For a business to thrive in the digital world today their digital marketing campaigns, local search or SEO techniques and social media marketing are probably well planned and strategically thought out. Local SEO may look easy because the target market is narrowed down to a community or city. But Local SEO actually is very complicated.
The process itself is a major undertaking and the results do not show up overnight. Therefore, a company’s digital marketing team must be:
- persistent – implementing and monitoring all marketing campaigns
- critical thinker – applying trends that are deemed fit to the business’ industry and target market
- creative – standing out from competition with unique and relevant content and offers
These are only a few traits needed for online marketing success. If you plan to go it alone, here are a few tips on how to get your business noticed by search engines and how to reach your local community through local SEO and various digital marketing campaigns.
#1 Invest in your website.
Your business’ main online asset is your own website. Build a professional looking site that reflects your brand’s mission and vision. Complement it with your brand logo’s colors and images. Also, be guided by the current trends about on-page optimization to boost your website’s presence. Here are some tips we strongly recommend:
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- Choose a mobile responsive theme for your overall design. A responsive theme allows visitors to view your website properly whether they’re using desktop, tablets or smartphones.
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- Double check with your programmer about the website code. A clean coded HTML is a good indication that robots can freely crawl and index your website and its pages.
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- Make sure all your links are working perfectly and navigational tabs are present throughout the website.
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- Make your website interactive. Good interaction and user experience gives your website an extra edge in the search engines’ eyes.
- Do keyword research and create compelling content around your chosen keywords. If you’re targeting a particular city for your services, make sure to use long-tail keywords with the state, city or neighborhood you are targeting.
#2 Get your business listed in Google and in the top 50 directories for your niche.
We all know that the days when people search the yellow pages to find products or services they need are over. In this digital age, people are searching online. When they search, they use the search engines to help them find the best result/products/services as possible. Gone too are the days of easy ranking in search engines. To start with your website needs to get listed on the top 3 search engine giants – Google, Yahoo and Bing.
They will auto-generate a map for your physical location for your store or office. This will enable prospects to see a map or directions on how to get to you. Also, the new Google local update allows viewers to get a glimpse of your store (outside and inside). As a business owner, make sure to fill out everything correctly (business name, address, phone number, operating hours and other contact information). Make sure the NAP are consistent in all listings. Also, you can upload photos of your store’s exterior and interior look to give your visitors a little excitement.
#3 Create social media profiles for your business.
Almost everyone is using Facebook and other social media platforms. The social platforms are replacing word of mouth as the engine for new business! You can reach a wider scope of audiences by marketing your products and services through social media. Setup your pages and profiles correctly, schedule daily feeds and engage with your follower base and the rest of the community. It’s easy, fun and can be a cost-effective way to market your business and brand online. One change that is evident for small businesses is that Facebook limits the number of followers who see your posts. However, even for small budgets, a paid boost can expand your visibility exponentially.
#4 Perform off-page local SEO optimization.
As part of the ongoing digital marketing campaigns, building back links and doing off-page optimization can help your targeted keywords rank and outrank your competitors. There are several techniques to implement off-page optimization that include but are not limited to:
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- submit business listings
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- build profiles and be active on forums that are related to your niche
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- Blog writing and guest blogging
- press releases (when you’re launching a new product/service or you’ll have an upcoming event within the community) and many more.
#5 Ask for reviews and feedback.
Reviews are critical for online reputation and impact both humans and search engines. Ask your customers for a favor. Write customers for a letter or simply encourage them to write a review and publish them in review sites. Whether they’ve enjoyed the product or not, feedback coming from customers can help your business focus on its strengths and improve for the best.
This feedback is important to help give your business and brand the credibility it needs. The more customer reviews you have, chances are, people will be more drawn to test your products/services as experience it themselves.
Digital marketing campaigns for local SEO are different from campaigns of old. One change is that it is more important than ever to identify your ideal customer and focus your online content and efforts to provide value to that customer. Another is that digital marketing is more of a process than a campaign. It takes time to learn what to do and it takes time to implement it but the results can be sizable!