Often times, for a small business, driving local traffic and trying to serve your immediate region can mean the difference between thriving and just surviving. Crafting your SEO marketing strategy to serve your local region can be the best thing for your business because the local sites are generally the first sites to come up on any search engine search.
When local search results pop up, you will see the map and a photo of the business and all of the additional information to click on through. Depending on the type of business you have, your local SEO can make a huge difference in your short term success and can be a crucial link to the health of your long term bottom line.
- The first thing you need to have your SEO team do is to set your business up with a Google My Business Page. This will get you right into Google’s system. Google rules search regardless of the search engine some one uses to find you. This My Business page will get you set up with all of your basic information such as location, a local map reference, your hours and your contact information. Adding some engaging copy and some gripping images and you will likely see your local traffic increase almost immediately.
- Next, you need to make sure that you are listed in every local online directory that is out there. It will cost you nothing but will ensure that people can find you wherever they happen to be searching. There are hundreds out there and the time invested to get listed on them will be just that-an investment.
- Couple with this local presence, getting some strong and powerful reviews will boost your brand awareness as well as your local SEO page ranking. Solid and positive reviews should be encouraged and posted everywhere, especially at your own site. Also, backlinks are critical to your ranking and to your traffic. It establishes your business as a legitimate and powerful leader in your industry or profession and backlinks should be a major part of your SEO marketing efforts.
- Finally, you must stay on top of your site. It must be SEO and mobile optimized and its design and layout must be built for speed and ease of navigation as well as making it easy for visitors to turn into conversions. Your team or your outside professionals know what is needed to constantly keep your site engaging and exciting. They know what it takes to turn those calls to action into conversions. Your SEO, like your business, is an ongoing process that needs attention and effort to succeed in the long term.
-Written by Kevin Sawyer
