Groupon is an advertising platform that is largely geared toward serving local markets. Businesses can use Groupon to promote discounts (vouchers) for services and products. Essentially, Groupon is a middleman that wants to connect you with people who will buy your services and products, because the more that people buy from you, the more money Groupon makes. The process has historically been fairly straightforward: You create a deal that is then listed on the Groupon website and possibly featured in its emails to local markets. Customers purchase your deal, and the company collects money on your behalf. Groupon takes a cut off the top; you get the rest. Notably, the company is relying less and less on this heavily discounted voucher system and moving toward a "marketplace" model designed to foster ongoing relationships with businesses and customers. Regardless of changes to Groupon's model, a major benefit to using the platform is that it might expose your business to more ready-to-buy customers. Contrary to the information-gathering users who visit search engines like Google, people who head to Groupon have usually already decided that they want to make a purchase. Relying on Google to get the word out about your small business is not always successful because you're relying on its always-changing algorithms, and there's no guarantee your site will be shown on page-one search results unless you purchase advertising. In comparison, Groupon shows users everything on its site within a particular set of search parameters. If your business matches what a consumer is searching for on Groupon, then your deal will show.