Create a Website for Your Local Business

Customers used to find small businesses in the phone book. Now, they use Google. Without an online presence, your business could be missing out on lots of customers who are looking for just what you have to offer. Even if you provide a better service than your competitors, there’s no way for customers to know that if they can’t find you online. A website is better than just a social media profile, because you control it and it’s available to all customers, no matter what platform they use.

The first step to promoting your local business on the web is making sure that your information is correct and consistent across all the major platforms and listing services: Facebook, Google, etc. Jimdo makes that process even easier with a Business Listing feature that automatically updates your contact information and other stats right from your website. Once your information is correct, you can use Jimdo’s SEO features to start promoting your site on search engines for the right kind of search questions.

A website for a small business doesn’t need to be complicated. In fact, it can be successful with just a few pages. You’ll need to describe who you are and what you do, add a map of where you’re located and a contact page, connect your social media accounts, and add photos. Fortunately Jimdo makes this easy by automatically importing the information you already have from around the web. And if you don’t have photos, we’ll provide free, high-quality stock images that match your industry.

First, it’s important to understand how search engines like Google rank local businesses. They use “crawlers” to scan your website pages and understand the information you provide. Then, they use that data to answer the questions that people type into the search engines. So, for example, if someone types in, “where is the best coffee in Portland,” Google and other search engines will try to provide the best answer to that question. If you want to make sure that your independent business can appear in search engine results, it pays to take a few minutes and work on your SEO (search engine optimization). First, make sure that all of your information is correct across all platforms. Your name, hours, location, description, etc. You can do this with Jimdo’s Business Listing feature, which automatically updates your business info across multiple websites. Then, review your SEO settings and make sure that all the information is correct, like your website title and keywords. Make sure that your site is filled with good content on each page answering potential customers’ questions. Adding an FAQ section (like this one!) is a good place to start. Finally, choose a domain name that includes your city or neighborhood in the title (for example, www.portlandsbestpizza.com). That way people will know that they are visiting and supporting a local business near them.

Yes! When your company has a good mobile homepage, it benefits your customers and your SEO. Nowadays many customers are searching for local services from their mobile phones. In 2015, Google announced that for the first time ever, more people were searching from mobile devices than from computers. If you’re not online, you could be invisible to customers who are literally just a few steps away. Also, Google and other search engines now reward online sites that have mobile-friendly design and fast loading speeds, because this makes it easier for people to find the information they need (like, “best Indian food near me”) when they’re on the go. When you use Jimdo, your small business website will automatically be mobile responsive, which is the gold standard for mobile-friendly web design. Jimdo’s mobile websites will adjust to fit any screen automatically, without you needing to do anything.