SEO for the Local Business Matters ... why?

It’s pretty straightforward: the Web is killing the old phonebook advertising model. There are a zillion-and-one ways to find a local business to help me with every service or product under the sun … but the most popular and easiest way is to head straight to the nearest Web search tool of choice.

SEO (or Search Engine Optimization) should matter to every local or regional business. Let’s not even discuss the merits of having a Web site (hello 1997!) but the ability to be found is just as critical as proper messaging on the site itself.

Often local businesses have said that SEO efforts aren’t really necessary for “their” business. I challenge that reasoning with this: If that’s the case, why have a site at all? This “laissez-faire” attitude is always cute until their site is suddenly unavailable for more than two seconds. And suddenly, it’s as if the world will end without their site being live on the World Wide Web. Again, I argue, if it’s so important to have a site available, isn’t it just as important to be found in the first place?

Businesses that have the mindset of being only local will continually live that self-fulfilling prophecy. Leveraging SEO efforts has 3 major advantages to local business:

A) Keyword ownership at a LOCAL level: Good luck to the Carmel Computer Repair shop that wants to be listed in the top 10 for searches of “computer repair.” But adding the regionalized terms “Indianapolis” or “Carmel” can make all the difference on a daily / weekly / monthly basis with viable sales leads. Users will always add a regionalized or localized term when looking for a local shop. Eyeballs x conversion rate = sales.

B) Look Outside Your Target Region: Granted, not all businesses can service areas far away (carpet cleaning from Noblesville to Alaska may not be entirely feasible). But what if your company could get a commission for referring to some other service provider in a completely different part of the world? For example, if you are part of some carpet cleaning association, you solve the client’s need by contacting your Alaskan carpet cleaning brethren, they get the business, and maybe you get a 10% cut. Technically your carpet cleaning empire would be without bounds or borders to potential clients.

C) Be Found: Believe it or not, many of the users looking for you are looking just for YOU. So, who would you rather see at the top of that search engine list: you or your competitor, who, by the way, has hired a sly SEO firm that puts you beneath your competition in SEO rankings. Suddenly SEO makes sense, doesn’t it?

SEO is straightforward, measurable work, but it does take some care and maintenance. It’s not rocket science, but if you ever paid for a phone book ad before, why wouldn’t you consider localized SEO efforts important as well?

To learn more about how SEO can help your business, contact FuelVM.com for all your marketing, branding and Web dev needs.

A Funny thing happened on the way to building a business ....

A short business anecdote:

I'm always fascinated by the reaction people have to the FUEL VM plastic business cards that we've used for going on 9 (!) years.

For the uninitiated – many moons ago as FUEL VM was just getting rolling – the biggest marketing expenditure the firm made were our custom, completely-ahead-of-the-curve plastic business cards ... printed 2 colors on the back and silk screened white on the front creating a virtual work of marketing art. The cards cost a significant amount of money - especially for a company literally just opening the doors. That said, I have learned a valuable lesson from them. They have helped CLOSE BUSINESS. Yeah, mock me, but the business cards have had an impact on our sales process. However, the even bigger lesson is realizing that they helped close business for FUEL VM, but the same tool would not work for another situation.

Aside: I love watching the reaction people have when they first hold the cards. 99% instantly hold it up to the light then they flip it around then they ask what the blurry mess is in the background. As human animals, we are kind of predictable sometimes ...

The ultimate point is that the cards have become FUEL VM's top marketing tool ... they elevated a mundane business necessity into a chance to motivate and inspire our typical target audience. But the design, execution and success was all based on understanding our audience and how best to position FUEL VM to them ...

The latest business cards I had reprinted a couple of years ago became a promo video for the printer. Check it out!

- Andrew M. Curtis

To see if FUEL VM can help with your marketing, brand or Web development needs, please visit fuelvm.com.