Store Locator Best Practices

1.     Quality Data. Location data needs to be scrubbed regularly; removing duplicates or locations that have been closed, adding new locations, ensuring grammar and punctuation are correct and providing current address and contact information.

2.     Store / Product Attributes. Such critical information as brands carried, hours of operation, in-stock inventory, credit cards accepted, RV parking, and other services offered (Wi-Fi access, coffee or bank within your store) help validate your business with consumers. If they can't find this practical information, they will look elsewhere.

3.     Clean User Interface. A Locator must be easy to use, enabling consumers to intuitively find what they are looking for. Web 2.0 technology has allowed for ease-of-use functions to be built-in almost automatically.

4.     Mapping. Maps provide instant validation that consumers can find your services or products in their geographic area. Locations should automatically appear based on the consumers IP address to reduce clicks. Consumers should also be able to search by zip code, city/state, address or neighborhoods. It's important that new locations show up on the map when users pan (move) the map.

5.     Driving Directions. Are a good sign of conversion, as they will most likely visit your location. Offering locations along the way allows consumers to find you between two points.

6.     Conversion Tools. These include driving directions, send to email, send to phone, send to printer, coupons, lead generation forms, reviews, and call tracking. Analyzing the behavior of consumers will give you greater insight into their intent.

7.     Mobile. There are now more mobile phones in the US then Internet connected PCs. The locator should automatically detect if a user is searching from an iPhone, smart phone or PC and display the appropriate screens.

8.     Local Landing Pages. The ability to make have local search engine friendly landing page for each location that includes nearby neighborhoods, zip codes, local content, conversion tools to track the effectiveness of your campaigns. Video can lead to increased consumer engagement. Some sites have seen up to a 30% increase is website traffic by adding videos, which increases your chances of a higher ranking organic search result.

9.     Site Architecture including Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Follow best practices in on-page and off-page SEO. On-page factors include proper formatting of URL's, unique Title Tags and descriptive content such as neighborhoods and points of Interest (POIs). Off-page factors center on link building. Remember to keep your copy clean and crisp with relevant keywords.

10. Tracking & Reporting. Understanding where the traffic comes from (search engine, IYP, etc.) and what factors influence conversion rates (phone calls, coupons, send to phone/mail) requires detailed reporting.