Major companies nearly always use the internet to help sell goods and services. Small, locally based companies, though, frequently miss significant opportunities to use the internet to sell their goods and services. As the World Wide Web is truly ‘world-wide’ it is easy to see why small business operators may not see how the internet can help them market products and services. Still, it is possible to construct a web page that will compete for new revenue from new, local customers.
These large organizations use the strength of their online presence to attract internet traffic. Many of these are not adept at competing for local business, relying instead on their brand recognition to attract local business. Small enterprises can focus their web presence on unique product or service characteristics as well as on their location to attract internet traffic and sales. This requires the discovery or identification of what is termed a ‘local niche market.’ Also known as ‘Localization,’ this process allows small businesses to compete with much larger ones.
Applying “Localization” to the small business web page causes the small or new company page to appear for product or service searches on common search engines such as Google, when searches are requested in a local area. Many consumers love the idea of finding a local service provider and this technique serves that need. Searching for services such as “Denver Marketing Comanies” should return a list of companies in that area, providing marketing services.
What are the first steps towards localizing a small company web page for local search? Three easy tasks are required: Inclusion of a Geographic parameter Identification of a specific feature niche Create a local niche keyword phrase
“Geographic Parameters” simply refers to the local city area in which the business wants to sell its services or products. Internet readers seeking information about acquiring these services from a local provider will nearly always use a geographic term in her/his search request. Frequently, the geographic parameter is simply the name of the local metro area. This avoids internet competition for exposure and placement with other businesses elsewhere.
Business owners should also include the exact street address where the organization is located – making sure to list the city, state and postal code. This information confirms for the search engines that the company is relevant to the geographic area.
Identifying a specific niche or feature is important not only to attract traffic from those seeking information about a certain product or feature, but to avoid head-on competition against national companies. The point here is to find a phrase that has a weak #1 competitor. To test your proposed keyword phrase, just search for it on Google. If the #1 one result is a site with “bankofamerica.com” in the URL, try another phrase and keep looking. That one would be terribly difficult to beat. If the #1 result is “Joe’s Bar,” that might be a good phrase and niche upon which to focus. (Google has free tools in its webmaster suite and Adwords management system to help with this process.)
When a good phrase has been identified, combine it with the geographic parameter. This results in a localized keyword phrase. The local phrase might result in something similar to “SEO Consultants Denver.” In this instance, users searching for SEO services in the Denver metro area are likely to see this web page returned as a highly placed search result.
Local search may not pull in huge numbers of readers from outside the geographic area. But, how useful is it to appear as the first Google search result for Lawn Mowing Service in Detroit when the business is in Kansas City. Local search allows small businesses to compete for relevant internet traffic and earn new revenue from customers looking for local goods and services.
Author Matthew Stone assists businesses nationwide earn more income and revenue using the common search engines. He provides Low Cost SEO, article marketing and link building services to help companies of all sizes compete via the internet. This article, Quick Techniques To Localize A Web Page is available for free reprint.
