The Importance of Understanding New York SEO

1. Create a Local Keyword Strategy
2. Get Your Business on the Map!
3. Create New York-Specific Content
4. Master the Art of Link Building for New York Businesses
5. Get Active on Social Media
6. Tweak Your Website

Wrapping Up!

As competition becomes increasingly fierce in New York, small businesses are stumped. As a brand that has yet to become established, how can you possibly get seen by your target audience?

This may sound like a task that’s almost impossible to check off.

Today, New York is saturated with hundreds of thousands of local businesses. While the number of competitors is an issue, the quality of competition is an even bigger brain teaser.

How can you possibly do better than thousands of competitors with top-tier digital marketing strategies, products, services, and customer support?

Well, you can. And it’s not as hard as it’s made out to be!

In this blog, we’ll help you understand how you can grow your small New York business online.

We’ll offer a systematic approach by talking you through the stages of small business growth. This incremental, strategic approach is more practical and effective. It increases the chances of achieving great results that can be easily sustained.

Let’s dive into it!

The Importance of Understanding SEO in New York

Before discussing individual strategies, let’s flip a few pages back and cover the basics real quick.

Small business growth in New York is contingent on one practice: search engine optimization (SEO). This refers to the process of optimizing your online and offline presence to attract more visitors, earn more impressions, get more clicks, and secure more conversions.

Sounds like a dream, right? Well, SEO is that powerful.

It’s your golden ticket to achieving impressive growth as an up-and-coming business. SEO comprises a set of three key activities: on-page optimization, off-page optimization, and technical optimization.

Here’s a quick breakdown of what these practices entail:

As a small business based in New York, you should target each of these three practices to grow your business. Effective, well-balanced, and thorough SEO will help your business get seen, get ahead, and get established!

1. Create a Local Keyword Strategy 

Keyword research and optimization are the bedrock of small business growth.

Let’s understand this a more. As a small business in New York, you target customers in New York. You may offer your services in NYC, Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Long Beach, or perhaps throughout New York. Ultimately, you’re targeting people within the constraints of this state, not beyond.

Since your business is location-specific, your SEO strategy should also be location-friendly. Start with keywords. We recommend creating a robust keyword strategy that includes region-specific keywords.

Let’s say you offer tech support across New York. Now, if someone is looking for such services, their search entries will look something like this:

They may get more specific. If so, they’ll specify the service or location, which will refine the search terms even more. Here are some examples:

No matter which industry you operate in, your target audience will search for terms that follow this pattern.

If you run a food trucking company, your audience will search for “food truck New York,” etc.

If you’re a practicing attorney in Buffalo, your audience will search for “experienced lawyer in Buffalo” and the like.

These are keywords. Once they’re entered, Google’s search engine spiders will get to work and fetch similar webpages accordingly.

As a small business owner in New York, you want your webpages to show up.

If we search for “best interior designer in New York,” the following search results appear:

Why are these specific search results showing up? Well, because these companies have optimized their website using relevant keywords, including location-specific keywords.

This is exactly what you need to be doing to show up among the top search results!

If your keyword strategy is top-tier, you’ll also earn a spot in the coveted Google 3-Pack, the section with the map on the right. This often shows up as the first set of search results for local businesses.

It earns an extremely high number of clicks, so if you make it, you’ll guarantee a generous boost in traffic, clicks, and conversions!

At Global-marketing Inc., our keyword research experts work closely with small New York businesses and create an individualized strategy that helps them get to the top. We’ll give you a comprehensive keyword report for just $99. Once you put it into practice and start noticing the results, you’ll understand the importance of excellent keyword research. You can also do your own keyword research as a starting point. While it may not be as comprehensive and refined as a specialized report, it’ll give you an idea of how to get started!

Google Keyword Planner is an excellent tool. You can gain pretty accurate insights and create a great keyword research and implementation strategy as a beginner.

At Global-marketing Inc., we target a range of keywords, including primary, long-tail, LSI, broad match, phrase match, exact match, and geo keywords. We take a deep dive into your industry, goals, audience interests, and business model to structure a strategy that’s right for you. When used correctly, the right keywords will help you gain a power-packed boost in visibility.

