3 Strategies For Increasing Visibility Of Your Local Business
Reading Time 3.9 Minutes
We routinely work with small to medium-sized businesses and start-ups, and we understand how frustrating it can be to compete with the ‘big’ guys. When they’ve got marketing budgets in the millions, what’s a local company to do? Thankfully, lots.
The best way to increase visibility for your local business is to setup and maintain a Google Business Profile, and to create a website that is rich with local keywords. These are easy, accessible, and inexpensive (or free) options that can have a big impact on your local business.
To learn how to use them, keep reading.
Increase Local Visibility For Your Local Business With A Google Business Profile
How do you personally find local businesses to support? Probably the way most of us do: through Google. And Google is how most of your customers are going to find you, too, so you want to make it easy for them to do so.
That’s where your Google Business Profile comes into play. It’s free to set up and maintain your listing and doing so gives you a little more control over how you show up in search results. Having a well-established profile can help you establish your authority and earn trust, as well as help increase traffic and therefore sales.
You’ll be able to engage with your audience, as well as offer more information, like your hours and holidays.
And maybe best of all, when you have a Google Business Profile, you are setting yourself to show up on Google’s ‘3-pack,’ which is the top map listings the search engine shows at the top of search results for a given query. It’s hard to overestimate how critical this can be for your business.
Thankfully, like we’ve covered, Google Business Profiles are free, and it’s also designed to be user-friendly. That means it’s easy to set up and maintain, making it a great tool for any small business owner to increase their visibility.
Build A Website
Again, think about businesses you support. When was the last time you went to one without a website? It’s probably been a while, right?
The reality is that today, customers expect a website, to be able to do a little research before coming into your store or other small business.
That doesn’t mean your website has to be fancy, or have lots of bells and whistles, or pages and pages of content. For example, all we need is your logo, some pictures, and some copy, to create a simple yet modern and ultra effective website.
We also highly recommend that your site have an SSL certificate (not as scary as it sounds – learn more here).
But just like with Google Business Profiles, it’s hard to overestimate the importance of a good website, and it can be quite simple to get one as well.
Include Local Keywords On Your Website To Increase Visibility
Finally, a website is great, but only when people know it exists! That’s why it’s important to be on social media in the right way, and why good local search engine optimization (SEO) is a must.
SEO involves all the front end and back end steps you can take to make it more likely for your website to show up in local search results (learn more about why every website needs good SEO here). And when you’re concerned about local visibility, that means using lots of local keywords on your site.
That means including your address on every page of your website, often in the footer or header, as well as on your Contact page.
But also try to work in your city name and other key local phrases into your headings, on your About page, and in as much of your website copy as you can.
The idea is to make it crystal clear to Google where you are located, which can help you show up in local search results. This should always be a top priority with any digital marketing.
Looking for some design help?
We’re a Design & Online Marketing firm based in Victoria and Vernon, BC (see what we did there?!), and we can help you easily get a modern and well-optimized SEO website for your local business. Reach out to learn more.