Local SEO Campaign

Local SEO Campaign
Miranda Sherman
Rasmussen College



Author Note
This research is being submitted on March 01, 2014 for Dr. Bari Courts MAR4721 course at Rasmussen College by Miranda Sherman










Local SEO Campaign
In order for small businesses to compete with large or national businesses it is crucial they develop and expand their local SEO efforts in order to rank higher in search results for local or area search queries. To improve rankings it is helpful to develop a plan in writing.
Stage One Discovery – When working with small businesses you need to find their intent. Below is a list of questions that will help.
Business – What is the nature of your business? What services do you provide? It is crucial you fully understand the nature of the business in order to market it for SEO.
Target Market – what is your target searcher, target demographic, target area, how far do customers typically travel for your business? These questions are crucial to understand the distance you are targeting as "local". Bigger cities are more likely to target the close vicinity whereas rural areas and smaller towns are likely to target the entire town, surrounding area or even county.
After the discovery stage of the plan, it is time to evaluate the business website to discern were work could be done to improve on page SEO efforts. I would develop and enable a location footer to the website that would appear on every page that lists the name of the business, their local address, and a short tagline containing crucial keywords. Having the footer automatically tracks the page back to a local address. I would design a similar footer signature with links, keywords, physical address and small map to the newsletter and email subscribe template that will show up automatically on every correspondence. From there I would develop an in depth contact page that contains the physical address, map, store front images, email, website, phone numbers, contact persons, contact form, and a small description area of the business, to sneak in some keywords.
Next is off page elements and ways to get listed on other sites. For instance it is crucial to get a full listing with your local chamber of commerce, local phonebook and listings, all online directories such as Yahoo, Yellow Pages, Bing Directory, Angie's List, Google, Yahoo and Bing Maps, Foursquare (Vreeland, 2012), Yelp, Mapquest, Google Local Business Center, Merchant Circle, LinkedIn, Dex, Google+, Facebook, BBB.org (EVREELAND, 2012), local.com just to name a few. Begin with local attempts to connect such as your chamber of commerce and local business listing sources than move on to your internet connections. When contacting local businesses to include your listing there is typically a small fee or membership such as joining the Chamber of Commerce but fees are typically small with a big return. For businesses that do not require a fee there is typically a trade off that can be negotiated.
It is crucial to be very in depth with your listing and include every contact venue possible and include a map or interactive map whenever possible. If there is an option to include images take advantage of the opportunity to add a picture of your storefront, it is often helpful for those searching for your business to see an image for recognition. If your business has a standard uniform include an employee or owner in the image standing in uniform in the storefront, this promotes the brand but also shows your logo etc.



References
EVREELAND. (2012, September 24). The Most Important Local Business Directories for SEO. Retrieved from Yext: http://www.yext.com/blog/2012/09/the-most-important-local-business-directories-for-seo/
Vreeland, E. (2012, December 18). The Ultimate List: 50 Local Business Directories. Retrieved from HubSpot: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/10322/The-Ultimate-List-50-Local-Business-Directories.aspx





Running Head: LOCAL SEO 1