2. Get Your Business on the Map!

We just covered the Google 3-Pack. In this section, we’ll take a deeper dive into it. Why?

Because it dictates:

1. a) Whether your brand is seen by your audience and
2. b) How your audience perceives your brand.

Creating a Google My Business profile is a great way to get your business on the map! As customers look for local products/services, there’s a greater chance of your business showing up if you have a comprehensive, accurate, and updated Google My Business page.

The best part? This is a completely free tool.

It allows you to share basic information about your New York business (business name, website, category (industry), business hours, address, phone number, description, FAQs, attributes, reviews, etc.

You can also share photos and videos to give people a slice of what your products, services, or business experience is like.

Your Google My Business profile will put you on Google Search and Maps. The better your profile, the higher your rankings!

For starters, set up your profile. Make sure you enter as much information as possible.

It must be completely authentic. If there are any inaccuracies, your listing could potentially be taken down. Take your time, double-check everything, and make sure your profile is on track.

We also recommend verifying and claiming your listing. This won’t take long.

By getting a green badge next to your profile, you’ll increase its legitimacy and credibility.

Once you’ve taken care of the basics, start optimizing your profile to improve its rankings and attract more clients.

Add high-quality images and videos to your listing.

On average, listings have between 10 and 12 images. If you can exceed this number while maintaining quality, you’re good to go! Make sure the pictures are appealing, clear, relevant, and helpful.

We also suggest setting up a comprehensive Q&A section. Here’s an example of a Q&A section from a restaurant in New York:

The more questions you include, the better. Additionally, answer questions that customers have already asked. Your profile should also include a generous amount of reviews. Now, this isn’t entirely in your control. While you can prompt your audience to send in reviews, you can’t control whether they’ll submit one and how flattering it’ll be.

Your top strategy should be offering high-quality products/services that compel your audience to leave a nice review. You can also request them to submit one by adding a review page to your website. This should redirect to your Google My Business profile, so all the reviews are collected there.

Let’s look at an example of a near-perfect Google My Business listing. This is the first result that appears when we enter “best interior designer New York” in the search bar:

This is what we’re talking about! Notice how every detail has been meticulously filled out. From the service options to the health and safety requirements to the Q&A section to the images, each detail is complete. The listing looks professional and appealing.

As you rework your profile, pay special attention to the grammar, punctuation, spelling, and syntax. As you start creating Google My Business posts, you must keep this in mind more than usual. These posts will show up when people search for specific information about your business. If the details aren’t accurate or the language is sloppy, people will get a bad impression of your business.

Google My Business does wonders when used correctly. Make sure you leverage it well!

Recommended Read: How to Optimize Google My Business Listing and Leverage It for More Sales

3. Create New York-Specific Content

Content is king. We’ve said this before, and we’ll say it again! It also doesn’t require you to break the bank.

As a small business, you can create quality content and reach a wide audience while protecting your bottom line. You may be creating regular content right now (articles and blogs). However, it’s possible that you’re not optimizing it for location.

Let’s understand what we mean by this.

Take a look at this blog:

Written by Iles Formula, a haircare brand, it covers the best hairstyles from the New York Fashion Week (NYFW) 2019. Despite being an older blog, it still shows up among the top search results when you look for “hairstyles in New York”.

As a business owner, you must remember that your audience lives in New York. Whether they’re looking for products, services, or industry-specific trends, they’ll specify their location in the search bar.

If a web user living in Essex County is interested in hiking gear, they won’t care much about a hiking guide for Oakland. Keep this in mind as you start working on future content.

Try to write with your audience in mind. Cover local events, trending topics, and festivals in New York. If you offer legal support in NYC, write a blog on the penalties for DWI in NYC. If you run a coffee store in Syracuse, write about the most popular coffee blends to try in Syracuse.

