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Hanifmr.com - Finding local customers with a blog or website is a great way of attracting customers from the self-employed and businesses.

But how do you get your blog or website to attract local attention and, above all, readers?

So today I would like to present 13 tips on how self-employed people can position their website or blog locally.

Why a Local Website Optimization?

13 Tips to Find More Local Customers with Your Website!

Especially if you have smaller companies and end customers from the surrounding area as your target group (see the article “Do you work for many smaller companies or rather a few larger companies?”) You have to set up your website or blog locally.

This is also becoming more important because more and more Internet users are searching locally. This means that they not only search for the topic but also regional keywords. For example, for “car repair Nuremberg” or similar search terms with a local reference.

The local orientation of a company website or blog differs greatly from the normal national orientation. In the following, I would like to give some tips on how to make your websites more local.

13 Tips for Local Websites and Blogs

The following tips should be heed to self-employed people for local websites or blogs. However, this list is not exhaustive; it is based on my own experience. I would be happy to receive more tips and your experiences in the comments.

1) Local SEO

Make sure that you pay attention to the basics of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). The “meta description” and the “page title” must contain local references. So in addition to thematic keywords also places, regions, etc. The same applies to old texts of images.

The Google My Business platform also offers the option of making a local entry for your own company in Google.

2) Local Content

Blogs in particular live from the individual articles. Therefore, you should always try to incorporate regional terms into the texts. Even if you write about a general topic, you can usually manage to create a local reference.

3) Interviews

Another great option for localized content is to conduct interviews with regional interlocutors. These can be association representatives, satisfied customers, or other people from the region. This creates a regional reference even with supraregional issues.

4) Link to Local Websites

An important SEO cornerstone is that there are always links to other local websites. That may be difficult for the self-employed at first because you don't want to link to the competition. You don't have to, but there are certainly a lot of suitable local websites (public pages, associations, tourism, customers, suppliers ...) that you can link to.

5) Organize Local Competitions

Sweepstakes work just as well on the web as they do offline. You should choose something regional for the competition task and also for the prizes. So don't necessarily give away an iPad, but rather a meal in a restaurant nearby or wine from the region. A few “tips for blog competitions” will help you to organize your competitions.

6) Local Actions

Your current offers or promotions should also have a regional character. Regional festivals or public holidays, for example, are suitable for this. So it is often better to start your campaigns on a local occasion than, for example, at Easter.

7) Always Use Places

Place names or other regional terms should always be used in your texts and headings. Above all, of course, those that the potential customers use. And it is always helpful if these terms appear several times in a text, but without overdoing it.

8) Landing Pages for Locations

You go one step further with specific landing pages for individual locations or regions. Create sub-pages that deal with your offer and a specific location. This text should be unique, so it is not enough to just exchange the place name. Such local landing pages work very well.

9) Join Local Associations

Local associations or clubs also offer an excellent opportunity to market your website. Often in a conversation, there is the chance to mention or present your offers or your website. But regional networks, such as XING, are also a good way of making local contacts.

10) Local Offline Advertising

While one tends not to rely on offline advertising on nationwide websites, this is naturally the case with regional offers. Flyers, business cards, posters, etc. can be distributed locally quite cheaply and thus attract attention.

In my series “Offline Marketing for Self-Employed” you will find some tips:

1. Posters, 
2. Flyers, 
3. Newspaper advertisements,
4. Business cards.

11) Use Existing Customers

You should not only ask your existing customers for recommendations and customer testimonials but also links from their websites. Local backlinks are very important for local rankings in Google.

But ratings in Google Maps have also become very important. Encourage your customers to give a rating/review of your place, your company, or your store in Google.

12) Use AdWords Locally

Online ads with Google AdWords are very popular. The nice thing about Google AdWords is that you can easily limit your ads locally. So your advertisements may be only shown to people who come from previously defined locations.

You can also define a radius around location X. Only people in this area can see your ads. The system is certainly not perfect, but it works quite well.

13) Use Social Media

Having your fan page on Facebook is a must these days, even if there are concerns about data protection. But you can reach a lot of people from the area via Facebook and you can also get active in regional groups.

But Instagram has also become an important factor in local marketing. Here, too, you can reach a lot of people with great photos and videos.

Check Local Google Rankings

Usually, there are only general Google rankings. To check how your website is ranking in certain places, you can use this tool, for example.

Here you not only enter a search term but also a location. And the tool will show you which search results in people from this location will see. Of course, this should also be enjoyed with caution, because the personalized search mixes up a lot. But the tool enables a good analysis of what the local ranking looks like.

Conclusion

There are many ways to find local customers with your company website or blog. The 13 tips presented are an important part of this, but there are certainly other options.

You probably know your region very well and that's why you must use this knowledge. Regional festivals, local peculiarities, specialties, traditions, etc. are ideal for finding exactly the regional customers you want to reach.

You can find more tips for marketing your company website in my article “10 tips for a successful company website”.

Related Video: 13 Tips to Find More Local Customers with Your Website!

Tags:   Customer Acquisition, Marketing, SEO,