Does anybody have a complete local business website SEO checklist for me to get started?

Yes, I can help you get a nice kickstart to local business website optimization with SEO checklist for beginners. Make sure you’ve got everything in place with the following, and you will be already moving on the right track. Ultimately – to gain most out of your online exposure to local search, in line with setting a fairly good traffic-generating potential. That being said, here is all you need to that point.

Setting Up Local Business Website: SEO Checklist to Get Started

Tier One: Optimizing Local Business Website

• First, identify your location-based optimization strategy. Note, if you're running a multi-practitioner business (for example, legal or medical company), there would be much more complicated local SEO strategies – compared to a brick-and-mortar business, home-based doing, or single-location project. 
• Make sure you have a welcoming homepage, as well as engaging "contact," "about," and several location-specific landing pages. Create them all unique, and check your business NAP data for consistency throughout every section of your main business website.
• Don't forget to add Google Map at least to your contact page, in line with using Schema markup to get more structured data that helps Google with indexing. Fill in Google My Business page to verify your business website – and you're ready to get down to content optimization.

Tier Two: Starting Body Content Optimization

Much like with the standard Search Engine Optimization, local SEO is also driven by high-quality on-page content – not only for providing good user experience with unique and informative data, but to attract valuable natural links. It means that you will need to set up a solid local content strategy. That way, use the following suggestions to the right content optimization strategy that will help you dominate a well-targeted search at the local level:

• Use hyper-localized keywords (i.e., frequently used search terms related to your primary business category, which are embedded with the name of your city/town or region you're serving) to optimize your Title Tags, Meta Descriptions, and Image ALT Tags. 
• Include bright photos that clearly showcase the whole company itself, interior/exterior, neighbouring locales, and team staff employees. That way, try to embed image file names (when applicable) with your hyper-localized keywords, as that would contribute to better rankings too.
• Publish only genuinely unique content, and avoid using any templated landings (i.e., nearly similar body page content, with only product/service, or location, changed). Don't forget to run a double-check to clean up any duplicate pieces of content, or duplicate listings. Consider using a specific online tool – there are a lot of useful helpers available in open access.

Tier Three: Setting Everything Up to Earn Local Backlinks

• Make sure to have a clean & clear interlinking structure. Connect the main categories of your business website at least with the homepage and the major location pages. Consider doing the same with your custom landing pages.
• Create local social media profiles and link them back to your homepage/main category or service pages. Don't forget to drop several enticing Call-To-Action buttons throughout the major sections of your business website.
• Take part in local events and run different promotions with discounts and any other way of rewarding your loyal followers on Social Media – and get a valuable link/review in return. You might as well consider purchasing local media website or start running local blog pages to support your main business site. Of course, that will take time & effort or some extra marketing budget – but that will definitely pay off.