What is local SEO & do I need it?

What is local Search Engine Optimization and why you need it

Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the practice of optimizing your website and online presence to rank higher in search results for local searches.

Local SEO is important because it helps businesses optimize their online presence for a specific geographic area or region. When someone searches for a product or service in a particular location, Google and other search engines prioritize results based on relevance, distance, and prominence.

By using local SEO strategies, businesses can increase their visibility in local search results, improve their online reputation, and drive more targeted traffic to their website. This can lead to more foot traffic to their physical location, more phone calls, and ultimately more sales.

Here are some steps to help you with your local SEO strategy.

Optimize your Google My Business (GMB) listing

Claim and verify your GMB listing and ensure that all the information provided, including your business name, address, phone number, and hours of operation, are accurate and up-to-date. Add photos, videos, and other relevant information to make your listing more attractive and informative.

Conduct keyword research

Identify the keywords that people use to search for businesses like yours in your local area. Use these keywords in your website content, GMB profile, and other online directories and citations.

Build local citations

Ensure that your business is listed accurately on various online directories such as Yelp, Yellow Pages, and other local directories. Consistency of business information is key, so make sure your business name, address, phone number, and website URL are the same on all listings.

Get customer reviews

Encourage your customers to leave reviews on your Google My Business page and other relevant review sites. Positive reviews can boost your local SEO efforts.

Use local structured data markup

Add structured data markup to your website to provide search engines with more information about your business. This will help improve your visibility in local search results.

Create locally-focused content

Create content, such as blog posts, news articles, and other types of content, that is relevant to your local area and that will engage your local audience.

Make sure your website is mobile-friendly

With more than half of all searches now done on mobile devices, it’s important that your website is mobile-friendly. Ensure that your website is optimized for mobile devices and has a fast loading time.

In conclusion

Local SEO is important because it can help businesses attract more customers, improve their online reputation, and increase their revenue.

By following the above steps, you can improve your local SEO and increase your visibility in local search results.

Contact us if you’d like help with doing local SEO on your website.

How to Select a Chatbot for Your Website/App

Pick a chatbot for your website or app

Ever been visiting a website when a little customer service window pops up and asks you if you need help?

Then, you’re already familiar with a “Chatbot.” These software assistants play a crucial role for businesses who wish to communicate with their customers and are becoming more and more ubiquitous in our lives while becoming more refined.

A chatbot is an automated conversation system that can communicate with a visitor in a conversational tone while responding to questions and resolving customer issues.

Chatbots are intuitive site valets, on-duty 24/7, that engage with the customer online and ask them pre-programmed questions designed to lead the end user to the right person or area.

They can be installed on a website or an app and are a useful tool for answering routine questions for common customer issues, saving the company time and money.

They are not a replacement for customer service; they are an augmentation of it. Their job is to determine the intent of the visitor, so bots are programmed with the right questions to ask which then narrow down the possibilities for finding the solution.

Chatbots free up personnel time and connect visitors with employees ONLY when they cannot resolve the issue or require a more nuanced response.

Chatbot questions are developed by the business owner to ask custom questions along with rules that decide when to ask which question.

It is vital that customer interaction is smooth and seamless, so the person engaging with the bot is confident that their issues will be resolved or will move them correctly to the next step in the journey.

When questions asked and answered by the bot escalate the customer experience, users are more inclined users to use it.

Chatbots are used primarily in two places:

  • Customer Service
    When customers repeatedly ask the same questions of a company, a chatbot is a perfect solution. Especially because the alternative — 24-hour human resources who answer the same question over and over again — is costly!

    When repetition like this occurs, it becomes clear to the company what algorithm to write into their “site valet” and how to narrow down subsequent choices. This not only saves the company time and money, but better serves their clients with immediate responses.

  • Lead Generation — Chatbots can convert visitors into clients! After answering routine questions about certain product features, services and plans, the chatbot can actually qualify a lead and connect the visitor to a sales person for further discussion.

    Since they are on-duty 24/7, no leads are ever lost due to service hours or absent staff. As attention spans in general decrease, capturing a lead when a purchase is about to be made increases ROI for chatbots.

