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Last week we talked about how Google’s been expanding their local search results and what that could mean for your business.  Last year Google began adding new features and abilities to their Google Maps system.  Essentially, if someone searches for a company that mainly offers their products or services locally (i.e. a restaurant, salon, chiropractor, etc.), then in addition to getting natural search results, users will also see a list of companies that are located near their location, based on the searcher’s IP address. 

The good news is that this gives local companies an opportunity to rank above national companies and provide additional information like store hours and coupons.  For these reasons alone, it’s important to make sure that your company can also be listed in these results. 

The first and most important thing you need to do if you haven’t already done it, is to sign up with Google’s Local Business Center.  There you can control how your company is listed and more.  This video does a fantastic job of explaining some of the benefits of creating a local business account with Google.

One of the great things about Google’s Local Business Center is that it includes a dashboard of features that go beyond Google Analytics.  For example, when someone searches for “florist” on Google, they might get a local listing for your store.  If they click on your link and then request directions to your location, Google will capture their zip code and include it in your reporting.  This tells you exactly where your customers are coming from.  This type of detail can help you refine any offline marketing your company is doing, or make changes to your business to better meet customer needs. 

You’ll also find out the top search phrases people are using when they find your business.  For example if you own a restaurant and you’re paying top dollar to get good rankings for the keyword phrase “family restaurant”, but most of the people that actually get directions to your restaurant are searching for the phrase “affordable restaurant”, this can give you invaluable direction about how to focus your marketing efforts.

In addition to increased reporting capabilities, Google local results listings can provide small or local business owners with another opportunity to get their name in front of prospective customers, and that’s always a good thing.

If you live in Los Angeles and you want to get your car washed, you may go to Google and type the keyword “car wash” into your Google search bar.  Which result would be more useful?  Getting random listings for every car wash from here to Switzerland or getting listings for car wash shops that are down the street from you?  Obviously, the latter would be most useful, unless of course you’re doing some sort of cross continental car wash research.

People search the entire World Wide Web to find businesses that are in their own backyards.  Google understands this.  As a matter of fact they’ve understood this for quite some time.  That’s why over the last year Google has been stepping up their local search results.

In the past, to search for car wash shops near you, you’d have to enter your zip code, the name of your part of town, or some other piece of information to let the search engine know that you wanted to narrow your search to a specific area.  Now, Google assumes that people are intending to search locally for certain keywords, even if the user doesn’t specify a geographic location.  Google uses the searchers IP address to narrow down their location to a broad geographic area.

So, if you go to Google right now and type in “car wash”, you’re likely to get listings for car wash companies in your area.  The same goes for “McDonald’s”, “spa services”, and many other businesses that tend to cater to clients face-to-face.

Why is this so important?  The local results will often appear before the top listings in the organic search results.  So, if you’re at the top of the SEO game and your company has one of the top slots in Google’s organic search results, Google may actually list ten other businesses before yours because of their proximity to the searchers location.  That’s right, ten other businesses!

Check out next week’s blog to learn how to get listed in Google’s local results.  We’ll also talk about how utilizing Google’s local business tools can help your company grow.

We all know that search engine optimization is not a one-time event like coming up with your company name or selecting the first location for your storefront.  Nevertheless, there are a few things you can do to ensure that some of your hard SEO work is not lost tomorrow.  That’s right, there are a few things you can do today that are almost guaranteed to pay off regardless of what shifts and turns occur in the SEO world tomorrow.

Take the time to ensure that your website is well designed, and highly efficient. Your website should include a good amount of internal linking.  People should be able to find good content on your site without drilling down through countless pages.  Keep things easily accessible and you’ll keep your audience.  Utilize your keywords effectively and strategically not just in your on-page text but also in your tags, URLs, etc.  Include sitemaps, both XML and HTML.  Sitemaps help visitors and search engines navigate their way through your content.

Even in SEO, content is king. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the technical side of SEO, but at the end of the day if you’ve developed a website that stands out in your industry, then you really are halfway home.   Your content needs to be a dynamic wellspring of good, quality information.

You must provide real value.  This is something that we talk about a lot here at SurchSquad and that’s because it’s critical.  Today’s consumers are savvy.  If you’re content is a rehashing of everything else that’s already out there, your readers will know it.  So, think outside of the box.  Offer up industry news and information that your competitors are keeping under wraps.

Remember, many of the people who search the web are actually in the research phase.  That means that a good number of the people who stumble upon your site are simply looking for answers.  A website with your photo and phone number is not going to cut it anymore.

