Bringing visitors to your website is only half the battle. For visits to have any value, you need to turn them into conversions. The tactics you will use to encourage conversions are completely different from those you use to drive traffic to your site. For local businesses, conversions require you to provide the right location information.
1. Explain Where You Are
One of the most crucial factors for prospects is the distance of the business from their homes or workplaces. A customer may be unwilling to travel far, particularly if a competitor is offering a similar service. In fact, travel time is more important than quality and monetary savings, found an Access Development consumer survey.
There is nothing you can do about being too far away for a customer, but you can make it obvious when you are within a reasonable distance.
For instance, as well as including your address, write directions from key spots in the area, specify the closest cross streets, and name other businesses that are nearby. This allows customers to make a quick judgement call as to whether you are close enough to visit.
Furthermore, if you are looking to attract customers from out of town, you need to bear in mind that they may be unfamiliar with the area. By naming well-known landmarks, you give your location context.
Another important feature is an interactive map. A static map may be unhelpful to many customers, as it only shows your location from one point of view. Customers can copy and paste your address into Google maps, but they may just navigate away from your site.
To increase your chances of a conversion, embed an interactive map into your website. This will allow visitors to zoom and move the map in a way that helps the location make sense to them. Better still, they will be on your site the whole time.
2. Include Other Essential Information
Help customers feel that it will be easy to find you. Include a description of your business, your phone number, and other pertinent information. You may like to include the name of the business owner or whoever handles communications. This gives a personal touch to calls and emails from the start.
Help customers feel that it will be easy to find you. Include a description of your business, your phone number, and other pertinent information. You may like to include the name of the business owner or whoever handles communications. This gives a personal touch to calls and emails from the start.
3. Ensure the Information Is Easy to Find
If users are unable to find location information quickly, they may give up or search for another business. Ideally, you want to fit your address on the front page of your website, above the fold for all screen sizes. If this is not possible, you at least need to make it obvious how to find this information. For example, you could include a link in the main navigation bar and footer.
4. Create Pages for Each Location
If your business has more than one location, you must include the location information for each on a single contact page. In addition, each location should have its own optimized landing page, social media pages, Yelp listing, Google My Business page, and pages on other relevant online directories.
When you are consistent with your branding, creating multiple pages serves several purposes. First, you ensure that prospects in the area know that you have a location near them. Second, customers who are already aware of your business find out about your other locations. Third, you are able to share reviews, upload pictures, and describe the specific services you offer at each location. All this can lead to a greater number of conversions.
5. Bring Customers to the Area
If you have multiple locations and one is less popular than the others or if your business is far from a residential area, show customers why they may like to visit. Create local guides naming nearby attractions that customers can check out when they come to your business. Include sites of interest that are relevant to your niche but in no way your competitors.
For instance, if your target audience is families, you could name other activities to enjoy with kids to create a day out. If you own a gym, you could suggest places for refreshment after a workout or spots to pick up healthy food. Local guides tie into your content strategy, make it clearer where exactly your business is located, and support other local companies — who may return the favor one day.
6. Track Analytics
By monitoring your visitors’ behavior on your website and social media pages, you can see how your location information is helping and where it is currently falling short. For instance, a high bounce rate or short average time on your website suggests users may be struggling to find information.
Optimizing your website with location information requires little effort, but it has a big impact on conversions. Keep tweaking your strategy to find out how to change the layout and the location information you include to maximize conversions.
