Local Businesses – The 9 Things You MUST Do To Get Visible 

Even the best websites are worthless if they are not seen, and visited, by enough people who are interested in what they have to say. Here, we look at 9 essential things that website owners should check, and double-check, to make sure that you get your fair share of what’s out there.

1. Get Good with Google

Your “Google My Business” account is the place where almost everything that Google offers comes together; your Gmail account, your Google Places (map listing), your Google+ page, and a lot more.

Google gives precedence to those who have their Google affairs in order when allocating positions in the local search results so why not take our quick Google health check for local businesses and find out if you are “good with Google”.

How Can I Get More People in to My Local “Bricks & Mortar” Business?

If you run a restaurant, shop, professional service or trade outlet there’s one thing you have to have – people coming through your door who are in need of your product or service.

Fortunately, there are many ways to harness the power of the Internet in order to make this happen – get our free guide to “Using the Internet to Drive Customers to Your Door.”

2. Are You in D Index?

Does Google know about your website? Is it in their index and eligible for showing in the search results for relevant search terms in your geographical area?

You’ve probably been told that Google and other search engines will find your website all by themselves but that isn’t always the case.

Try this quick test to find out just what, and how much, Google knows about you.

3. Good Citations – Much More Than Just local listings

Citations are mentions that are made about your business in business directories like Yell.com, Thomson Local and Yelp as well as on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other websites.

Citation Flow is a metric developed by a website analytics company called Majestic in order to measure just how well thought of your website is on those websites.

A strong Citation Flow can help you with winning local search business and it is certainly something that you need to get right. Learn how to find out what your Citation Flow is, and how to make it better.

4. Should People Trust You? – Just Let Your Trust Flow

Trust Flow, (TF) is a website metric that is calculated by Majestic using data about other websites that link to yours. A good Trust Flow rating demonstrates that your website can be regarded as trustworthy and will help it to rank higher in the search results on Google and other search engines.

It is easy to acquire a poor Trust Flow without even knowing it, and without doing anything wrong, so we urge you to find out how to check your Trust Flow, for free, and how to improve it if it isn’t so good.

5. Get Massively Mobile

More than 50% of all Internet searches are now carried out on mobile devices. Search engines like Google, as well as most of the apps you can download, make use of your geographic location, and that of the searcher, when deciding where to show you in the search results.

How highly does Google regard your website when it comes to mobile devices – how good is the user’s experience on your website? Find out how to find out here, for free.

6. Are You in Authority? – Be Aware of Your Website’s Domain Authority

Another very important measurement of a website’s value to search engines and other websites is its Domain Authority, (DA).

This is calculated by MOZ, a web traffic analysis company, and is believed to be the closest publicly available indicator of how much value Google would place in a website when deciding which one to show where in a search result list.

Find out how to learn what your DA is and how to improve it in order to get even higher up those website rankings.

7. Are You Sufficiently Social?

If your Social Media Marketing isn’t up to scratch, you could be losing out big time to those who have developed their own profile on Social Media.

Please don’t think that it is enough do the odd Tweet or Facebook post every now and again. Social Media is your channel to those people who will, one day, become your customers and if they are not aware of you and cannot find you featuring prominently on Social Media websites then you are dead in the water.

Find out how to harness the power of Social Media to build a network of people who know you and want to help you to tell the world about what it is that you do.

8. Are you content with your content?

In a world which is becoming increasingly full of Internet websites just like yours – how sure are you that the text, images and videos that are on your site are interesting and engaging enough?

Do search engines think that your website is likely to satisfy the needs of those people who are searching for whatever it is that your content is all about?

Search engines are clever enough to know whether you are providing real value to those who make the journey to your site and if they think that you are not, you will find your site becoming less and less visible in search results. As the days go by, that valuable traffic that is vital to your online visibility will disappear, along with your business.

Learn how to find out exactly what Google thinks of your website and how to do something about it if what you find out isn’t so good.

9. Find Out if, and How, Your Local Competitors Are Taking Business, from Right Under Your Nose.

You probably think you know who your competitors are – in the “real” world, but in the virtual world of the Internet most people are completely wrong when it comes to knowing who they are competing with for that all-important website traffic.

The main reason for this is “search phrase overlap” – words and phrases that apply to many different websites in different ways. People searching for your product or service could be hijacked, deliberately or otherwise, by other websites for whom the phrase is also relevant, or partially relevant.

Find out how to get your online and offline competitors under control and take back the traffic, and the business that is rightfully yours.