Local traffic is always more targeted, and thus more likely to result in conversions. That is, consumers will more likely purchase what\’s being offered to them. Always remember that you have this great advantage over national (and thus non-locally-friendly) businesses.
If you missed my previous posts about local search marketing strategies, you can find them here and here. After you get caught up, check out the following additional suggestions.
Create a directory – or better yet, a portal – devoted to your location. You can base it on your own site or have it as a separate resource. If your marketing budget allows it, you might want to consider buying such an existing portal. This solution is great even though it takes time and can be costly. It will allow you to drive targeted traffic to yourself easily. And then you can sell to this audience all day long.
Create a newsletter about local news related to your niche, as well as news about your own business. This will definitely increase conversions or revenue. Even a monthly newsletter can bring great results – there\’s no need to bother the people on your list too often.
A great idea is to always include your local data in your signatures. And I don\’t just mean email signatures, but also in blog post signatures, forum signatures, signatures used when you write articles for external resources, etc.
The web is increasingly moving towards video. People like watching information rather than reading it. So it\’s time for you to get involved. Start making videos about your local business, place them on your own site, and also promote them through a good number of video resources available on the web. (A comprehensive list of video-sharing websites can be found here.) By the way, a little-known fact is that video results in the general search results page (SERP) are clicked much more than the text results, no matter what position they take on the page. Little video windows do stand out from boring texts, and that alone attracts people to click on them. (Read more about this fact here.) Because of this, it may be worthwhile to use a solution that posts a video to all major sharing sites at once.
One more interesting trick you can use in local marketing: Offer a locals-only discount. This is especially good if most leads you get are locals anyway. They\’ll feel special and that will increase their signup chances for you. When I planned to go to Sea World in Orlando, I was pleasantly surprised that there is a permanent discount to Florida residents. Of course, I purchased the tickets right away.
More strategies are coming soon! Until then,
Shavkat Karimov, Internet Marketing Manager, mobileStorm
\”Every problem comes with a solution\”
SEO Consulting