In the past, we’ve covered how crucial SEO is for an online marketing strategy. Quite frankly, no matter how great your site looks, it won’t matter if no one can find it. 89% of consumers use a search engine, primarily Google, to research a company before making a purchase. This means your SEO rank can be the difference between a sale and being passed over.
This goes doubly for new small businesses looking to break into the local market. Like a band playing the local club scene, your business has to build a following at home before you can grow. How can you go about building that following?
Having a following at home is the first step to success. We can help you build that presence.
This Sounds Familiar
If you already know that content is king, then you’re already on your way to making the first step in the right direction. Your site needs to be populated with enriching content. Just like customers, search engines need to know what you do and how it relates to the world. Good content not only gets you noticed, it helps inform customers why your product matters.
This extends to every page of a site. Your site needs relevancy to get picked up locally, so a brief description clumsily filled with keywords will hinder more than help. Content should incorporate your business name, services, related words and your location. We specialize in weaving content into every page we build. Your site is a body and our words are its blood.
Strategic Placement
Placing keywords is best done subtly than randomly. To get the best local results, be sure to include location tags (namely your city and state) in places like links, headers and in your content. Google even picks up alt texts in images, so dropping tags there helps your ranking.
At the same time, make sure your business is properly listed on places like Google, Facebook, Yelp and TripAdvisor. Make sure your information on outside sites is accurate and consistent or else it will lead to multiple and confusing listings in search engines.
Spread the Word
Having a social strategy is key when building a following. You need a social media presence to properly share links with the world. Once your business has a presence, share relevant links on those channels to encourage sharing. Make sure your links in official emails or newsletters lead back to your site, and keep producing relevant content to share.
Proper social media use is also more than just sharing. People expect a certain level of interaction on social media, and it pays to make an effort to interact with customers truthfully and sincerely. This pays huge dividends when building a following.
Boost Locally with Us
At Imagine It Studios, we’ve been building for a while now. What we build, though, are more than just websites. We build an evolving presence for you and your business and are always on the cutting edge making sure your mark is left in the digital world. If you would like to know more about what we can do for you, contact us online or give us a call at 956.687.1521.