Local Business Content Marketing Tips

Have you ever done a Google search and come across an article that had the phrase, "San Antonio Lawyer" in it repeatedly? We rarely do anymore. Probably because Google is smart enough to weed out that type of unhelpful content.

Avoid Poorly Written Content - Everyone Else Does

But we do see these types of poorly written spammy articles all the time in article marketing sites and social bookmarking sites where business owners and SEO companies are trying to share content and build backlinks.

Will these techniques get a few points for overall inbound links and for having links from related content? Maybe a little. But obviously these articles aren't adding any value to a reader and therefore they are not going to be picked up by any other blogger or webmaster as content worth sharing. And Google definitely knows enough to stay away from them.

Focus On Local Issues for Local Content Marketing

So, what's a San Antonio lawyer to do if he wants to use content marketing to promote his local business? Write about local aspects of his industry! It can be a challenge doing local business content marketing so here are some tips to get your keywords in without losing your audience's attention.

Brainstorm to come up with ideas that are related to your industry and set in a local context. Even though we don't know anything about practicing law or San Antonio, here are few things that come to mind.

Brainstorm Your Business' Topics With A Local Twist

The way we came up with this list is to imaging a reason a local searcher might search these topics. We imagined someone who wants to invest in property in Texas or your aunt lives there and has a legal question she'd like you to help her with, or your college-age kid is getting married to a local girl he just met on Spring Break.

• Texas wills and estates law - "For example, a client in San Antonio needed a will and his estate included..."
• Bexar County Commercial Zoning Laws - "While working on a commercial land deal, we discovered that the commercial zoning laws in and around San Antonio are..."
• Prenuptial agreements San Antonio, TX - "Texas prenuptial law is fairly straightforward.Once the prenuptial agreement is signed by both parties, it is filed in the Bexar County courthouse in San Antonio at 100 Dolorosa  San Antonio, TX."

Get Specific To Solve Their Pain Point

People just don't search in Yellow-Pages-style topic headings like "San Antonio lawyer". It would be a waste of time to search that broadly and they know search engines can reliably deliver much more specific answers.

It's much more effective to talk about likely events and circumstances in which you have expertise than to jam as a bunch of generic terms into an article. After all, how  many clients call a law firm to say they need a "San Antonio lawyer"? Probably none because it's way too broad of a topic. Yet we see this example all the time. Instead a person needing local lawyer is likely to do a much more specific search like the ones above.

Position Yourself As The Expert With The Answers

And when they do type in a specific search, this is where they're going to find your relevant and targeted content that speaks to their exact needs provides a sensible answer and establishes you as the expert in the field. Bingo - you've got yourself a client, partner.

By thinking across a broad range of topics and using your specific expertise it should be easy to come up with many topics simply based on conversations you've had with customers.

Use stories based on actual examples to provide specific answers to showcase your expertise and intersect with prospects at their time of need.