Locally, we’re a diverse community that enjoys a strong spirit of collaboration. With over 600,000 people calling the Valley of the Sun home, it’s a thriving hub of entrepreneurial activity. Additionally, with such a large population of millennials, the generation most influenced by digital marketing, your target audience is probably already visiting, learning about, and buying products online.
As a business owner or marketer, you’re probably familiar with the concept of “local SEO.” While the practice can seem complicated, it really just refers to getting your business’ website or blog to show up in natural search when a user searches for keywords or phrases that are relevant to your business.
If you’re looking to optimize your website for local customers in Phoenix, here are some of the best tips!
Target Long-Tail Keywords
If you’ve ever tried to market a product or service online, you may have run into the issue of getting traffic from search engines to your website. While there are many different variables that could cause this issue, the most common one is having a limited number of keywords or phrases that people are actually searching for.
A theory behind SEO is that people will discover your business by searching for keywords or phrases related to your product or service. If someone is searching for information about guitar amps, but your business has nothing to do with guitars, you don’t want to show up under the assumption that your website will have something to do with guitars when, in fact, it doesn’t.
This is called a “short-tail” keyword—something that is highly specific and, as a result, difficult to rank for. If you’re unable to rank for these keywords, it’s difficult for your website to gain any traction in the search engines, and, as a result, your online marketing efforts could seem futile.
Instead, you want to target long-tail keywords—keywords or phrases that are more general in nature but, as a result, easier to rank for.
Create Multiple Pages For Internationalization
One of the best things about digital marketing is the ability to target specific locations with the click of a button. While it’s not always possible for a business to expand across continents overnight, it’s possible to get your website or blog into several different languages using various techniques.
One of the most common ways is to use “subdomains.” A subdomain is a domain name that is designed to point to a specific page on a website. So, if you have a phoenix-based website, you could have a subdomain like “phoenix.yourwebsite.com,” which would then direct people to a specific page on your site that is branded with the Phoenix logo. You can use Google Translate to effortlessly translate your content into any language for your international audience.
Additionally, you can take advantage of a service like WordPress to create a multilingual website. WordPress makes it easy to create separate pages for translations of your content into different languages. Plus, you can use WordPress’ built-in functions to create sidebars, display posts on a map, and more.
Use Social Media To Build A Community
While we’re on the subject of building a community, let’s not forget about the impact that social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook have on internet usage. With over a billion users across the globe, it’s likely that your ideal target audience is already using one of these platforms.
If you’re looking to optimize your website or blog for local search in Phoenix, you may consider using social media to grow your audience and engage with your readers. After all, somebody might be searching for your product or service, and the last thing you want is for them to leave your platform and not come back. Keeping people engaged with content that is relevant to them will help you gain their trust and, hopefully, make them loyal brand advocates.
Invest In Software That Can Measure Marketing Success
If you’re looking to gain a better understanding of how your marketing efforts are performing, you may consider investing in a software tool that can help you analyze and report on the results of your campaigns.
Google Analytics is the most popular tool in this regard. Similar to Google Search, Google Analytics enables you to track the results of your SEO and other marketing efforts. Plus, you can use its “funnels” feature to track the progress of your website visitors as they move through different stages of buyer’s behavior.
Another very popular tool among marketers is Hootsuite. Hootsuite is a social media management platform that can be used to set up social media accounts, monitor them, and engage with audiences. Similar to other social media platforms, Hootsuite lets you set up different profiles for different types of content or products (e.g., webinars, blog posts, and videos). This makes it easy for individuals or businesses to maintain a presence across different platforms while gaining exposure to new audiences.
Get Inspired By Looking At Successful Companies
One of the best guides to local SEO is Google’s own SEO Starter Guide. Not only does it offer solid advice on how to best position your business for local searches, but it also contains a wealth of information on SEO trends and technologies that you could leverage to better your position.
If you find that the information in the Google guide is valuable, you may want to consider partnering with a company that offers inbound marketing consulting. This type of consultant will help you develop a strategy and plan of action to put into motion.