Lately as I’ve been talking to clients, I’ve seen an increased request to get found online. But where do you start? Yes you can hire SEO firms to work with you on this, and depending on what you do that might be a great idea. But if you’re a small business owner like me, it may not be in the budget. So where do you start? Here’s what I suggest to my clients:
- Setup Your Google Business Page – First things first, start with the big guns. Make sure to completely fill out your profile and add photos and your logo! I also have my blog posts automatically posted to my page so that it’s regularly updated. That way people know I’m alive and kicking, and by people, I mean the Google bots.
- Setup Bing Places – Why? Because we live in the Northwest and people actually use Bing. Bing Places is great because you can set it up and forget about it.
- Depending on your industry I recommend a few other options: Yelp, Angie’s List, and Houzz are three of the most popular.
There’s a ton or sites out there you can choose from but making sure that the main places that people are finding you are claimed and your profiles are completely filled out is the key. Here’s three resources that I use and recommend for clients:
- Moz Local – this website tells you all the spots you’re found online and what’s missing.
- Google Analytics – if you have your analytics setup then you can see each month where your traffic is coming from. If I see a new referral source to my site I make sure that my profile is filled out on that site to increase my chance of being found.
- Odd Dog Media – my friends over at Odd Dog Media are a great web development and local SEO firm. If you need a company, they’re it. But if you don’t have the budget, they wrote up this awesome and simple guide to Local SEO.
Questions? That’s what I’m here for!
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