SEO experts who have been running marketing strategies to rank their pages for years have become too entrenched to experience the benefits of local SEO and apply the change in their work. Local SEO is a gift from Google to small businesses that can help them become dominant in their operational areas. However, you need to improve the location of your business for this strategy to work.
If your business is located at a place with barely any proper roads, no place to park a car, or a proper waiting area, you can’t expect people to say good about you.
Businesses targeting local customers can use the power of the digital world to grow and become successful. For example, every other neighborhood has a famous ice cream shop we have gone to since childhood. Our reviews and gossip about their products and taste helped it gain popularity. However, if that shop weren’t in a nice place, we wouldn’t have visited it in the first place.
The same approach can be utilized by requesting reviews and tags on social networks and search engines. You can even post your review on Google Maps for places you visit. These reviews play a vital role in increasing the popularity and credibility of a business. Find out how your location can leverage an excellent local SEO or social media marketing strategy.
– Social Media
- Social media networks are flooded with active users. The basic concept of such networks is to interact and socialize with others. You can use this concept to reach out to local customers and create interactive posts with video content or texts that attract people to comment or share. Chances are, your posts are more relevant to your audience’s interest.
- You can easily interact with locals as you are also a part of this market. There are high chances that you can create better connections with local consumers rather than International ones. Analyzing and evaluating current market demands and trends is easier for you.
- You can start posting pictures of your workplace to show that customers will have a great experience on their next visit. You can also include pictures of people who have already purchased your products or availed of your service. This tactic should build trust amongst people regarding your business.
- Engage customers in the best possible manner. We aren’t empathizing only with online interactions; in-person engagement also plays an important role in building your business’s credibility.
- Currently, two of the most effective social media networks are Facebook and Instagram. Maintain an active profile on both networks to increase lead generation. Interact with people by creating events, promotions, and interesting posts to increase likes and shares for more reach.
– Reviews
- Ask every customer to review your products and services on social media networks. People love visiting places that have good reviews. Customer experience is a great magnet that’ll attract many new prospects towards you. A survey has shown that 40% of customers check online reviews before buying a product.
- Always provide a good service to your customers so they can post good reviews for you. Many people nowadays rely on reviews available on Google, Yelp, Hotmail.co.uk, and other networks before visiting a new restaurant or shop. Keep an eye out for poor reviews and contact such customers by providing them compensation. Chances are, they may change their minds or remove the poor review.
- Customer support is vital to running a successful business today. If you fail to provide high-quality service to your customers, they may never return to you. Instead, they will also post negative reviews related to your products and services to destroy your reputation. Invest in customer support to increase user experience and improve client retention ratio.
- Keep an eye on your competitors. You wouldn’t want them to provide service better than yours. If they succeed in providing higher quality service and products, it will impact your reviews as consumers will have a substitute to compare with.
– Local SEO
All business owners dream of becoming multinational. However, before hitting the international market, you must become dominant locally.
- To become a well-known business locally, you must focus on getting a good rank on Google. Google considers local businesses over international ones in specific locations. If you create high-quality and informative content on your website, Google will index your page and offer you a better rank. The rank will, in return, boost your daily traffic and generate organic leads. Around 80% of consumers search the internet before purchasing a product or service.
- Many websites on the Internet let you post your business with specific details like address, types of business, and contact credentials. Apart from that, there is a comments section where people will write reviews related to your business. These reviews can turn out to be quite useful.
- Add your location where ever possible on various websites. For Example, if you have a Facebook profile, don’t hesitate to add your location to it. This will help people know where you are located and how they can reach you.
Final Words
Local SEO, without any doubt, is an effective strategy to capture your local market share. However, that doesn’t mean you should stop focusing on traditional SEO tactics. A perfect blend of both strategies can help you become a recognized and dominant business. If you believe your location isn’t attracting potential consumers, switch now and work on leveraging your new whereabouts. Invest in creating an effective SEO marketing plan and move closer to your business objective of becoming a multinational in the future.
