Whether you own a gym, cafe, bike shop, recording studio or some other kind of business operating out of a physical location (as opposed to an online business), chances are that you want to increase foot traffic. Listen to this 17-minute audio file for five steps you can take to improve your web presence, increase your visibility in search engine rankings and get more business.

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Shownotes

Intro:  Your unique selling proposition (USP), ethics/karma, and why it’s a bad idea to try to trick readers and/or search engines.

(I mentioned that I knew some great WordPress designers. DeLorenzo Media is one of them.)

Step #1 (5:49): Help people find your site by making sure your web copy includes words they’d be searching for, which is usually the type of business you offer, and the name of their city and state.

(Examples: “Kickboxing” + “Tucson” or “fair trade coffee” + “Seattle, WA”)

Shining Example: Catalyst Athletics. (You don’t have to list all surrounding cities for your area, especially if you live in a large city, but if you are in a small city or town, it might be a good idea.)

Step #2 (7:22): Use the alt tag for your images to describe physical products, or to work in the name of your business, type of business, city and state (see #1).

Shining Examples: Blonde Chicken Boutique. (I learned about alt tags from the Blonde Chicken herself!) It’s hard to take a screen shot of an image alt tag, but if you go to that site and hover over the upper right corner of each photo, a yellow box will pop up with a description of the product. Copyblogger always uses alt tags for their images.

I didn’t mention this in the audio, but on my own site, I use a WordPress plug-in called SEO-image. (It is available at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/seo-image/). If you have a WordPress site, simply install it and then go to  wp-admin > Settings > Seo friendly images and set it up. You can choose from setting up alt/title tags for images based on the post title, file name, category name or tags.

Step #3 (8:52): Use map listings to improve foot traffic by making sure all addresses are spelled exactly the same (including the same abbreviations or lack of abbreviations). Locations to check include Google Places, Yahoo Local, Bing Local Listings, YellowPages.Com, CitySearch.com, Local.com, Hotfrog and Goguides.org.

Don’t forget to research the “reviews” for your competitors on the Google map listings, and look up all those reviewing sites, too! Make sure your business is listed and the information is accurate and consistent–again, abbreviated and non-abbreviated words are not considered according to Google and other search engines!!

Step #4 (12:45) Work on getting local incoming links. National exposure is great, but usually serves more to energize your existing (local) customer base. Focus your media strategy on local sites. Hone your connections for this: local tourist sites, any professional groups with local chapters (or local groups) that you’re a member of, local newspapers, Patch.com business listings if there’s a Patch in your area. I also mentioned Google Analytics for analyzing incoming web traffic. It is invaluable.

Step #5 (14:27) Use your website and social media to get people in the door. I’m sure you can come up with your own examples! We all love Facebook and twitter, but a mailing list (keep a clipboard in your store) is even better, so that you can send coupons, specials, event information, etc. to your raving fans directly. (Mailchimp and Aweber both work well for email list management. Mailchimp is often free, and Aweber is a bit more user-friendly. There are many other services to choose from as well.)

NEED MORE HELP?

For a limited time, I’m cutting my price in half and offering 30-minute SEO consultations/brainstorming sessions for only $32.50. Interested? Simply pick two or three possible times through my Tungle page, and I’ll send select a time and send you a short questionaire and we’ll get started. I’d be thrilled to work with you!

I’m also available for SEO copywriting, map listing and blogging, so feel free to contact me with your specific project.

I’m not a know-it-all SEO expert, but I do know enough to get good traffic to my website. I wasn’t sure that doing an SEO consult with Yael would unearth a ton of new ideas, however, I left our call with three specific areas of improvement to address and improve. The thing I like most of all about Yael’s advice was that she took into consideration my unique non-creepy marketing approach in her suggestions. Her background in copywriting is a definite asset and she never told me to sell my soul. In fact, I’m already seeing results from her suggestions and feel excited to implement the rest! If you’re tempted to get SEO advice from Yael, you’ll appreciate her customized suggestions and enthusiasm! –Jennifer Hofmann, Inspired Home Office