Local SEO Without a Website

[Laustin1878]

I hope this is a good forum for this question. Is there anything different to be done for trying to get a business to rank well in local without having a website? I know Google relies on consistency and usually attributes a fair amount of trust to a businesses website. For companies who don't have a website, they need to find other trustworthy sources. What is the best way to rank well in this situation?

I enjoy smoking cigars and my local cigar shop does not have a website and they don't want one. Trying to find them online is daunting. I want it to be easier for them to be found and had a chat or two with them about gaining a stronger presence. I would like to approach them with as much verified support as I can b/c I would like to help them. I'm not sure what changes, if anything at all when no website is involved.

I'm guessing it comes down to getting listings in seed NAP directories. Yay/nay?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I think if any business is even a little interested in having a decent local online presence they should at least do up a basic site. Even more important with blended results.

With that said, it's certainly possible to have a local presence without a website. As you mentioned, you will have to put extra focus into building citations,where possible, and perhaps social media to lay your foundation.

 

[Linda Buquet]

If cost is the issue, I'd encourage them to at least put up a one-page info site on blogspot. I've seen blogspot sites rank really high and it would not take much to put up a page. But short of that, yes directory and YP listings are about all you could do.

 

[Laustin1878]

I firmly agree with you Colan. I even mentioned a basic site just to have something to reference about your business. They exclaimed that they could not possibly compete with the bigger establishments which I understand. I said an informational site would be all they needed as they don't have to sell online. They are fairly old school so trying to find a person to update the site after it was established would probably be a task in and of itself.

The other point they made is that they have a very loyal following that consists of long time customers and good people. They are afraid if more attention is brought to them, they will start attracting the "wrong" customers and ruin the solid base of customers they have now. They are one of the few places that has a smoking lounge and they don't want to have "a younger crowd" start showing up and being rowdy.

I guess a second part to this question would be how to start ranking a Google Places listing if that was their only presence? Obviously, you can only optimize a listing so much and it would be the next best thing to rank if you didn't have your own site. Social media I think would be a good approach as well. Thank you for the suggestions Linda.