5 Tips for Promoting Your Website Locally

After months of planning and hard work, you’re thrilled to launch your website.

Your web designer created a great-looking site that’s easy to use and works well on desktop and mobile.

Your site’s been submitted to search engines, analytics installed, and Google Search Console set up.

You’re not ready to start a blog, but you’ve created an editorial calendar for your social media business accounts.

Since your audience is local, you want to get the word out to people in your community about your services and products. How can you make sure they find your website?

And convert your website visitors into buyers?

Here are five tips for promoting your website locally that will drive traffic and sales to your site:

1. Add your URL to your business card.
   Hand out your business card to everyone you meet. Give them two, one to keep and one to share.

   Look for boards and others places at your local cafes, restaurants, library, or other businesses to share or post your business card.

   I posted my card at a local coffee shop and was pleasantly surprised when I received calls from prospective clients looking for website help.

2. Follow, listen and interact with other community businesses and individuals on your social media business accounts.
   Engage with those who follow your account. Take the time to read, share, comment, like, and reply to other social media accounts. Learn about their work, life, and business; create relationships.

   And yes, tell your story. Share pictures, videos, and written descriptions of your company and the products/services you’ve created for your clients.

3. Set up your site on Google Business Profile and submit your site to Bing Places for Business.
   This is different than submitting your website to search engines.

   You’ll have the opportunity to provide Google Business Profile and Bing Places with details about your business, hours of operation, services offered, as well as photos of your business.

4. Add your business to Yelp.
   While most people think of Yelp for restaurants and cafes, non-food businesses like photographers, dentists, auto repair shops are listed on Yelp.

   Once you’ve added your business to Yelp, customer reviews and ratings will encourage people in your local community to reach out to you.

   While you’re restricted from asking your clients to write a review on Yelp, you can say “Check us out on Yelp!” Add your Yelp badge to your website and add a link to your Yelp listing in your email signature.

5. Get involved in your community.
   Join the local Chamber of Commerce or other community business groups and attend their networking events to meet others in your community.

   Attend and offer to speak at local business events, seminars/webinars, or your local library.
   Sponsor a community event, whether a fun run, summer festival or car show. Your business name and contact information (including your website) will be included in printed materials attendees receive.

   Signage for the event will usually display your logo or business name, depending on the sponsorship level.

Wrapping Up

Spreading the word about your website will take time. While you can’t expect success overnight, these tips will get you started promoting your website locally and attracting new leads and customers for your business.

If you want to talk further about promoting your site, contact me for a consultation.

What steps have you used to promote your website locally? Share them in the comments.