YouTube is a valuable tool for enhancing your local search marketing. In this post, I will show you why using video in general will help your local search marketing. Then I will show how you can specially use YouTube to promote your local search marketing. Enjoy and prosper.
Why Use Video With Local Search Marketing?
Small business owners struggle with ways to create awareness about their business. The 
more ways they can make local their business known, the better their business will be.
Getting found on the internet is the biggest challenge. You are competing with thousands if not millions of others for your prospect’s attention. You may have a wonderful product. However, if you site shows on the 109th search engine page, no one will ever find you. Local search marketing gives your business an advantage to be found. Video will help this process.
Everyone Loves Videos
Now is the perfect time to enhance your online exposure with videos. Video viewership is at an all time high, with 97 million Americans watching videos online. In fact, there are now more 18-34 year old adults watching online video than are watching traditional television! Lou Bortone.
Google loves videos and not just because they bought YouTube. Google’s goal is to provide internet searchers with relevant and authoritative sources to match people’s searches. Today Google include text, images, audios and videos to match search terms.
When you create a video and place it on Youtube, that same video can show up on other social media sites, like Twitter, Facebook, your blog, your website. Now you have many places where you will be seen. Unlike a newspaper ad where your presence goes away with the current issue, your video resides on the internet 24/7 with a variety of roads leading to it.
Key Words
Like all internet searches, your key words are the fuel that makes the search engine go. Placing a video on Youtube does very little. When you give it an interesting Title, use your key words in the Youtube Tag and place key words and your URL in the Youtube Description, you have the supporting ingredients that will allow videos to create awareness for your local search marketing process.
Videos Sell More
If you are like most small business owners, you feel that if you can get in front of a prospect, you have a good chance of making a sale. Your instincts are correct. People don’t buy businesses. They buy you. The more they get to know you, like you and trust you, the more likely you are to make a sale. Videos help this process.
Did you know that 93% of communications are non-verbal? That means that if you are only relying on words with your website or sales page, you are using only 7% of your communication power.
Videos allow your prospects to tap into the other 93% of your communication power.
Five Ways to Use YouTube with Your Local Search Marketing
YouTube offers several places on each video where you can incorporate your geographic indicator to enhance your local search marketing. Using these opportunities will increase your SEO discovery by search engines looking for local businesses.
Before you actually upload your video to Youtube, you want to complete these steps to maximize each video’s power with your local search marketing.
Youtube asks for three description areas about each video, the Title, the Description of the video and the Tags. The way you complete these three descriptions will make a significant difference in using the video for local search marketing.
Here are suggestions for completing these three descriptions:
Video Titles for Local Search Marketing
Your title should capture the content of the video. It is the heading that attracts a viewer’s attention. It should contain your business’s key words. Your Title should contain your geographic indicator. Think of a person doing a Google search. What terms would they type in the search box? When your Title key words match those search words, Google finds your video as one option for the local searchs.
Description for Local Search Marketing
This should be a concise description of your video content in 2-3 sentences. Always, start this description with the URL address of your website or blog. (http://www. your site.com.) This creates the link back from Youtube to your site. Your description should also include key words and your local geographic indicator. The description you used for your local search marketing sites may be helpful for this process.
Tags for Local Search Marketing
These are the actual list of your key words separated by commas. You can list as many as you want. For sure you should list the top five that are being used in key word searches and include your business geographic indicator in the Tags section on the video.
These descriptions can be added while you upload your video. They can be added later in an edit. Because of the importance of these descriptions in your actual marketing efforts, your videos will have more local search marketing power if you complete this process before you start the uploading of your video. With one billion hits per day, you need to as much local search marketing power as possible for your videos.
Geographic Indicators for Local Search Marketing
YouTube allows you to add a specific geographic indicator to each of your videos. Move the indicator around until it fits your location. Make any adjustments necessary to get it right so it reinforces your local search marketing sites.
Videos on Local Search Directory Sites
As I have already shown, many local search marketing sites allow you to incorporate a video as part of your business profile. Create a YouTube video about a product or create a video testimonial from a customer to incorporate on your local search marketing sites. You not only use the power of video to help engage potential customers; you also incorporate all the SEO powers of Google and YouTube to bring your site before local internet searchers. YouTube is the third most popular site on the internet. If people are going there, you want them to find your local business!
I invite you to share your experiences with YouTube and local search marketing in the Reply Section below. Thank you.
Thanks Joan, I don’t comment much, but I do appreciate your on the edge comments. I especially liked the one about praying for Japan. Thanks.
Fabulous article, Al! Very informative. Local marketing is a powerful tool regardless of the product or service. I look forward to learning more from you! Thanks again.
Fabulous article, Al! Very informative. Local marketing is a powerful tool – regardless of the product or service. I look forward to learning more from you! Thanks again.