Having a local business is many people’s dream and the fact that more people are starting their local business every year shows that there is money to be made from it. Yes, having a local business has its challenges, but so does every business, you just need to learn how to deal with these challenges. One main challenge is how to get your local business online and to let the population find you easily. In this article, we will go through some proven methods that can help you to market your local business online and build traffic and conversions on your website for free.
What Is Local Marketing?
Local marketing is a strategy that targets potential customers based on a specific location or region where you do business. This is aimed to target people near your physical office space and can be based on walking/driving distance and the product or service that you provide. For example, if you have a bakery in Manchester you will be wanting to target the close neighbourhoods and the city itself as you never know who else is going to be wanting your business. This can also improve your conversion rate as local marketing is much more targeted for those nearby. The goal is primarily to save your budget for bigger fish so by being efficient with your local marketing, you will have more to use on other things that need doing.
Optimise Your Website For Search Engines
Website optimisation is one of the most important things you can do for your website as this will bring in regular traffic to your site without having to pay for it. This should not only be optimised for general keywords but also for location terms for your local areas. The best way to do this is to follow SEO best practices. Due to many users being on mobiles, it is essential for websites to be compatible with mobiles as you will lose many potential customers if you don’t. An example of this would be if you are a digital agency in Manchester that provides SEO, you could be optimising the site for SEO Manchester. This will show you on the search engine as someone who provides SEO services in Manchester.
Update Title Tags and Meta Description
This is also to do with SEO but is also an essential part of marketing your local business. There are a range of different factors with metadata, but for the main, the title tag and meta description are the two that must be updated. If you don’t know what this is then it is the results that you find on a search engine, these are called SERPS.
The title tag is the tagline that will draw users to your website. For when you are marketing local, it is essential to have the location in the title. This is usually around 60 characters and will have your relevant keywords in it to entice users.
The meta description is not promised to account as a ranking factor, however, it will improve your click-through rate by giving them relevant information on what the website is about. With local marketing, it is always best to have some sort of contact information on there such as a phone number or email address.
Create A Google My Business Listing
A free and easy marketing strategy is to create your Google My Business listing. Google My Business allows Google users to access all the relevant information they may need such as your location, contact details, opening times, directions, reviews and it will also make you stand out on the SERPs.
You should also aim to be listed on other websites such as Trustpilot, Yelp, Trust Advisor and other sites like this. The more sites that people can find you, the more reputable your business will look as well as it improving your local marketing campaign.
Increase Your Social Media Presence
Having social media plays an essential role in any business marketing campaign. More people are using these platforms more than ever and it won’t be going away anytime soon. Just like your website, your social media should be optimised properly. Each page should be optimised for locations, services and everything else that you can think of that customers will want to know and see. This also includes being regular on your social media posts, an easy way to do this is by scheduling your posts to save time later on.
Encourage Customers To Leave Reviews
It is always nice to get good reviews, it helps to back up what you are trying to achieve, and it helps people to decide whether they want to use you or not. You should look at different ways in which you can encourage your customers to leave some positive reviews on platforms such as Google reviews, Trustpilot, Yelp and any other that you may be on. One way in which you can persuade them is to offer them a discount on their next purchase or put them in a prize draw.
Just as it is nice to receive reviews, it is also nice to be acknowledged. Aim to spend an hour or so a week to read the reviews and respond accordingly as this will show that you are interested in what people are saying and taking everything on board. Each response should be different rather than having a template as this will show more personality.
Partner With Other Local Businesses
Partnering with other local businesses is a powerful way to build your exposure! Having a partnership can really boost how many people visit your site as they may have a lot of followers which you can share with your followers which will, in turn, benefit both parties. It is best to have partners that are not direct competitors but who are relevant in your field or have the same beliefs. An example of this would be if you sell vegan vitamins you won’t want to partner with someone who tests on animals.
There are many different ways in which you can market your business for local listings. These are proven methods in which you can build traffic to your site, build better conversions and also bring in more than just the basic traffic you would if you were not optimising your site correctly.