Local Search Optimization For Your Home Makeup Business Website
© by Jodie Hecker; all rights reserved What is "Local Search Optimization"
When people are looking for products or services in their local area the are usually going to start their search on the internet. In the past they would have used the yellow pages, however, in today's internet world that search marketing has become passe'. If you want to get the attention of customers in your local area you are going to have to learn how to optimize your website for maximum results.
Even if your customers are going to shop offline, they use the internet to find business online first. Make sure that they find you before they find your competitor.
They want to be able to personally visit your business location. Targeting local visitors along with global visitors will help your website get the best of both worlds.
Optimizing your website for local search is especially important for local home makeup business owners, because you will want to attract local customers that you can serve, who may not want to order online. People still want personal attention, and want to deal with someone in person.
These Secrets Can Help Your Business Build A Higher Profit
I have listed a few secrets for local search optimization:
1. ROI- Return on Investment- Recent survey's show that, optimizing local SEO tends to convert more often, is cost effective and leads to increased ROI. Customers are starting to use local search marketing to make their shopping easier before heading out on the busiest shopping days in local malls. Also remember that on busy shopping days, such as holidays, people will tend to use local search engine's to find what they are looking for. This can be a great way increase holiday sales.
2. Build Brand Awareness- Using website local search engine optimization your home makeup website with local keywords to increase brand awareness geographically really gets you name out there for everyone to connect with. If your makeup business targets customers in your local area, you stand to benefit increasingly by increasing your brand by optimizing your makeup website for local searches. Keep in mind that this is a very fast-growing trend, so the sooner you start, the more you'll benefit from it, the more your competitors will have to play catch up.
3. Leverage Trust- When your local visitors trust your brand, this can also capture the attention of global visitors. This brand awareness will set you and your website apart from your competitors.
How to Optimize your Website for Local Search
When optimizing your a website for a local business your need to focus on the following steps to ensure that your website marks its presence in the local results and / or being listed in these places online, where most local searches take place:
* General search engines: Google, MSN, Ask, Yahoo
* Local search engines: GoogleMaps, MSN LiveLocal, Yahoo Local
* Online yellow page listings: YellowPages, SwitchBoard, SuperPages
* Local business directories and content websites with local information
Include Your Specific Keywords
1. Include nearby city name to the meta tags
- It is very important to add the name of your local city, and nearby adjoining cities to your original keywords and place them accordingly in the title, keyword tag and description tag of the web page. When the indexes crawl the website, the searchbots interpret the emphasis on the name of the city; then use the city name for the search engine results pages from the database.
2. Include Your Website's Footer
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Your footer is at the bottom of each page of your website or blog. Include your:
* business name
* specific keyword or keyword phrase related to your business
* your city, or adjoining city, and state (or if you're not in the U.S., your city and province or country
Important: Use text only. Do not use graphic's in your footer. Doing so will stop the search engine spiders from indexing your website.
3. Submit Your Website to Google Local Business Center- Google business center lets you submit your business listing for free to its local business center. You can add details such as your address, location, contact number and hours of operation to the listing. You can check the details of your listing with a snapshot of a map which shows the detailed location of your business. You just have to add the listing in the local business center by going through a quick verification process which will let visitors will find their way to your business website.
4. Select your keywords- Be sure to choose the best keywords for your website that is unique to you, and your brand.
For example: You might want to be know for your makeup fund raising ideas, such as charity fundraiser events houston, san diego charity fundraiser donations, unique charity fundraisers and much more. The more tightly knit your keywords are, the better chance you have at being found.
Remember not to keyword stuff, or you could get banned from the search engines. That would not be good.
5. Get your site noticed, below are listed a few ideas to help you on your way:
* Get your site listed on the major directories
* Use E-mail marketing
* Keep your site updated and interesting, this helps in attracting customers to your site
* Build backlinks
* Write articles and submit to article directories
6. More directory Information
- Online business directories and local search engines also have "rate and review" features. What this means is that customers can rank their experience with a particular business and leave comments. Building your brand awareness will really help you with this feature that is available to your customers. You want them to say nice things about you. Some of these sites cater to big cities, and some of them include businesses everywhere
Here are some of the main directories to submit to:
Google maps
MSN Live
City Search
Merchant Circle
Shop Local
Super Pages
Switch Board
Yahoo Local
Yellow Pages
Yelp
There are many, but these should get you started.
Other ways to Get Listed Locally In Online Business Directories
1. Local Chamber of Commerce Directory
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Check with the Chamber that is in your area first before you reach out to the next town. See if they have a local printed or online business directory where you can be listed. Some have both. This is a great way to grow your business fast, so don't ignore this sometimes overlooked area of marketing.
2. Advertise in your local newspaper
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I LOVE this one. Placing a keyword specific ad, usually brings me qualified leads almost immediately. Not only that, when you place an ad in your local paper, you also have the option of an internet listing, which is great for search engine's and human engines.
With so much emphasis being put on niche marketing in today's competitive environment, local search optimization is a must for websites with a product or service based businesses to increase lead generation, sales and ROI. If you only apply just a few of these techniques, this should help your website or blog climb the local search engines. And don't forget to track your results. Good Luck, and keep on searching!
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