Jeff Woelker : Chicago SEO, SEM, and Online Marketing Consultant

This weekend, my girlfriend and I visited a few different bars and restaurants in the Lincoln Square and North Center areas on the North Side of Chicago and there was one common theme throughout all of them: they were all really empty.

I understand that this was a big travel weekend and Chicago has a lot of transplants that head back to Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, etc for the long holiday weekend, but I was thinking…how much business is lost over this weekend because customers either don’t know you are open or are too engrained in their routine to head over to your restaurant/bar?

There are a lot of different ways to let them know your physical business is open (an OPEN sign would help :)), but what about those looking online. Here are a few strategies to ensure you don’t lose customers online:

1. Make sure you are listed in all the local search listings: Google Local, Yahoo Local, MSN Local. Since many of the big search engine listings are incorporating local listings into their search results.
2. Make sure you have a page on your website for each holiday you cater towards: “Christmas Parties at My Restaurant”, “Super Bowl Parties at The Bar”, “Looking for a Romantic Dinner on Valentine’s Day?”. And then do some link building of your own - maybe your brother has a website he can put a link on, or your buddy’s personal page, or even set up a myspace page that only links to your site. Anything is better than nothing.
3. Set up PPC (Pay-per-click) advertising just for the week or two before a big holiday, since most people won’t make plans/purchase until then anyway. You can set up a deal promotion that they can only redeem during that period to create a sense of urgency and bring more people through the door. Also, by adding a promotion, even if it’s your regular discount, you can directly measure the performance of these PPC campaigns, which is often difficult with print or other advertising.
4. And finally, mail or email campaigns. Nothing says “I care about my customers” like sending them a personalized letter or postcard letting them know about your upcoming holiday promotions, or just a short email letting them know your holiday hours. If you are a small mom and pop operation, this will work wonders, I guarantee it!

So there’s your start to bringing in more holiday traffic than you ever did before. Need some help setting this stuff up? Drop me an email or contact me over the phone. I’d love to see what I can do for your business.