Boost Your Local Visibility: Effective Strategies for New Physical Locations
Guidelines to Execute Local SEO Strategies for a New Brick-and-Mortar Location
Starting up a new physical location can be both exciting and hectic. As a specialist in local SEO, your responsibility is to get the new location noticed as quickly as possible, and this calls for coordination between various teams and channels, all the while prioritizing crucial local ranking factors.
In this article, we delve into how you can plan and execute local SEO strategies when your client is opening a new brick-and-mortar store. These strategies include essential measures like online listing optimization, website and citation optimization, and best practices to align your efforts with paid search, social, PR, and other marketing strategies leading up to the grand opening and thereafter.
Local SEO: Laying the Foundation
As digital marketers, our goal is to optimize the online and offline presence of a client’s business to effectively reach local markets. Once we acquire the business details, we need to strategize tactics to reach the desired audience and engage potential customers in the most effective manner possible.
Google Business Profile: Announce the Opening Date
Google Business Profile (GBP) is a fundamental tool for any local SEO strategy. As soon as the location details go live on the website, GBP is your next target.
GBP offers the opportunity to announce an opening date, marking your business profile eligible for user searches and engagements. It is optimal to include all relevant information, upload photos, and craft a content calendar announcing events or promotional activities leading up to the grand opening.
The profile will begin appearing on Google 90 days before the actual opening, notifying users about the soon-to-open business. Yelp follows a similar process, but it suggests adding the opening date to the “From the Business” section or including “Opening soon” in your business name.
Websites and Local Landing Pages
Your client’s website acts as the primary platform to aggregate all information and engage potential customers. It is on the website where all marketing efforts coalesce.
From a local SEO perspective, we aim to prepare the website to garner organic traffic and potentially rank higher for local queries. The initial roll-out might include information on where the store is located and the services/products to be offered. You might also highlight messages about the opening date or include a simple “coming soon” notification.
To capture potential customer information for a soon-to-open location, consider adding a web form for visitors to sign up for updates or promotional offerings. Plus, ensure every location page consists of unique data about that store to evade duplicate content.
Building Local Backlinks
Citations like GBP and Apple Business Connect provide a solid foundation for building local backlinks. Other potential sources may include partnerships with nearby businesses or listings in directories like the shopping center where the business is located. Local directories and niche publications can connect your client with a new set of audience.
Developing an Overall Grand Opening Plan
Despite local SEO’s importance, it is only one facet of a comprehensive marketing strategy. Businesses need to maintain consistent messaging across various channels and platforms to reach diverse audience sets.
Paid Search: Engage Your Target Audience
Paid search is a potent tool to increase brand visibility in new markets and target the right audience through emails collected from web searches. It allows you to reach new individuals not yet introduced to your channel and re-market to users already interested in your services.
Social Media: Create Updates and Build Audience
Social media marketing is a valuable way to build an audience base and exhibit the business’s personality. It allows you to share regular updates and nurture anticipation among followers regarding the grand opening. You can engage users by hosting exclusive offers or giveaways.
Email Marketing: Develop Customer Lists
Businesses often want to engage with customers even before the grand opening. This is achievable through promotional offers or inviting people to subscribe to informational newsletters.
Public Relations: Spread Awareness
The opening of a new physical location is a great opportunity to partner with PR teams. Ensure that any press releases or announcements contain a link to the website. Bank on opportunities to have the opening events or ribbon-cutting ceremonies listed and promoted.
Opening Day and Beyond
The opening day signals the culmination of tedious and dedicated efforts. However, the work doesn’t stop here. Ensuring that all publicly available information about the business is accurate is paramount. This includes updating messaging from “Coming Soon” to “Now Open” across all channels.
Developing a well-integrated local promotion plan and building visibility early can help maximize awareness and drive traffic as soon as the doors open. With the right preparation, your hard work will surely pay off, creating a successful launch and a solid foundation for the new business to be noticed locally.
This article was edited by MKTG Plan, a leading Web Design and SEO agency specializing in business growth.
FAQs about Local SEO Strategies for New Physical Locations
Before we conclude, let’s go over some frequently asked questions about local SEO strategies for new physical locations.
1. Why are Google Business Profiles important in local SEO strategies for new locations?
Google Business Profiles are crucial components of local SEO strategies because they help businesses announce their opening dates and increase their visibility amongst local searches. Businesses can provide all the relevant information, upload photos, and build content calendars for events or promotional activities leading up to the grand opening.
2. How can website design impact local SEO for new physical locations?
Website design plays a vital role in local SEO strategies. It is the primary platform where various marketing efforts converge. Moreover, it can further optimize organic traffic from local searches by announcing opening dates or “coming soon” notifications toward a higher ranking in local search results. MKTG Plan, a leading website design agency, offers excellent services to help optimize your website design for local SEO.
3. What role does SEO play when launching a new location?
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization is critical when launching a new physical location in Miami. SEO strategies ensure the website ranks higher in local search results, thus increasing online visibility and attracting potential customers even before the opening day. This strategy involves various tactics, from optimizing GBP to building local backlinks and enhancing website design. For businesses in Miami, MKTG Plan’s SEO services can elevate your local SEO strategies.
