Inbound marketing begins with good search tactics. We all want to see great organic search engine results. Where else can we get a daily (hourly?) measurable snapshot of a result in our business? And many small business owners, especially retail enterprises and craftsman/tradesman, need to be found by people residing or playing in a few specific geographic areas. They want search results to rank high so their business can be found on the web yet cannot justify the high fees most SEO firms set.
If you have a website, and a marketing plan, and are interested in learning how to improve your inbound marketing results here are some Search Engine Optimization (SEO) basics that can be done to assist your local search results.
- Be sure to get your profiles set up in the search engines’ local listings, such as Google Places, Bing Local, etc. At Zen Marketing Inc. we have identified over twenty such directories that can enhance search results. Also, use good SEO practices in the profiles. Follow this up by having satisfied clients post reviews to the listing profiles.
- Utilize other local review sites such as Yelp and Angie’s List.
- Be sure to include location names in web site pages and blog posts along with your regular keywords.
- Spend some extra time in keyword research to see if adding location names to existing keywords is effective, or if the quality of the client’s best keyword phrases change slightly when combined with the location names. At Zen Marketing Inc. we have access to the entire HubSpot platform, and the excellent keyword grading tools to assist with identifying the right keywords for your business.
If you have a very specific target audience you should be able to leverage keyword research (particularly geographically focused keywords) and blogging to effectively target your audience get them to your website. To add considerable value to your SEO work, don’t forget to set up calls-to-action on both the blog and on the website. The more targeted the calls-to-action for each page and its coinciding topic the better. This is also pertinent for blog articles.
Another thing we’ve seen be successful with new customer development is the creation of an actual persona based upon the characteristics of your target audience and business profile. Maybe create one called “Somerset Sam” where you list the things Sam does, cares about, typically buys, drives etc. It will help you tee up your keyword research if you are always keeping “Sam” in mind. We always have multiple personas in our development of clients marketing plans.
