Local Businesses Need to Know These 3 Things in Order to Succeed Online.

What Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization, is the process of getting your website, and in turn your local business, seen on a search engine such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo. The main things to know that will help you with SEO are Keywords, Backlinks, and Citations. These three things will help your local business get seen by your target audience, have more local customers, and watch your business grow.

You may be asking, so what the heck do I need to do in order to make SEO work for me? Well it's a good thing you stumbled across this post because lucky for you, I am digital marketing agency with a proven track record to help businesses just like you stand out in the crowd of searches that your local customers are looking for. So let's get started...

Keywords? What are they, and how do I use them?

The best thing you can do for your business is reach the right audience. A company that utilizes SEO will notice more customers and sales after understanding what keywords they need to use to create success when trying to reach loyal customers. Keywords are the exact words, phrases, and sentences that customers are using to find your services. For example, you probably reached this post by searching something like "Customized marketing plan", "Marketing Strategy", or "Digital Marketing Services". Those three phrase? Keywords. Yep, that's right.

Keywords are not going to be the coolest, grammatically correct, business specific phrases. They're going to be more broad, and tailored specifically to what the customer base is searching for. If you own a business that specializes in framing, you want results driven strategies focusing on keywords that will actually get you found such as "Framers near me" or "Remodeler company Oregon". Things like that. You want local results, which means you need local SEO.

Local SEO? You keep spouting nonsense.

You're right, you're right. I need to break this down. Local SEO just means that you are using SEO to your advantage to get seen by your local audience. For example anything with "near me" on the end is going to get found by the local audience for those search results. You need a deep understanding of your target audience. What are they searching for? This will increase your online visibility in searches and in turn boost when your business stands in search results.

Where do these keywords need to be?

EVERYWHERE. Oh my gosh, you need your keywords pretty much everywhere. All over your website, which by the way if keyword were not included in your web design, then you need a new person designing your website. You also need your keywords on all of your social media channels to help with your social media marketing strategy. Behind your pictures, on as many pages of your website that make sense, your Google Business profile. Everywhere you can think of. granted, there is a strategy to getting seen, which is where local SEO services and a company that gets you and your market comes into play.

You didn't think I'd give away all of my secrets, did you? Many local Companies have benefitted from partnering with a digital marketing agency that knows and understands the inner workings of SEO, social media marketing, and how to get online traffic optimized and turned into real sales.

But, enough about me and my business. Where does your business stands against the competition?

Backlinks

"Okay, Liv, you talked about backlinks in the beginning. What are those?" Well, lovely reader, Let me tell you! Backlinks are website A housing a link to website B that tells Search Engines "Hey, these guys are cool and know what they are talking about!" However, not all backlinks are the same! I see a lot of small businesses utilizing spam backlinks, and not even realizing it. These are NOT the types of links you want pointing back to your business.

What you can do is take a look at what large corporations are doing and see if you can grab some of their backlinks. This way, you can get some clout in your industry that may be the boost you need to increase traffic to your site. Your local services need to be seen, and in order to do that, you have to play by the Search Engine rules. Which brings me to the next important thing...

Citations for local SEO for Small businesses

"Now you're just making words up. Clarify please?" Okay, let me break it down. Your prospective customers are searching for your business. You want it so your business appears when they search for your services. But when you look on Google, the first thing that comes up is the Google Maps. That's right, I'm going to tell you how to get found on google maps! Your Google business profile has 3 things that Google uses to put you on the Map Pack: 1. your Business Name 2. Your business Phone numbers and 3. Your business location.

A citation is taking those 3 things and plastering it, and i really mean that, all over the internet. Think about a hundred times, just to be safe. In order to create these citations, you need to take your NAP (Name, address, phone number) and put it places like Facebook, Yahoo, Bing, Instagram, Pinterest, everywhere you can possibly think of. Some of these are free spots you can put your NAP, some of them cost money, but all of them matter.

There is also a "not all of these are like one another" thing like for backlinks. Some of these citations hold more weight than others when you want to get found in searches. For example, Facebook has a huge amount of traffic to its site everyday. You want to get found on Facebook and then Google will see that you are on there and rank you higher on Maps than your competitors that don't have a citation on Facebook.

Well, Now what?

Well, if you have your keywords, backlinks, and citations optimize to the best of your ability, you should have no problem getting your website from page 3 to page 1 when people are searching for your services.

However, if you don't want to do this yourself, I may know of a company that can help. Oh, wait, it's MY company! hahaha I am so funny!

If you want to get found in your local market, see sales growth, get found on search rankings, but don't want to do it yourself, look no further! I take a customized approach with every company I work with. I send them their digital health, and from there we optimize their website, creating engaging content with a content strategy that wins. We identify opportunities for better optimization and we provide tailored solutions to getting you more potential customers.

If you want more info on what my company can do for you, reach out! I will have it linked below. We do everything from web design to google ads to social media campaigns. We have a unique approach to help you reach your business goals and want to see you and your business grow and succeed!

I hope to see you on the flip side. Thanks for taking the time to read this. I really appreciate it!

Liv Brownell | Founder Hatch & Harvest Marketing