SEO for small and local businesses
Nowadays every company in every industry has a website; so never has the online business environment been so competitive. It is not just companies that offer products and services online either, such as e-commerce sites and online only operations; everyone from your plumber and greengrocer to your local school and pub are likely to have a website in one form or another.
The aforementioned local businesses are not going to be able to afford Search Engine Optimisation, so sadly they are likely to remain local only companies, whose pages are around for information only, and primarily to people who already know the web addresses. There are very few local businesses that can afford to build backlinks to their own sites even manually by themselves, much less pay a professional SEO agency to optimise their title tags, meta descriptions and content etc.
You would think, then, that having a web address for a smaller company is simply the fashion nowadays, and it is unlikely it will ever be viewed by more than 1 or 2 people, much less that the owner will see any results from it. This is not true, as there are a number of techniques that can be employed for a very small cost, or even for free, which will see a website sailing up the rankings, as long as it is aiming for local business.
The title of the website is one of the most authoritative parts, as well as the web address itself. For example, if you have a pub called the Green Dragon, and it is in London, it is definitely a very good idea to put this information in the title. It can be tempting to just write Green Dragon, for example, and assume people who have found the site will know what you are talking about. If you write Green Dragon Pub London instead, it will not only rank well in the search engine results for people who are probably searching for that term as it is more specific; it will also ensure potential patrons that they are on the correct site. Likewise you will see good results for this term if your web address is something along the lines of greendragonpublondon.co.uk instead of something more cryptic.
Registering a web address of this type can cost a few pounds a year, and is a simple, but effective way to help your potential patrons to find a small business they might want to buy from.
Targeting local keywords is a good way for potential customers to find you when searching. If your London-based pub, for example, cannot afford to hire an SEO agency London, which is likely the case, you can still talk to a digital marketing agency London as many will be willing to give you some advice.
Processing your request, Please wait....
