How To Find More Local Customers With Your Website

If your business sells locally, this article is for you!

Did you know that 88% of local business searches on a mobile device end up either calling or visiting the business within 24 hours? In addition, 86% of those instances resulted in users looking up the location of a business on Google Maps.

These numbers don't lie. While I could go on and on with the statistics, the central theme to all of this is pretty clear-people are CONSTANTLY looking for local businesses online and expect to find relevant results in a timely manner.

When it comes to taking advantage of all of those potential customers, there are a few quick tactics you can deploy to optimize both your company's website and overall online presence to help get in front of as many as possible. Let's take a look at a few:

1) Choose the right keywords: This is VITAL for locally ranking your website. Not only is it important to include industry keywords and phrases that you want your website to show up for-it's just as important to use location-based keywords as well. By combining these two, you'll have a much better chance of showing up when someone searches for whatever it is you sell or have to offer.

2) Learn your competition: One of the best ways to figure out what works and what doesn't is to do some detective work. Conduct a variety of Google searches for your industry and location and see what kind of results you get.

For example, if you're a plumbing company and you want to see who's dominating the online market, search "plumbers in (city/state). Take note of who's ranking on the first page and see what they're doing regarding their online marketing efforts, then apply those same tactics to your own strategy.

3) Website content: Once you finally get these people to your website, they're going to have expectations. They want to find accurate information in a timely manner. Before dedicating a substantial amount of time to creating content for your site, first ask yourself: what information do I need to convey to my audience, and in what manner?

The more on-point you are with knowing your audience and the content they want to see, the more successful you will be in the long run!

4) Technical stuff: Page speed, broken links, duplicate content, and other various errors on your website will most likely have a negative impact. With content being something that Google and other major search engines have a hard time measuring, the technical aspects of your website remain a vital piece to the puzzle.

If there's one technical aspect to focus on, it's a mobile-friendly design! 57% of all U.S. online traffic now comes from smartphones and tablets, and you can expect to see that number to continue to rise.

If you're wondering what the health of your website is, use this tool to receive a FREE audit: https://bit.ly/2D88wHI

5) Utilize all Google has to offer: Google My Business, Google Search Console, Google Analytics...the list goes on and on. These are just a few of the FREE tools that are available at your disposal, all of which can enhance your company's online presence.

Perhaps the most important for local companies is Google My Business, which is the information that is displayed in the Maps results. When consumers are looking for restaurants, attractions, and other related small businesses, this is arguably the most popular area in terms of where people look.

If you haven't yet set up your listing, check this out: https://bit.ly/2sfXudv

As a local business owner, these are just a few of the MANY micro-strategies you can implement to help get in front of more potential customers. If you have any questions about any of these points, or any that I may have missed, please reach out!

Thanks for reading everyone,

-Taylor