Specify the location in at least one out of every five blogs/articles you write. This is a great way to target local customers and build your brand. We also recommend branching out into other types of content. Sure, blogs and articles are effective in increasing reach and revenue. However, they’re not enough. Over time, you should also equip your content arsenal with guest blogs, press releases, how-to guides, power blogs, infographics, listicles, and case studies.

Make sure your content is expertly optimized beyond the keywords. On-page content optimization includes title tags, meta descriptions, alt tags, and internal links. Pay special attention to these. If they’re not included and optimized, they can prevent well-researched and well-written content from ranking high.

If you’re looking for the latest trends in New York, give Google Trends a shot. This brilliant platform helps you understand what people are searching for in different parts of the world. It’s like Twitter but for digital marketing! You can keep up with the latest trends in New York and search topics to gauge whether they’re popular or not. This insight will go a long, long way in helping you write content that’s well-received by your target audience. You’ll manage to check off all the boxes that need to be checked off!

4. Master the Art of Link Building for New York Businesses

When it comes to putting the word out about your business, link building is one of the best strategies out there. It’s powerful, affordable, and sustainable. You won’t yield temporary results. When implemented correctly, it can help you enjoy a consistent stream of traffic in the long run.

Here’s the catch. Skip regular link building. Instead, focus on creating a location-specific link building strategy. Many local brands make the mistake of using a generalized link building strategy. While this works well for established businesses, it’s not the right strategy for up-and-coming brands.

As a small business, you should use a more focused, localized, and contextual link building strategy that helps you get leads in your area. Local link building has been gaining more traction in 2022, and it’s easy to see why. It works wonders and helps small businesses become more visible on the web.

Any time you’re building links, you should have a strong focus on quality. The last thing you want to do is build lots of low-quality links that generate little to no traffic. You’d much rather generate a few high-quality links that create a consistent stream of traffic.

Start writing value-added, engaging, and optimized guest blogs for high-DA local platforms. Improve content quality across the board so you can generate organic backlinks from local industry giants. Since the organic approach takes a little longer to yield results, many local businesses use a more direct approach when starting off.

Here’s how you can go about this. If you mention a local platform in your content, email and notify them. Let them know that you value their platform as a small business and included an external link in your content. Chances are that they’ll check out your content and perhaps offer a backlink in return! This is a great way to build partnerships using local outbound links.

We also suggest using the broken link building strategy for local content. A balanced, effective, and tailored link building strategy will help you enjoy better reach and sales in the long run. This is one of the things you must do to grow your small business!

5. Get Active on Social Media

When it comes to off-page SEO, social media marketing is the best strategy in the game. There’s no denying it! If you don’t have social media pages, set them up.

For starters, focus on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Moving forward, you can also branch out into LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube, and other relevant platforms based on your industry.

As a local New York business, you should create a local social media marketing plan. Focus on your local target audience. Work on new posts, stories, polls, giveaways, Q&As, and reels with your audience’s location and interests in mind. This is an excellent way to get more local traffic, i.e., qualified traffic.

If your business is exclusively based in Utica, there’s no point in targeting web users in different cities or even states. A local social media marketing strategy will help you reel in social media users who can shop your products/services and become long-term customers.

Make sure you optimize your posts using hashtags and keywords. Moreover, use high-quality, visually exciting, and industry-relevant images, videos, and infographics to keep your audience interested.

Start using chatbots! Your customer support team should be proactive, diligent, understanding, and courteous.

All in all, focus on providing a personalized experience to your audience. Your social media activity should appeal to them and offer something new that other local brands aren’t delivering.

This is an example of an excellent Twitter post:

Indulge in one of New York’s best burgers at Astor Court to celebrate #NationalHamburgerDay! #LiveExquisite pic.twitter.com/Qw9QboaDgx

— The St. Regis New York (@StRegisNewYork) May 28, 2019

The post is short and sweet, informing readers of exactly what they need to know without boring them. They’ve included “New York” as a keyword in the post. The hashtags are also relevant and perfectly placed towards the end. Lastly, the image is as appealing and eye-catching as it gets. This is how you curate the perfect local social media post to help your business get seen by your target audience!

