Small businesses won’t have a lot of startup capital, but they do have the possibility to become a treasure in the community. With the right business model and customer service, you can become a staple to your neighbourhood that thrives and benefits everyone. Before you can even start to woo your future clientele, however, there is the matter of being found.
Having a location on the high street is a good place to start, but even then, you are missing out on many customers just by being hard to find. In cities especially, where high streets are frequent, you will want to go above and beyond to increase the foot traffic in your store.
The best way to do this is through local SEO. Unlike regular SEO, local SEO is more focused, and its goal is to get you to the top of search results in your area. This narrows your competition and makes it much easier to see great results.
How to Create a Great Local SEO Strategy
To create a great local SEO strategy, you will want to follow these steps:
- Optimize Your Website
First things first, you need to improve your website. This needs to be done by a specialist SEO agency, particularly one that is located near you. If your new business is in Essex, for example, then you will want SEO in Essex. This way, not only can your website be optimized for traditional SEO, improving site speed, security, and content, but it can be optimized specifically for your area by people who know your area.
Do you need SEO help in Essex? Click here to learn more about how SEO website design and SEO can improve your local business.
- Create Location Pages
One such way your website will be optimized for your local area is with the creation of location pages. If you serve the area of Essex, for example, you are going to want to create location pages for the main towns you service, like Colchester, Chelmsford, Basildon, and the like.
If you only have one location and want to better attract those in your neighbourhood, then using specific location keywords organically throughout your website’s content is ideal.
- Embed a Google Map onto your Website
Embedding your location onto Google Maps is a great way to make it easy for people to see visually where you are located when they access your website.
Build Up Your NAP Listings
NAP stands for name, address, phone number. The first NAP listing you should create is Google My Business. Work to then add your business to as many local and national directories as possible.
Collaborate With Local Media
Work with local media, influencers, and organizations and either post or collaborate with them so that your link is on their websites, or have your SEO agency work to create a backlink profile that focuses on local publications in your area.
Obtain Reviews
Encourage customers to leave a review. By encouraging them (for instance, offering a small discount if they post any kind of review), you can build up reviews from happy customers.
