Local SEO is important to understand and master. If you are a business owner that get’s it’s clients from the local community you want to make sure that people can find your website easily so that they can learn about your products or services.
Why Local SEO Matters
If you are a plumber in Glendale, California you don’t want someone in Glendale, Arizona searching online and finding your website and calling you to repair the pipes in their home. The same holds true if you are an attorney who does personal injury work, a coffee shop or any other place of business that seeks to attract customers from the immediate community.
Regular SEO vs Local SEO
Local SEO differs from what I call “regular SEO” because quite simply Local SEO seeks to attract views and interaction from the near by community while “regular SEO” seeks to attract viewers and interaction from anywhere in the world.
Local SEO First Steps
Important Aspects of getting started with Local SEO is making sure that you are listed with Google My Business. It’s free and available for you to take on yourself. This is one of those situations where Google attempts to make it easy for you to do this yourself. Some people find it confusing or ill equipped to do themselves and Smack Smog can help you. No matter if you do it yourself or have us help you make sure that you are prepared to create a detailed write up of your business. Take your time and describe the products and services that you offer. Remember that this is a business listing and not your own website. You’ll have plenty of space to describe your business but your writing should be direct and specific. Don’t be over flowery, or coy in what you are saying. This is not the time to show how clever you are. It’s important to keep in mind that your present and future customers will be looking at this description on their phones and the screens are very small. Stick to the facts but don’t leave anything out. If you are a plumber who specializes in older homes than say you do.
Google My Business Tips, Local SEO – Getting Started
Here are some things to have on hand and ready to include in your local google business listing.
- Phone Numbers – Have the right phone numbers that customers should call, Don’t have the CEO’s office number or your home phone number if you don’t want the public to call (because they will).
- Address – The correct address that the public can use to find your place of business. Don’t use the address of your warehouse if you want customers to visit your showroom, or don’t use the address of your billing department if you want them to visit your sales department.
- Photographs – Have professional photographs of your business. Don’t just use your smart phone to take snapshots. No one wants to look at your bad photos. Trust me when I tell you this. I’ve had over a million views of my photographs on Google Maps. Hire someone who has experience in taking photos of local businesses for Google Maps. You’ll thank me latter.
- Payments – Be sure to know every possible method of payment that your business accepts. You don’t want to lose a customer because you assumed everyone would know that you accept Visa. Yes you need to say that. Does your business accept Mastercard, American Express? What about Bitcoin? Double Check and be sure!
- Hours – What are your operational hours? If you are a plumber I’m guessing you have someone answering the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you are a florist you probably have specific hours of being open and closed and on what days. Be ready to have your every day hours included in your business listing.
Finally, the most important part of your Local SEO setup…
Verify Your Google My Business!
Too many local businesses go through all the steps but fail to verify their business with Google! All that work down the drain and even more important is all that lost opportunity! Don’t allow that to be you!
