You’re on your way to a party at a friend’s house and you want to pick up cigars to bring along. You would likely search for “cigar shops near me” or “cigar shops + city name” on your phone. Therefore, it is crucial for every cigar shop business to do locally-focused search engine optimization.
Brick and mortar businesses still garner a lot of business by mere physical presence, but today rely more on search engines and social media for new customers to discover them.
Search for Yourself
Try searching for your business using general terms as if you were a consumer such as “cigar shop Atlanta” or “cigar shop near me” (make sure your location is turned in your phone settings).
If you have trouble finding your shop on the first page of Google or at all, you will need to complete your local business listing. With the help of Cigarketing, you can dominate your rivals by doing locally-focused search engine optimization!
Google My Business for Locally- Focused Search Engine Optimization
Open a Google My Business account. This is a free service that makes your business more searchable. This allows you to complete a profile to enter basic information such as web address, physical address, contact info, and photos. It also supplies a link to Google Maps for directions to your store.
Insights on Google My Business
Google My Business also provides valuable insights such as the number of clicks, calls, and bookings from your business page. You can track how well certain promotions or marketing efforts perform in correlation with your Google engagement.
Use Yelp to Increase your Visibility
In addition to a great website, build out your primary citation sites. Before physically going anywhere, most millennials will search for a business on Yelp or social media. They want to make sure the opportunity cost of going somewhere versus ordering online will be worth it.
First search for your business on Yelp. If you haven’t created an account, chances are someone has already left you a review. If you find it, you can unlock your location to complete your business page.
Create a Yelp business page in minutes. Confirm your business hours, basic information and upload photos. Take your Yelp page seriously, respond to reviews and engage with customers. In this way, you can make a locally-focused optimized website to increase your visibility.
Like Google Business, Yelp also provides business performance dashboards to check user actions such as clicks to your website, mobile check-ins and photo uploads.
Use Facebook and Instagram for Locally-Focused Search Engine Optimization
If you don’t already have social media accounts, make sure to create Facebook and Instagram pages. If your business isn’t already listed as a location on these social platforms, you can create one. Never post a photo on social media without tagging your location!
Frequently post photos, links to relevant articles and promote events and sales. Use social media as another opportunity to engage with customers online in order to have a locally-focused optimized website. Respond to comments and messages in a timely manner.
Initiate Conversations on Social Platforms
Initiate conversations in your photo captions. For example, post a photo to a new cigar arrival and write a caption like, “Just in time for the weekend, a new shipment of E.P. Carrillo Encore Majestics.
What are you up to?” This opens the opportunity for followers to respond, start a conversation and lends insight for you on the preferences and demographics of your evolving customer base.
Conclusion
At Cigarketing, we help companies build modernized websites that customers love and that are optimized for search engines. We’re passionate about the premium cigar industry. Want to be the best cigar shop in your area? Let us help you.