To return users with relevant search results for the location-based keywords they entered, search engines – Google, in particular – are making a more concerted effort to put a premium on websites near the location mentioned on the keyword on the results page. This algorithm change is a boon for small businesses that operate a physical shop.
Using the latest and best on- and off-page optimization practices, these businesses will have a better chance of ranking for their location-based keyword to attract more customers to their shops!
However, Google values local businesses that also specify optimize the locality of their shop for search engines. While there are local search ranking factors to monitor and observe, there’s a great chance that your competitors will be doing the same. Therefore, what you need are uncommon yet equally effective tactics to not only separate your business website over your competitors, but also outpace them on search results.
To help your shop gain an online edge, below are some tactics that you should considering doing for your website.
Focus on building your Google+ Page
Facebook remains the most popular social networking site, which is a good enough reason to encourage businesses to create a free Facebook Page and build a community using well-written and timely posts to inform, educate, and help their target audience. However, Facebook Fan Pages have lost a lot of their value now that only 1% of your followers will see your updates on their news feed.
While the link above has properly explained the tweak in page reach, business owners are nonetheless forced to purchase Facebook Ads and Boost Posts, both of which increases the reach of your posts and services for a price. This is disadvantageous to businesses working with a limited budget.
This is a good reason why you should probably shift your efforts on developing a Google+ Page for your business instead. While a lot of people have dismissed Google+ as a ghost town despite three years of existence, there’s a lot of features here that businesses can sink their teeth into. The ability to get your local business listed on Google+ Business, receive feedback from customers that also appears on search results, and hold Hangouts for business and marketing purposes, can potentially drive even more customers to your local shops when done correctly.
Create a NowFloats site
This Indian startup offers a website builder that specifically helps you to rank for local search. Aside from being able to create a beautiful website (without the help of a professional designer) by dragging and dropping elements to specific pages and track its performance, NowFloats implements its patented Location-Based
NowFloats is also accompanied by its mobile app, the NowFloats Boost. The app won the Microsoft BizSpark Challenge, represented India at Start Tel Aviv in 2013, and was Google’s ThinkMobile Best App for 2014 in India. Using this app on your smartphones enabled you to track your progress and posts updates wherever, whenever.
Develop more visual content
Search engines love content, which is why you should have a content strategy in place in order to keep your website fresh and develop a readership that could help spread the word about your business to drive more customers to your shop.
However, instead of relying solely on creating written content for your blog, you can jump into developing visual content such as images, infographics, and videos instead. Using this infographic as reference, visual content is easier to digest and attracts more attention as opposed to text-based content.
With the help of easy-to-use graphics tool like Canva and PicMonkey as well as various infographic creators, you can make more impact with your content to your audience, which can factor into their decision of buying from your shop.
Question: Do you know other ways on how businesses can drive more visitors to their physical shops through local
Images: ”Local Internet Marketing Concept. The Word of Red Color Located over Text of White Color./ Shutterstock.com“
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