Thinking of hiring a local SEO consultant but aren’t sure where to start or whether it will even help your business grow? If you’ve never tried to boost your business with local SEO, we’ll be the first to tell you that local SEO is one of the essential strategies you can do this year.
If you sell online and offline products and want to double the number of people who buy from your store, you should focus on local SEO. The sooner, the better, too, because the longer you wait, the more leads go to your competitors instead.
Local SEO is the best way to capture those leads to people who need your goods or services right now, and it can help them narrow down their choices so that your business shows up at the top of their search results.
Still not convinced? Let’s review three ways that a local SEO consultant can help you grow your business.
No matter what the economy looks like or what pandemic we’re facing, every business wants more leads. Optimizing your customer acquisition process is crucial to grow your business and keep leads coming in.
An easy and effective way to help you automate that process is with local SEO. The right consultant can help you increase your overall reach online and offline and help you bring in more sales.
Let’s assume you already have a website that serves as the hub of your services, the way you introduce people to your business and services. Your website is there for you to use - you should be taking advantage of every opportunity you get to show it off to potential customers.
Website SEO, also known as search engine optimization, is a crucial strategy to help your website rank at the top of Google’s list of relevant searches. But, even more importantly, you want to rank for local searches. This means appealing to people that are specifically looking for services in your specific geographical location.
Any competent SEO consultant can help you optimize your website and online marketing efforts for local efforts. Nearly 90% of local-based searches are done using a cell phone, and those searches typically end in a phone call or a visit to those businesses within 24 hours of the search.
You don’t want to miss out on those prospects or lose out to your competitors.
Maybe you’re wondering if you even need keyword research. Though writing blog posts and posting relevant content about your specific niche will get you some leads, so instead, turn to an SEO consultant who can do some keyword research and show you exactly what keywords you should be targeting on your main website pages, how many times you should mention that particular word or phrase, and how to spin your website’s content so that you comply with Google’s latest rules and algorithms.
For local SEO, you must also rank for those searched-for terms, plus your city name added. Simply trying to guess what people might be searching for is a sure-fire way to lose out on money and prospects. The best way to tune into the right keywords is using tried and tested tools.
Your SEO consultant will likely already have a list of resources you can use to prove which keywords are working for your area and industry.
Optimization isn’t possible without a proper strategy to back it up. Your ideal SEO consultant will help you create a step-by-step approach to help you maximize your reach organically.
This strategy will include a list of what type of content and which keywords to focus on in your blog if you have one, how to clean up your services and internal pages that need to be optimized, and what action items you should do to help you increase your ROI.
Your consultant will consider your goals and what is currently working and put them into a plan that matches your budget, time, and expectations.
Aren’t you sure of the process of how to get started with SEO consulting services? There are a few things you can do to prepare so that you set yourself up for success.
Besides an attractive website, the first thing you need is the drive to grow. If you’re a local business and feel like you’re living month to month and are worried about making ends meet, local SEO is likely the one thing that can save your business.
Remember, people who search local, buy local! So it’s worth it for you to optimize your business, so you show up on those searches. Now that you’re motivated to grow, you’ll want to find the right consultant that will drive the right kind of traffic.
This means finding someone who specializes in SEO and has experience in a variety of industries. Though you might encounter business consultants who know how to talk, you want someone who has walked the walk too!
Book a call with an SEO specialist or agency that can consult and talk about potential strategies specific to your business needs. They’ll help you set realistic expectations. SEO takes time, and it could be months before you see results; if you’re talking to an “expert” who can promise instant results, move on.
The best SEO consultant will have tools in place to audit your current efforts and analyze the low-hanging fruit and give you informative analytics. If they don’t mention ROI or results tracking of any kind, they likely have no idea what they are doing.
Though you might encounter a few smooth talkers who win you over, what matters at the end of the day is results! That’s the main thing you should care about when you’re looking to scale your business.
You might have the best relationship with your SEO consultant, but make sure you both have ways to track progress and find out if his services bring tangible ROI.
The last thing you want is to waste time and money on things that aren’t working. Luckily, there are aplethora of tools out there to help you track all of your data.
One tip we’ll give you now is to be fully honest and transparent with your SEO expert. Does something feel off? Do you not understand one part of his plan? Ask questions! Share your feelings. The right expert will be able to take a look and fix what might not be working or explain to you the long-term benefits of a strategy.
SEO is a long game, and so you’ll want to build a healthy relationship with whoever you add to your team so that you can get the best possible results for your business.
Here are a few tips to help you find the right local SEO consultant for your business.
The first thing we suggest is to take a moment and collect your ideas. Write down what you know about your business. What is your unique value proposition? What makes your business special? What are your goals? What do you think is working? Which areas are you struggling with?
Having a list of all these things will help you prepare for a call with an expert so that they can help you. A few things they will likely ask you about are:
Having these things prepared beforehand will help the conversation be more efficient and beneficial to you.
The right local SEO expert for you will depend on your specific needs. If you have a pretty good grasp of SEO, you might simply need a consultant to help you tweak your strategy. However, if you’re at a complete loss on what’s best for your online presence, then a marketing agency that offers both SEO services, writing services, and online advertising skills might be the solution you’re looking for.
Hopping on a consultant call with an expert will be helpful too because they will be able to provide some methods to help right away.
Remember that you don’t want a bunch of empty followers. You want people in your store, buying your goods, investing in your services. So don’t mistake followers for customers.
The right SEO expert for you will put together a plan with action steps that will increase your sales in conjunction with your online presence. The only way to know if someone is the right fit for your business is to review their advertised services and schedule a call with them.
Look for good communication skills, previous results, and an open mind willing to adapt to your needs rather than fit your business into a cookie-cutter solution.
Sometimes you’ll meet consultants who are so stuck in their way of thinking that they won’t be able to adjust to your business, and the relationship likely won’t work long term. No one is an expert at everything, so look for the person or agency willing to admit when they use outside help or don’t have all the answers. You want to work with someone who can think outside the box and give you the best strategy rather than try to fit your entire business into something that might not do.
We mentioned this already, but it’s worth mentioning again. SEO is not a sprint; it’s a marathon. So you’ve got to be prepared for a long-term relationship if you want to get the most for your business.
However, some things can be tracked and measured. Using the right SEO tools and the right consultant can help you track your ROI and make sure you’re headed in the right direction.
Hopefully, this guide helped you get the right mindset for why you need local SEO and why you should consider hiring an expert to help you reach your goals and turn your business into a thriving success.
Anything is possible if you have a solid strategy in place, so don’t limit yourself on how much your business can grow this year.
Turn to the help of a professional who has been through the process before and can show you how to optimize your efforts.Ready to optimize your website for local SEO? Click here to contact me today.