Trust, credibility, and meeting people in “micro-moments” are all important factors to your online success. As you build your website, you try to choose photos and images that build trust. You try to write content that builds trust. You try to create a consistency in your branding and message that builds trust.

This is all great, but did you forget something?

The little things really do matter. As an example, we recently worked with a client who had a gorgeous website full of informative content, but there was one little oversight that left online visitors hanging. Despite everything the law firm's website had to offer, there was no indication of a physical address or where the business was located!

For businesses that rely on clients and referrals from their local community, this can be a big deal and was definitely an S-E-D'oh moment for the law firm.

S-E-D'oh Not Listing Your Address

One Small Physical Address Can Be One Giant Leap for Your Online Success

People search for businesses close to home, especially when they need a podiatrist, attorney, or another professional service. If your website doesn’t have a physical address or some indication of where your office is located, you’re just another faceless online company that could be anywhere.

Without easy to find location information, the people who search for you might not realize that you’re right next door. They might also be pretty confused when they try to look up your address before walking in your door or dropping something in the mail. Don’t let this happen to you.

It seems like such a small thing, but a physical address is one of the most basic things people look for on a website, and it helps build trust and credibility with online visitors. It also doesn’t hurt that adding your location to your website could help improve the relevance of your website to your local area with Google and other search engines.

How to Let People Know That You’re Local

The simplest thing you can do is add your address, local phone number, and a map with directions to your location.

For example, on our own website, this location panel appears at the bottom of every page:

Business Website location panel example

Don’t stop there, though.

There is still more you can do to let people know you’re local to them:

  • Claim your Google local listing. Potential clients often rely on Google to get information about your business, especially if they’re using a phone or mobile device to find you. Claiming your local listing on Google gives you better visibility in local search and on Google Maps, and it makes it clear that you’re close by.
  • Add an office page. An office page that features photos, describes your location, and explains the areas you serve will let potential clients know that you’re a real person and real business. Don’t forget to add your mailing address to your contact pages, too.
  • Talk about places and landmarks locals will recognize. You don’t want to go overboard and start overstuffing your website with keywords, which can have quite the opposite effect on trust and credibility. However, peppering your online content with familiar street names and landmarks lets people know that you know the area. You should also use your city, state, and other location-specific data when writing the metadata for your website.

Do you need help making sure your potential clients know how to find you?

Is Your Law Firm Or Medical Practice Website Getting Enough Exposure? Foster Web Marketing Can Help With Our Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Services  

Are you concerned that your website isn't pulling in enough traffic to keep you swimming in leads? Do you need help with SEO for your legal or medical website? If so, Foster Web Marketing can help! Please contact us online or call our office directly at 866.497.6199 to schedule your free consultation with our experienced marketing team. We have been helping clients throughout the United States and internationally since 1998 and are confident we can help you not only reach, but exceed your goals.

Tom Foster
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Founder|Owner, Speaker, Creator of DSS, World of Marketing Podcast Host, EOS Implementor
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