The online business environment has matured in the last few years. The trend is now to build up a strong local online presence that appeals to specific geographic markets. That means that your goal is no longer to just have a general website for your business. Instead, you should be making plans to draw in customers that are most likely to visit your place of business, either physically or virtually.
What does it take to be a dominant force and get lots of local traffic?
Put a Plan in Place
The first step in targeted local online marketing is creating a workable plan of action. In order to be successful in establishing a wide local presence, you must first know exactly how to achieve good results. A marketing plan may include optimizing your website or blog with content that includes local keywords. It should also include a robust social media strategy. There are no bones about it. Social media is increasingly necessary to gain good rankings and exposure.
In order to create the most effective plan, you may want to consider consulting a company with local marketing expertise. This would save you lots of time while avoiding common mistakes.
Be Aggressive with Social Media
Your business needs to have an established page on popular social media powerhouse sites such as Facebook, Google+ Local, Pinterest, Bing, Yelp and a host of other social media sites. The more places people can find your business online the better. However, you must be able to keep these pages updated with fresh and engaging content.
Get Listed in Directories
There are numerous online directories where you can list your business information. When people in specific local areas do online searches being in an established directory helps your business gain more exposure. Directories multiply your online efforts by reaching prospects your website does not. Be sure to have accurate listings with current information.
Create Local Online Promotions
Think of ways in which you can cleverly appeal to local prospects through the creation of local promotions. These are promotions that offer localized deals and offers that get consumers excited. Promotions may include time-limited coupons that consumers must use during a holiday or other special occasion. You could institute monthly specials on certain items you sell. Be creative.
By utilizing services such as OrangeSoda’s LocalSync, you can easily build a powerful local marketing strategy that attracts more customers.
