Am I doing location pages all wrong for multi location businesses?

[HoosierBuff]

Hi,

I wanted to bounce this off of the crowd here.

When I'm creating locations pages for Multi-Location businesses, I don't think I have been paying enough attention to the design of the pages. When I make these, or work with a clients page, I make a "location" page, which, has a map embedded, some text (but not a ton), and the basic info. If possible, I throw in some other things too, maybe a picture, and info about the manager.

The more I think about it though, for single location businesses users most often land on the home page. . . and this is great, the home page is designed for conversion, and it puts the companies best foot forward. For these multi-location businesses the user is often landing on this location page . . . which is far different than the home page, and really not very compelling.

Instead of having a "location" page template that is seperate, more funcationally oriented, and less ornate, wouldn't it be better to create a copy of the home page and then append the location information to the design (if executed in an elegant fashion).

In short: why have a "location" page. . . instead have a home page for each location.

 

[Scott Rawlins]

Since you are referring to multi locations, I moved your post to that part of the forum and changed the title to reflect that.

I would say apply the same principles you would apply to a home page, you should apply to a location page. While it's certainly good to have what you have suggested on those pages, you still need content that is unique, compelling, hyper local, etc. I certainly wouldn't use any form of a template or do any copying. You need to have unique content specific to that area.

I'm sure other will chime in with more recommendations.

 

[Linda Buquet]

I agree with Scott. (Thanks for moving the post and adjusting title Scott!)

I think location pages need to combine the best elements of a home page (but no duplicate content) with super strong geo content about that city. And the location info even needs to be beefed up more, because you don't have the power of the home page behind it.

If you dig through this Multi-Location forum you'll see tons of info about content for location pages. I know Phil had a really good post about it that I shared here.

Oh here it is - great stuff! <a href="http://www.localsearchforum.com/multi-location-issues/6418-16-tips-creating-unique-city-landing-page-content.html">16 Tips for Creating UNIQUE City Landing Page Content</a>

And some of the best posts are under our <a href="http://www.localsearchforum.com/tags/%23multi-location.html">#multi-location hash tag</a>

 

[mborgelt]

I will echo everything mentioned here and I always recommend taking landing page optimization for multi-locations a step further and treating each page as its own site. Meaning you should create a few pages that live under it and create blog content for each location with supporting internal links.

 

[Eric Rohrback]

What we do is in line with what others have said. You make sure you have all the correct contact information (Name, Address, Phone) for the location, but then sprinkle in a lot more information. We have specific services offered at the location, a description about the store/area, any on-site pros (typically golf or hunting pros) at that location & their bio, an embedded map, driving directions, and store hours. There are also photos of the store so people can get a little idea what to expect in terms of layout.

The location page has a lot of information that's very specific to that branch. The design template of each location page is the same, but the information differs. This might be a slightly different situation because our site homepage is eCommerce while the location pages exist to drive store traffic.

There's a lot of ways you can go with it, but in general the location pages should exist to provide a unique view into that branch while the home page should be more general to the overall business.

 

[JoyHawkins]

This is still my favorite resource for these: Anatomy of an Optimal Local Landing Page Infographic | Nifty Marketing

 

[Tim Colling]

...and treating each page as its own site. Meaning you should create a few pages that live under it and create blog content for each location with supporting internal links.

I'm very interested in hearing more about "blog content for each location", or seeing real-life examples "in the wild". Can you list some example links? It sounds almost like you're suggesting that each location page have its own blog page. Is that what you meant?

 

[joedillon68]

This is still my favorite resource for these: Anatomy of an Optimal Local Landing Page Infographic | Nifty Marketing

Joy is spot on. We used this as our inspiration for our local "landing" pages. Still need to work on unique content for each page... man it's tough!

Here's an example:
Divorce Mediation Bridgewater - Equitable Mediation Bridgewater NJ 08807

 

[Tim Colling]

Thanks, Joe. That's helpful to see. I didn't see a hyper-local blog per se on each of those pages, though. Did I just miss seeing them?

 

[joedillon68]

Hi Tim - I think when designing a local landing page it's important to add elements you feel are applicable in your world. In our world of divorce mediation, there's not a lot of local content we can do as our clients are all confidential so reviews, testimonials, case studies, etc. are all difficult to create (legally). I'd say go with the elements that work for you and don't worry about checking off all the boxes on the list Joy posted. We are going to try and do some more local content based on the "16 Ways" post I believe Linda posted n this thread but even without the local blog, according to Moz we come up 55% of the time in the local pack so that's pretty good for me!