6. Tweak Your Website

Every New York business must have a technically sound, aesthetically pleasing, and optimized website. When it comes to web design and development, make sure you check off all the boxes. If you don’t have a website, you’re leaving the bulk of your audience untargeted.

Following the pandemic, people are actively and consistently shopping online. Even after we achieve herd immunity, this trend is expected to continue. The internet is replete with active web users looking for local businesses in New York. Make sure you give them exactly what they want by showing up among the top Google search results. This can only happen when you have a website!

Set up a well-designed and well-developed site with technical SEO in mind. Focus on five key website performance metrics: page speed, DNS lookup speed, time to start render, browser caching, and hosting. As you focus on these areas, you’ll manage to launch a well-functioning site. The design should be user-friendly, appealing, clean, and modern. Keep the navigation simple and straightforward. Lastly, optimize your web copy for location. Use local keywords to attract the right segment of your audience. As you improve your website, you’ll make it more visible on the web.

The outcome? Better reach, engagement, and sales!

Wrapping Up!

In this blog, we covered six tips on how to grow your small New York business in 2022. Now that you have a good grasp of the basics, start putting them into practice!

At Global-marketing Inc., we provide professional New York SEO services to small businesses and startups across the state. If you want to hire SEO services in NY, we’re the right people to contact.

We’ve completed over 40,000 SEO projects, published over 150,000 content pieces, and created over 22,800 infographics and videos. Our track record proves our commitment to helping small businesses succeed!

If you have any questions, feel free to chat with us or give us a call at +1(833)405-1025. Let’s help your New York business hit the ground running!

The post How to Grow Your Small New York Business Online on a Budget appeared first on Global-marketing Inc..

Small Business Development: How Can You Improve Your New York Business In 2020?

Knowing When To Grow

1. Navigate NY Regulations
2. Defining Your Target Market in New York
3. Play Up that Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
4. Split Test Your Marketing Strategies
5. Create a Winning Social Media Marketing Strategy
6. Leverage SEO
7. Use Google My Business to Grow Your Business Online
8. Make Mobile-Friendliness a Priority

Additional Resources

The Final Word

Small Business Development: How Can You Improve Your New York Business In 2020?

With the 3^rd-largest economy, 13^th-lowest corporate tax rate, and more than 2 million small businesses in the state of New York, there’s no denying that The Empire State provides tremendous opportunity for businesses to grow.

In 2018, the state’s GDP increased by 2.1% at $1.676 trillion (third highest in the country).

According to a New York Small Business Profile, 2018 report by the US Small Business Administration, top industries in New York include:

Table 1: New York Employment by Industry, 2015

Source: US Small Business Administration

Knowing When To Grow

There’s no denying that businesses need to look for way to be better, to become more efficient or to offer better products. But a lot of businesses hit the acceleration on growth and end up growing too soon or too quickly. Yes, there is such a phenomenon. And no, it’s not good.

Sustainable growth

is the name of the game. You grow at a rate that allows you to restrategize and reallocate your resources.

So how can you grow your NY business to take it to the next level? How does the evolving economic landscape translate into revenue for New York businesses? How can you sustain that growth to ensure your business thrives in the long run? We’ll also touch upon how online marketing and SEO play into this equation?

We’ve broken down the top strategies to help you kick things off!

 1. Navigate NY Regulations

If you’re a small business owner operating anywhere in New York, you need to comply with several local, state and federal laws and regulations. For instance, let’s say you own a restaurant in SoHo; you will need building permits, health permits, signage permits, etc. Research these laws carefully to avoid hefty penalties.

The good thing is, you have the SBA Office of Advocacy that provides information and guidance in addition to giving you a platform to voice your opinions as a small business. Furthermore, you can visit the Regulatory Alerts page on the SBA website that offers updates that specifically affect small business owners. Here’s how you can apply for licenses and permits.

Work closely with these state agencies to eliminate—or at the very least—reduce the regulatory burden.

 2. Defining Your Target Market in New York

Who is your target audience?

If you don’t have a hyper-specific answer to this question, you’re never going to be able to grow as a business. You can’t be one of those brands that make “we target everyone” the slogan of their business. Because the truth is, if you’re targeting “everyone”, you’re targeting no one.

