Affinity Internet, a web services provider for small businesses, today made online advertising a truly local affair with the debut of ValueTraffic Local, a service that allows small business to target their online advertising to web searchers in specific geographic areas.

Affinity says its new ValueTraffic Local ensures that businesses, which primarily serve local customers, get real value from online marketing.

"Unlike other local 'directories,' where web users can access local ads by specifying a zip code, ValueTraffic Local ads are only displayed for people at a computer in specific areas who search for specific keywords," the company stated in a written statement on Tuesday.

"ValueTraffic Local goes to the heart of the value of online marketing for small businesses," said Jim Collins, president, Affinity Internet. "Targeting of this local nature is rivaled only by the yellow pages - but instead of paying for a yellow pages ad and hoping people find you, ValueTraffic Local ensures that people actively seeking your service will get beyond your advertisement and all the way to your site - thus increasing the small businesses chances of selling product or services."

Affinity says in order to target the ads, the client works with their ValueTraffic Local account manager to determine the physical location of where they would like the ad to appear. The ValueTraffic Local team then targets that area by either specifying a single point in the form of a street address or latitude/longitude point, or by specifying an area created by three or more geographical points designated by latitude or longitude. The process ensures that the client's ads will only be shown to searchers within the preferred area.

In addition to local targeting, ValueTraffic Local includes the features of the standard ValueTraffic service — a dedicated, professional account manager, web site and marketing analysis, and creation, execution and management of the client's online marketing campaign. The ValueTraffic marketing team analyzes the client's web site, advises on improvements, develops the ads, purchases advertising on the client's behalf and produces weekly reports on the performance of the client's ad campaigns.

"The service gives small businesses the power and expertise of a seasoned marketing department," the company claims.

ValueTraffic Local costs $100 per month, with a one-time set up fee of $100.

More information can be found at: http://affinity.com/online-marketing.htm