We all know that having a website for your business is critical. 

Attracting visitors (aka traffic) to that website is a task that takes up the majority of the time and attention of most webmasters (and mistresses) and can be a huge challenge.

And any old traffic made up of random visitors isn't good enough – it needs to be the kind of visitor that has a chance of taking you up on your offer of goods or services.

Some businesses will enjoy the luxury of a wide and diverse audience of potential customers, but most need a specific profile or type of visitor.

In the case of a business that delivers to a set geographic area this means local visitors.

People are more likely to visit a hairdressor, restaurant or mechanic if they are just up the road. They will start with plumbers, elecricians and financial advisors that they can get to easily.

This geographic location could encompass a country, a region, a city or a suburb of that city, it doesn't matter which, only that the location is an important driver for your audience.

It doesn't mean you would turn away people outside the set area, just that it makes sense to focus your efforts and resources on attracting visitors to your website that have the greatest chance of becoming a customer.

Research the right geographic keywords first

Some of the most effective local marketing strategies will involve the online channel, especially search marketing.

To do this effectively, your first step will be to make sure you are using the right location keywords. If you are in Albany, Auckland, you need to know if people search using 'Albany' or 'North Shore' or just 'Auckland'.

You may have to choose between a few and pick one to focus on, because searches that are suburb specific might not get enough search volume (ie people using that phrase) to justify any effort.

It also depends on how much competition there is for the main area (eg Auckland). You may find you are competing against a lot of other businesses in the same industry and/or the big players. Take it down a notch and focus on a smaller area (like North Shore) and you may find it a lot easier.

Also it depends on your industry. It would be more relevant for a cafe or hairdresser to get suburb specific, than say a financial advisor.

Local Search Optimisation (local SEO)

For most of our customers, organic search traffic is the most important channel for visitors. This mostly means Google, but don't discount the other search engines like Bing and Yahoo.

To optimise your website so you are attracting more local visitors:

• Include location details on your site. Preferably not just on the contacts page where you'll only get one instance of your location. You could include it in your footer to increase the number of instances the location words are used.
• Treat location as one of your keywords so you appear ahead of that Christchurch company if you are in Auckland
• Often a suburb specific search like "Birkenhead Vets" won't get enough people searching to make it worthshile, so you might want to keep it to the general area (eg Auckland rather than Browns Bay). Use keyword research tools to estimate volume and identify the right phrases to target.
• Consider your business name - eg Auckland Barbecue Warehouse. If you are able to choose which location, use the one most people use when they are searching.
• Include your location in content - eg In a testimonial heading you could use: "Tony's Tire Service in Henderson got me four new tires for the price of two!"

Google + and Google Places (now Google+Pages) – what's up with these?

Google has helpfully given you different options and ways to make your site easier to find, but it can get very confusing.

Essentially, a Google Places listing is what gets you on Google maps. Google+ adds social features.

They can be managed from the same profile but everything can start looking the same so here's a guide that explains the two by Search Engine Watch.

Local Business Directories

Yellow pages, Finda, localist, NZS.com are all worth listing in. Take care before you opt for a paid listing (their sales people can get pretty persuasive). You may just have to try it and see, but we see a lot of businesses with paid listings that get little return.

Include your location in directory listing information and descriptions. If possible you could include several suburbs like 'Glenfield, Birkenhead and Birkdale'. Often directorys will make you pick an area from a set list, so this is a good way to include specific suburbs and might pick up those few people who get that specific in their search.

Yelp – this is a local search engine that has been popular in places like the US and is now in NZ. Your listing will be more visible if you can get people to leave a review for you, but no harm in adding a listing regardless.

Get reviews

Customer reviews are important and for many local listings, reviews will get you higher up the page and noticed more readily than if you have none.

The tricky bit here is where to ask your customers to leave the review. Choose a couple of review sites that fit your overall marketing and that you have optimised your listing for. Give reviewers a choice of several and they can pick which one suits them. Google Plus, No Cowboys, LinkedIn etc.

But a word of caution – don't fake them. Make sure they are genuine.

Optimise your social profiles

It goes without saying that you should claim your profile on all the main platforms – LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and of course Google+.

Every one of your social profiles should include your physical location somewhere. Update the address information or about section if there is one - make sure you add location information.

If you share images, put your keywords in the image name so the filename has them in them. If you write blog posts or add other content to your website, share the url via all your social networks.

Reach out to your fellow local businesses

In our post Three link building strategies to improve your Google ranking much of what we talk about involves building and building on relationships you have with your customers, suppliers and other local businesses.

Tactics include sponsoring a local event or team, partnering with an appropriate business who's services or products complement yours.

Anything we've forgotten? Let us know in the comments!

Image attribution: Image by Stuart Miles on www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net