If you accept credit card payments onsite, consider also accepting payments ... Consider selling advertising space on yo
Top Marketing Tips for Local Businesses
George F. Scott
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growlocals.com
2 Top Website Tips for Local Businesses
1. Make sure your website looks professional and is functional. 2. If you accept credit card payments onsite, consider also accepting payments online. Automatic reoccurring billing (subscriptions) are very powerful for donations and ongoing service subscriptions. 3. Develop a mobile-optimized version of your site. For example, have a look at your website on a desktop and then look at the same site on a smartphone. In the least, the site should display well on a tablet like an iPad. 4. Setup Google Analytics on the site. As a business owner, you need to understand how your site is being used, where the traffic is coming from, etc. Review your site statistics on a regular basis and take action based on what you see. 5. Social sharing icons should be prominently displayed on each page that is ‘shareable’. Encourage customers to connect with you online via your social profiles by including links to your profiles on each page (along with contact info). 6. Contact information (phone, address, email) should be on every page...especially phone number. 7. Link to reputable external sites, service partners, government and certification agencies, etc. Link to any news stories, press releases, or articles about the business or its employees on other sites. Make sure all links on your site are working properly. 8. Consider selling advertising space on your site or advertising affiliate offers to generate additional revenue from the site. 9. Pay attention to your menu hierarchy. Logical menu layouts help with site usability and also with search engine indexing. 10. Try to have a single call-to-action on each page. 11. Delete sparse pages. They will not be well-received by search engines or customers. Instead, consolidate sparse content into larger pages/articles, widgets, call-out boxes, etc.
Contact us at
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growlocals.com
3 Top Marketing Suggestions for Local Businesses
1. Get links to your site from other local non-profits, schools, business sponsors, etc. 2. Use Facebook ads to present your brand to your target market on a regular basis. Build and leverage Facebook followers to promote events, ticket specials, etc. via Facebook Promoted Posts that will appear directly in the newsfeed of your followers and their friends. 3. Develop an email marketing program. Collect email addresses on your website. Send out regular communications that can include special offers, promotions, paid ads for other businesses, etc. 4. Enhance your online visibility (especially for this local market) by optimizing your site and other online profiles for location. 5. Leverage Google Ads for immediate top-ranking visibility in search results. Use very tight ad groups and geo-targeting. Invest in SEO for longer term organic search rankings 6. Add links to your website on all of your social media profiles. 7. Generate online content that is optimized for relevant keyword phrases. Post articles to your blog and promote them via social media and email marketing. 8. Take advantage of advertising sponsorships opportunities for events, t-shirts, etc. 9. Develop more video and image assets for social media posts, YouTube, and search engine results. Brand all images and videos. 10. Build up a reputation within the local area through on-site and recorded sessions. Also, use these as opportunities to collect email addresses and boost your social media following. 11. Encourage happy, satisfied customers to submit reviews online. Also encourage (private) feedback from dissatisfied customers. 12. Highlight students (ie. student of the month) to further engage families and generate some excitement. 13. Develop ongoing partnerships with local businesses. Establish special discounts for products/services for your patrons, referral income, etc.
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