Imagine that you’re into the production of agricultural products that are organic and locally produced. You decide to have a website, but after months of being online, you notice that you’re not getting much traction in terms of visits. So, what gives? How can you spread the word that you have these wonderful, pesticide-free kale, lettuce, and carrots if your potential customers in your service area can’t finding you online?
There are a few things you can actually do if you want your business to be more local search friendly.
Know what your customers are searching for
Knowing what exactly your potential customers are looking for is essential to optimizing your website for local search. For this, you have tools like Google AdWords’ Keyword Planner and your web analytics tool to help you.
Google AdWords’ Keyword Planner is created specifically for marketers using the AdWords platform for advertising, but entrepreneurs can also use it to discover search terms that are popular in a specific locality. It’s bound to give you a good idea about the specific keywords or phrases that are of interest to your customers and which of these you should be including in your wesbite’s content.
For instance, you can try performing keyword research on the search term “organic vegetables in Newtown Connecticut” to check if it is popular in your area. Additionally, web analytics tools like Google Analytics can also help you determine which particular search terms are attracting people to your website.
Create targeted content
Content marketing is all about delivering content that is valuable and relevant to your customers and potential customers, so when developing your content, always think about your local audience—what questions they are asking and what information is useful to them.
Answering your audience’s questions involve taking note of the queries that people ask you about your business face-to-face, by phone, or online (which you might be able to determine through keyword research). You should have content in your website that is dedicated to answering these questions. For instance, you can create a blog post about “Where to Get Organic Vegetables in Newtown, Connecticut”
Also try to discover unique information about your target area that can be useful to your audiences. For example, if you’re into selling local produce in Connecticut, why not create an information page about organic farming in the state and in the area where your business is located?
Additionally, you can also create content aimed at the different areas you serve. Your business could be based in one city in Connecticut, but you could also have customers coming in from nearby cities or towns as well. Create dedicated pages for each of these cities and try to include information that will be relevant to people living in those areas.
Make your site user friendly
Aside from optimizing individual pages in your website, you also need to make sure that the people visiting you site are not having any trouble accessing the information it contains.
Display your contact information on your home page and on each of the inner pages prominently. Your site’s navigation should also be easily understandable, and the pages should load quickly. Lastly, you have to make sure that your site can be accessed using mobile devices. Nothing makes a reader leave a website faster than a clunky, messy interface.
