Four Tips to Grow Your Business with Local Search

A customer’s choice about whether to spend their dollars at your business often comes down to how easily they can find you. Think about yourself — how many times have you navigated past the first page of online search results?

When it comes to local search, there are no prizes for second place – or in this case, the second page – so it’s vital that you employ a few key techniques.

Here are four ways to boost your local search visibility:

1. Know the tools at your disposal

First and foremost, claim your local business listing on major search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. This is a completely free way to ensure your business will show up in local search. You can also add photos and update your business information, such as hours of operation and address, to customize the way your business appears to customers. Tools like the Vocus Marketing Suite help you save time by updating every listings site at once.

2. Pay attention to online reviews

When your business shows up in search results, reviews from sites like Yelp and Google+ Local are not far behind. Knowing what customers say about your brand allows you to address any issues and glean new insights about your customers.

3. Go social

Twitter, Google and Facebook all have “geotagging” features that pinpoint the location of the user when they interact on the network. Foursquare is an entire social network based on geotagging and location. Be sure your business’s social profiles are tagged with your city and state so that you can easily connect with customers in your area.

4. Show local pride

Pay attention to the photos and posts that customers upload in your area. Highlighting and sharing locally relevant opinions, or even a great photo of your city, demonstrate local pride and create goodwill towards your business. You can also be proactive by sharing your own local pictures and stories via your company website, blog, and social channels. Just be sure to tag your location!

As mobile devices flourish, so too does hyper-local search. This means ensuring that your business appears in local search is more important than ever.

The hardest part of social media marketing is knowing who’s ready to buy – unless you can spot the Buying Signals that identify interested customers.

Mihai

I like to think about me that I have the power to inspire people around me, that’s why I started this website, to reach as many people as posible. All I ask from you is to read my blog and leave a comment on the article that inspired you or send me something to inspire me. “Share it” is a trend! – you can be a part of it.