5 Steps to Getting Traffic to Your Local Website

Local Traffic is the Lifeblood of a Small Business Website

There are many factors and tasks involved in having and creating a website. I've seen many small business people concentrate on one factor or another – the look and feel, building their brand, building a mailing list, etc.

While all of these things are important and must not be neglected, let me suggest that there are 2 overriding steps that are primary.

#1 – traffic. If no one sees your website… well bluntly, why did you sweat over the other details?
#2 – conversion. Traffic that doesn't convert into sales is just as bad as having the pretty brochure that no one sees.

5 steps to get more free local traffic.

1. SEO Your Pages – Paying homage to Raul Julia in Gumball Rally, "Whatsa behind me is ofa no consequence!" SEO starts with keywords. What terms are your customers looking for you with?

Keyword research is where you start. Use tools like Google's or do a search for keyword tools – there are lots! I like Market Samurai. This is the boring shite of SEO, but without it, you will never "getta nowhere."

Then you use those keywords on your pages – in the Title tag, in the Meta description (tell a short story there!), in the image Alt text, and use them in your content at least once and near the start preferably. Never stuff your article with keywords though.

Use the high traffic (and ideally low competition) keywords you've found as the link text for navigation around your site. This is a very good way to improve your rankings.

2. Video SEO – Video is the communication medium that people and search engines like the most. Use video to answer questions, make "how to's" and provide value. Be interesting and high energy – that is far more important than looking polished and professional.

Use your keywords to name and tag your videos. Publish them on your site and then on the 60 or so other video distribution sites. There's more than just YouTube! Use the classic persuasion techniques of having a title, a message that provides value to your customer, an offer and a call to action.

Video with a call to action will increase your phone calls by at least 20% and can easily add thousands of visits to your website.

3. Social Linking and Bookmarking – This is using sites like Delicious, StumbleUpon, Propellor, Facebook, Twitter, etc to create links back to your pages. Here's a good video that explains this.

You can register and link or bookmark articles and video at each site or use a free tool like Socialmarker to automate some of this. Careful though; be random in which sites you use and make sure you bookmark other content besides just your own, so you do not get banned.

4. Article Directories – Putting your articles on article directories also gives you links back to your site as well as spreads the word on your subject. On article directories, there is a resource box that goes with your article where you put information about yourself, your company and a link back to your website.

Some people say the more directories the better, some say only use the high quality directories… I suggest that it depends on how much time and automation you are using. Less time = high quality over quantity.

There are tools that can automate this for you as well. Used judiciously they are real time savers. I like Unique Article Wizard but it is an investment.

5. Local Directories – Make sure your business is listed in as many locally focused directories as there are. This is a moving target as local search is booming with more directories being added all the time! One third of all local traffic is coming from the aggregate of these local directories. There are usually between 10 and 20 for each metropolitan area.

Usual suspects are Yelp, Weblocal, Citysearch, etc. Do a search for local directories, then look on each directory for "Add a business" and start filling out the forms. Here's a hint; save the data from the first one, because most of the rest want the same info.

These actions hinge on one thing; consistency. Doing a ton for a couple weeks and then nothing for a month or 6 is counter productive. Be regular – publish once a week or every day but do it without fail.

And if you want help, give us a call!