The online world has seen many different approaches to marketing a business, but fundamentally it is still about getting your name in front of targeted traffic. Some local businesses were slow to realize the full potential of online marketing, with a preference for the more traditional approaches. The last few years has seen an influx of local marketing, though, and the successful entrepreneurs have seen their businesses flourish. While there are various approaches you can take, SEO still remains at the forefront for marketers looking for regular, affordable, and targeted traffic.

What are the Benefits of Local SEO?

Increased Search Rankings

The obvious benefit of a local SEO campaign is the increase in search rankings. As most people are aware, if you are not ranking on the first page you will struggle with search engine traffic. Ideally, you will reach a point where you rank highly for a collection of related keywords, all leading to a consistent flow of relevant visitors. A local SEO campaign will aim to position your business as the most important source when the most targeted search terms are entered.

Higher Conversion Rate

Local SEO should also see a high conversion rate, mainly because it is highly targeted traffic. The search term should be location-specific and related to a particular niche, so with the right landing page you can anticipate a good conversion rate. If your conversions are unexpectedly low, this is a sign that your website needs some alterations to provide the visitors exactly what they are looking for.

Greater Brand Awareness

[easyazon_link identifier=”B00N3X3STQ” locale=”US” tag=”onlinmarke0c9-20″]Local SEO[/easyazon_link] is not just about getting the click to your website. Not everyone is ready to make a purchase, and plenty of people like to browse before taking the next step. When your brand name appears in all the relevant places, people quickly come to associate you with the industry. While you will ultimately want to position your business across a variety of sites, achieving high positions for many search terms is a great way to increase your brand awareness.

Cost-Effective

Compared with paid advertising, SEO can look like an almost-free method for traffic. The reality is not quite so simple, with various SEO costs having to be considered, along with the time aspect that is required. However, an SEO plan can be inexpensive to begin, have low ongoing costs, and be outsourced to SEO professionals. Local SEO is also usually cheaper than trying to rank for global terms, particularly if you are not targeting a highly competitive industry in a major city.

Good Return on Investment

Every business is looking to gain a high return on investment. Paid traffic can quickly show whether a campaign is viable or not, with results coming in fairly quickly. SEO is not as immediate, but there are still ways to maximize investment. By tracking and testing your traffic and conversions, each keyword can be analyzed for its ROI. If a keyword is not converting as expected, you can quickly move resources to other search terms. SEO requires patience, but there are accurate ways to test what works.

For newcomers to SEO, it can appear to require a constantly evolving skill set. New changes frequently alter the algorithm, sites can receive penalties, and it is hard to accurately judge the timescale for success. Even with those factors, it is still important for a local business to initiate an SEO campaign. A large number of prospects will still search for businesses with a search engine, so any business that does not appear will struggle. SEO is not as difficult as it may appear, with the results far outweighing the difficulties.