Why Local Search should be at the heart of your marketing in 2012

James Scanlan  |  23 February 2012

51% of your competitors will look to gain more local leads through their website this year – what’s your plan to ensure you don’t miss out on these new clients?

It was interesting going through the “Guava UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report 2011” recently to see that 51% of all UK businesses use, or plan to use, “Local Search” as a marketing tactic in 2012.

Surely by definition this includes 51% of accountants too?

If you’re one of the 51% who plan to use this, then I’m sure you’ve got your plans in place to ensure that your website appears within the top few places of a search engine for accountancy based phrases related to your geographic location e.g. “Accountants in Bristol”.

But what of the other 49% of the accountancy industry who are not capitalising on what have always proved to be, for me, an invaluable, on-going source of new enquiries, from potential clients who want to engage the services of an accountant in a specific location – and therefore are extremely easy to convert?

For very few accountants, other than those who operate in specific niches, or vertical markets, search engine optimisation, pay per click, and search engine marketing in its entirety, is not a sustainable marketing and lead generation tactic on its own.

To be really successful, firms need to engage with multiple tactics, across a broad spectrum of channels, both on and off line using traditional forms of marketing such as direct marketing and telemarketing as well as newer mediums such as social media and search engines.

This long held belief of mine that all accountants should capitalise on as many marketing channels as possible has often been prohibited by cost when it comes to SEO. This is why we’ve developed the new “Search Local" service from PracticeWEB.

This low cost SEO service not only provides transparent and on-going return on investment for your website, it requires little or no effort from you, other than the initial consultation, leaving you free to spend your time earning fees or engaged with other lead generation activities.

So if you are interested in staying ahead of your competition, want to start winning more new clients directly through your website, and becoming part of the 51% of businesses who will market themselves in this way, then please contact me.

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