One Key Trend You Can’t Afford to Ignore About Location

There’s a debate over what is the single most important factor in determining whether or not a business will be successful.

Many say location. Makes sense, right?

Businesses that enjoy a prime location get lots of drive-by and foot traffic and tons of visibility. That increased awareness of the business and its products or services enhances the odds of success.

This is the reason malls became such a big thing. When many small shops and restaurants pooled together, they could offer all kinds of different products and services, all in one location. That made it convenient for the customers who came to shop at one of the anchor stores.

You know who they are: the big stores in the corners, like Macy’s, JC Penney’s, and Sears.

To go from one to another, you’d have to walk by all the other stores. Something would grab your attention, and you’d end up buying.

But there’s a new trend regarding location. One you can’t afford to ignore.

It’s all about the shift from brick and mortar stores to online selling.

But wait, you might ask. Does location really matter on the world wide web?

I can tell you it most certainly does. Just because the traffic is virtual instead of physical doesn’t mean location is any less important.

It just manifests in a different way.

Through keywords.

Once you understand that choosing the right keywords is like building your store in a prime location, it changes everything. Your new perspective on marketing in a digital age refines your strategies to be more powerful and effective.

Think of it this way.

Each page of search results is like a busy street corner in the busiest city in America.

The higher you rank in the results, the closer you are to the corner, where more of the traffic is. Low rankings will put you in the middle of the block on a quiet street.

For each keyword you rank high for, it’s like having an additional storefront at another busy intersection in your city.

That’s the power of ranking highly with multiple keywords.

Let’s walk through an example. Perhaps Keyword Number 1 has 120 people searching for it on a monthly basis.

We know this because Google provides this data. We can see how many searches are happening every single month for any specific keyword or phrase.

So Google knows exactly how many people are searching for a doctor in Miami, a dentist in Los Angeles, or a hair salon in New York.

So, Keyword Number 1 has 120, Keyword Number 2 has 220, Number 3 has 60, Number 4 has 300.

When we add them up, we get 700. That’s potentially 700 people who could buy from you in one month.

But you have to rank highly for those four keywords. And that will take some work.

Some businesses don’t rank for any keywords. They’re not showing up on the first or second pages of the search results. Those businesses are like stores located in ghost towns.

Other businesses rank for hundreds of keywords because Google’s algorithm views those websites as having authority and relevance for those keywords. Those high rankings are like having a storefront on hundreds of busy corners.

That’s the power of keywords. In our example, high rankings could mean 700 new customers every month.

That’s how the location, location, location analogy translates to the online world. Each keyword is an intersection with traffic moving by.

Before you’ve even chosen a keyword, there is already traffic searching for it.

Back to Keyword Number 1. Let’s say it’s cosmetic surgery Miami.

According to Google, 179 people search for that every month. That’s traffic that’s looking at the search results on the first page.

And if you offer cosmetic surgery and you’re not on the first page? You’re not on the busy street. You’re down the block. Around the corner. Maybe even in an alley.

Keyword Number 2 represents another intersection. That’s another group of people looking for services. It might be cosmetic surgery or another service that cosmetic surgeons offer.

Perhaps it’s Botox. Keyword Number 2 could be Botox doctor Miami. Or it could be Botox service Miami. Or just Botox Miami.

All of these are different searches representing different city blocks. They have varying amounts of traffic.

The more keywords or keyword phrases your website ranks highly for, the more virtual storefronts you have on busy intersections.

This is the digital version of that old adage that started in 1944: location, location, location.

This phrase was coined by a pioneering real estate agent who realized the importance of location to people looking for a house or place to establish a business. He saw the difference that a good location made to the value of the property, whether for a residence or a business.

Keywords are the way to transfer that time-tested principle to the digital world.

But many business owners don’t think of them that way.

They start a website and publish it online, without understanding that virtual location is equally, if not more important, than the physical location.

This is because the physical location is locked in. You can’t change it without great time and expense. But through the power of keywords, you can easily place a virtual storefront in multiple locations where the traffic is.

So, you don’t have to try to generate traffic. You just go to where it already is and put out your virtual signs.

All you need to do is develop your marketing campaigns to move your business’ virtual location from where it is to as many busy streets corners as you can. With the right adjustments to your website, you can move to the prime location for the keywords and phrases that will bring you the most business.

That way all that traffic that’s looking for your product or service will see your virtual storefront and stop in to check out what you have to offer.

And now you have a new customer.

That’s how you should think about your website and the keywords you use. As ways to get a prime location in search results.

Just as location, location, location was important to business success in the past, it’s still vital today. Ignore the trend from physical location to online at your own risk.