Local business marketing is not what it used to be.
It’s better.
Here’s why.
When businesses first started marketing on the Web, many if not most local businesses targeted Google.
Today, some niches may find it impossible to rank where they want on Google because of the HSA (Home Service Ad) initiative released by Google. If Google has its way this paid placement concept will continue to evolve into more and more of Google’s first-page map results.
Now what?
Now it is time to become diversified within your online local marketing approach. Isn’t diversification how successful businesses survive even without all the confusion that Google has brought to the table?
Unfortunately, if you’re like most local business owners you simply don’t have the time to manage all that is required while taking care of the actual business that you run.
That’s where I come into the picture as your local marketing manager by offering 5 targeted services which are:
- Reviewing Reputation Management
- Website City/Service Pages
- Organic Google Rankings
- Local Backlink Generation
- Unique Citation Development
#1: How Reviews Factor Into Your Local Business
First came word of mouth and then word of Web. Today, one of the most powerful ways of sifting the good from the bad is with client reviews.
In researching this fact within service area businesses it appears that the local business owner is getting the message. The question is, do you have a streamlined system and way for collecting those reviews?
If you are like most then this is an area where your talents will be lacking.
I enjoy watching and hearing about how elated local business owners are as a result of integrating their ventures into my unique review system that literally builds reviews practically on autopilot.
Because I know, understand and appreciate the power of online reviews today, this piece of my overall marketing package ranks in at #1 out of the 5 services that I bring to the table for your ultimate success.
#2: What Are Website City/Service Pages?
This is perhaps the most significant part of marketing your local business today.
Let’s say you operate in 5 cities offering 3 different types of services. How do you show up on multiple search engines (Bing, Yahoo, etc.) including Google?
Isn’t it by listing all your services and locations served on one page for everyone to easily reference?
While creating one overall page like this is not a bad idea, an even better idea is to break all this content down into separate cities and services so that you substantially increase your exposure.
Rather than simply changing city names and service information for each page your value truly takes hold when each page offers 100% originality within each city and each identified service. This process takes time and talent to create correctly.
Here’s an article that takes a deeper dive into creating multiple city service pages.
#3: What Are Organic Google Rankings?
Next, up is getting listed on Google in one of two ways.
First, you do want to get listed on the maps. If HSA’s are part of your niche, then target as high a position as possible within the maps lists.
To rise above all the confusion you also want to be showing up in Google’s organic rankings which have, in my opinion, become much more valuable than what they used to be because of Google’s HSA initiatives.
While positioning yourself strategically on search is highly recommended. The process of doing so today greatly increases your ability to obtain higher positions on Google and the other search engines.
#4: What Is Local Backlink Generation?
A significant part of the Google ranking puzzle is found within the concept of building local backlinks which have become a science in and of itself.
The difference between traditional and local backlinks is found in the fact that these backlinks come from your local area making them much more challenging to obtain than in days gone by.
Here is a comprehensive article that includes ways local business owners can obtain local links. As you can see, it takes a great deal of time and effort to achieve these types of links.
Developing these properties as part of your marketing package accomplishes at least 2 critical factors for your local business.
First, you gain community awareness. These are people in your city who at some point will likely be in direct need of the services you offer.
Second, your Google and other search engine rankings continue to rise to the top of search results.
#5: What Is Unique Citation Development?
To have a clear understanding of what citations are and how they operate please read this section of my local SEO report.
After reading the above content you should have a clearer understanding of how citations work into your local marketing strategy. What hasn’t been spoken of within that writing is Google’s tremendous dislike of duplicate content.
DEFINITION
Define Duplicate Content: The exact same content originating from more than one source to be repetitive information rather than offering unique quality within each targeted citation directory.
Duplicate content is exactly what citation directories create if they have not been set up with originality. Perhaps that is one of many reasons that citation directories have been overpowered by local backlink acquisitions.
Even though such is the case abandoning citation directories at this point is highly unadvisable. Leading authorities suggest that citation directories still present a critical component in the overall marketing plan for your local business.
Concluding Thoughts About Your Local Business Growth
The above review of the 5 areas of my service offerings for local businesses is but a snapshot of the entire equation. I have outlined strategic on-page (website) and off-page (Google My Business) components as well as providing an explanation of how local backlinks and citations work into your marketing strategy. We also took a look at one of the most serious components of the entire equation called reviews. I’ve said nothing about other critical elements of this strategy which include but are not limited to:
- Keyword research processes including creating long-tail and “near me” initiatives.
- Local image optimization components that affect your entire marketing strategy.
- Schema markup language incorporation that targets important elements within your website.
- Tracking of search rank results including identifying new opportunities.
- Regular reports of your entire marketing campaign designed to keep you informatively current.
And more.
If you’re going to get serious about marketing on the web today, then all these elements are critical components of how I empower the success of your local business on the Web.
Upon reflection of the above details, what questions do you have?
Please feel free to ask them in the comments below.
If you would like a free consult of your local marketing plan, please leave a message for me at 702-439-4766 and I will be glad to return your call at my earliest convenience.
Guy Siverson
ViralTNTeam CEO
PS: Because of the amount of work involved in bringing on a client, I typically target 1 maybe 2 new clients onboarding monthly based on a first come first served basis.
PSS: I have a surprise here for you. These are directories that are hot for your website listings as of 11-14-2017. I recommend taking time to get yourself listed in each no matter if you opt for the free, reciprocal or paid options. They are all worth it.
- Visitors Details (DA 56
- So Much (DA 61)
- Education (DA 56)
- Britain Directory (DA 54)
- Software Directory (DA 55)
- Directory Website Promote (DA 60)
- Submission Web Directory (DA 58)
The DA’s (domain authorities) of all the above sites have been verified via SEO Review Tools which has other awesome tools available too.