Keep in mind;

your business is evolving; consumer needs are evolving; what was relevant in 2015 is no longer relevant in 2020. Focus on specific geographical trends.

For example, certain trends making waves in New York are:

• The rise in the fintech industry
• Brooklyn algorithm startups
• The rise of food tech startups
• Big data and analytics
• New Yorkers heading to the suburbs

A few tips:

• Look for common characteristics among your current client base.
• See who your competitors are targeting to identify a niche they’re not catering to.
• Scan your social media pages to see the kind of people who engage with your business most.
• Check Google Analytics to identify which social network drives the most traffic using the referral traffic report.

Some questions you should be asking:

• What does your company value? <take cue from here>
• What are your best selling products/services?
• What is their age?
• Where do they live?
• What is their socioeconomic status?
• What do they want?
• What is their lifestyle?
• What is their spending power and patterns?
• What are the primary uses of your products/services?
• What are the secondary uses of your products/services?
• How long have they been customers?

Remember

Identifying your target audience will help you and your marketing team create more focused messages that will have an impact. The more structured and thorough your listing is, the more likely it is for your business to appear in the Google 3-Pack.

 3. Play Up that Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

There may be an immediate success when you replicate an existing business model. Your competitor in Tribeca creates a clothing line for kids. You recognize there’s growth potential there; no denying it.

It’s safe, it has a proven track record, and it works.

So you introduce a kids’ clothing line too. After all, you need to catch up, right? But there’s no USP here. There’s nothing that makes YOU different. In order to expand your NY business, you don’t just have to catch up; you need to stay ahead of the game.

Your USP—your brand identity—does that for you.

Instead of another kids’ clothing line, how about environmentally-friendly, zero-allergen clothing line? You just knocked that one right out of the park!

 4. Split Test Your Marketing Strategies

AKA A/B testing lets you try out different strategies to identify which marketing idea yields the most returns or conversions.

Your website or social media page may be attracting traffic. But is it converting? Is it translating into dollars?

Let say you launch a new website; does the “Yay, Let’s Shop” CTA button perform better than the “Buy Now” CTA?

Other ideas you could run A/B testing on:

• The size of the CTA: Bigger isn’t always better. And less isn’t always more.
• Free shipping information
• Pricing display
• Color and placement of the CTA
• Kind of images
• Navigation menu

You can use Google Analytics to initiate, run, and manage these experiments.

5. Create a Winning Social Media Marketing Strategy

72% of Americans use social media today. Seventy-two.

That’s a lot by any standard.

Small businesses haven’t let this alarming statistic go by unnoticed.

As a quick, easy, and dirt cheap way to engage with a wide audience, social media is a clear winner any way you look at it. It’s no wonder that 77% of small businesses in the U.S. have a social media marketing strategy in place.

You don’t need to follow suit; there are already way too many brands doing that and regurgitating run-of-the-mill strategies. Cookie-cutter social media tactics will throw your business in the rubble instead of making it stand out.

Here’s what you need to do to get people talking about your NY business (for the right reasons) and maximize engagement.

Start by creating a unique, genial, and unforgettable brand identity.

Let’s look at why this matters.

Think “glazed goodness” and visuals of Krispy Kreme donuts crowd your mind. That’s impeccable product quality for you.

However, the company isn’t just known for its mouthwatering sweet delights; it’s also recognized for its witty, empathetic, and all-round feel-good brand identity.

Went to a @krispykreme today for the BOGO promotion and was denied because I’m not a teacher.

— Bryan Carpenter (@bryan_carpenter) August 11, 2020

So I guess this is now a @krispykreme stan account. pic.twitter.com/VMoKqv58MM

— Grotto Gear (@GrottoGear) August 28, 2020

Notice how their social media strategy checks off all the boxes: timely, remedial, quick-witted, good-humored, and personalized.

Instead of copy-pasting a generic response—“We’re so sorry this happened. Please email us so we can set things right”—they go the extra mile to make customers feel special.

