Is your business optimised for your local market?
If not, then it definitely should be. The customers on your door step are the one who are most likely to do business with you. The only catch that there might be is that these customers need to know you’re there in the first place.
Most searches on Google are local searches.
Naturally customers looking to spend their money on goods or services automatically look within the area they live in first, unless the product they’re searching for belongs to a niche market. Doesn’t it make sense therefore to publicise your website and make sure that every customer in the local area not only knows you are there, but that you also offer the best product at the most competitive price?
So, if you’re now convinced about the relevance of local optimisation, the first question you need to address is how can I publicise my business online and get as high a search engine ranking as possible. Well, it’s simple as a matter of fact. What your business needs to do is get itself a Google Places listing or page. To create a page all you need to do is enter your town or city as well as the county, then add the word places and your business name in the Google search box – making sure you use quotation marks around your business name: so you might put – “Search and More” Stockport, Greater Manchester Places. You need to remember that you should only have one Google Places listing per business location. If you have more than one it will have a detrimental effect on your search engine rankings.
How do you optimise your Google Places page?
- Add photographs: this will give your page extra punch, particularly if you also use a GPS-enabled camera and use that image URL. It’s important to add a keyword-rich name for the photograph.
- Indexing: make sure you include your business category so Google knows exactly what your business does and indexes it in the right category.
- Include your URL: the description on your on your website’s home page should match the description and categories on your Google listings page.
- Add a YouTube Video: for extra impact and a more personal touch.
- Create a description for your business: this will let your customers know what you’re about and what you do. Keep the language plain and simple and avoid jargon or buzzwords.
- Get yourself some reviews: these really need to be genuine ones from past and present customers. Once you’ve got these post them to your listings page so other potential customers can see independent verification of the type of service you offer. Once you’ve managed to gather 5 or more, you’ll notice little stars will start to appear in your Google search returns.
