When it comes to local content marketing, too many businesses fall into the trap of self-promotion, writing solely or primarily about their products and services. Or worse, their blog is rarely updated, or it’s full of filler content that only serves to boost search rankings. Rarely does this approach translate into engaged visitors or traction on social media.
Instead, it’s worth writing about what your audience cares about: your local community! Where you sell and who you sell to are more important than what you’re selling.
The local long-tail opportunity
Here’s an example. A local insurance agency I work with has long ranked in the first position organically and in the local map pack for most of their services. They sell auto, home, life, health and business insurance. This client also has a positive reputation online, earning rave reviews on Google and Facebook.
However, they weren’t gaining followers on social media, and website visitors were stagnant. Despite ownership of their industry’s most competitive keywords, the market was small. In a city of 250,000, only a handful of residents were actively looking for their services in Google.
So we started to write about what locals cared about. For the past two years, we’ve done a list article on all the reasons their city is the best place to live. In some months, it even outpaces traffic on the home page.
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