What is local SEO and How Can You Make Money From It?

Local SEO is a crucial aspect of any digital marketing strategy, especially for businesses that rely on local customers. This means building and optimizing their online presence to appear in the top search results when someone searches for a product or service in their area. As a result, they drive traffic to their business and boost sales and revenue.

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Now, here’s the problem — very few businesses are aware of local SEO and its benefits, and if they do, they don’t have the time to set it up and keep it running by themselves. This is where you come in. You can help businesses manage their local SEO and make good money while doing it.

In this article, we’ll explore different ways you can make money with local SEO and some tips to help you get started.

1. Offer Google My Business (GMB) services

Google My Business (GMB) is a free tool by Google that makes it super easy for local businesses to establish their online presence by ranking their pages in local search results. A GMB page is typically made up of business information, photos, posts, and reviews.

There are many businesses that either don’t have a GMB page or haven’t fully optimized it to rank in search. You can help them with this by taking two main approaches:

• GMB setup: Charge a one-time fee for setting up or optimizing existing GMB pages.
• GMB management: Charge a retainer fee for ongoing management of GMB pages.

2. Generate reviews for GMB pages

The more customer reviews a GMB page has, the higher it ranks above its competition in the search results. You can offer review generation services to help businesses gather customer reviews on their GMB page. Here are some of the ways you can go about this for your clients:

• Encourage customers to leave reviews: This is as simple as asking customers to leave a review on a GMB page or sending follow-up emails after a purchase to remind them to leave a review.
• Offer incentives: Based on your client’s industry, create a freebie (eg. a free ebook) that their customers will love and exchange them for their reviews.
• Use social media: Use social media to promote GMB pages and encourage customers to leave reviews.

Additionally, you need to respond to reviews (positive or negative) — they are equally as important, or probably even more than generating reviews. It builds trust and loyalty with the business’s existing customers and also helps to attract new customers as they see that the business is responsive to feedback.

3. Offer local citation-building services

Citation building is about creating and submitting business listings to various directories and review sites. These listings typically include a business NAP (Name, Address, and Phone number) and website address. When businesses have a strong presence on these directories, it boosts their online reputation and helps them rank in search.

As a service provider, your job will be to improve the online presence of businesses by creating and submitting accurate, consistent, and up-to-date listings on their behalf. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

• Ensure accuracy and consistency of business details across all listings.
• Submit listings to niche-relevant sites and directories with a good reputation.
• Take advantage of the opportunity to add extra information (eg. description, photos, working hours, etc.) to listings that allow it.

4. Provide local keyword research

You can offer research services to help businesses identify high-value local keywords to target in their content and SEO campaigns. High-value local keywords are simply the words and phrases used by potential customers in an area to search for products or services related to a specific business.

You can easily find these keywords by conducting competitor research, analyzing search trends (eg. with Google Trends), or using keyword tools (eg. Google Keyword Planner, Moz Keyword Explorer, Ahrefs, etc). From here, you can compile and package the keywords you’ve gathered into a spreadsheet and send it over to your client.

5. Offer local content creation services

Some local businesses have a website. However, most of them don’t have the time to create content around the keywords you’ve compiled for them — this is where you can offer to do it on their behalf. If you’re not an expert writer or simply find that it’s very time-consuming, you can outsource it to freelance writers on Fiverr or Upwork.

You can also re-purpose the written content into posts, carousels, short videos, etc., and distribute them on social media. Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are great places to get started with. If your clients are open to this added service, it’s the perfect opportunity to charge premium a premium price.

6. Offer Google Ads services

Many local businesses are willing to pay for Google Ads setup and management services because it can be challenging for them to navigate the platform and get their ads in front of the right audience. By offering this service, you can help them generate more leads and sales by driving targeted traffic to their website.

Offering this service requires a bit more expertise than the rest mentioned in this article. You should have a good understanding of how the platform works, including how to create campaigns, set up ad groups, write compelling ad copy, and target specific keywords and audiences.

Before you reach out to businesses, it’s best to do your research to see whether your potential client’s target keywords have a low CPC (one dollar or less) and have the potential to generate a high return on investment.

7. Become a local SEO consultant

To become a successful local SEO consultant, you need to have a good understanding of the different elements that affect local search rankings —- this includes all the areas mentioned in this article. Here are some steps you can take to become a local SEO consultant:

• Build your own website and optimize it for local search. Use your website to showcase your skills and expertise in local SEO. This makes it easier for potential clients to trust and want to work with you.
• Get certified in local SEO. This is not necessary but would be a nice cherry on the cake. There are many free and paid online courses and certifications that you can take to boost your credibility with future clients.
• Build your network. Attend local business events and conferences to meet and connect with potential clients and other professionals like yourself.

Conclusion

By offering local SEO services, you can help businesses increase their online visibility, connect with new and existing customers, and ultimately generate more revenue.

Whether you plan to be a freelancer or start a digital marketing agency, there are plenty of opportunities to make money with local SEO. Take note of your favorite ideas from this article to get started. If you put in the work and stay consistent, this could be your most profitable business venture yet.

You can also check out my previous article here: