Let’s face it,there’s no shortage of websites to visit.Whatever the product or service you’re trying to promote,you can be sure that there are plenty of others. A free search engine optimization analysis can suggest ways of maximising your potential and help your site to get onto search engine results pages.There are plenty of simple things you can do yourself that will help too,and we’ve listed 10 here that usefully deal with local listing sites. We hope they’ll help your own website optimisation. In a competitive and fast-paced market,it’s sometimes the simple methods that work the best.
Claim a Profile as Your Own
Log onto directory websites such as Google Places, Yahoo Local and Bing Local and follow the simple steps. After you’ve been verified you’ll be listed and easy to find. This may seem like an obvious step to take but it’s surprising how many businesses miss out by failing to take advantage of the ease with which it can be done.
Upload Some Pictures
Local site listings can be improved with images. To make sure that you’re happy with the way users see you, upload them yourself. There is no need to have them done professionally, but remember that they’ll represent your business, so you’ll want to make sure they look good.
Take Control of Information on Directory Sites across the Web
Realise the potential of local search services by optimising your marketing potential. Local listing services search far and wide on the Internet to find pictures, feedback and reviews of companies. Submit information about your company to as many directory sites as you can. Remember that information spreads and so do mistakes, so take the time to ensure that things are ok and check often.
Invite Reviews
Most local sites offer users the opportunity to review your service, and this service tends to be popular. You can encourage your customer to review your company by printing onto receipts, stationary and e-mail that your comments would be greatly appreciated (at this web address). Real reviews really do bring in new customers. It’s also a good idea to pay attention to what people say about you.
Bad Reviews Are Also Good
The public knows that no service or company is perfect. A host of squeaky-clean reviews of flawless service can actually put people off. Having some bad reviews mixed in with good ones is not necessarily a bad thing as it presents a more typically human face that many will appreciate.
Add a Local Telephone Number to Your Listing
Even though your website may be reaching people on the other side of the world, it’s worth adding a local telephone number to your website. There may be logistical reasons not to, otherwise it’s a personal touch many will appreciate.
Feature a Full Physical E-mail Address on Every Page of Your Site
It’s very important, so there’s no reason not to have your full e-mail address on every page. If it features keywords that feature in Internet searches it can help in website optimisation terms too. It also re-enforces your proximity to the customer.
Think like Your Customers
What words will your customers enter into a search box in order to find companies like yours and obtain your products? SEO experts agree that these keywords are of vital importance when earning good search engine ranking. If you want to appear on results pages then know the useful keywords and use them in anchor text and elsewhere.
Take Multiple Listings into Account and Have Multiple Landing Pages Where Necessary
If you have more than one local citation listing for your business, links should take users to pages that concern the specific locations rather than a generic or home page. Again it presents a more personal face to customers if it’s obvious that you’re aware of one business location being slightly different to another.
Provide Excellent Customer Service
One way of really standing out in a competitive and potentially cutthroat market is to really pull out the stops when it comes to customer service. You’ll encourage loyalty and engender word of mouth recommendations. There are any number of ways in which you can improve your customer service, even if it’s good already, so what are you waiting for?
We hope you’ve found these hints useful. Remember that links back to your site make for excellent offpage optimisation to help you get onto search engine results pages. Good luck with thinking local.