5 ways your business in Stuart, FL can dominate search rankings
Zeus Digital Agency is a boutique digital agency that serves Southeast Florida with professional web design, SEO auditing and speed optimization. This is a discussion about local businesses competing in a market continually more dominated by franchises and out of town businesses. A look into relevance, competition and growth going into 2023 as a small business. Today's subject will be based on the current state of the market where I live in Martin County, FL.
So you run a small business in Stuart, FL? This charming, historic place we call home can easily be mistaken for a slice of paradise. In my opinion what makes Stuart and the broader Martin County area so special is it's dedication to local business. It is hard to visit the shops of Downtown or the restaurants of Port Salerno or the cozy spots tucked away in Hobe Sound without knowing you are somewhere special. That being said, we are seeing something right now that has everyone torn. Growth. Something we have all enjoyed from 1870 and onward (Anyone remember Potsdam?, I doubt it). Why have we loved to see growth for over 150 years and all the sudden we are screaming for someone to hit the brakes? Because there is a major difference between natural progress and forced expansion. Afterall, the blossom of the Chrysanthemum plant and the proliferation of a cancer cell are both forms of "growth". Now I run a small software company with clients plotted in every corner of the 600 mile stretch between Atlanta and Miami. I cut my teeth in the industry of "If it's growth, it's good". So what do we do as small business owners to not get washed away in the wave of corporatism and even come out on top? Fight for digital relevance, the only medium in which the small and large alike can be considered equals. When you utilize the algorithmic nature of search engines and social media to your advantage, Costco won't affect your position as a hometown favorite. How? Capitalize on the channels in which high ad spend isn't a primary ranking factor. As local businesses we cannot compete on advertising budget with national companies. If you run a local restaurant, clothing boutique, HVAC service or whatever it may be there is certainly a national competitor you can name that has reach locally. Let's go through the 5 steps I take our clients through for improved ranking, traffic and local SEO.
On-Page Schematics Excuse the industry jargon, on-page schematics speaks to the tags in the back end code of your website that translate your content to search engines and automated crawlers. There is abundant opportunity within this section to help your website rank. With this we can essentially paint a binary (language of computer software) picture of what users can expect from your company. We want to make these accurate, detailed but not superfluous. If you are using a developer ask them, if you are using a website builder you may be able to accomplish this on your own.
“Capitalize on the channels in which high ad spend isn't a primary ranking factor.”
Structured Data Structured data is a specific content type that can substantially affect your appearance in search engines. It essentially takes your website content and allows for search engine users to get quicker and more detailed results. Frequently leading to a higher CTR and many more calls and leads. Chances are there are 5-7 keywords that you need to show up in the top 3 search results. These top 3 end up getting around 70% of the leads online. Again, it doesn't matter if you are a legal practice, lawn service or accounting firm this affects everyone.
Asset Optimization Google sees 80+ percent of search queries, so we tend to focus on optimizing for them. One of our biggest pet peeves is how frequently algorithms change without much warning, sometimes completely cutting businesses off at the knees. The only aspect of search that hasn't changed is that they tend to show websites that perform well (Load Fast for example) much higher in the rankings. "Assets" is a word for any type of visual content on your page. Each type of content has a different "weight" which dictates how fast your website is. Combing through and individually optimizing each of this is single handedly the largest ROI effort for website ranking. When someone searches for your service near Stuart, FL you need to be right there when they need you or they will move on.
Compliance This is a follow up to the previous point of search engines consistently changing algorithms, which at some point may have been the explanation for lack of traffic to your business without you being aware. A good digital agency will do this automatically but by running your website through the page speed insights tool by Google, it will give you a list of compliance issues it finds within your site. I recommend screenshotting the list and going through it making the changes one at a time to see how it affects your page performance. There are also plug-ins to many common website builders that help you do this to a limited extent automatically.
GMB Overhaul GMB stands for Google My Business. Which is the most recent name for the card of information that shows up when you search a business in your area. The reason this is so important is because this is one of the main decision making areas for potential clients. Once they press call now or get directions it is rare that they cancel and call a different company or go somewhere else. Once you claim your profile there is an abundance of options to fill this profile with useful information to help window shoppers commit to a visit, place a call or schedule an appointment. Furthermore, it is a place to collect reviews, answer customer questions and show off your work, all listed in the Google search documents as major ranking factors.
Ok so I know this article got a little techie but that's what I know being that my mind relates all things to software. I hope armed with these tools local businesses where you shake the owners hand and you watch each other's kids grow up. The businesses that do it right and serve their community, businesses like yours and mine survive the next generation. Because it is those people that make where we call home, home. For more information on topics like this and to learn more about my team and our company please stop by our page - Zeus Digital Agency