How To Get More Clients For Your Local Business Online

Last Updated on Tuesday, 13 September 2011 19:42 Written by Alain Tanguay Monday, 11 July 2011 10:59

Most local businesses are looking for new clients to remain in business. They used to depend on the Yellow Pages to bring them all of the clients they required but now, most prospects use the Net and a search website like Google, to find goods and services in their town.

Most local businesses are looking for new clients to remain in business. They used to depend on the Yellow Pages to bring them all of the clients they required but now, most prospects use the Net and a search website like Google, to find goods and services in their town.

Local businesses also publicize in local online directories to get exposure for their bricks and mortar business.

A web presence is more important than ever , not only for serving your current clients, who may have lost your phone number or don't recollect your store hours. It is also a great way to get new clients.

Were you aware that you do not really need a domain to be listed in Google's search engine results? Google offers a free service called Google Places, where you can enter all of your business info. This listing will be visible in the search results for local queries about your products or services if you set it up the correct way.

Hopefully you actually have a website. But does it brings in a new batch of new clients every week? If not, you want to check out if it shows up in the search websites results for local queries.

As an example, If you have got a roofing business, when you type " (city name) roofing" in Google and your website doesn't show up in the top 10 results...You are invisible! There's very little chance your prospects will ever find you.

It's like having a big billboard floating in the middle of the Atlantic. Not a lot of people will see it.

The search websites look for particular things in the coding of your website so as to learn what it is about. Here you need SEO or SEO to make your internet site tangible in the search engine results.

For example, they glance at the title of your internet site. Does yours says "Welcome"? That is not actually optimised for a local business. "roofing services in (town name)" is more suitable.

Every day I see many little local businesses sites with advertisements for other enterprises and advertisements for unrelated products. Why do you need to send your website visitors away? You website should be all about your products or services...Let other local businesses do their own selling.

Here's a couple of things that should appear on your website:

- Your phone number and address,

- Your office or store hours

- The services/products you offer

- The area you cover (cities, metropolitan area)

You should generally make sure that once your internet site designer has delivered your internet site, someone who knows about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and is experienced in online marketing reviews your internet site. Then starts promoting it in local directories like Google Local for optimum online visibility.

Your website is more than a big business card on the web. It should distance you from your competition and be a customer acquisition system that brings in new prospects every week. You should also ensure it is well laid out for mobile gizmos.