Small businesses have always had to rely upon the foot traffic and interest of local customers to keep their doors open. Unfortunately, as business has moved ever more toward the online world, so, too, have small businesses found it increasingly difficult to compete. Fortunately, through the use of local SEO strategies, small businesses can boost their visibility online, maintaining and even improving the amount of business flowing into their stores. Consider, according to Business 2 Community, 78% of all local searches result in an offline purchase.
If you see these statistics and think that it’s high time you start taking advantage of local search SEO but you have very little idea where to start, never fear. With these four simple search engine optimization strategies for local optimization, you can transform your company’s online marketing in no time at all.
Four Tips and Tricks for the Business Struggling with Local SEO
- First Things First: Know Your Audience
- Implement Local Search Optimization Strategies into Separate Pages for Separate Locations
- Realize That Mobile is the Lifeblood of Modern Business
- Be Careful when Using Local Site Directories
No SEO strategy, whether for local SEO or general, can hope to be terribly effective if you don’t have any idea who your target audience is. Is your product intended for adults or children? Is there a specific income demographic you’re marketing to? Keeping these things in mind when you’re writing blog posts or making a new social media status will go a long way in increasing your visibility and reach online.
If you own a small business with multiple locations, don’t make the mistake of trying to market both locations with the same page. As WordStream, a popular marketing website, suggests, businesses with multiple locations need to have separate sites for each venue. Further, they need to take steps to optimize each page with keywords, contact information, and other data that is essential to local SEO success.
No matter what you do, writes Business 2 Community, if you don’t have a website that is accessible to the growing mobile community, you’re never going to succeed online. Mobile users are the single fastest growing demographic of web users and local search query generators. It’s no coincidence that spending for localized mobile ads is expected to grow to $18 billion by 2016. Make your site easily accessible and usable to all of your visitors, and your chances of success skyrocket.
Online business directories have long been used to help generate traffic for businesses. However, with recent changes to Google, many directories are seen as abusive and not helpful to web surfers, and that, you should know, is a surefire way to get yourself in trouble with Google and other popular search engine providers. Make sure you’re only using reputable business directories, like YELP! and TripAdvisor. Doing so, you can gain all the benefits of using a directory, without risking the ire of search services.
Do you have any solid tips for the business owner looking to improve their local SEO? Share your tips in the comments below! Read more: www.morepro.com
