How local businesses can get more traffic and sales from their website

Many local businesses invest money and time in expensive websites but end up not getting any traffic or extra business. Here's how you can fix it.

You've burned a large money-shaped hole in your pocket on a website, but you aren't getting any extra traffic or business.

What's going on?

Here is what you need to do to fix it:

“The trick on the internet these days is to be clear, not clever"

1. Remember NAP: Name, Address, Phone Number

What do your prospects see first when they visit your website?

If you are a local business and rely on foot traffic, then the first things your prospects should see are your:

• Name

• Address

• Phone Number

It's amazing how many businesses miss these basics.

If people don't know where to reach you, they can't buy from you! Keep in mind that attention spans are shorter than Bob Hoskins these days, so if someone can't see where to find you straight away, they are going to bounce to your competitor.

2. Be clear about who you are and what you do!

When we visit a potential client's website for the first time, we often find it difficult to decipher what services or products they are selling.

The trick on the internet these days is to be clear, not clever.

Stick to a format on your site that is easily read by google bots. The clearer it is, the higher you are going to rank.

Your Home Page should tell them:

WHO you are

WHAT you do

WHOM you serve

3. Create Content all the time!

Finally, to play the medium to long-term traffic game, you must make sure you are producing regular quality content on your website.

This will build organic traffic for your site over time and push it up the rankings on the Google SERP.

What should you think about when producing content?

• Optimize it for search: Local businesses have an advantage because you can add your location to your search keywords making it more likely that you will rank higher.

• Research keywords in your niche and check out what competitors are posting.

Ask yourself:

What are they covering in their blog posts?

Is there a gap in their content that you could fill?

• Make it clear: Your headlines should make a promise and your content should deliver on that promise. Don't start off writing about why businesses aren't getting traffic and then talking about website design.

• Make it competitive: benchmark your efforts against those of your competitors- see a gap in their content or notice that they are not covering a particular subject that is getting search traffic?

• Make it conversion optimized. Have several calls to action on your Home Page. These can be on the page itself or a pop-up that comes up after a certain amount of time or action on the website.

• Remember that a person must engage with a brand an average of 7 times before they take action, so getting that email address is imperative.