    Before investing in chatbots, you’ll need to determine these things first:

    1. What is the problem you are trying to solve?

      Knowing this will elucidate your needs and help decide how to evaluate a chatbot’s effectiveness.

      • Why do you want or need a chatbot on your website?
      • Are there standard questions that all visitors have?
      • Is it to create a better support system for your products?
      • Do you want to prequalify leads as they move through the chatbot sales funnel?
      • Will other departments also use this Chatbot at a later stage?

    2. Create an outline of a typical conversation the chatbot will have.

      Chatbots ask visitors questions about their needs. For example, are they looking for a product or service? Do they need customer service for a product or service they purchased? Do they want to report an issue?

      Spell out a typical conversation that potential buyers/clients currently ask your sales and support team. This is the basis for programming your chatbot.

    3. Assign a person to be responsible for the chatbot.

      Like any software, chatbots need time to be evaluated, tested, built and maintained. This is best accomplished by assigning a person / division / company to take on this responsibility. This party can then look for ways that the selected chatbot can be integrated with other software used within your company. For example, a chatbot that handles lead generation might also be a natural for customer service enhancement.

    4. Choose a chatbot that comes with a trial period.

      The only true way to know if a product is for you is by taking it for a test drive. If the software you buy does not allow a trial period, you may end up stuck paying for something you don’t want. Some chatbots may not be compatible with your system.

      After programming the chatbot, install it on a test site and have test users take it for a trial run. Be ready to immediately program a chatbot before your trial period so you get maximum trial time.

    5. Make sure the chatbot works on other devices as well.

      Mobile use is exploding! It is uber important that the chatbot you select works on mobile/tablets. Be sure to test it on each device.

    6. Select a chatbot that serves special requirements that your domain may have.

      For instance, if your field is a highly regulated domain, you’ll want to decide what kind of chatbot deployment will meet your industry’s security requirements. Most chatbots are cloud-based services. If your company needs an online solution, use that as one of the criteria when selecting a chatbot.

    Chatbots really can act as a perfect complement to your customer-facing department. They do not replace personnel, but serve to make your team more present and efficient.

    If you need any help selecting a chatbot for your company, feel free to reach out to us at (650) 346-1442.

Why your business needs an email newsletter

Email Newsletter

Good old-fashioned paper newsletters have been used by businesses for years to connect with their consumers. Newsletters with useful and interesting information, deals, and coupons can be very successful in growing a business.

When email, the “killer app”, eclipsed the paper, businesses started using email newsletters to reach their audience.

Here are some reasons why email newsletters are a good idea for your business:

Everyone has an email address

Everyone has an email address these days; most people have more than one! Checking your email a few times a day is a ritual for many. So email is now a prime place for a business to get its message in front of people.

Connect with your audience

When a person signs up for your newsletter, they are opening the door to hearing your message. They are telling you that they are interested in your business and would like to hear what you have to say/sell. This is an act of trust. Now it is incumbent upon you to create quality content and deliver it at regular intervals. The content must be useful and accurate, and newsletters must be sent frequently enough to keep your business in people’s thoughts but not so frequently as to become a nuisance. As readers become more familiar with your brand and products, they are more likely to turn to your business first.

Cost-effective way to increase your reach

Email newsletters are a great return on investment. Services like MailerLite will let you set up an account and start sending newsletters for free. Once you reach a certain number of subscribers or send more than 12000 emails per month, you will have to start paying for the service. This is a great and inexpensive way to begin using newsletters and to experiment with whether newsletters are a good strategy for your business.

These email marketing programs come with email templates that you can use to customize to your brand and image. Or you can hire someone to create the template for you. This way you direct your focus on creating the content instead of worrying about design issues. If you have the budget, hire someone to manage your newsletters. The advantage is that you could offload as much or as little work on them as needed.

Know your audience with analytics

By using the analytics from the newsletter campaigns, you can determine what interests your audience. Use the new subscription sign-ups, unsubscribes, click-through rates, open rates, etc. to gauge the interest of your audience in the content. Knowing what interests and doesn’t interest your audience is invaluable for your business.

Ready to begin your newsletter?

We can help you jumpstart your newsletter campaigns. We will be happy to tailor our services depending on the level of help you need. Call us at (650) 346-1442 for help getting you started on your newsletter campaigns.