Running a business with multiple locations is quite a challenge these days. After all, you want your physical locations to be closer to customers, in order to ensure that your business will remain afloat all the time. However, what about your company’s website? Today, almost every consumer will research a store online. They seek information, such as location, business hours, directions and even a phone number, among other things.
If you have multiple stores but only a single website that’s not properly optimized, you may be losing customers without even realizing it. According to research, 54{ba0a9a3e15355dd97c9749cb9a24ec6f5ef05feff25622efecfa17819de82733} of smartphone users today research business hours online while 53{ba0a9a3e15355dd97c9749cb9a24ec6f5ef05feff25622efecfa17819de82733} of smartphone users look up locations and directions to a local store the same way.
If your website doesn’t provide proper information, chances are your potential customers will look up another store in their area. Still, that doesn’t mean you’ll need a website for each store location. In fact, proper local SEO and redesigning your website here and there will do just fine. Therefore, here are a few major tips for managing a multiple store business website.
Give each location its page
Having a single website doesn’t mean you can’t commit at least one page for each location you have. One master landing page for every location is not only a mistake but it will hurt both your SEO efforts, as well as hurt the overall customer experience.
With that in mind, when designing pages for store locations, you must also ensure they’re well-optimized. For example, provide each location page with proper information, such as directions, open hours, phone number, address and so on.
Moreover, don’t forget to include store-specific content, user reviews, custom offers etc. In addition, it wouldn’t hurt to add a map for each location either. These are just simple steps you can take but if you want to further improve your local SEO (Search Engine Optimization), you should also focus on the following:
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Optimize each location page for SEO.
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Optimize title tags for each page.
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Include user and SEO-friendly URLs for each page.
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Optimize meta descriptions for every piece of content on every page.
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Don’t forget to include relevant keywords.
Improve convenience
As you may already know, navigating a website plays a vital role in customer experience and it’s a crucial factor that determines their satisfaction. Even if you have dedicated a page for every store location you have, you still have to ensure customers can easily find them and make the entire process more convenient for them. Store locations are another great addition for multiple store websites, but make sure that they are simple and convenient. As an example, many multiple location websites provide navigation for their stores via zip code only.
This is not only inconvenient but it can also be confusing. After all, consider that tourists may not be familiar with the zip code of the city they’re visiting and why would they be? Instead, take a look at some of more successful and versatile store locators and learn from them. For example, AT&T store locator provides multiple search options which makes it much easier to find the nearest DirecTV store even if you’re not familiar with zip codes. Therefore, proper navigation and user-friendliness is a must for your individual store pages.
Leverage Google My Business listing
For improving your local SEO, you should definitely consider Google My Business listing directory. This directory will list your business information and portray it on search results for local businesses. You’ll have to create a listing for each store location and page, as well as sync information on your website with Google. Aside from providing business information, you should also include images and customer reviews for this listing.
Most importantly, Google My Business is not just a business listing directory. In fact, it’s also an insights database that can provide you with valuable data. As a matter of fact, Google will provide you with a dashboard with relevant metrics regarding your local business, as well as provide information on how to improve your local SEO strategies for each store you own.
Manage other listings
If you’ve opted for Google as your business listing directory, you shouldn’t neglect other business listings either. In fact, Google will check other directories to see if your information is consistent and synchronized. If it’s not, you won’t favor good local rankings.
What’s more, neglecting other business listings won’t improve the visibility and awareness for your multiple store locations. With that in mind, consider listing your business information on other directories as well. Here are some of the business listing directories you should check out.
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Bing
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Facebook
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Yellow Pages
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Yahoo! Local
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Yelp
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Apple Maps
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LinkedIn Company Directory
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Better Business Bureau
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Angie’s List
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Foursquare
Some directory websites are free, others aren’t. Nevertheless, make sure you opt for business listings that are relevant to your business and your audience, and that you provide accurate NAP (Name, Address, Phone) information on those listings.
Having multiple store locations can be a nightmare for website management but only if you’re not organized. With the help from local SEO and your willingness to improve your website, you can have proper information ready and available for your customers. It will not only help your business become more visible but it will also ensure good customer experience, as well as their satisfaction.
