Three Tips for Optimizing Your Blog for Local Search Marketing

Portland, Maine (PRWEB) August 29, 2013

Having a business blog for a local business can help bring in new clients and keep existing clients engaged, boosting both new and repeat business. If done properly, a local company’s blog can increase their visibility and their search engine rankings. These days, having a business blog is a cornerstone of local search engine optimization. However, many business owners are unfamiliar with the variety of tools and options they have at their disposal to make their blog more successful. My Local Leads is an online lead generation firm, specializing in helping local businesses across the U.S. increase reach and visibility and get the phone to ring. These tips are some of the very same tips provided to their clients when it comes to improving the local search marketing campaign through more effective use of their blogging platform.

Review blog traffic for new local keywords. The company blog should have analytics, most often tied in to Google Analytics through Webmaster Tools, although other options exist. As part of the monthly inspection and planning for the internet marketing campaign for a local business, business owners can see where most of their site traffic is coming from. The blog likely has a majority of traffic coming from branded keywords, such as the company name or a trademarked service or product, however, there should also be some traffic from local search queries. A local home builder may see a number of people coming to their site after searching for the company name, but then they should also see traffic for “home builder in Portland” or “custom home builder in South Portland, Maine” and other more drilled down versions that are local. These additional phrases can serve as new long tail key phrases which would serve for great new posts for the blogs and help zero in on and capture that additional traffic that may not be looking for the specific company, but is looking for someone that does what the company does.

Another important technique is to localize products and services within blog posts. This is done in a number of ways. Business owners should remember that they are not just a “home builder,” but also a “Portland, Maine home builder.” By the same token, making commentary on local events, tying into those events, will help give the blog a more local feel and thus a more relevant score for local searches.

Bring in local experts in fields related to, but beyond your scope of practice. Staying with the example of the home builder, invite guests blog posts from local interior decorators, landscaping companies, security companies—things that homeowners, especially new homeowners, are going to be interested in. Do not forget that these guest posts should also include local data to help increase relevance.

My Local Leads helps local business with search engine optimization, website design and development, mobile marketing, and more. They can help manage a local businesses online reputation and provide valuable insight when it comes to online lead generation and customer retention.

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