Increase Your Website Visibility

So you have opened your doors for business and now you need to build clientel. Your focus is going to be walk-in business, NOT Internet sales. How can you use the web to get your business seen, attract quality visitors AND increase sales? The answer, as you will see, is simpler than you may think.

First, you will want to find the largest search engines online, which is easy. The big ones are Yahoo, MSN and Google. All of these sites offer a directory called “Local Search”. Local search basically acts as a phone directory, but is much more than that. It is a highly targeted, focused results based data base that tells potential customers exactly where to find you.

All you need to do is go to each search site in turn and register your business. The basic info is all you need to put in. The form you fill out will ask for business name, address, phone number and web site (if you have one and I strongly suggest you do!). The whole thing takes about 5 minutes and you are usually up and in the results pages within a couple of hours.

Now you are probably thinking about relevance to your business. That is not a problem with the local search feature. When a customer looks for a product or service, they are asked to enter  a post code. The results displayed begin at the centre of that post code and radiate outwards like the spokes of a wheel. So the nearer you are to the centre of your local city post code, the better the results for you.

Still, this is a great tool for local brick and mortar businesses to gain visibility. Not only that, but you can reach into homes and places you normally would not be able to market your business to. Think about being able to put your business in front of every Internet user in your local area at the touch of a button. You could never pass out all those flyers or tag all those cars yourself.

Since the customer has specified a product or service, the results are targeted to your business, too. This means that they have searched for what you are offering, so you KNOW they are already interested. In essence, the customers who find you this way are pre-sold when they call or walk in to your store.

Now you don’t have to have a web site to use local search marketing, but it helps and here’s why. Say a customer finds you through the local search. Since they are already on the computer, all they will have to do is click your site’s link to see what you’re all about. That first page can have a lead capture form that you can use to capture the details of everyone visiting your site.

If that home page includes a ‘web only’ coupon offer, that will probably entice the prospect to call you or actually walk in to your location and check you out. Remember that the customer is already interested in your product, so you just need to push them over the edge, so to speak. That coupon offer is the key to the golden palace with your customers.

Besides the customers you can reach out to, local search also has other benefits for your home page. The more people that click your link makes your site more relevant to that product niche. This is what is known as organic search results and can make your web page visible in general web searches for that product or service. So not only do you get the local search business, but the general web search as well.

This is important even if you are not selling on the web. The visibility you gain is nothing short of stupendous. All of a sudden, your business is getting top rankings and is being seen by more and more people. Plus, if you practice superior customer service, your customers will tell their friends about you and where to find you, whether it’s on the web or on the street.

In conclusion, if you are looking for a way to be more visible, reach more customers and make more sales than the competition, this is the way you want to do it. It all starts with a five minute registration and a physical brick and mortar location coupled with a desire to really succeed.