Local SEO PackagesAny business owner with their finger on the pulse is currently in the middle of, or has just completed, a digital transformation. It isn’t just the office hardware that has been upgraded – but the way we conduct business has also changed.

Online marketplaces mean online consumers…and local SEO packages allow your business to be seen by more local online consumers than it otherwise would.

Still confused? Don’t panic. Local SEO isn’t that difficult to understand and we are here to guide you. Find out what SEO packages are, why you need one for your firm, and who they benefit, by reading just a little farther.

Understanding SEO

To comprehend the full phrase, let’s break “Local SEO Packages” down into three parts. The first, the ‘local’ part, we probably don’t need to explain. The second part, the SEO, is where business owners and managers tend to struggle.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. A search engine is a site like Google, Bing, or Yahoo, where you can search the internet to find the information you need. Optimizing your online presence (a term used to encompass all of your businesses social media accounts, websites, email addresses, blogs, or other visible online activity) so that a search engine can find you more easily is simply the sensible thing to do.

Ergo, SEO means making your business easier to find to the online marketplace. Since this marketplace is global, specializing in ‘local’ SEO helps you to target customers most likely to buy. Localizing your search engine hits is the best way to make sure you aren’t trying to sell ice to the proverbial Eskimo.

So What Are Local SEO Packages, then?

These packages have been designed by specialist online firms who are experts in maintaining a strong online presence. They will generally offer deals in which they take charge of boosting you up through the search engine results to be closer to the coveted top three spots.

Is this important? Yes. The top spot ranked for any given answer in Google gets a whopping 33% of all traffic. If you aren’t in that top spot then one of your local competitors could be. Even at an engagement rating of only one in ten, that still puts your sales below your local competitors. The digital age is making search engine rankings a major factor in who makes the most money.

What Packages will an SEO Company offer?

As a general rule, any good SEO firm will offer the following things as standard:

  • They will build citations by spreading references to your site throughout the internet. This allows more links back to your business. If they put these links on local boards it will increase your listing on a regional level.
  • They will boost your reviews and ratings wherever possible, sometimes coming up with innovative ways to have existing clients review your business in feedback sessions, with forms, or with email marketing.
  • They will ‘localize’ your site, which just means that a country, region, town or city will appear throughout. This will help you climb listings in that particular area. They will (or they should) examine the analytical data to find out which of the area names your business uses, are searched the most, or are least used by your competitors.
  • They will build backlinks. These are links from other websites to your own. The more of these you have, the higher you will rank in search results.
  • They will operate on a monthly subscription basis. As a general rule, in exchange for this they will manage your online presence in a way that makes you more visible to the consumer.
  • They may make small modifications to improve your website, particularly your blog, and will improve how Google and other search engines ‘see’ your site. This sounds a lot easier than it is. Every engine runs on a different algorithm, with Google being the predominant engine. They have a habit of changing what makes good SEO and what doesn’t. An expert is the best way for your small to medium business to keep up with the times.

Some SEO firms may offer other deals inclusive of special features. For the most part, however, SEO companies will drive traffic to your site… and traffic means money.

What other Features might SEO Companies manage?

They might also look at how secure your website is, whether or not it operates across all types of device, and the speed of your site. They should then advise you on how to improve these if they cannot do it themselves.

An SEO organization will also make sure your images are clear and vibrant, as well as checking the length and quality of the content you host on your site. Have you ever been using a website and come across an unexplained error code? SEO firms make sure your pages never display that message.

If you want to, you could get a package tailored to a single part of your business. Some firms specialize in providing social media packages, website-specific deals, or cater to your business’s full online presence. They type of package you get really does depend on you.

A Word on Google My Business

Google My business is a free tool Google supply to help firms to manage their online presence. Not only do most business owners not know about it, most of them don’t have one set up yet. An SEO company will set this up on your behalf and make sure it is immaculate. This powers you up those listings – but particularly up through the Google search results… and Google represents around 88.47% of total searches, give or take.

What is Google Maps Marketing?

Google Maps Marketing uses specific keywords and linking to put your business on the literal map. Google maps is used by around 154.4 million people every month. Every one of them has the potential to be right around the corner from your business.

Now besides the fact that this map entry can be localized to make you rank higher; it also caters to a little digital advertising of its own. Every time a person in your town opens the map to plan a route they will see your business name and logo. Like any other form of advertising, after around 7 views of these features, you will gain brand recognition.

Studies show brand recognition boosts perceived customer loyalty. This loyalty is what they remember when they are making purchasing decisions. So: after seeing you on Google Maps ten times in a month, your customer is out shopping for something that you sell. Instead of buying it in the city and trucking it all the way home – they remember you sell those, and you are better because you are local… Google Maps Marketing works in wonderful ways.

What Should I Expect to Pay?

online marketing vs traditional marketingThe most affordable local SEO packages with the best reviews are the safest bet for a good ROI. These companies charge somewhere between $500 and $1000 for a good standard deal. If you want to get extravagant and have more online help, then expect to pay up to $3000 for a campaign. Any more than that and you are being extorted.

Pricing will depend on the size of your firm and the expanse of your online world. Expect to pay more for a larger firm. Again, expect to pay more if your business routinely handles sensitive data.

A further note on pricing: obviously no firm will want to trawl through your webpages and fix it all for you, only to be fired in the second week after your rankings improve. In order to protect some of their investment in you, an SEO firm is likely to lock you into a contract. These tend to be three months long and are often referred to as ‘campaigns’.

How Do I Find Local SEO Companies Near Me?

You can find a local SEO company in your area by entering:

“Find an SEO company near me”

Into your search engine or URL bar. You should be presented with a list of local establishments who will be able to help you. Alternatively, change the search to:

“Affordable SEO Packages near me”

If you would like to try and save some money!

Do SEO Packages Actually Work?

SEO packages, local SEO, hiring someone to run your whole online domain – all of it works. It works for several reasons, but most of these relate to three key areas: time, productivity and money.

Time – You will save time when you choose to hire a specialist firm to operate on your behalf. Unless you are an IT and algorithm expert yourself, they will do the job faster than you can.

Productivity – This goes hand in hand with time. IF you aren’t spending your time pouring over the research of a whole new brand of marketing, you can devote that time to better things. In the long run, small to medium firms do in production terms if they outsource some of their IT management. This is just an extension of that.

Money – This is a question of how much SEO optimization you could do in an hour, versus how much money you could be making if you didn’t have to waste that time. If your time is more valuable, or if you can make more in an hour than you would pay out, hire someone else to do it because it makes financial sense.

Whatever you choose to do with your companies search rankings, make sure you monitor them. Your competitors most certainly will be, and the lower you are, the better their chances of scoring the traffic you aren’t catching.

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