With the rising popularity of e-commerce websites and people moving towards online shopping even for the most basic of their requirements, brick-and-mortar stores and small businesses must improve their online presence. Local SEO Strategies enable these small businesses to boost their visibility and reach the target audience to better their omnichannel sales and transform online searches into store visits.

Attracting more customers from the local area with content that is specifically catered to them adds to the traffic on their website, increasing their prominence and popularity. Using the available digital tools to optimize these strategies, local businesses can increase their reach and generate more sales. We have shortlisted some handy hacks so you can make a mark with your business’s online presence.

Back to basics – NAP consistency

While it might seem like the most basic thing, it is not impossible to overlook this detail. So, Make sure your Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP) are consistent across all channels. Consistency would allow your target consumers to accurately access your business and increase its reliability. There are also more chances of your business showing up in searches and would overall leave a positive mark on the viewers overall. 

Up your game at Google My Business

Create a verified account of your business on Google My Business and optimize it by adding legitimate details and photographs. You can add as much information as you think would make it easy for your consumer. Google also allows businesses to interact with people via reviews. Encourage your customers to leave feedback or review on your page and make sure to reply to any query authentically. Building trust and connecting with customers or potential buyers can immensely help boost your business’s performance.

Research Local SEO keywords

Local keywords are specific to geographical locations. Researching relevant search engine-optimized local keywords would help you reach the right audience by appearing in their Search Engine Result Pages (SERP) and would thus increase the visibility of your business. Greater visibility and relevance are likely to pull in more traffic to your website as well as increase footfall in your store in the long run. You can use the available online tools to make the keyword research more accurate and finalize the best ones for your locality and niche. 

Geotargeting

Businesses often use the consumers’ geographical location to provide them with more location-specific and accurate search results and curate better-targeted content. This is often done manually – when the website asks you to manually enter your location, or using their IP address and GPS. Geotargeting is perfect for identifying location-based queries and delivering the right information. Optimizing this by using appropriate keywords could help implement the local SEO strategies in a much more efficient way.

Optimize your Social Media

Social media is one of the best ways to connect with your target consumers. Create relevant content to boost your social media presence and engagement. Share your Google My Business profile via social media. You can also encourage previous customers to create user-generated content, upload in-store photographs, and tag you in those posts.

You can hop the digital marketing trends to optimize the use of social media by creating virtual tours of the store or requesting customers to share their experience on camera. This would both resonate with the social media users and enhance the authenticity factor of your business.

Customer check-ins and reviews

Testimonials from customers are often super helpful in increasing the reliability of your business. You can ask the customers to write a review on your Google profile, or if they are willing, post a picture with a geo-tag on Instagram. You can also request them to check in at your store on Facebook. All of this adds to the visibility and increases your chances of showing up in more and more search queries. You can also add some of these testimonials to your landing page to optimize your website and attract more traffic.

Optimizing the Local Landing page

Your website is meant to reflect your brand, optimizing the landing page using locality-specific information and content can boost your visibility. It is an efficient way to attract the right consumers and provide them with all the required information including NAP, directions and maps, photographs, and CTAs.

You can use geo-specific keywords and generate content accordingly to make your local landing page stand out. Publishing authentic customer testimonials on your landing page can instantly build a connection with the buyers. You can also add links to your social media profiles and Google business profiles to better introduce your consumers to your business and your products.

While it might be the era of e-commerce, finding the right community of people who like to visit stores and still enjoy exploring products in-store through tactile interactions could benefit footfalls at your store and increase your sales. Avail Apostrophy’s expert services to optimize local SEO strategies and enhance your presence both online and offline.