Last week, we discussed three types of content that your website needs: Navigational Pages, Landing Pages, and Blog Posts.
This week, we are going to dive deeper into blog territory, covering one style of blog that’s crucial for any SEO strategy…Local Content.
Local Content allows you to:
1. Present your dealership to your community, or to a specific geography.
2. Attract that audience to your dealership.
3. Create lasting relationships with both existing and potential clients, other local businesses, and communities as a whole and
4. Do all of these things in new ways, sidestepping the normal “dealership” stereotypes and delivering new leads to your doorstep.
At this point, you might be thinking, “Great. But what do I actually NEED to do?”
Well, the good news is that local content can be pretty easy to create; it’s the research that might be difficult. But don’t you worry, I’m going to walk you through the whole process, so here’s 5 five steps you need to take to create your own Local Content…
1. Set Your Geography
Your first step is to choose the location that you’re looking to target. This could be your city, state, or the next town over; anywhere you want to attract new business to your dealership from.
2. Identify Your Audience
Now, you’ll need to identify your target audience. It could be any prospective car buyer, service or parts customer. It could be demographic-based, focusing on families, college students, the elderly, first-time car buyers, or something else entirely.
For example, if you have an abundance of four-wheel drive vehicles on your lot, your target audience could be off-road enthusiasts, or, if you want to sell more trucks, you might direct your content to contractors, laborers, and those who work construction.
3. Choose Your Topic
When it comes to local content, the goal isn’t to highlight your business or a particular service that you offer. It might be for you, but it’s not about you.
Instead of highlighting your business, you’re highlighting an aspect of the community, or something that will be of interest to them. By making yourself a local resource, and a cornerstone of your community you’re creating a stronger bond with both existing and potential customers. See, it’s definitely for you…even if it’s not about you.
Having established your target geography and audience, the goal is to create content that’s likely to be searched online. Think of local destinations; these could be restaurants, breweries, entertainment and concert venues, shopping malls, parks, camping areas, and popular off-roading spots.
Remember, people are always looking for something to do.
If you sell cars and you’re asking, “how \would a list of movie theaters help me sell cars?” That’s valid. Movie theaters won’t help you sell cars. BUT providing a directory of local movie theaters for those in search of them will. It can drive traffic to your website which can increase your value in the eyes of Google, improve your search rankings, and attract more potential business. Craft local content around the audience you’re looking to attract, and they’ll be more likely to do business with your dealership.
And you don’t need to write a comprehensive history and you shouldn’t be writing a full-blown review. Think of it as guide-style content.
You could highlight the most interesting facets of a particular destination. You could work up a ‘Top-5’ style list of local places your audience needs to visit. You could provide ideas for local seasonal events. When it comes to topics, you’re only limited by the offerings of the location, and your willingness to explore them.
4. Link Your Content
Maybe you’re building content around a single topic or location. Perhaps you’re incorporating more than one in a list-style format. Either way, you’ll want to link your content to any related websites and include the physical location of those places. Not only will this ensure that your audience is able to find the information they need, it will also strengthen your local connections in the eyes of Google, making you a more favorable option in local automotive-related searches.
Remember…local content isn’t about you, it’s about connecting your business to a location, and that location to your business. And the results of a successful local content strategy…well, those are yours to enjoy.