Businesses of the 21st century are all connected to the digital market. Not all marketing and business relationships should be digital, but digital marketing boasts proven results in growing retention with your clients and community. SEO which stands for search engine optimization is an integral part of any digital marketing strategy. It is a crucial element in organically driving customers to your businesses via online platforms. In other words, it's modern day marketing!
Take a look at these ways to increase that foot traffic using search engines that are more conducive to small businesses without big box SEO budgets.
Think local
There's nothing like your own community. It's where you live, where you experience the joys and bumps of life. Its home. If you want your small business to shine, you need to set your eyes on a local presence. Local SEO is the first avenue on that road when it comes to marketing strategies for your small business. There are many different search engines on a local level that can get your small business found by the people who are looking to experience what you have.
1. Strengthen your Yelp presence
Major search engines index Yelp listings in their algorithms. So, setting up an active Yelp profile and utilizing keywords will get you on the market as an operating business in the area. Yelp is the Yellow Pages of our time, including content like detailed contact information, reviews, maps and photos. Yelp averages about 145 million views each month, and 70 percent of those come from mobile. This goes to show that many people are searching for local places while on the go, making their decisions based on Yelp listings.
To start, you want to make sure your Yelp page is aesthetically pleasing. The reason is simple: you need to get people in the door so that they can write you a review. The number one factor in Yelp's results ranking system is reviews. So inviting people into your store, and winning that positive review, is crucial in developing a high ranking on Yelp.
A successful marketing strategy many small businesses are adopting to strengthen their Yelp presence is mobile marketing via mobile apps. For example, small businesses use geo-fencing to send out push notifications to ask customers to leave a Yelp review while they are in their establishment. The best time to prompt your customers to leave a review is after a great experience with your business. So why not after they have enjoyed an incredible meal?
Read Also: How To Create SEO Friendly URL Structure
2. Stay engaged on social media
Social media plays a huge role in your business's online visibility. According to TechCrunch, Facebook sees 2 billion search queries every day, so it's not something you want to overlook when you are thinking about being relevant in the digital community.
The key to boosting that visibility and SEO is staying active. For many small businesses, staying active on all the different channels can be a real challenge.
There are a few ways you can combat this.
· Post meaningful information
· Updates on product releases
· News about trends in your industry
· Customer success stories
· Promotions
· Giveaways
· Product demonstrations
· Limit your channels
The first thing to remember about social media is that the goal is retention. So, the first question you need to ask yourself is "What social media channels do my current customers frequent?" Then, you can develop the right SEO and marketing strategies for those channels. Simply put, you don't need to grow a Pinterest following if your customers are not on Pinterest.
Socialize with your customers
One thing that's often overlooked by small businesses is the idea of customer engagement. It's not enough to only post on social media; you also must actively engage with your followers. This means making sure you offer genuine responses to comments rather than canned comments. In fact, studies show that 67 percent of customers use a business's social media channel as a means of customer service. So, if you're giving canned answers, you could be doing more harm than good.
Use a social media monitoring program
It's important to maintain and manage your chosen social media channels, and of course there's an app for that. Hootsuite, TweetReach, Klout, and Buffer are all great and free programs will allow you to schedule your content ahead of time, as well as notify you when people interact with your social media profile. Many of them even come with mobile applications that offer you the opportunity to respond to comments on the go.
You can learn a lot about using social media as an SEO tool from Red Mango. The company boasts over 76K Facebook followers and 54K Twitter followers. The marketing team uses three powerful techniques to keep their business visible in the eyes of its potential customers: customer engagement, product promotion and quality visuals.
3. Get video savvy with YouTube
Not everyone is ready to buy products or make a decision about which product to purchase. There are many steps in the buying process, and it's important to make your business available on the channels that complement those steps.
Some customers want to see how to use a product before they purchase it. Other's are looking for advice about a product or service. When visuals, tutorials, or demonstrations are in demand, YouTube is the best search engine for the job. In fact, it's the second largest search engine, next to Google, filtering over 3 billion search queries each month. If that's not enough to convince you, 59 percent of people would rather watch a video than read a product review, a blog post, or even a social media feed.
Remember, it's not always about selling. In order to grow your YouTube channel and achieve brand loyalty, you need to show that you're an expert in your niche. Creating "How To" Videos is a great way to show customers you know the ins and out of your area of expertise.
Leave Comment