Local online marketing is taking the web by storm, and more and more brick and mortar businesses are in danger of getting left behind in the dust. Here are 3 easy strategies to ensure that your local online marketing plan is set up to help you succeed.Strategy #1: Optimize Your Website to Get RESULTSThere is absolutely no point in marketing your business website if people get to it and just click away. Or even if they browse it for a bit, then leave without giving you any way to follow up with them. The first and foremost step in your local online marketing strategy is to make sure that your website is ready to capture information from those people who are really interested in who you are and what you have to offer. This gives you a chance to then become someone they know, like and trust – so they will buy from you in the future.Offer something of interest and value to your website visitors for free in exchange for their name and email address. This could be a little eBook with your top 3 tips for whatever your expertise is. It could be a video of you showing them how to do something. The key is to make it something that helps them to get results right now, so that they want to come back for more!Make sure that your free offer is prominent on your website – the upper right hand corner is the best – and keep distracting links and other features to a minimum. You don’t want to encourage them to click away before they give you a way to follow up!Strategy #2: Make Your Website Search Engine FriendlyThe next step is to make sure that the search engines know what you’re website is all about! This is called “search engine optimization” and it is actually pretty straightforward.Make sure that your main keyword is in your page title, meta tags, headline, and website copy. Include your local address and phone number in the footer on every page of your site, and also prominently on your Contact page. This lets the search engines know what your site is all about and where you are located. Then when someone is searching for what you have to offer locally, the search engines know right where to send them!Strategy #3: Submit Your Website and Business OnlineNow it’s time for the third strategy in your local online marketing plan – to tell the world about your business and your website!Start with getting your business listed on Google Maps, so you can start to show up for local searches. Then look for local online business directories to list yourself in. Online Yellow Pages are another great place to get listed.Write articles, make videos, post images, set up social media profiles (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc) and start engaging with the online community. Use your main keywords wherever you can – sprinkled throughout articles, in your video descriptions and tags, throughout your social media profiles and bios.The more you get your business out there on the web, in as many places as you can, the more you will start to show up in the search results when people are looking for your products and services.As you get more and more content out there on the internet – on your site and on other sites – it can be pretty easy to dominate the search engine results for your keywords. Your articles and videos will start showing up, your listings on Yellow Pages and other directories will start showing up, and you’ll start to show up in the local search results as well.Not a lot of local businesses are using this strategy, so it gives you a giant leap ahead of your competition! Your customers will be able to find you online, and you’ll start to grow an email list of people who are interested in what you have to offer.