Local Businesses Need To Utilize Local Search

My client Jeff Bliss who owns J.W. Bliss Plumbing in Lapeer Michigan contacted me last year around November timeframe. He responded to a website review I did for his site that was hosted under Yellow Pages. We setup a time to sit down and discuss a plan of action for his website, as he realized that he wasn't showing up where he should be on the search engines – mainly Google.

I want to remind you that an important fact here is that Jeff realized he needed to utilize the online medium to market his business and to be found online. If you are a local business owner and you are not using this medium, your competitors are going to leave you in the virtual dust – I hope this article will help you to move forward with that endeavor.

As I mentioned, Jeff and I started working together on his online blueprint to get him ranking higher in the search engines using local seo. There are a few factors that I focused on to help Jeff get his website ranked higher on the search engines and get found by his target market. Here are a few of those, which we will cover briefly:

1. You Need A Website That Is Simple But Looks Nice

   One of the fundamentals of being a competitor online is to have your very own domain for your business. In Jeff's case, it's http://www.jwblissplumbing.com. If you don't have a domain name, you can register one at a number of places, but I recommend registering a domain at namecheap.com.

   Once you have a domain name, you need to host it with a good hosting company. Again, there are many out there, but I recommend either hostgator.com or site5.com.

   After hosting is setup, you will need your website designed. Basically, that is what you want the site to look like. What colors, layout and graphics you will have. This is an important part of your online presence. You don't want your site to be loaded down with graphics or flash, but you do want to have a nice, simple, clean design that represents what you offer your customers.

   Here is a snapshot of Jeff's website re-designed in WordPress:

   

   It's a nice, clean design that attracts the eye but doesn't take away from the content on the page – which is where you want your prospects to be looking. A couple critical factors for local businesses to keep in mind when having a website designed.

   One, you want a clear Call-To-Action (CTA) – whether that be a phone number to call, a form to fill out to contact you or a way to capture a name and e-mail – be sure you have a way to get the attention of your target market. If you don't, 94% of them will NEVER return to your site. That call to action should:

   a. Entice the visitor to pick up the phone to call your business
   b. Capture their email address for later marketing
   c. Encourage them to send you an email
   d. Persuade the to fill out a form that is emailed to you

   Two, be sure you are focusing on your service area. Most local businesses aren't going to serve a whole state or a region but a specific geo-targeted area (i.e. Lapeer Michigan). To accomplish this, put your address on each page of your site. This will notify the search engines that you are a business serving that area.

   Designing your site with WordPress is an excellent way to go to accomplish a nice, clean design for your site.
    

2. Content That Focuses On What Your Target Market Is Looking For

   I'm sure you have heard the old adage, "Content is King" – right? Well, I'm here to tell you that it's not just any kind of content that you need on your business website but quality content that brings value to your prospect. You need to use this content to compliment the relationship building process. Your website content will work in unison with creating a call to action.

   Your content should have the following components:

   - A compelling headline that grabs their attention
   - A Sub-Heading (if needed) that teases them to read further into your article
   - Good body content that specifically focuses on what your title mentions

   Be sure when typing up your content that you have plenty of white space – please don't clump large portions of text together as it is really hard to read, and add pictures that compliment the content or gives your visitor a visual of what you want them to feel.

   If you take a look at Jeff Bliss's site, you will see that there is a prominent phone number (his call to action) for those who are in need of a plumber in an emergency, or who want to get a quote from a master plumber. The content provides a means for building a relationship with his visitor by explaining to them the different facets of plumbing repair.
    

3. Good Search Engine Optimization

   A local business needs to focus on keyword phrases that will draw in local customers from the area that they serve – this is called local search engine optimization. In local seo, you want to use your city, state, zip, phone, etc. on your pages content so when prospects are searching for you – your site will come up over your competitors.

   In Jeff's case, he wanted to focus on keyword phrases for the Lapeer, Michigan area. For example, if someone searches for "lapeer mi plumber" here is what you will see on the google search page (as of 10/23/2010):

   NOTE: The blue arrows are in-direct links which go to a directory site, but Jeff's link is showing as #1 when you click the link.

   

   As you can see, J.W. Bliss Plumbing is showing up #1 in Google Places (where you see the blue highlighted area, which is by the map), #1 and #2 in the organic listings, #3 and #4 indirectly as they are directory sites where he is listed #1 on those pages and then he has two videos showing up in the #5 spot.

   Wouldn't you want to dominate the search engines like that? The #1 organic spot alone receives 40% of the clicks – not a bad place to be when your prospects are searching for you, eh? You definitely want to be showing up in the top six, but top four ideally for your keyword phrases.
    

4. Satisfied Customers Who Are Leaving Good Feedback

   Once you have a good website design, you are providing quality content that gives value and builds a relationship with your prospects and you have a solid local search engine optimization plan in place then you will need to start getting your existing customers involved by giving your business feedback or testimonials.

   In times past, businesses built their reputation on "word of mouth", and although that still is a good way to get new business, it has now gone virtual in today's technology age. How do you go about getting your customers to give you feedback online?

   There are a few ways to start. You can point them to your google places, yahoo local and bing local listings to have your customers leave you a review of your business. These reviews will help you to stay at the top of the local business listings. Another way you can get reviews, is have your local business placed in popular directories (such as Yelp, Insider Pages, Merchant Circle, etc.) and send them to these different directories to leave you a review.

   What I did for Jeff is setup a "Testimonials" page where visitors can not only see what kind of feedback his business is getting but also allows them to leave a review using google places or at their favorite directory. Take a look at reviews for J.W. Bliss Plumbing.

   Here is a snapshot of some of Jeff's reviews on that page:

   

Are You Utilizing Local Search For Your Business?

This case-study was given to help you see that you can have success getting found online in your local area and be able to bring in more business as you put together a good plan to utilize this medium. It's by no means "the end all be all" but it IS the way that more and more people are finding products and services online.

Share your experiences of how you are using local search, social media and other ways to get your business noticed. We would appreciate any feedback that you have.

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I'm here to help you build a successful and growing business using WordPress and online marketing efforts. Please connect with me on Facebook. You are what makes up Lapeer Website Design!

Patrick Whitson has spent more than twenty years in the computer field programming and designing web sites for such companies as J. Walter Thompson, Ford, MSX Intl., White Castle, Delphi and many small to mid-sized businesses. Moving out of corporate America, he decided to work specifically with local businesses to help them market online using their own website. He has worked with many small businesses and is seeing them grow and bring in more customers with Lapeer Website Design.