You know by now that SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the key to getting your business, organization, club, or venue noticed in the digital world. Gone are the days of thumbing through the Yellow Pages to find a particular type of business in your area. But how does SEO work?
SEO works on the principle of keywords. Searching on your favourite engine for, say, pharmacies, will bring up a whole list of pharmacies that have websites, or others mentioned on the internet.
So now search the type of business you are looking for, together with the local area you wish to search, i.e., pharmacy Blackpool. The engine will now bring up a list of only those pharmacies that are in that area!
Your brand, whether it be a business, care group, club, or society, or even an individual, needs exposure to create interest. Advertising in the old-fashioned way is very expensive. Printed media advertising is expensive, so are radio and visual advertising methods.
To create awareness for your entity, you need to look to open media for a means to be noticed. Creating a website, Facebook page or group, perhaps even Instagram—there are so many platforms to get you noticed out there.
You need to project what your entity does, its benefits, references, and perhaps images to display what it is you do. But crucially, if you want to attract customers in your area, you have to mention your location. Depending on the nature of your activity, and the likely opposition, this could define how narrow you want the search area to be. If you’re the only supplier of a certain item in your country, your search area should be open, but if there are several of your type in the area, you may need to narrow your description to a specific town or even suburb.
Placing your location, whether by a Maps link or similar option, gives your potential clients an accurate idea of where you are in relation to them. Urgent businesses, such as plumbers, electricians, and medical services, should be using this, as time is often of the essence. Always have your physical address, base, and mobile telephone numbers in your media, and make sure they can be responded to. A homeowner with a burst geyser will take the first respondent.
If you have not placed yourself high on the search list in your area, with your defined service or business, you’re giving business to your competition. You need to be noticed, and the more attractive your presence, the more responses and resultant inquiries you’ll receive. Search engines will search for your information on websites, social media, newspaper and magazine articles, and more. So the more exposure you can create, the more likely you’re to be noticed on a search engine.
Using a local SEO agency may help you spread your profile across a defined local market. Naturally, these agencies come at a price, and you need to do some research beforehand as to which agency will suit your needs. Local SEO agencies create for themselves a very high search profile, but may, more often than not, be advertising your direct competitors too!
Most agencies will rank your insertion based on hits, or even your subscription fee.
Search Engine Optimization is the way forward for your entity in this digital, online world. See it as your expression of how you want your entity to be perceived.