SEO for Independent Shops
I have recently posted SEO tips for local businesses, but I wanted to elaborate and discuss the importance of SEO for independent shops.
I have the pleasure of living in Whitstable, a Kentish seaside town which holds the distinguished title of having the highest percentage of independent shops in the UK. A staggering 92.1 percent of shops are independent and free of the national chains which, in my opinion, blight our high streets creating clone towns.
While the town is very proud of this aspect of Whitstable, fighting against blue chip companies from gaining a foothold means they have to be creative with their marketing to keep them profitable.
For this reason SEO plays a crucial role in their local marketing to ensure their online visibility and generate traffic and interest for their services. In general a local SEO strategy is fairly straightforward. Obviously some Whitstable businesses will cover a greater geographic area and this will involve product based SEO which can be more challenging, but in general getting an independent business to the top of search engine rankings for geographical results is easily achievable with the correct implementation.
So why is SEO for independent shops important?
Simply, a town’s character is enhanced and preserved by the presence of independent shops and providers. Imagine if every town or city you visited was populated by a different, but ostensibly the same, branch of a retail giant, it would be would be soul destroying and flat boring! Independence creates charm and interest and the owners also care more about their business serving the public better.
One of the main reasons Whitstable is such a popular tourist destination is our vibrant range of stores and long may they last. If I can assist (advice is free, SEO implementation does come with a charge!) by making them profitable and keeping the status quo in their favour against faceless retail giants then we all benefit.
Take a look at Save Whitstable Shops Facebook page and gain inspiration on the fight to protect independent shops!
I totally agree – Whitstable is so lucky to have so many independent shops and it would be such a shame to become yet another faceless high street. I’m hoping to set up my own Interior Design business in Whitstable soon and using an SEO company such as yours for my website will be a high-priority.