Local Business SEO can seem daunting for a newbie, especially if you have a small business, in a small community. Optimizing for local search terms is a fantastic way to begin understanding SEO, as there is less competition and it is easier to maintain a targeted scope.
With the yellow pages becoming an antiquated option of the past, local businesses must find new alternatives to promote their products and services. Here are some helpful hints to discover the powerful world of Search Engine Optimization and how it can serve as a dynamic new platform to an increase in traffic and brand presence.
Know your competitors
Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer. This classic saying is extremely important for SEO purposes as well. Who is ranking for your keywords? Analyze the current Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and find out! Make a list of all your competitors and see what they are doing to get into the search engines and how they were able to target their traffic. If you sell a certain good or service you will want to know what competitors are outranking you. For example, if you sell “cell phone cases” you will want to appear first on Google, Yahoo or Bing for that particular niche and all relevant phrases to cell phone cases. If you do not rank within the top 5, its high time you sought after some Local Business SEO assistance because all your competitors are taking potential customers from YOU!
Figure out which keywords to target
Sales is a numbers game right?! This is definitely true on some levels. With proper keyword research targeting the highest volume/lowest competition phrases will instantly start turning traffic to your site quicker. There are many tools on the internet available to guide your company in the right direction, but I prefer using Google Analytics, SEMRush and Traffic Travis to determine the best keywords to target. Once you have narrowed down your potential list of exact match keywords, you can start building links from other sites to redirect them to yours! Make a list of anything a potential customer would use to find your business. Then list all of the cities and towns surrounding your business, even go a step further and include your nearest major region or city.
Get involved with a reputable SEO company
Finding an SEO company is half the battle. The best advice would be to complete your own background check so-to-speak. How can a company promise all these different benefits for you, if they can’t even generate rankings for themselves? I would suggest googling the local area you live in to assess your best choice to represent your company. For example, if you google “Orlando SEO” or “Boston SEO”, etc.. and the SEO company that wants to provide work for you doesn’t rank well for their own city, it’s probably not a good choice to pursue their service. SEO is something all successful business must invest in at some point. This investment will definitely be profitable in the long run for your business.
Conclusion
The internet is still growing, believe it or not. There are over 7 billion people on the planet and roughly 2 billion have access to the world wide web. With that said, over the next decade another 1-2 billion people will gain the ability to shop, search and purchase products online. This means the yellow pages and other forms of traditional advertising are virtually becoming obsolete. Local businesses need to take advantage of the opportunity that lies before them and start some sort of SEO plan, big or small, in order to achieve their desired business goals. This guide is very vague in most aspects of the SEO realm, but it is simply designed to serve as a stepping stone in interesting a small business owner to pursue an online form of marketing. In the end, having a number 1 ranking in google for certain keywords is far more lucrative to a company than running a 20 second commercial during the SuperBowl. The world is adapting and it’s time your business does as well!
This article was written by Brian Sorel, staff writer at Rank Executives. Brian focuses his research on local business seo and assisting small businesses achieve their goals through the search engines.