If you scroll through their page, you’ll marvel at the consistency and quality of their social media activity.

And it doesn’t stop there.

Their social media pages stand out for their winning New York-friendly optimization strategies. The company recently opened a flagship store in New York and optimized their social media updates accordingly by using NYC-based hashtags to target local customers.

If you run a small business, doing grand reveals may be out of the question.

Optimize your social media pages by using relevant hashtags, providing ample links, posting engaging polls, and launching small-scale giveaways.

The outcome?

Impressive audience engagement and retention—each of which is essential for your small business development.

Infuse each post with hints of your brand identity to connect with your audience and humanize your brand.

Consistency is key here. As long as you check off all these boxes and keep your pages up and running in the long run, you’ll continue to generate more leads.

6. Leverage SEO

New York SEO services are a goldmine for local businesses. In fact, we’d go so far as to say they’re your golden ticket to consistent and measurable growth.

So how do you do SEO in New York? Before we get into it, let’s unpack the basics.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of creating and optimizing content to attract more traffic (customers) and rank higher on Google.

Sounds like a mouthful?

In other words, it’s a neat trick to help your content become more visible on the web.

How does that help?

As more people view your content, they’re more likely to engage with it and take a desired business action (buy your products/services, follow your social media pages, sign up for emails, etc.).

Let’s switch to customer mode to gauge how SEO does the trick. Let’s say you’re a customer looking for IT services in New York. Here are the top results you’d get from a quick Google search:

Notice how each landing page is meticulously optimized for location—New York, in this case. From the title tag (the main heading) to the meta description (the 1–3-line descriptor of the title), each page element includes location-friendly keywords.

This is a masterclass in local SEO for New York.

It’s quick, it’s easy, and it works like a charm.

With over 75% of people refusing to scroll past the first page of search results—who has the time, right?—local SEO propels your page to the top.

The outcome? More impressions, clicks, and conversions.

Done and dusted?

Not quite.

In fact, this only scratches the surface.

Here’s what you need to do to set yourself apart from your competitors and keep your business growing in the long run.

If your audience is based in New York, their search preferences will be customized accordingly.

From “plumbing services in the Bronx” and “hiking gear in Manhattan” to “best natural supplements near me” and “home office chairs in New York,” the search queries will be hyper-specific and relevant.

If you’re looking to maximize your reach, your keyword research strategy should be top-notch.

This is where Google Trends comes in.

The platform is amazing. It offers you a glimpse into the top trends for a specific location and further splinters them into relevant categories—news, events, entertainment, etc., you name it! With a few clicks, you can get an overview of what your target audience is interested in.

Here’s how this information works in your favor:

As you keep up with customer interest, you can create new content accordingly, tweak your product/service pages, and create location pages to maximize reach.

If Google Trends isn’t cutting it for you, get in touch with keyword specialists who know the ins and outs of each industry in New York and can help your business gain an edge.

Here are some stellar examples of how to fuse region-specific keywords with local trends to drive engagement:

From focusing on work-from-home to COVID-19 to Taylor Swift’s trending album “Folklore,” these brands have expertly identified key trends and married them with the moneymaking local keyword “New York.”

A recipe for success, and one that isn’t too complex to recreate.

Depending on your industry, create a winning strategy that combines these two key factors. Cover different kinds of content, including blogs, articles, infographics, and press releases.

Sprinkle some keyword magic onto your product/service pages as well to maximize your chances of landing the Google 3-Pack—the top three search results on Google.

If it sounds like too much to take on, our experts are always here to help!

SEO for lead generation is ultimately one of the most effective ways to grow your small business and build a wide audience. At Global-marketing Inc., we’ll see your project through to perfection so you’re all set to dominate your niche.

7. Use Google My Business to Grow Your Business Online

Ever caught yourself wondering whether online reviews actually matter?

You’ve heard about their popularity. You’ve also heard that your business should be backed up by powerful testimonials and reviews that influence potential customers. But do they actually live up to the hype, or is it all big talk?

Let’s dive deeper.

