Local SEO is one of the most effective marketing gimmicks that help businesses gain traction from local prospects. Studies have shown that over 97% of people prefer finding out about a local service online, rather than anywhere else.
Plus, 88% of people looking for a local business on mobile, call or visit the store within 24 hours. [Source]
But what are the chances that the business that they visit is yours? In this post, we are discussing five local digital marketing practices that can help increase the foot traffic to your brick and mortar business in Birmingham. So, buckle up and read on.
1. Create a Google My Business account
Having a Google My Business account is crucial for all businesses in 2020.
Even if your business’ website is doing well in local searches, a Google My Business page will be the first thing that a prospective customer will see in the search results.
Also, Google My Business accounts are displayed in Google Maps search results. By being visible in Google Maps, you will be able to get direct calls from your prospects, plus they will be able to navigate straight to your business location.
To optimise your Google My Business page, encourage your customers to leave reviews, include all the essential details like contact number, address & functional hours, and actively publish posts using your Google My Business dashboard.
2. Increase keyword relevancy on your site’s pages
While the success of your local SEO campaign doesn’t ride entirely on keywords, they still make a huge difference when it comes to ranking. By ensuring the use of keywords relevant to your business and locality, you can boost your chances of ranking up in the local searches. This can help boost the traffic on your website, eventually making more people aware of your business.
Also, don’t forget to mention your business address and contact details in the footer or header section of your website, so your website visitors can comfortably visit your store.
3. Launch offers
Everyone likes to explore and buy when a discount is being offered. The same may hold true for your customers as well.
By announcing an attractive offer, you can encourage more people to visit your store. But, here’s a question — how to make the news of your offer reach the maximum number of people?
This can be done in two ways. First of all, you can make use of your business’s existing social media following. This will notify the people who have connected with your business over social networks. Secondly, you can launch a Google Adwords or Facebook ads campaign targeting the areas near your brick and mortar business’ in Birmingham.
Also, if you are new to paid ad campaigns and social media management you can consider joining hands with a company offering digital marketing in Birmingham. This can help you to keep you from losing money on poor ads that won’t reap appropriate returns.
4. Make use of structured data
Structured data is a code snippet that you can add to your website.
Many of us might have noticed structured results on a Google search engine results page. These results don’t just present the destination link and title but also include other details such as business name, phone number, brand logo, office location, the nature of the business, reviews, product prices, and website address.
These structured results also help Google business decide whether a search query is relevant to the business or not.
5. Prioritise citations
Local citations are crucial for businesses to expand their reach. To become visible to more of your prospects and to encourage them to visit your store, you should consider adding local citations for your business.
To get you started, here’s a list of some local citation websites where you can add your Birmingham based business.
- Birmingham Post
- Bizmidlands Library of Business
- Birmingham Business Journal
- Age UK Birmingham Business Directory
Certainly, there’s a number of ways to increase the footfall for your local business in Birmingham. However, their success depends on how you implement them.
