3 Tips For Local Businesses To Get Found Online

Is your local business getting found in an online search?

Most people no longer look in the local telephone book for an business in their community, rather our primary search is now done online with a computer, tablet or mobile device.  So the growing reality is that your business needs to be found online and if you don’t appear on the first page of any search engine you will not compete.

To increase your chances of being found and maintaining a strong local presence here are 3 tips:

1.)     Website:  Add your physical address to all the pages of your website, this tells search engines that you are a local business in your community.

2.)    Add city names to your navigation bar. E.g. Maple Grove Florist

3.)    Build local search profiles in the directories of Google, Yahoo and Bing.

http://www.google.com/business/placesforbusiness/

http://www.listings.local.yahoo.com/csubmit/cproc.php

http://www.ssl.bing.com/listings/listingscenter.aspx

Google has made  many changes in the  past 6 months and it is a little more confusing to set-up your online listing, so my tip is to be sure you set your account up as a “small business” from the beginning in the Google places section before you set-up your Google+ account, they can all be merged together later including your You Tube account.

It takes a little time for the search engines to start ranking your site, so be patient your website and listings will show up in a local search!

JoAnne Funch is owner of GIR-Graphics & Innovative Resources, providing creative marketing solutions to small business owners and non-profits who want to gain visibility off-line or on-line through strategic marketing ideas and consistent branding messages  For free marketing tips visit her website www.girpromotions.com. Or, connect with JoAnne on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn