Of all the many ways to market a local business, the internet remains the best way to sell your brand name to the largest target audience. On this page, we will break down how to be found by local customers online.
Why You Should Increase Your Online Presence
Even if your business relies on local customers, the industry for finding services in today’s world is becoming more and more digital. In the past, people would rely on paper things such as the local listings and the Yellow Pages. Today the internet has taken over as the number one platform for marketing a local business.
Here are 5 Ways to Be Found by Local Customers Online
1. Submit Your Business to Google My Business
Google is the heavy-hitter in the online industry when it comes to finding information. This is also where you should start your journey to finding more local customers.
Many people searching for you will know your business name. Or, at least the type of business that you run. When you submit your business to Google My Business, you will instantly increase your presence on Google for both search results related to your business name and to the type of business that you run.
2. Adjust Your Website for Location-Specific Keywords
If you have a website for your local business, you already have the tools necessary to be found online by local customers. Google will favor your official site when people search for your business name. That is at least if they know that your website is the official business site!
To make it clear to Google robots that you have the official website for your business, adjust your site identity and tagline to at least include the name of your business. Ideally, you will place another keyword that you want to rank for here.
3. Create a Blog with Informative Content
Google loves free content. If there is a hack that gets you ranked in the top 10 of Google, this would be one of them. Depending on the nature of your niche, you should be able to come up with endless pieces of informational content.
The idea here, though, is to create content around the right keyword. Do some research and find keywords for informational content. Some examples of this are “how to” articles, “best of” articles, and articles explaining the difference between x and y.
4. Create Business Accounts on Social Media
In addition to having a website, social media accounts are another way to increase your visibility. Some of the top platforms are Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. However, there are various other platforms that you can consider using like Instagram and Pinterest.
Make sure that each social media account you create clearly lists your business name. Most importantly, ensure that your social media accounts all include a link to your website in the description. This will help search engine bots place more authority on your website and social media accounts when people search your business name.
5. Location Targeted Social Media Ads
Now that you have a website and social media accounts, you are ready to unlock the full potential of online marketing for your local business. Using a platform like Facebook, you can easily create ads straight from your business page.
The strategy here is to target your advertisements towards people that live locally and fit your target customer. The amount of people who use Facebook in any given part of the world is absolutely astounding. This makes it a great place to start for placing advertisements if you have the extra money to invest.
Wrapping up how to be found by local customers online
In Conclusion, having a strong digital footprint for your business helps you attract more local business. If your not ready to make any major changes, at the very least make sure your local Business is listed on Google My Business and your website is optimized to attract local customers. If you do nothing just be prepared for your small business to fail.
If you’re looking for more help with Finding Local Customers for Your Business, we just wrote an article titled Fuel Your Local Business Online For Free
We understand how difficult and time consuming it can be to grow your local business. However, we are here to help. If you need some more information, or would like to know if we’d be a good fit to work together just send me a quick message.
