Search engine optimization doesn’t always mean expenses. If your business or small shop runs on limited a small profit, there are free ways to SEO your brick and mortar business. You can highly benefit from local SEO even without an Internet marketing agency. SEO is free with the right tools and techniques and helps the business double the income upon employing these tactics.
To rank the business online and have access to the market, here are some online marketing strategy for your local SEO.
1. Use Google My Business and Bing Places for Business.
Google My Business (GMB) is a powerful tool in local searches. It is also strict with its verification process. Once the name of the business, address, and contact numbers in the entry fields, you must verify your account using the verification pin the company sends to the store’s physical location. This process ensures the listing and its information is accurate and genuine. Under Google’s terms of service, only the business owner qualifies to claim his or her GMB page.
After verifying the listing, optimize it for search engines. Fill out the fields and add a description, business category, operating hours, types of payment accepted as well as the features and amenities of your shop. A business logo, few photos of the shop, its products, services, and staff increases the legitimacy of the business. If the company provides services, hiding the headquarters or the address of the warehouse is acceptable.
Don’t forget to business’ name, address, and phone number (NAP) in Bing. It has the same process as Google. Both tools help rank the keywords used on the business’ website in local search.
2. Encourage ratings and review on Google.
Glassdoor, Yelp, Zomato, and other niche-related websites for ratings and reviews are great, but nothing beats the power of Google. Encourage customers and passers-by to leave a rating or a review by placing a sign to the storefront. Don’t forget to mention it upon ringing the cashier. The star ratings and a few words from your customers is the most excellent marketing strategy for your store. Inform customers of the business’ online presence to know where they can leave their reviews.
3. Make a contact page.
The contact page transforms curious users and site visitors into customers. A comprehensive contact page lands new clients, an investor, or anyone interested in the business to visit the actual store.
A business contact page must have the exact address of the business, phone or mobile number, and e-mails. It can also include a contact person from sales, operations, or the HR. Some contact pages have forms allowing customers to leave their concerns, messages, and suggestions to the company inbox.
4. Be part of interviews.
Exposure thru the local news and publications may be old school, but it’s part of SEO once they begin to post their article on their website. It also establishes your credibility within the area and become a lead establishment in your niche.
Interviews aren’t only on TV. Podcasts or a Google+ Hangout within a comfortable area builds relationships with users and customers. Sign up on Help A Reporter Out (HARO) to connect with journalists and provide insights on the business niche and other relevant information?
5. Use Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress blogs.
Optimize your CMS. If on WordPress, use the Yoast SEO plugin. It’s free and easy to use. It guides users to adjust their title tags, meta description, and sitemap among others. It’s also ideal for managing content and keywords.
USe the plugin to optimize the business sites’ title tags, headers, and meta description. Place the keywords related to the brand or business, so people can easily find the business using these queries.
6. Publish more content.
The goal may not be to create a how-to site or excite your brand thru your newsletters and updates. However, writing new content helps the site rank on the target search terms or keywords in the location of the business.
Ensure all published content is high-quality and original to prevent plagiarism, violations, and other sanctions from Google and other search engines. Most of all, high-quality content is a ranking factor in Google, so the pages are likely to appear in search results when you create such material.
7. Use Google Search Console.
Search Console is another tool by Google used to provide information and target local customers an users. Submit the business site’s sitemap for crawling. The console makes sense of your site structure, so bots can locate all the URLs in the site. It best to submit the sitemap on a quarterly basis to crawl new pages.
The tools in the Search Console also point to the site’s error. It presents data which helps the business improve its online presence and performance. Lastly, it sends an e-mail covering site issues that need fixing.
8. Fill out directories.
Citations are what make local SEO different from other search optimization techniques. They are mentions of your business NAP on local search sites. They are similar to entries on old-school yellow pages. When listing on online directories, ensure there are no wrong spelling, lacking numbers, or unrecognizable abbreviations on the business information.
The local newspaper and government agencies in the commerce sector are some websites covering the area or location of the business. They are the best sites for citations.
Online reputation must be part of marketing. Ratings and reviews cover this aspect of Internet marketing. Local SEO helps solidify the business reputation as it builds the brand and makes it available to users in the area or the surrounding location.
