Optimize Your Website for Local Search Traffic

The act of simply having a website and being “searchable” these days is far from enough. There’s actually a lot more strategic thinking required in web design than you might think; especially when you want a site that is mobile-friendly, search-friendly, and plain old user-friendly. The friendlier your website, the better.

Since online search is the new source of information for almost everyone, having a friendly website is especially important for small businesses. If you’re not educated on the basic requirements of making your site searchable, it’s easy to overlook the bare necessities and end up with a site that isn’t even seen. If you’re interested in learning the best ways to get the most out of local searches, checkout these helpful top-tips that layout the frame of an informative, trustworthy, and engaging site.

Mobility is a Must

With our society becoming quickly more and more dependent on getting info-on-the-go, having a website that’s mobile friendly is essential to your online success. Research studies published by the Local Search Association in 2012 confirm that more than a quarter of searches are performed on a mobile device. That’s a big number that will only continue to get bigger. As the ease of use, availability, and affordability of mobile devices continues to evolve, more and more people will depend on their handheld for finding information online. In other words, it’s probably a good time to abandon that ad you have in the phone book and spend your money elsewhere, like on upgrading your site to accommodate mobile users.

Keep Updating

Think of your website like your hair. It needs maintenance. If you let it go without maintenance, before long it’s in pretty shabby shape. Your site needs some love. Keeping the content current is very important. Not only do your visitors deserve relevant information, search engines are constantly browsing around to see if your site is active or not. The more you update it, the more active it appears. A good guideline to follow is to update your site a couple of times per month. If you’re offering new specials, products or have other highlights to focus on, this is a good way to keep visitors informed. If you’re feeling especially social, launch a blog. Focus your content on your business by addressing common concerns to problems and offering advice. This is another way to build relationships with the online community and prove you’re an expert they can trust.

Know Your Visitors

Tracking your traffic is essential. No matter what type of business you run, capturing information about where your clicks are coming from is not only easily available, it makes sense of all of your online marketing efforts. Google Analytics is a great tool to use to keep track of the basics including the number of visitors to your site and what keywords they’re searching for that lead them to you. Knowing who’s looking for you allows you to predict the future a bit instead of just putting information out there and hoping it draws a crowd. If you know the crowd, it’s much easier to prepare and focus on what they want to hear from you.

Be Informative

It’s amazing how many sites lack easy-to-find contact information. Make sure that your site includes your phone number, full local address including zip code, email, and links to social media pages such as Facebook and Twitter. Contact info should be repeated on every page of your site. Not only is this helpful for creating a user-friendly experience, it’s a feature that search engines “search” for when listing your site as a result.

Be Available

The world has become very impatient. With information constantly available anytime of day, people don’t want to sit around and wait or even have to make a phone call in order to get a question answered. Hiring a Live Chat Service may be helpful depending on your line of business. Another helpful property of a good website is having a contact form where visitors can easily submit messages on their own schedule.

Have Site Appeal

The look of your site says a lot about your business. To many, this is your first impression. Make sure you get it right by creating a page that is both easy to navigate and appealing to the eye. Take your target market into consideration and play with colors and design that will most likely be intriguing to them. Staying with a basic site layout is not only easier, but many times it’s better. Flash sites look “flashy” and entertaining but they lack the ability to be scanned for keywords which lowers search ranking potential, increases loading time for visitors and might not work with all browsers. Flash isn’t ideal for mobile users either since it doesn’t work on all mobile devices. Simplify your site while making sure that it still has just enough pizazz to be compelling.

Choose Words Wisely

The words you use in your website are key to getting traffic to come your way. Think of all of the possible keywords that people may search for that relate to your business and make sure that they’re included on your page. If you need some help to make sure you’re getting it right, check out Google Adwords to stay informed of search trends. Remember to only use keywords where relevant. If you stick them in here and there way too frequently, your site will lose impact on readers and search engines alike.