Local Businesses are on the rise since the start of 2012, there are tons of small and local businesses that come on the financial map not only in United States but around the world. The good part about local businesses is that they mostly know what they target market is how they will react to it but the part where the small and local business stuck is marketing as most of them are usually tight with their budget and cannot afford regular marketing channels like TV, Radio and news paper ads.
SEO is one of the most essential words for local businesses and this is because of the fact that it’s affordable (as compare to regular marketing channels) and gives a complete freedom to target their local audience and allow them to build strong and valuable relations with them.
The word SEO is the most important marketing channel that allows them to get attention of their targeted audience and then later give them the opportunity to build strong and engaging relationship which as a result gives you a better ROI.
What SEO can do for Local Businesses?
SEO can bring in multiple ways that gives the opportunities for local businesses to increase their return on investment. Here are few of the things that SEO offer for Local Businesses.
1. Local Business Listings
SEO allow business to include themselves in to local business listings and yellow pages that includes the famous Yelp.com and others. The reason why a local business should include them in websites like yelp, Google Maps and more is to get found when people searching for that kind of business on these websites (which is quite often).
2. Real Customer Reviews
Customer Reviews are also important and SEO allows you to use multiple tactics to encourage your happy customer to write positive reviews about you on websites like yelp, Google Maps and more. This at one end will give you a word of mouth and more people will come and try you and at the same time this will give better visibility in listings and Maps so if someone searches for your kind of business your website will come up and you will get more customers.
3. Blogging
This is another idea and applying them correctly will not only give you a better branding exposure but at the same time it will drive some serious business to you. The idea is to either have your own blog or write on other niche related blogs so that you can open doors to talk to targeted customers directly and solve their problems.
If you will be consistent to it, you will see yourself slowly become the icon of the industry and people eventually will start to follow you and this as a result will flow traffic to your business.
4. Check In Discounts
Social Media is on the rise and almost all local businesses should have to have their entity at least on popular social media channels like Facebook, foursquare, twitter and more. The idea is to offer check in discounts to the people who are checking in on foursquare or facebook , this will allow them to do this more and your business will automatically going to get famous through it.
5. Detailed Business Website
This is one of the things that almost all local businesses are missing. The idea is to have a detailed website of your business instead of just a 5 page website that talks about the business introduction. Detailed website will allow people to know more about your business and will sketch your image from your website accordingly.
SEO is more than just rankings and these are just 5 out of many things that SEO can offer to local businesses. If you are a local business you should consider using these tactics in order to improve your business.
About the Author:
Tim, a blogger who strictly writes about business and finance related topics. He also writes for Net worth Television with Terry Bradshaw. Find the internet page of Net worth TV with Terry Bradshaw.