Local SEO Wollongong & Illawarra
It’s frustrating to invest time and money into your local business website, only to realise that it doesn’t seem to show up in search engine results. If your business isn’t featuring in Google results when you search for your main product or service, it’s probably time to look in to SEO or Search Engine Optimisation.
So many businesses pay for a beautiful looking website that hardly anyone ever sees. A good website should be bringing you more customers because when people are looking for answers online, it’s your business that they find!
Local SEO is a strategy of increasing the online visibility of your business or brand for the geographical area that you service.
With formal qualifications in Digital Marketing, I provide a face to face consultancy service for Illawarra and South Coast based businesses who are looking to improve their online presence. I’ll help you come up with a customised SEO strategy that meets your needs, making the most use of your available budget.
Get your website found by the right customers
A common issue faced by businesses is that their website doesn’t rank well in search engine results. I regularly talk to Illawarra business owners who have paid big bucks for a classy looking website, but isn’t found online unless someone types in the exact URL of the website.
The good news? Many of these websites can see significant results with some simple tweaks. If this sounds like you, drop me a line and we can have a chat about your business goals. I can carry out a website audit and give recommendations as to how you could improve your online presence.
Industry specific keyword research
I use a range of online tools to analyse data relating to your specific industry. This allows me to figure out what your potential customers are searching for online.
Personalised strategy to reach your business goals
Who are your target customers and what do your want to get from the leads your website brings in? Do you specialise in a certain niche area of your industry? I will tailor an SEO strategy for your individual business.
Search Engine Optimised website design
There are a number of things within the back end of your website that can improve its’ visibility in search engine results.
Complete local business SEO across other platforms
It’s not just about what happens on your website. SEO can mean linking with other networks, businesses and directories across the internet to increase the standing of your website.
Engaging with the Illawarra community
Whether you have a bricks and mortar business such as an office in Wollongong or Shellharbour or cover a service area such as the Illawarra, you want to be connecting with your potential customers in that geographical location.
Gone are the days of people scrolling through an alphabetical list of your competitors in the Yellow Pages. These days, your potential customers are typing what they are looking for in to a search engine such as Google and clicking on one of the first results they find. That means if you’re an emergency vet in Fairy Meadow, you’ll want to be ranking in search engines when someone searches “emergency vet Fairy Meadow”. How do you do that? It’s where SEO comes in to play.
Why hiring a local SEO specialist makes sense:
There are many people and agencies that claim to “do SEO” in an industry that is largely unregulated. Unlike a physiotherapist or a qualified motor mechanic, there is no requirement for web designers or SEO specialists do hold any formal qualifications and as such, many are self taught and have varying levels of skill.
A recent report by Microsoft listed SEO as one of the most important skills for marketers to have, so if you’re going to be investing money in to your local business marketing, use someone who understands SEO and knows what they’re doing. If your website is being found online by the right people, you should see a return on your investment.
Why spend money on a business card sized ad in a print magazine that most people will scan over without noticing? Wouldn’t you rather get your business served up to someone who has actively gone searching for the service that you provide?
If yours is the business they contact, what value has that lead just generated for you? If you get follow up appointments or a repeat customer from that lead, what is that worth to you now? SEO can be the best advertising money you ever spend.
Interested in finding out more? Drop us a line to book a face to face meeting.
What does an SEO specialist do?
In a nutshell, an SEO specialist is someone who can optimise (through building or improving) your website to increase your ranking in search engine results. SEO isn’t a strategy that gets results overnight – it often takes months to start really getting traction, but those results then generally last for a long time. If SEO is maintained on an ongoing basis, it requires less time for even greater results.
Note: If you do want instant visitors to your website, paid advertising (known as Search Engine marketing or SEM) may be right for you. The results are instant, BUT the moment you stop paying for that advertising, you lose those visitors to your website.
SEO isn’t a “done once, done forever” game. While a website can be built in a “search engine optimised” way, in order to get the best results, websites require ongoing maintenance and SEO means ongoing work. Think of it like putting in the hard yards for a 6 week challenge at the gym – you will get results at the end of the challenge, but they won’t last forever if you stop exercising.
An SEO specialist manages the ongoing optimisation of your website through content creation, competition research and keyword analysis. We often compare it to getting your car serviced every five thousand kilometres to ensure you get the best performance out of it!
