Building a strong online presence for a local business

For a local business, "online presence" isn't an abstract idea. It's the handful of places a customer checks before they call you: your Google listing and the map, your website, your reviews, and maybe your Facebook or Instagram. In a minute or two they decide whether you're open, whether you do what they need, and whether you look like someone they can trust.

Below is the checklist we'd work through for any small business in Albany, Corvallis, Salem, or anywhere else in the Willamette Valley. We build and maintain websites for local businesses, so a lot of it comes from what we see on the sites we look after. Most of it you can do yourself in an afternoon.

1. Get the basics right on your website

Your website is the one place online you fully control. It doesn't need to be fancy, but it does need to answer the obvious questions fast.

• Say what you do and where, at the top of the home page. "Junk removal in Salem and Keizer" tells a visitor more than "Solutions for every need."
• Put your phone number in the header and make it tappable on a phone, so one tap starts the call.
• List your hours and address (or service area) in the footer of every page, not buried on a contact page.
• Give every page one clear next step: call, request a quote, book an appointment, or order.
• Test it on your own phone. Try to find your hours, call yourself, and fill out your own contact form. If any of that is awkward, your customers feel it too.
• Check the speed. Oversized photos straight off a camera are the most common reason a small business site loads slowly.
• Make sure it shows the padlock (https). Without it, browsers label your site "Not secure," and plenty of visitors leave.

For more on turning visitors into calls and quote requests, see 5 essential elements of a high-converting website.

2. Claim and fill out your Google Business Profile

When someone searches "plumber near me" or "bakery Albany," the map results usually show up before any website. For a lot of people, your Google Business Profile is the first thing they see, and sometimes the only thing before they call.

• Claim and verify the profile if you haven't already.
• Choose the primary category that matches what you actually do. It carries more weight than most people expect.
• Fill in regular hours, and set special hours before holidays so nobody drives over to a locked door.
• If you go to your customers (hauling, contracting, cleaning), set a service area instead of showing a home address.
• Add real photos: your storefront, your team, finished jobs. Stock photos don't help anyone decide.
• Link to your website, and make sure the link goes to a page that works.

We go deeper on categories, local keywords and ranking in the map in our guide to local SEO for small businesses.

3. Make your name, address and phone match everywhere

Google cross-checks your business details across the web. When your website, Google profile, Facebook page and directory listings disagree, it's less sure which one is right, and so are your customers.

The mismatches we run into most are an old suite number after a move, a phone number that changed years ago, and a call-tracking number left over from a past marketing contract that still sits on half your listings. Pick one version of your name, address and phone number, then check it in each of these places:

• Your website (header, footer, contact page)
• Google Business Profile
• Facebook and Instagram
• Yelp, Apple Business Connect and Bing Places
• Your chamber of commerce, the BBB, and any industry directories you're listed in

4. Ask for reviews, and answer them

Reviews do more to convince a stranger than anything you write about yourself. Most happy customers are glad to leave one. They just need to be asked at the right moment.

• Ask right after a job goes well, and send the direct review link from your Google Business Profile so it takes them one tap.
• Ask everyone, not just the customers you expect to be happy. Only asking the happy ones is against Google's review policies.
• Reply to every review, good and bad. Keep replies short and calm. Future customers read how you handle a complaint more closely than the complaint itself.
• Put a few reviews on your website, with the customer's name when they're fine with it.

5. Pick one or two social channels you'll actually keep up

A Facebook page whose last post is from three years ago makes people wonder if you're still in business. One account you post to regularly beats four you set up and forgot.

Choose the channel your customers already use. For most local service businesses that's Facebook. For restaurants, cideries, retail and anything visual, add Instagram. Post the real stuff: a finished project, a new menu item, the crew on a job site, a heads-up about holiday hours. Keep your hours, phone number and website link current in the profile, and link to your social accounts from your website.

6. Keep everything current

This is where most businesses slip. The site launches, everyone is busy, and a year later the hours are wrong, the staff page shows people who left, and the contact form has quietly stopped sending email. A broken form is the worst of these, because you never find out about the leads you missed.

Most of the work we do on the sites we maintain isn't redesign. It's small, regular upkeep. A quick routine covers most of it:

• Every month: submit your own contact form and make sure the email arrives. Skim your new reviews and reply.
• Before each holiday: set special hours on Google and post them on social.
• Every few months: reread your home page and services page. Remove services you've stopped offering, update prices and photos, and check that your hours and phone number still match everywhere.
• If you're on WordPress: keep WordPress and its plugins updated and make sure backups are running. Outdated plugins are one of the most common ways small business sites get hacked.

If you'd rather hand that off, it's what our website hosting and maintenance plans cover: hosting, backups, plugin updates and monitoring, with content edits included on the higher tiers. We look after sites we built and sites someone else built.

When you want help

If you hire someone for any of this, a few questions will tell you a lot before you sign anything:

• Who will I actually talk to, and how do I reach them?
• Can I change my own hours and photos, or do I pay for every edit?
• Who owns the domain and the website if we part ways?
• What happens after launch: who handles updates, hosting and fixes?
• What have you built for businesses like mine, near here?

Here are our answers. Cascade Online Design is based in Albany. Tomena leads design and marketing strategy, and Logan leads development. You work with us directly, and our clients have a direct cell number to call or text. Local clients include 2 Towns Ciderhouse in Corvallis, Rogers Veterinary Service, Frank Lumber and Jon's Hauling and Junk Removal. After launch, we offer three monthly hosting and maintenance plans, depending on how much help you want. Beyond websites, we also do branding, social media management and custom software consulting.

If your online presence needs work and you'd like a second set of eyes, request a free quote and tell us what you have now and what isn't working. We reply within 24 business hours, or you can call us at 541.740.6878.