Want to Optimize and Promote Your Website, for Local Searchers, and not Break your Bank? Here are 7 Steps

First, position your phone and email address at a prominent location(s) on your website and highlight it, so viewers can see this information easily. It should be REALLY convenient for customers to contact you if they have any questions.

Second, display your business address and hours on the bottom of your website or on your Contact Us page to let viewers, and search engines know exactly where your business is located.

Third, make a list of keywords related to the products or services you provide and the geographic location(s) you want to focus on. For example, if you provide transmission repair services and you want to target Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, some essential keywords might be: Minneapolis transmission repair, St. Paul Transmission Repair, and Twin Cities Transmission Repair. These essential because they are the keywords your local customers will most likely use to search for your type of services. If you provided other services, you should also make a list of other keywords related to those services as well.

After you have a list all of your keywords, categorize them into two levels. The first level keywords (the most important) should be those related to your core service offerings such as: Transmission Repair, Transmission Rebuild, Transmission Tune-Up, Timing Belt Replacement, Transmission Oil Change, etc. The second level keywords would be those related to your secondary services such as:  A/C & Heating Repair, Tire Services, Vehicle Maintenance, etc.

Now, look at your website and its individual pages. The examples below are pages which are standard for most informational business websites:

HOME | ABOUT US | SERVICES (or PRODUCTS) | TESTIMONIALS | CONTACT US

You then strategically select and assign 3 to 5 first-level keywords to the Title Tag of your HOME page. The rest of your first-level keywords (3-5 keywords) to the Title Tag of your ABOUT US page. You then repeat the same process, using your second-level keywords, for your SERVICES (or PRODUCTS) page, TESTIMONIALS page, and CONTACT US page. By spreading your keywords out on multiple web pages, your website benefits more when search engines index your website under categories related to the services you offer. If this step is a little too “techy” for you, you can hire an Internet marketing firm to take care of it.

Fourth, sprinkle a few of your keywords into your site’s readable content. Make sure your content still sounds natural even with this strategic keyword placement. This will help search engines to better understand your business and what you provide.

Fifth, you should register your website and business with Google Place. This will significantly enhance your local visibility once customers search for your type of business on Google.com. Many times, if you hire a digital marketing company to take care of the step #3 above (keyword placement), they will include this step for you in their service.

Sixth, join your local Chamber of Commerce and list your business’s website and information in their local businesses directory. This is a place some of your potential local customers go to look for your type of business (when they’re not using search engines or social media.)

Seventh, create social media pages for your business – including Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus. Post your business information there and create links from your website to each of your social media pages. Social media marketing is now an important piece of many business’s online marketing campaigns. You’ll want to be in the conversation when your local customers decide it’s time to refer or recommend their friends to the products and services you provide.

If you want to optimize and market your website for local search at low cost, these steps are a great place to start. For a free consultation, please call our Minneapolis web design team at (612) 590-8080. If you find the article above helpful, please share it with others. Thank you!