<p>For local businesses it’s extremely important that they are found in the listings. This means that their potential customers have the ability to potentially find them or research them on the internet.<br />
Any local business that doesn’t implement local SEO at all is leaving a lot of potential leads on the table and giving them to the competitors. Don’t be one of those businesses and ensure that you’re able to be found in the search engine results page.</p>
<h2>Be Found In Local Directories</h2>
<p>One of the first things you should do and something that is pretty simple to implement is to ensure that you’re in the local directories. Depending upon your specific niche there are directories that are city centric. Many users go onto these directories to try and relevant places that they can shop and find materials.<br />
You should start by looking for directories within your city. Once you’ve submitted to the best quality websites then you should look for niche specific directories.</p>
<h2>Get Pictures</h2>
<p>A business is often told by its image. If you can get the right images in your prospective customer’s minds then you’re much more likely to convert them. This is especially true if you run a business that is based a lot off trust. These types of businesses include hotels or car dealerships. If you can get quality pictures of your business on the local results you will have that added edge that makes people want to visit.</p>
<h2>Ask For Reviews</h2>
<p>Reviews should be an integral part of any business strategy and one even more so if you’re a business that encounters the public a lot. Reviews should be used on places that need social proof.<br />
One example of a type of business that will benefit from reviews greatly includes restaurants. People like to go where others go and like. So if you manage to get your restaurant a lot of shining new reviews on the search engines, others will see and be much more inclined to book.</p>
<h2>Have A Content Strategy</h2>
<p>A good content strategy should always be employed for any type of business that wants to increase exposure online. Content is one of the best ways to increase your web presence and give positive affirmations about the brand.<br />
At the heart of this should be the blog producing new content regularly. From this you can push customer engagement through referrals and social likes by the usage of coupons, prizes and competitions.</p>
<h2>Be Consistent</h2>
<p>Finally, you should ensure that all of the messages that you put out are consistent. This doesn’t only apply to your brand messages but the information necessary for your business as well. This includes information about physical addresses, phone numbers and store opening and closing times. Having the wrong information here could lead to a lot more customer direction calls than usual, or a lack if you got the number wrong!<br />
By properly implementing good local SEO, you can drastically see your leads being increased. It will help your customers trust you more, and allow them to get all of the information they need to get the best experience possible.<br />
This post is from Kev Massey from seo3D. Kev leads a team of experienced SEO and provides useful optimisation tips on how to rank your website on Google. seo3d.org provides affordable UK SEO solutions for small businesses wanting a presence on the search engines.</p>

5 Local SEO Tips For Businesses
