As a business owner, it makes sense to want to expose your company to as many people as possible. If your business is represented by a website, it’s absolutely crucial to use customized local SEO strategies to capture the attention – and the dollars – of potential customers. 

Between 70% and 80% of people who use search engines – which is almost everyone, these days – prefer to focus on organic results rather than paid ads. What does that mean for your company? You need to use search engine optimization to make sure that your website ranks highly on Google and other search sites. In addition to favoring organic links over paid ones, most Internet users also favor the top-ranking sites which appear on the first page of results.

How is local SEO different from general SEO? Local SEO plans can greatly increase the odds of your business being seen by customers in your area – which is, of course, the demographic you want to target. With the help of local SEO experts, your website could appear higher up in the search engine results, at the same time as it is being featured prominently in maps that appear on search engines like Google and Yahoo.

Search engine marketing companies are increasingly use high quality content to help achieve the desired results. Fully half of all marketers nowadays cite good content as being “very effective” for search engine optimization. In addition to local SEO services, internet marketing agencies can provide content such as blog posts, press releases, infographics and even videos; they can also help promote that content on social media.

Search on Mobile Devices

Over 50% of all local searches are conducted on a mobile device of some kind. By 2016, spending on local mobile ads is predicted to grow from $800 million to $18 billion. Since 51% of consumers are much more likely to engage with a company whose website they can see easily on their mobile phone, having a website that is optimized for mobile viewing is becoming increasingly desirable. Imagine that a customer is out and about, searching for the service or goods you provide; they surf to your website, but find it hard to navigate on their phone, or slow to load. What are they going to do? That’s right – they are going to click away and try another result. Responsive web design helps keep websites easy to view, no matter what the device, so that customers stay on your site no matter where they are.

A combination of SEO, local SEO, content marketing, social media exposure and responsive web design is a surefire way to make sure that your business’s website is easily accessed. This, in turn, will lead to additional customers, and burgeoning sales.