet clients in person should they feel the need to set up a meeting.

So aside from physically asking to meet them in person (which a local business in Perth can do), what things should you look for?

Here’s a few tell-tale signs to check for:

What you should check to confirm it’s a local Perth business?

There are a couple of things you can check to verify if it’s actually a Perth business

Check their website for contact information

Look for their website address and check out if they have contact details. You can usually find this in the footer or on a contact page.

• Does it say they’re in Perth? Or does it say they’re either in the eastern states or outside of Australia altogether?
• Do they have a phone number that isn’t an international number?
• Do they have an ABN? (This stands for Australian Business Number, its required by law and it’s publicly verifiable information that only the Australian Government can issue to businesses that are actually in Australia – you can even copy their ABN number and plug it into the ABN search tool to confirm if it’s real or not)

What does their Facebook page say?

Sometimes some non-local Perth based businesses will have a location mentioned on their own facebook page. Sometimes it’s a full address, sometimes it’s only a partial address. Does this location suggest they’re somewhere other than in Perth?

Check if they have a Google Business Profile

When you Google a business name, sometimes it will come up with a Google business profile. These are boxes with information about the business, including where they’re located.

Does it show they’re in a Western Australian state or Perth? Or does it show they’re in another state or in another country entirely?

Ask them

Sometimes it’s just easier to ask them a straight question. Are you in Perth. If they say they’re not, or they seem to avoid a direction question, there’s your answer.

Other warning signals to look for

There are some other things to look out for that, while they might not be sure-fire indicators that they are not locally based in Perth, they can be red flags that things might not necessarily be entirely above board as far as a trusted business goes.

Do they have a business email or are they using a freebie email address?

Sometimes when someone is offering services to promote your business online, they’re not using a business email address. Instead they’re using something like a gmail, yahoo or some other freebie email account. Not necessarily a fool-proof indicator that things are not all above board, but it’s more credible if they do have a business email address. We’d actually go so far as to say if a digital marketing business doesn’t have a business email address, something’s not right.

Do they show their past work and if so, is most of it eastern states or oversees clients?

If they do have a portfolio of their work on their website, take a look and see how many clients there are that are not from Perth. While the business may very well pose as though they are local, and have done past work with people in Perth, if they have more eastern states clients or clients from oversees than they do local ones, that might be a sign they’re not a local Perth business.

I saw someone post on a local Facebook business page, that means they’re local right?

No. It doesn’t mean they’re local.

Not all facebook pages and groups are created equal. You’re really relying on the admins of those pages to do the right thing and keep an eye on non-local businesses trying to promoting their good and services on these pages.

Unfortunately, more often than not (but not always) these non-local non-Perth-based businesses sneak through with a post and that post will fail to mention in very clear terms that they are not in Perth. Even if the facebook page title suggests its for local businesses in Perth.

Always go through the checks we’ve mentioned above to verify if they’re local and someone you know you can ask to meet with in person should the need ever arise.

Supporting local businesses in Perth means a win-win both for us and for the local Perth business that needs help.

Thriving Web Design is in Perth and we specifically cater for Perth businesses.