12 Ways to Drive More Customers to Your Local Business Using Content Marketing

12 Ways to Drive More Customers to Your Local Business Using Content Marketing

You should base your content marketing strategy on these type of keywords. Even a small search volume can mean more customers for your business since these are customers who are interested in a local business. Build in-depth articles focused around these keywords, and include the name of your city a few times. Build links with real-world connections In the time you’ve been in business in your local area, you’ve developed relationships with local business owners. Usually, these are run by the city itself or by a community group interested in promoting the location. These strategies for your content plan will drive those customers for years to come. One-up a top 10 local list New visitors or residents in your city are always looking for the best places to go. If there are five questions people ask, you would write five articles. Instead of leaving them in the dark, write a candid post about your city like “San Francisco for New Residents: What The Locals Won’t Tell You.” Include the best-kept secrets of the city, like little-known restaurants and best places to be. Content for local businesses is no different.

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The other day, I was looking up local air conditioning repair businesses.

No, I didn’t need to get my AC fixed. I just wanted to see how the businesses were doing in Google’s search results.

I looked at a few different companies, and I started to notice a trend.

The local businesses in the top places in Google’s local results all had one thing in common: content marketing.

seattle ac repair Google Search

The AC companies without blogs, video channels, or other content got the leftovers.

Some of them, I noticed, had to buy costly AdWord ads to even show up on the front page of Google.

Content marketing for local businesses works differently than it does for giant brands, but it’s just as important.

In fact, the top three local marketing tactics are all digital. According to MarketingProfs, 76% of business owners use their website for marketing.

170330 infographic five ways to own local jpg 630 4368

If you’re a local business that’s hoping to get more customers, content marketing is a powerful tool at your disposal.

In this article, I’ll share my top 12 ways to leverage it to drive more customers to your business.

Increase your Google traffic

It’s no secret that to get more customers, you need to get more organic traffic through search engines.

Reaching the top results on Google is no easy feat, however. Using local business marketing techniques, however, we can expand our reach on search engines.

You also need to have a strategy for building links and authority. This is one of the primary ranking factors for all search engines, and it isn’t hard to accomplish.

These strategies will skyrocket your website to Google’s front page and send you hundreds or even thousands of visitors who are primed to buy.

1. Target local keywords

In Google Keyword Planner, you can easily target keywords based on what locals search for.

This is often different than what international or national searches might be. You should base your content marketing strategy on these type of keywords.

To get started, select Get Search Volume Data and Trends.

Keyword Planner Google AdWords 1

Type in your keywords, then select All Locations.

Keyword Planner Google AdWords 2

Enter your city in the search and select the correct option.

Keyword Planner Google AdWords 7

Click on Save.

Keyword Planner Google AdWords 4

Then click Get search volume.

Keyword Planner Google AdWords 8

You’ll get the search volume of those keywords for your local area.

Keyword Planner Google AdWords 6

You can also get new keywords ideas from your city. Go back and choose Search for new keywords.

Keyword Planner Google AdWords

Enter your keywords, and make sure the targeting hasn’t changed. Google usually saves it, but I like to double check. Click Get Ideas.

Keyword Planner Google AdWords 3

On the page that loads, scroll down until you see a list of keywords.

Keyword Planner Google AdWords 5

This gives you a list of all the possible keywords you could use.

Even a small search volume can mean more customers for your business since these are customers who are interested in a local business.

Even keywords with 10-100 searches a month can represent thousands of dollars of sales for your business.

Research has found that 50% of consumers on smartphones and 34% of consumers on tablets or computers who conducted a local search visited a store within a day.

Local SEO Statistics You Must Know Infographics

Look specifically for keywords mentioning your city, as these are likely to be typed in as well.

Build in-depth articles focused around these keywords, and include the name of your city a few times.

While you ultimately want to drive sales, the premise of content marketing is to provide value and information to build trust.

Write articles on these topics without explicitly recommending your brand.

For example, an article on the keyword “fast flower delivery Boise Idaho” might be “How to guarantee fast flower delivery in Boise, Idaho.”

In this article, you could explain the factors that lead to the speed of the delivery. Does the website have good reviews? Is your location based downtown?

This kind of detailed local information will be invaluable to potential customers, and the trust you build is likely to convert them into buyers.

2. Guest post on local websites

Sites across the Internet are usually swamped with submissions, and it can be difficult to land a guest post on a major site.

But one type of site simply doesn’t attract the massive onslaught of traffic as the national websites: the blogs of local companies.

These sites are constantly looking to publish new content, and they usually pay an in-house employee or freelance writer to produce the articles for them.

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If you write for a site like this, they’ll see it as free money!

To do this correctly, reach out to companies in related (but not identical) industries, and offer to guest post for them.

Focus on a topic that meets the needs of both your customers and theirs.

If you run a local landscaping service, you can reach out to a local housekeeping service. A post on “10 easy ways to keep your driveway as clean as your house” would be helpful for their audience, and would direct interested local customers to your service.

Make sure you include a link to your site and have the name of your company mentioned as the author of the guest post.

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3. Build links with real-world connections

In the time you’ve been in business in your local area, you’ve developed relationships with local business owners.

Why not extend this relationship to the digital world, as well?

If you have a good relationship with another business owner, consider an agreement to link to each other’s websites.

These relevant links are more valuable than other types of links, according to Penguin Strategies.

Why Link Building is Important Now and Forever Infographic

Instead of just posting a link to the homepage of the other website, however, consider connecting to pieces of their content.

Exchanging links in this way is a solid, ethical, white-hat method for getting more local results with your content marketing.

To easily build digital relationships with others in your local area, you can include links to articles by your peers in each piece of content you publish.

Let those people know (either in person or online) that you included their content in your posts.

Over time, this strategy will help build natural links to your website.

4. Get included on business listings

Just about every town has a website nowadays.

Usually, these are run by the city itself or by a community group interested in promoting the location. These groups are constantly looking for additional resources for their visitors.

And guess what? Those visitors are potential customers for you!

To get started, search for “business listings” then your city and state.

business listings nashville tn Google Search

Any of these would be a great site for outreach.

Once you find a site, browse around to find areas where you could contribute. Here are places to look:

  • Business listings. You can usually add yours for free or by joining a business group.
  • Resource pages. If you have a helpful page on your website, community sites would be happy to link to it to help their visitors.
  • Upcoming events. If you have an upcoming or regular event, you may be able to post it the calendar.
  • Business owner spotlight. Oftentimes, these sites feature local business owners as success stories of the community. Getting a spot like this can help increase the number of people familiar with your company.

Strategies for content marketing

Content marketing isn’t a short-term fix.

In order to drive a massive amount of new customers to your site, you need to produce content that inspires and intrigues potential customers.

As you produce more content, you’ll increase the number of visitors and convert them into buyers.

To do so, you need to focus on developing content that will continue to generate traffic for months and even years. These pieces will help others find your company.

It takes a little while for your content marketing to start working, so be patient and focus on quality.

They’ll build trust with what you stand for, and will refer customers from the value they deliver.

These strategies for your content plan will drive those customers for years…

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