Here’s a quick checklist of 10 things retail brands can do to help increase store traffic through the web.

1. Describe on your site—in html text—what your retail brand does using terms that you expect people to search.

2. Include phrases in your website copy that people might type for a local search (like “mattresses in Morton Grove”).

3. Write the Meta Title and Description to help search engines put you in the right category and location (for tips on this, see this Google article )

4. List all your retail brand’s locations (again, in html text) with the street address, zip and phone number

5. Include the names of communities nearby to your location as well as your location (use phrases such as “also serving these communities”).

6. Make sure all the local online directories have the right information about your retail business and include as much information as you can pack on those sites for free (including reviews and ratings).

7. Add to your website as text positive customer reviews with your brand’s name in the reviews and the city/location of the customer next to the review.

8. Link to local organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, Welcome Wagon, Newcomers Club (and see if they’ll link back to you).

9. If you have multiple retail locations, link each of these locations to each other on your site.

10. Put Google Analytics on your site (www.google.com/analytics ). It’s free and easy to use. Then monitor where clicks are coming from and what they’re looking at.

There’s more a retail brand can do, but if you do these, you’ll improve the probability that your brand will be higher up in the search listings than your competitors and your stores will get more traffic.

Dave Hamel is the managing director of ESW Partners, an independent communications firm that specializes in retail branding and in integrating traditional and new media efforts for clients. You can sign up for the free e-newsletter, We Play in Traffic, at www.weplayintraffic.com , or follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/davehamel.