A guest blog is a great way to add variety to the topics of your regular articles and this is exactly what I’ve done here.
Mark Hughes and Philip Waite generously gave away loads of great tips in their presentation at ‘How Trusted Sales and Technology can Transform your Business’, a conference held by Nicci Bonfanti. I asked if they would be happy for me to share these tips. Of course they were more than happy to do so, so here is how they are helping business owners who want to drive local business to their website via local SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).
Take it away Mark and Philip!
Mark Hughes and Philip Waite
What Local SEO should a business owner focus on when time is short?
Two things every business owner is short of are time and money. For this reason the vast majority multi-task all day. Often resulting in very little time being spent on each job.
This could explain why we are often asked the question “I only have 15-30 minutes spare three time a week to focus on online marketing and SEO for my business, what is the best use of my time to maximise my sales?”
For any local business 30 minutes three times a week (preferably daily) is quite enough time to build your presence online and to increase your website’s optimisation and the following are the areas you should focus on, but before you can do this you need to ensure you have claimed your Google My Business listing and fully optimised it.
Once this has been completed for your business it is then possible to spend 15-30 minutes a day to continually enhance your local SEO by working on these aspects:
Directory Listings
These are formally known as local citations and have a positive impact on your local SEO results. There are hundreds of directory websites on the Internet where you can list your business. It is important that your name, address and phone number exactly matches your Google My Business listing (for example don’t put UK and United Kingdom – standardise).
Some of the larger directories include Thompson Local, Freeindex, Yell and Scoot. Keep adding your business to as many directories as you can as this will create links back to your website and different people search on different directories to find companies.
Spy on your Competitors’ Listings
Check where your local competitors are listed by entering the following search string in Google.
“full company name” “company post code” -site:url
For the URL only put www.url.com. Do not include the http://
Local Content
If you have a blog on your website it is worth writing locally focused articles as your target audience are based in the local community. The principle reasons why locally focused content is good for your SEO are:
- You can attract local visitors to your website as other local websites are likely to share locally focused content
- Other local websites will create links back to your website
- Local people will socially share local content
Reviews
Search engines love reviews of local businesses as it spreads your reputation to more potential customers. If you are in any doubt about this you should consider the fact that 88% of people trust online reviews from stranger’s as much as personal recommendations .
Set up a dedicated page on your website where you can direct customers to write a review on your business. Read how you can make it easier for your clients to write a 5 star review.
Videos
Search engines love videos, remember YouTube is the second largest search engine and is owned by Google. Part of setting up your Google My Business listing would have been creating an optimised YouTube channel for your business. It is worth adding optimised videos to your YouTube channel. Don’t worry these don’t need to be Hollywood blockbusters; they can be a one or two minute client testimonial.
Focusing on these elements three or four times a week will enhance your local and generic SEO and work towards getting your business listed in the local three pack for your business.
A BIG thank you to Mark and Philip for allowing me to share their knowledge. If you use either of the links in this article and end up having a chat with them, please do let them know it’s because you read this blog. It is so helpful to know where your contacts come from!
