According to the Office of National Statistics, about 18.6% of the total retail sales in Great Britain are online. So, if you are entering the e-commerce space, the odds are stacking up in your favour.
Despite great odds, it is a heavily competitive space, and you will need a differentiation strategy that sets you apart. One way to do that is to hire a local SEO company. They can add the X-factor to your e-store with the use of local SEO. Here’s how they can help boost your business tremendously.
Better Local Rankings
Local rankings stand on three pillars: prominence, proximity, and relevance. Prominence can be achieved by making your business well-known on the web. You can hire professional SEO companies to do this through links, citations, and reviews. Proximity is based on your zip code and geo-specific coordinates. Relevance is how well you match your products and services to customer searches.
Structured Data
When using local SEO, you have to make sure that your data is aligned. It means that business information like the type of business, location, hours of work, outlet details, etc., are all in-sync on various platforms. It used to be a chore to manage all these details, but not anymore. With a local SEO company, you can do this with ease.
Helps Emphasise Your Niche
You aren’t Amazon or eBay. So, you are bound to specialise in a particular category of products. When you use targeted, niche-specific SEO, you can make sure that your rankings improve among local listings. Using keyword searches that are unique to your products will help optimise your local business SEO. The best part is that you can get this done professionally for optimal results.
Keeps Branding Costs Low
Business is all about reducing costs while boosting sales. The amount you spend on local SEO branding is much lower than any other branding exercise. SEO experts use logos and taglines that are unique to your company and have a higher recall quotient. When people relate an image, word, or phrase to your brand, it becomes easy to use it as a stepping-stone to build a brand image.
Use Google’s My Business Listing to Your Advantage
This is an online business directory, and you can list your business on it. The advantage is that Google will recommend your brand when relevant searches are carried out. However, the listing needs to be optimised. You can do this by having customers review your products.
The SEO specialists handling your branding will ensure that they text or email your customers to leave reviews. If your budget allows, you can give customers small gifts for every review left. Since Google tries to display only the most relevant and most-trusted brands, customer reviews are the best way to build trust.
Use Other Local Directories
You can also use other local business directories to list your brand. Your name popping up on a local directory will add more weight to the listing. 71% of people state that they would prefer to visit a business listed on a local directory. Most of these are free listings. Ensure that you optimize all your listings regularly so that they sync-up across the web and remain relevant.
Create Local Content That Stands Out
People’s attention is being pulled from all sides. This results in new content being pushed in their faces every minute of every day. So, when your brand pops up on their device, how do you make sure that you have their undivided attention? A skilled SEO rep will create local content that engages with them. It can be humorous, informational, or entertaining, but it has to be relevant.
82% of people use the web for advice on product decisions. If your product listing can be on top of their search, you take your business to new heights. With the services of a local SEO company, create compelling content that is SEO optimized to grab customers’ attention before someone else does.
Creates Backlinks
Your local community interacts with not just your business. Other businesses talk to your target customers. SEO experts will collaborate with other local businesses to create backlinks to each other’s websites. The more backlinks you have, the more trustworthy your business appears to be. It’s almost like a recommendation.
Local SEO is the latest strategy when it comes to optimizing your website. Businesses need to make sure that their information is local, relevant, and up to date to get the best local SEO results. Online B2C sales in the UK amounted to 199.7 billion GBP in 2018 alone and continues to grow every day. You can have your share of the action with the help of a local SEO company who can help boost sales and improve brand visibility locally.