Basics of Local SEO (Part 3)

The video above focuses on customer journey. It asks you the question, how will your local customers find you?

There are two steps. First, there's viral marketing or word-of-mouth. For example, Matt's friend recommends ABC (your store) when buying for inexpensive sweaters for Christmas.

Second, there's the online research. To verify if the recommendation is true, Matt will go online and find your store through:

• Social Media - Matt will also look for your presence in Facebook.
• Google Maps - Matt searches for your exact address and phone number.       
• Listing site - Matt visits a site such as Foursquare to read reviews about your product.
• Google search - When your site is well-optimized locally, Matt can easily visit your site if he searches for keywords relevant to your campaign. He might put the keywords "inexpensive sweaters in Davao City" in the search bar.

There are more ways to find business information online. The four listed above are the most common practices done by customers.

Considering hundreds of online channels theses days, your local customers might or might not look for your website. Business transactions are done offline but keep reminding yourself you need a site if you want to:

• Create an online brand for design and layout
• Create pages for branded (About, FAQ, Glossary) and non-branded contents (Blog)
• Create expanded functionality if you're selling items such as clothes, food, discs, etc.