We’re going to start today’s piece off with a few statistics: One third of mobile searches have local intent – meaning 66% of people searching on smartphones and cell phones are looking to purchase something in their immediate area(one-fifth on PCs). Fifty percent of those searches lead the user to visit a retail outlet (34% on desktops/laptops/tablets).
How about a few more statistics? Overall, 74% of Internet users search with local intent. 61% of local searches directly result in a purchase. More than 100 million people a month use Google Maps to find local business information.
Suddenly, local search seems a whole lot more important, doesn’t it?
Don’t worry. If you know what you’re doing, it’s actually not terribly difficult to market your business locally. Here are a few tips to get you started:
Create A Local Places Page For Your Business
According to marketing expert Steve Olenski, Your first step – if you haven’t already done so – is to create a local business page for each major search engine. This will ensure that users seeking the products/services you offer will be far likelier to come across your site – and thus far likelier to purchase from you.
Provide All The Information Your Users Could Possibly Require
Every single listing, continues Olenski, should by default include your business’s name, address, and phone number. This information together is known as a citation; it’s used by prospective customers to find your organization – meaning you can’t really neglect it. Have a look around; if a citation doesn’t already exist, create one. If it does, claim it.
This process can be helped along immensely by a tool such as Yext or Localeze.
Optimize And Categorize
Aside from all the stuff you do as part of regular SEO, you need to make sure your website is categorized correctly within the search engines you’ve submitted it to. Submit it to two to five categories in order to help users better understand your brand – and to make them likelier to follow through with a purchase. If your business is either uncategorized or mis-categorized, then most search engines won’t display it.
On the optimization front, you need to make sure that all relevant landing pages include local city/regional keywords, along with content specific to that region. Olenski advises that you should include as many high-quality photos of your business, storefront, staff, and products as possible – all of these will be used by Google’s local search in some way. These pictures can all be uploaded to your local listing with ease.
Don’t Ignore The Review Sites
One of the most significant (and troubling) mistakes made by businesses looking to market themselves locally is that they ignore local review sites and data aggregates such as Yelp, CitySearch, or TripAdvisor. Given that online reviews are a major factor for ranking (and marketing; users see your rating on the SERP), reviews can be a quick, easy way to make your business known…assuming, of course, you provide good enough service that people submit positive reviews.
Oh, and if anyone is a dedicated enough consumer that they’d be willing to let you publish a testimonial, do so. They’re one of the most powerful marketing tools in any business’s arsenal.
Engage With People
Most importantly, you need to be active – both through social media and within your own community. Communicate regularly with reviewers on sites like Yelp, and establish a strong presence on Facebook or Twitter with regular promotions, product information, giveaways, stories, and news (either related to your organization or to the city in which you operate).
Don’t stop there, though. A lot of businesses these days tend to neglect offline local marketing – don’t allow yours to be one of them. Actively pursue coverage by news organizations within your city, and do what you can to foster positive relationships with journalists both on the web and off the web. The basic concept here is simple – if people like you, they’ll be more willing to talk/write about you.
And the more people talk about you, the better known you’ll become.
Don’t Ignore Your Doorstep
Especially if you’re a small business, local customers aren’t something you can afford to ignore. You need to make sure local users can find your website through Google. More importantly, you need to ensure that – once they have – they can find exactly what they’re looking for. Should you neglect to do this, you’ve only yourself to blame when people go to your competitors instead of you.