This document discusses how local businesses can optimize their websites for conversions. It recommends including key content like contact details and services/pricing to inform visitors. The site should have an accessible design for search engines and mobile users. Analytics can track a conversion funnel from visits to desired actions like purchases. Testing different traffic sources by quality and conversion rates helps improve the funnel. Consistent information across citations and profiles boosts local SEO.

1. CRO for Local BusinessesHow to make your local/small business website optimized for visitor conversions. Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz CEO, March 2011

2. At SEOmoz, we make SOFTWARE!! We don’t offer any consulting.

3. What is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)? Visitors Who ConvertTotal Visits

4. CRO Measures the Rate at Which Your WebsiteGets Visitors to Make Desired Actions Hotel Forum probably wants lots of visitors to use this button http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.hotelforum.com/

5. Desired Actions Could Include: Booking a Reservation Watching a Video Viewing Contact Details Tweeting a Link Signing Up for An Email List Sending an Email Filling Out a Form Liking/Sharing on Facebook Taking a Virtual Tour Clicking an Ad Downloading a Document Buying a Product Making a Donation Leaving a Comment/Review http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html

6. Example of a Typical Local Website’s Funnel: Home Page List of Cheeses Hours + Directions 15% 10% Hopefully, this means a customer is going to come buy some cheese! http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.delaurenti.com

7. How Can We Improve Desired Actions? Let’s Make it Better!

8. More Traffic Home Page List of Cheeses Hours + Directions 15% 10% More visits to the home page means more people will decide to visit http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html It’s a lot of hard work to get more visits, though, and we don’t know if they’ll be the kind who love cheese!

9. A Better Funnel Home Page List of Cheeses Hours + Directions 25% 20% A better “conversion rate” means more people who already visit the site will come to the store! http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html Woo hoo! Now for every 1,000 people that visit the site, 25 are potential cheese buyers!

10. Tracking Local Business Funnels That which goes unmeasured cannot be improved.

11. Basic Google Analytics Data 2.7% of visitors click the “sneak a peek” link; maybe we should make that more obvious. http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.google.com/analytics

12. Advanced Segments and Filters Our “Social Media” segment Includes sources like Twitter, Facebookand LinkedIn http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/business/media/11search.html

13. Adding “Goals” in Analytics http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/business/media/11search.html

14. Click-to-Call Tracking http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2011/02/mobile-analytics-tracking-click-to-call-mobile-ad-campaigns.html

15. Creating a Weekly Conversion Dashboard http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html This is the overview report SEOmoz’s marketing team tracks each week

16. Analyzing Quality of Traffic Sources Quality > Quantity (at least, most of the time)

17. Segmenting Traffic by Conversion Rate Looks like Facebook & Twitter traffic are reasonably good, while StumbleUpon + LinkedIn aren’t so great. http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html We can use “goals” to understand which visit sources sent the most valuable traffic

18. Focusing on “Good” Traffic Sources This filter lets me show only sites that sent more than 100 visits http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/business/media/11search.html

19. Experimenting to Stay Fresh + Relevant http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html From November – February, I experimented with answering questions on Q+A sites

20. Keys to Local Business Successon the Web What does it take?

21. The Right Content

22. Contact Information Excellent! The Gelateria has a link that says “Contact Us” http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.dambrosiogelato.com/

23. Services List / Pricing There’s a list of all their offerings, but no prices  http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.salumicuredmeats.com/

24. Photos Once I see it, I REALLY want to go! http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.osfashland.org/plays/theatres/elizabethan.aspx

25. Reviews (Editorial + Users) http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://blueacreseafood.com/media.html and http://urbanspoon.com

26. Viral/Blog/Share-Worthy Content(on the same domain!) http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.saltys.com/recipes/entrees/Heirloom_Tomato_BBQ_Glazed_Salmon.asp

27. Search Friendly http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html Good recipes AND they’re included in Google? Way to go!

28. Mobile Friendly http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.mobistro.com/Home.aspx

29. Important Information is Easy to Access http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.riminiterme.com/

30. The Right Interface / Design

31. Simple http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.keithcakes.com.au/

32. Easy to Navigate http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://easybistro.com/

33. Great Design: Not Critical, But it Helps! http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.outdooritalia.it/

34. The Right Funnel

35. Contact Form and/or Conversion Page with Phone Number http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.kuletos.com/contact/

36. Conversion Page w/ Events that “Trigger” http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/business/media/11search.html

37. The Right Kinds of Traffic

38. Local-Focused Intent http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html

39. Evangelists and Those Likely to Share http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.siena-online.net/eng/siena-accommodation.html

40. Recommended Tools + Resources

41. Wordpress, Drupal and Joomla for CMS http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://wordpress.org/, http://www.joomla.org/ and http://drupal.org/

42. GetListed.org (US/UK only right now) http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://getlisted.org

43. Google Local / Maps / Places Registration http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://places.google.com/business

44. Whitespark Local Citation Tool http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.whitespark.ca/local-citation-finder/

45. MailChimp for Email Lists http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://mailchimp.com/pricing/

46. Local SEO

47. Make Your Information Consistent! Address Business Name Phone Number http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.google.com/search?q=coffee+seattle,+wa

48. Consistency Everywhere on the Web http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html

49. As Many Citations as Possible http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html

50. Optimize Profile Pages & Places Listings http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.seomoz.org/blog/google-places-seo-lessons-learned-from-rank-correlation-data

51. Examples of Great Local Sites

52. http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.villagerkent.com/

53. http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.zokacoffee.com

54. http:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html http://www.skysguideservice.com

56. Blog: www.seomoz.org/blog

57. Email: rand@seomoz.orgYou can now try SEOmoz PRO Free! http://www.seomoz.org/freetrial

59. Accessible content (to search engines and mobile devices)

60. A conversion funnel with proper tracking

61. Experimentation with the quality/quantity of traffic driven by various sourceshttp:/googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html