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Businesses of all kinds rely on digital marketing & development every day – websites, blogs, social media profiles, and much, much more – but what some fail to take part in is the specific area of local internet marketing. Even if you don’t have a physical business, targeting local customers can work wonders; people like giving their custom to local companies, even if it’s online and doesn’t feature a shop front or office they can visit. If you’re a huge global firm, that’s great, but it pays to remember your roots and the people sharing them with you. It’s all about supporting businesses and individuals in their area, so make the most of that with your online marketing. Here are just a few tips on how to achieve this.

1. Know Who You’re Up Against
As with any form of marketing, first of all you’ll need to know who your competitors are. Of course, you should already know this, but this time you should look at your local rivals (something which online companies don’t necessarily always do). See what they’re doing with their website, the design, the web development and other digital marketing, and analyse what seems to work and what doesn’t. Read customer comments on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter and see where they’re going wrong: then make sure you don’t make the same mistakes.

2. Use Targeted Location-based Keywords
Keywords and phrases are used for SEO purposes by most companies in the world, but if you want to target local customers, you need to include location-based keywords. As with regular SEO, you’ll need to do your research and analyse what works, as well as which keywords are (or are not) being used regularly by your rivals. Include these location-based keywords in phrases in as many areas as possible, such as page titles, blogs, social media profiles, video content and so on. Just make sure you don’t start using any ‘black hat’ SEO techniques.

3. Make Use Of Traditional Internet Marketing Strategies
It’s worth noting that you shouldn’t ignore the basic types of marketing that you would be doing even if you weren’t targeting locals. Simple things such as filling in forms to be listed in online directories can help: just because potential customers are turning away from things like the Yellow Pages book to find local business, it doesn’t mean that they won’t use the online version. The same goes for things like email campaigns – either set one up or use your original mailing list, but make sure you find out where your customers live. This way, you can send out emails that target local potential clients; they’re more likely to open up an email if you’ve included their home town or county in the subject line, and offering them special deals for being locals will indeed make them feel special.

In order to make the most out of local internet marketing, ask a specialist web development company for advice on how to best improve your website. They’ll be able to help transform your business site, increasing your sales conversions and putting you ahead of your local competitors.

By Chelsey Evans

Follow @AmpheonLtd

Large companies can afford to hire SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) specialists in order to get their business website to the top of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page), but this can be costly. It’s a lot of work, and it requires a lot of hours every week in order to keep on top of the latest SEO techniques, as well as being aware of the most recent (and upcoming) updates to Google’s (and other search engines’) algorithms. So what do you do if you’re only a small business? You may have just as much ambition as a large company, but time and money are often tight. However, you still do need to work on your online presence if you want to expand your brand over the internet. Here are just a few tips that won’t empty your wallet too much.

Learn The Basics
SEO is a complicated subject that can take years to get your head around, but there are hundreds of resources online that will let you know about the basics. A quick run down would include the fact that Google likes original, well-written content that isn’t a duplicate from another site, so a business blog that is regularly updated will do the trick (this will also establish you as a trusted expert in your field – if your posts are good enough). You also need to know about link building (but not link farming), and keyword usage (but not keyword stuffing). Get to know the basic techniques, as well as the ‘black hat’ techniques that you need to avoid; this will stop your site from getting penalised by the search engines.

Spend Time On Building Your Social Media Presence
It is vital that – as well as optimising your official business site – you pay special attention to social SEO. This doesn’t mean signing up for as many social networking profiles as possible, but it does mean spending some time optimising your Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and any other social profile as you would your normal website. Include your business name in your profile or page name, and create meaningful descriptions for your company and any photos you post, including your keywords and phrases that you use in your website and for any adverts or PPC (Pay Per Click) campaigns. Encourage discussions, and above all, create interesting content (photos, videos, blog posts, tweets) that users will want to share. The more shares, the better your social SEO.

Make Use Of Google Services
Last but not least, it’s not surprising that Google likes pages that make use of Google services, so ensure that you’re signed up to (and use regularly) Google +, as well as having your business details listed on Google + Local (previously Google Places). Link back to your website and include your usual keywords and phrases to get ahead.

Even if you don’t want to hire a full time SEO employee, you can still get expert help by asking for advice from digital marketing specialists – just look online for a company who deals with digital promotion on a daily basis.

By Chelsey Evans

Follow @AmpheonLtd

When it comes to getting your website to the top of the search rankings, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is big business. But what if your business is small? Getting to the top of a search engine’s results page (SERP, if you’d like another acronym) can be costly, both in time and money. Large companies usually have the big budgets and numerous staff members in order to do this in-house, but smaller businesses often have neither of these things. So how do you go about it? How do you ensure that your business website stays ahead of your competitors’ pages? Here are a few tips for the small business owner who sees the big picture when it comes to online marketing.

1. Be Aware Of The Rules
Gone are the days when website owners try and get the most amount of links as possible to their site – poor links (especially lots of them) now actually lead to the website getting penalised by Google and other search engines. If you’re going to look into SEO yourself, be aware of what counts as good SEO practise and what are referred to as ‘black hat’ SEO techniques. Along with link farming, this includes using hidden content and stuffing keywords and phrases into both content and meta tags and descriptions. The best way to avoid these and stay on Google’s ‘good website’ list is to go for top quality, original content. This means no duplications, as well as offering the user something unique that they won’t get on other sites. Doing your research into popular keywords related to your business will also save you from being penalised – don’t stuff your page with words, use them sparingly and naturally within your text.

2. Get Social
Social SEO is where you make use of your social media profiles (and the content on them) in order to boost your website. Comments made on Facebook and Twitter will be original (a tick in the ‘good SEO’ box), and as long as you keep your profiles updated, they can help to optimise your site to an impressive degree. Make sure you fill out the ‘About’ sections of your profiles as thoroughly as possible (including the popular keywords from your research), and make sure your contact info is up to date (for local searches).

3. Consider Hiring An Expert
Optimising your site for the search engines is an ongoing process; the rules are constantly changing (especially with search giants Google updating their algorithms and redefining what good SEO practise is every few months) and there’s always something new to learn about getting your page to the top of the results. If you don’t have the staff capacity or the time to figure out SEO for yourself (as is often the case with small businesses), there is the option to hire an external agent to do the work for you. Digital marketing specialists or a online web development company will be able to give you advice on the best course of action for your business, and you may well find that with the results that SEO will give you, it could be the best investment you could make with your marketing budget.

By Chelsey Evans

Follow @AmpheonLtd

By Chelsey Evans

Follow @AmpheonLtd

You’ve heard of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to improve traffic to your business website or blog, but are you aware of video SEO? With YouTube being the second largest search engine on the net (after Google), it is not surprising that companies of all sizes are getting in on the act and not only creating business videos, but optimising them for search as well. Just like with your webpage, you need to ensure that your videos are being found by your target audience – the relevant people who are most likely to buy your products or use your services. Here are a few tips to help get your videos to the top of the listings.

By Chelsey Evans

Follow @AmpheonLtd