According to research, 88% of people take reviews into consideration when making a buying decision.

That’s not all.

A staggering 82% of customers actively look for negative reviews to determine whether they should proceed with a purchase or look for alternatives.

Reviews—both positive and negative—can respectively make or break your business.

Leave negative reviews/mentions be without taking remedial action and your sales will take a dip. Fail to adequately solicit positive reviews and you’ll notice that your conversions aren’t as high as you’d like them to be.

So how do you close this Pandora’s box? And how do you strike the perfect balance between maximizing positive reviews and minimizing negative reviews?

You turn to Google My Business.

The powerful platform is the crème de la crème of online review platforms.

By claiming and optimizing your listing, you can engage more customers, maximize positive reviews, effectively respond to negative reviews, and get your business on the map.

In short, it’s a surefire way to grow a small NY business organically.

Here’s how you can start off on the right foot.

Make sure your listing is accurately filled and updated. From the name, address, and phone number (NAP) to the URL, business hours, and categories, each detail should be checked off to a tee.

Here’s what a comprehensive Google My Business listing looks like:

Not only are the essentials perfectly filled out, but they’ve also taken care of additional details—including the FAQs.

As a rule of thumb, cover as many bases as possible.

The more structured and thorough your listing is, the more likely it is for your business to appear in the Google 3-Pack.

If you take a closer look at the 3-Pack for the search query “best hair salons in New York,” you’ll notice that all the details are meticulously filled in and the ratings are stellar.

As you accumulate more positive reviews on the platform, you’ll rank higher on local search engine result pages (SERPs).

To maximize flattering reviews, make sure you verify your business, actively request reviews, and keep your listing updated.

When it comes to tackling negative reviews, adopt an empathetic and remedial approach. Take your time to understand the complaint, adequately make up for it, and follow up with the customer once the issue has been resolved.

Little do you know, you could end up turning a negative review into a positive one with timely, supportive, and amiable resolution!

Need more insight into how to optimize your Google My Business listing? Check out our previous blog that covers the ins and outs of Google My Business optimization.

8. Make Mobile-Friendliness a Priority

• 84% of all local searches are from mobile phones

88% of people who search for a business on their phone end up visiting the store within a week

If your website operates

seamlessly on desktop but isn’t optimized for mobile, you’re potentially losing hundreds or thousands of customers—perhaps even more.

While smartphones may have been popular among the younger generation in the 2010s, they’ve become a staple for just about anyone in the 2020s.

No matter who your target audience is—Gen X, millennials, Gen Z, or baby boomers—creating a mobile-friendly website should be your top priority.

Let’s face it.

You’d rather search for products/services on your phone than crack open your laptop and go through the motions.

Rings true?

It does for the 19 million inhabitants of New York as well.

Create and optimize a seamless and eye-catching mobile-friendly website to grow your business fast. You’ll be taken aback by the much-needed boost in impressions, clicks, conversions, and revenue.

If you’re just getting started, make sure your mobile-friendly website is equipped with:

• Compelling CTAs
• High page speed
• Easy and clean navigation
• Engaging graphics

Test your website beforehand to ensure it runs seamlessly. You can also take Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to get a better idea of how your website is performing.

It may take a while to get things right but once you’re done, you’ll reap the benefits of stellar engagement and conversions!

Additional Resources

New York State SCORE

Empire State Development’s Small Business Division

U.S. SBA District Office for New York

The Final Word

In this blog, we covered the top strategies to grow your NY business.

We delved into the key elements—social media marketing, Google My Business, mobile-friendliness, and how to do SEO for your New York business—to help you get a firm grasp on how to rank higher and sustain a wide audience.

When it comes to consistent business growth, taking the reins can prove a little tricky.

If you lack experience and expertise, things can easily go south despite your best efforts.

At Global-marketing Inc., we don’t want that to happen.

If you’re looking to hit the ground running on your first attempt, we’ve got you.

Our New York SEO services are designed to help NY businesses stand out in their industry, reach a wide audience, and maximize sales.

The post How to Grow Your Business in New York appeared first on Global-marketing Inc..