4 Tips to Harnessing the Power of Local Search Marketing

If working in small businesses in various corporate levels has taught me anything, it’s that building a loyal following and customer base begins at home, with Local Search Marketing.

Perhaps you’re a business owner who has a customer base in a particular town, but you want to give your advertising a little more oomph. Maybe you’re just launching your business and you’re ready to spread the word.

Whatever the case may be, search engine optimization (SEO) is a wise investment – but local SEO is even wiser.

How do you harness the power of local search engine marketing? Read on!

Mark it on their maps!

Let me illustrate this point with an example. If you were to search for Italian restaurants in Cheyenne, Wyoming on Google, Bing or Yahoo, you’ll find a map among the first results, listing the appropriate restaurants by geographic location, rating and address.

Basically, registering your business location to any (why not all) of these search engines is a free boost in search engine rankings! All you need to do to register your location with any of these search engines is to visit the respective sites, fill in your business information and your business is quite literally on the map.

Keywords are king

This is a common-sense point, but it deserves to be said nonetheless.

Keywords are vital when it comes to search engine optimization and boosting your business’s rankings; they are all the more important in terms of local marketing.

Be sure to pepper your content with keywords like neighbourhoods, postal codes and nearby cities/counties to give your potential customers the opportunity to find you on Bing, Google, Yahoo or any search engine. Thinking and writing locally opens up a whole new world of online advertisement.

I must warn you, though, select and use your keywords carefully. Spamming your website visitors will do a lot more harm than good when it comes to SEO on any level.

Keywords behind the curtains

Assuming your website is well-designed and is operating just fine (which I’m sure it is), you’ll have images and videos related to your business and what you’re all about.

I admit, this is an area where we’ve fallen behind on occasion , but I don’t want you to forget it! Once you’ve selected keywords – both local and otherwise – be sure to infuse your meta descriptions, images and other page elements with keywords as a non-invasive way to move up the search engine ladder!

Give the mic to your audience

Whenever I complete a project for one of my first-time clients, I’m sure to send along a thank-you note, not only expressing my gratitude for their patronage but also to ask for their honest feedback.

The reviews you receive online are often trusted by the public, and the more positive reviews you receive, the higher you will rank on search engine maps and search engine results as a whole. If you have customers, for example, with a Gmail address, consider asking them to rate and review their experience on your Google Places page to move up the ranks on the map.

How do YOU boost your website through local search engine marketing? We’d love to hear from you!