Story: How does a customer find us?

We, graphic designer whatever your specialties, want to work with a client, provide a solution by design. However, most of the people don’t get any inquiries through the website. Why?

I believe it’s because people don’t know about us. More clearly, people cannot find us on Google. Because we are not on the first page. So, how should we do? Come to think of it, this is not only a designer’s problem, but every business may have the same issue. I’ve started to learn digital marketing for this reason. I’m going to find a solution and provide it to client as a design service.

In this blog, I write about local SEO. At first, let’s register Google My Business.

Google My Business

Attract new customers with your free Business Profile.

Your Business Profile appears right when people are searching for your business or businesses like yours on Google Search and Maps. Google My Business makes it easy to create and update your Business Profile—so you can stand out, and bring customers in.

After you applied Google My Business, Google sends you the letter within 2 weeks. It’s vilifying code. Before that, you can fill in the blank even though google maps doesn’t show up your business.

Now Google shows up your business on the map. However, There is a rank obviously. It relates to information consistency, history and review. Or you might currently modify an information.

Google My Business Help: Can’t find business on Google

Local SEO

I claimed Google My Business in Januar 2019. This is the start of a long long SEO journey. I have to optimize GMB. It’s called Local SEO. I think this is one of the reasons why startup (whatever your business is) should have a website. Because half of the business comes from local. If your business doesn’t show up on google, people who are looking for your service/product don’t know the existence of your business. After all, missing business opportunities.

Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is an incredibly effective way to market your local business online. It helps businesses promote their products and services to local customers at the exact time they’re looking for them online. This is achieved through a variety of methods, some of which differ greatly from what’s practiced in standard SEO.

01. Check mobile friendly.
61% of mobile searchers are more likely to contact a local business if they have a mobile‐friendly site.
Mobile-Friendly Test: Is your web page mobile friendly?

02. Google My Business Setting
He says the business name is not meant for keyword suffering. However, people recognize my business on the map easily. I typed ‘Open Bookmarks Co. – Graphic/Web Design’. It was wrong. Then, I modified it.
GMB Name: Do NOT try to shoehorn keywords here. Enter your business name ONLY.

GMB Address: If you have only a virtual office, DO NOT use this address—not unless this office is “staffed during business hours.” Doing so is against GMB guidelines. Use your home address instead. – Guidelines for representing your business on Google

03. Keyword Research
At first, let’s brainstorm the service in locations. ‘vancouver graphic designer hire’ ‘vancouver web designer needs’ ‘vancouver freelance graphic designer’ ‘vancouver freelance web designer’ etc.

Google autocomplete shows me the idea of a keyword. The best way is to analyze your competitor which lists the first page on google. If you have time, you can search similar businesses in other, larger areas (e.g., a big city) to uncover keywords that may also be relevant in your area, which your local competitors may have missed.

Site Explorer(not free…)
Moz: Link Explorer | Moz’s Link Building Research Tool
Site Explorer by Ahrefs: Competitive Analysis Tool For SEO

I generated JSON-LD by Using Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper. Then, I installed Schema App Structured Data. I could find panel on page/post page very bottom. I copy and past JSON-LD.
*I had to delete first 2 lines. Otherwose, you may be going to get an error.

{
“@context” : “http://schema.org”,
“@type” : “LocalBusiness”,
“name” : “Open Bookmarks Co. Takashi Hirakimoto | Freelance | Graphic/Web Design & Branding | Vancouver, BC, Canada Logo”,
“telephone” : “7789260365”,
“email” : “info@openbookmarks.co”,
“address” : {
“@type” : “PostalAddress”,
“streetAddress” : “259 Powell St”,
“addressLocality” : “Vnacouver”,
“addressRegion” : “BC”,
“addressCountry” : “Canada”
},
“url” : “https://www.openbookmarks.co/”
}

Full Story blog below.
Ahrefs Pte Ltd.: Local SEO: A Simple (But Complete) Guide

Google my Business: 9 Actionable Tips for Better Rankings (in 2019)

Tips:
1. Post on Google my business
2. Questions and answers
3. Business description
4. Google review
5. Service menu
6. Ad videos
7. Add a book button
8. Direct message
9. Website builder

Local SEO 2019 – How to Rank in Google Maps Tutorial

Tips:
1. Proximity
2. On-page
3. Google My Business
4. Citation
5. Backlinks

GeoImgr: Geotagging Photos made easy!

Recommends image name includes business name, category and location.
Use Google my business post. (works last 7 days)

moz: Can your customers find you online?

Conclusion: Learning process

I’m learning SEO since January 2019. It’s a very logical process. So, I’m enjoying SEO learning, but I feel a little too much knowledge as a graphic/web designer. Sounds excuse?

I have to implement this study on my website and social media. Of cause, I am going to leave a certain result during 2019. I will update the result with a screenshot in December 2019.

Reference:

Medium: 8 Local SEO Ranking Factors