Small business needs SEO especially at the local level. For example, if someone is searching for a restaurant, they are going to look in their local area first. Local listings improve your visibility and help you rank higher in the search engines even if your main business can appeal to larger searches.
Do you have your business listed with local online search engines?
You should be listed in the following directories: Yellow Pages Online, Yahoo Local, Bing, Google+ and your Cities local online directories. When your business is linked to local directories, it is much easier for people to find you. You can increase your rankings on these sites by asking satisfied customers to post reviews underneath your business listing and click the thumbs up, like +1 etc.
Link Building is another way to get your business ranked in the search engines.
You can do this by adding comments and links to other businesses that are similar to yours. You can also cross promote with other businesses and offer to swap links. Make sure that you build your links slowly and naturally. Regulate them by doing a few one-day and a couple the next. This way the search engines won’t penalize you and think you are spamming.
Promote Your Business on social media platforms.
Use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and they should reflect the location of your business. It is nice to have lots of followers, but they mean nothing if these people don’t become customers. Target your posts towards your local community. You can post specials, video and images to grab the attention of your followers.
It could be something as simple as, mention you saw this post or tweet today and get a 20% discount off your next purchase. You increase the reach of your business and encourage more customers to visit. It is a great way to get re-peat business and build relationships with your customers.
Online advertising
Pay per Click advertising is one of the most powerful ways to target your local community. Use geo-targeted PPC for your online campaigns. For example, your business is in Denver, Colorado. You may run ads that target specific areas of Denver. People who aren’t in this geographic area should be excluded.
It’s all about getting the right kind of traffic to boost your sales and get your customers to come back again and again. These are just few ways that you can use local SEO for small business to boost your online presence.
