Is it worth investing in local SEO as a small business? Many small local businesses make the mistake of thinking that because of their limited size, they couldn’t benefit from investing in local SEO services. Today I want to talk about why this could be one of the biggest mistakes you will ever make as a small business owner.
7 Reasons Why Small Businesses Should Be Investing in Local SEO
1. Local SEO Lends Authenticity to Your Small Business
Surfers trust local small business listings on search engines more than other listings for a number of reasons. Just a few of these include access to a mapped location, address verification of your business, instant access to customer reviews, and real business images and videos that accompany a small business search engine page.
Where other businesses can simply pay to have their listing placed at the top of search results, surfers are getting more and more savvy in their understanding of how search engines work. This means that when you pay for a listing, surfers are more able than ever to identify your listing as being a paid placement. If instead, you use a legitimate local business page listing that is accompanied by all of the “bells and whistles” I mentioned above, clients are going to lend a lot more credence to your business as a whole.
2. Using Local SEO is a Cost Effective Way to Get Results
To get your business listed in a traditional search engine search you’re going to have to pay big bucks to compete for many of the keyword terms that matter to you. When you tackle search engine listings from a local small business point of view, however, you are only in competition with other local small businesses! This automatically lowers the cost of the keyword terms that you are targeting because you are zeroing in on local traffic only!
3. When Done Correctly, Investing in Local SEO Gives You More Search Engine Presence
As a small local business, you want as much exposure as you can get for your brand. When you invest in a local SEO campaign, you are creating a presence for your brand in another corner of the web. So, even if you are ranked quite well for keyword specific search engine terms, you can get a much larger presence by also targeting local search engine results.
4. Local SEO Results In Better Brand Awareness
Since local SEO results are generally much more visible to your audience, you will begin to see increased brand awareness as you undertake a local SEO campaign.
Huh?
It’s simple really – the more listings you have ranked in search engines, the more clients, and potential clients are going to recognize your brand. This only serves to bolster your authenticity and as a result, your brand is going to grow into a locally recognizable household name.
5. Local SEO = Mobile Traffic
A huge portion of web surfers these days utilize their smartphone or tablet to access the net. What does this mean? It means that mobile search engines are in use more than ever and it’s a fact that Google currently holds a preference for mobile search results when users are searching via a mobile browser. So, by optimizing your local SEO campaign for mobile browser users you are creating a magnet for mobile traffic.
That isn’t all, though, think for a moment about being out in your car and suddenly remembering that you need XYZ. What do you do if you don’t have a “go to” location for XYZ? You pull over, pull out your phone, and Google it. So, when you utilize local SEO to optimize your site for mobile search results, you are ensuring that your business is featured in those instant results. As a result, you are capturing clients who are searching specifically for your business and who are ready to buy!
6. Your Competitors Are Already Doing It!
Sometimes in small business you have to take on certain tasks simply because your competitors are already doing it. If investing in local SEO is getting your competitors more traffic and better results, why wouldn’t you want a piece of that pie? Not investing in a local SEO campaign is like giving away business to your competitors! So, rather than missing out on that business, why not employ your own local SEO push to fight for your clientele? What do you have to lose if you’re losing already by doing nothing?
7. Local SEO Can Level the Playing Field
As a small business, you already know that you likely don’t compare to mega-corporations out there who are plastered all over the web. That doesn’t mean that you should just give up any thought of being a web presence, however. What it does mean is that you have to find another method of elbowing your way into the market and building your online presence in a way that you can do successfully. Enter local SEO.
If, for example, you sell doors in Baton Rouge, LA, you could create an SEO campaign that targets the word “doors”. You would pump your money into this campaign in an effort to get traffic from web surfers who are looking for doors. There are two problems with this approach, however. Firstly, there are a million and one companies globally who sell doors and when you use such a broad keyword term you are fighting with all of those companies for traffic. Secondly, even if you do get ranked for such a general keyword term, it’s going to be a waste of your money to attract customers in the U.K. who are looking to buy doors. So, by using a more targeted local search engine term, for example, “doors in Baton Rouge”, you are not only narrowing down your competition and lowering your SEO campaign cost, but you are also targeting your exposure to customers who are able to buy your product!
Ready to Get Your Local SEO Campaign Started?
If you are ready to get your own local SEO campaign started to take advantage of the benefits listed above, just pick up the phone! Call me at 727-475-6460, schedule a free phone consultation, or chat Live with me now and get your small business on the map!
