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Online marketing is useful and effective for every type of business, but certain businesses must also necessarily rely on local customers and local traffic to actually make money, and that means those businesses must take advantage of local marketing for the page rank boosts and SEO help they need to attract the attention of the people they most want to get through the door. While local marketing is likely not the right focus for, say, a store that operates entirely online like Amazon, it isthe right focus for a slew of other types of businesses, such as restaurants, medical offices, service providers like plumbers and electricians, mom-and-pop type boutiques and shops, and much more. If, for example, you make a living repairing roofs or doing landscaping, then you need people with roofs and yards you can physically get to easily – after all, what good is a lead if the lead is coming from Italy, and you’re based in Texas?
If your business is one that relies on locals to make its money, then a substantial portion of your online marketing activities should be geared toward doing just that. What follows are some tips to help get you moving in the right local direction.
SEO Help for Local Marketing
- Use local keywords – Are you an electrician in Boise, Idaho? Then your keywords need to reflect that – it’ll help you rank for that geographical location, so anyone searching for electricians in Boise can easily find you. Experiment with adding your city name or other local signifiers to your keywords and phrases to find the ones that work best.
- Use local listings – Make sure you’ve claimed your business’s listings on Google Places, Yelp, Yahoo, Bing, and more. Fill out the profiles completely, providing as much information as you can. Also look for more specialized directories for your particular niche or industry.
- Get some social proof – Once you’ve got your local listings claimed and up to date, start soliciting reviews from your (happy) customers. Many people turn to places like Yelp to find out if a local business is worth their time, and reviews go a long way toward helping them make the decision to go with you over the other guy across town.
- Make sure your location is prominently displayed on your site – Addresses and local phone numbers in the sidebar are another good way of ensuring the search engine spiders and your visitors know where you are from.
A focus on local marketing is the right way to go for many businesses and will provide a lot of the SEO help you need to get customers through the door. Use these tips and be proactive about promoting your business to the people around you.
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