When it comes to connecting with your local audience - and by that I mean the people who are physically local to your business - there are a number of options and a collection of strategies your business can employ to help improve the likelihood that customers will come knocking at your door at the time they are looking for what you offer. The very first thing that every small business serious about taking advantage of local search traffic must do is ensure that their website has all the basic things covered:

1. Make sure your website features your telephone number prominently. For many folks phone calls are still the best way to get answers!
2. List your full street address! PO Boxes aren't going to give your clients and customers much sense of security - they want (and deserve!) to know where you are located.
3. Post your hours of operation and keep them up to date. Way too often we find websites with posted hours that don't jive with reality. Nothing worse than pissing off a possible new customer with wrong information!
4. Highlight your most important or popular service(s) or item(s). You don't have to have a full-blown catalog of every item on your shelves, but you should be clear about what customers can expect from your business.
5. Link to your social media profiles. If you are on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or  Google+ then by all means assure these links exist on your website.

Now that you have these simple things taken care of it's time to look beyond your own website and into other websites that can influence gaining a local audience. Stay tuned. Next Monday I will post the next in this series about ways to connect with your local audience. Hint: it has everything to do with location, location, location.