Viral is the new word of mouth. Make sure that your content is easy to share.  What if someone reads something on your website that completely solves a problem their friend is having?  A person is much more likely to forward a blog or video link than an entire FAQ listing.  Or even worse, if they have to read through 20 paragraphs to get to “the good stuff” they will probably find an easier way to send the information to friends, like getting it off someone else’s website.

Get the word out. Regular marketing of your website is critical.  However, there are some marketing techniques that you can do today for a continued pay off tomorrow.  The first is to build a community.  If you do the work today to get a strong following for your website and your Facebook page, then every update and every blog is free mass marketing.  If you’re not email marketing, then get going!  Everyone’s doing it, it’s cheap, and it doesn’t annoy your client base.  Plus, if you aren’t doing it, you can be sure that your competitors are.  Take the time to build a quality email list and then use it to deliver high quality content.  You’ll get more and more people signing up for your newsletter without even trying.

Is SEO an ongoing job?  Yes.  However, that doesn’t mean that the hard work you do today will be worthless tomorrow.

Many of us have heard the common show business phrase: “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”  Unfortunately, the same isn’t true for links.  It would seem that any traffic is good traffic, right?  As long as people are coming to your site, it doesn’t matter how they got there, right?  Well, yes and no.

As a general rule, it is great to have more and more traffic coming to your website.  But remember, that Google and all the other search engines, are working diligently to ensure that every website owner is getting authentic traffic either from organic SEO or legitimate paid search.  If something looks questionable, they’re going to notice.

What types of websites do you not want linking to you?  Any website that has a reputation for trying to spam the search engines, a website that seems to exist just to generate traffic, or known link farming companies are not good sites to have linked to yours.

Don’t be alarmed.  While there are times that Google will penalize a website for utilizing unethical linking techniques, they’re really good at sniffing out the sites that are just out to game the system.  If you have a legitimate website, with a legitimate business and only a small percentage of your links are bad, Google will usually not come after you.  Instead what they’ll often do is ignore those links.  They simply won’t use them when considering where to place your website on the results page.

The truth of the matter is that almost every website on the World Wide Web has links pointing to it from questionable sources.  There is usually no rhyme or reason to these bad links.  However, this doesn’t mean that the search engines are even remotely soft on unethical link building practices.  If they notice that your website’s bad links are coming in from companies that are known for selling and/or trading links, or if they notice that all of the questionable links point to a page on your website that you’ve been trying to optimize, then they will dig deeper to find out what’s going on.

There are lots of ways to find out who’s linking to you.  Here’s a short list of websites and companies that can help: http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps, https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com, and http://wholinkstome.com/.

Last week we talked about why you should implement social media marketing into your SEO plan, this week we’ll talk about how.

Social media marketing can be a huge undertaking.  There are hundreds of social media sites and if you don’t have a clear plan you can waste away countless hours without seeing your desired results.  Follow these steps to get your social media marketing plan off the ground.

Define your audience. Think about who you want to reach, the best way to reach them, and what messages you want to convey about your company.  It’s important to understand your target demographic and then to utilize the types of social media that are most likely to reach them.

Get a crash course in the most popular social media channels. Once you know who you want to reach, you need to know which channels will provide the best way to reach them.  For instance, many people see Facebook as being something for kids to keep in touch.  While 18-24 year olds still make up the lion’s share of Facebook users, the fastest growing age demographic on the site is the 35-54.  Most likely you’ll end up using a variety of channels to reach your target demographic, but this will still keep you from aimlessly creating social networking accounts with no clear objectives.

Think about content development. Social media allows you to use blogs, videos and social networking sites to create content about your company and its products.  However, if you have a product that’s quirky, shocking, or solves a commonplace problem then it’s possible to have consumers themselves generate a good amount of online content for you.  The makers of Vibram Five Finger shoes understand this concept.  If you Google them you’ll see results for their website, blog posts reviewing the shoes by independent consumers, a link to their Wikipedia page, and links to retailers selling the product – all on the first page of search results.  You’ll get similar results with the keywords “five finger shoes,” “individual toe shoes,” and “finger shoes”.

Keep track of your progress. Companies like Context Optional provide solutions that allow you to keep track of your social media campaigns and measure their effectiveness.

Get going. The best way to sink your social media marketing plan is to not get started at all.  Follow these steps to create a comprehensive plan and then get in the conversation.

Social media marketing is one of those things that sounds complicated and high tech.  The truth is that, while there are several things to consider when developing a social media campaign, getting started is actually fairly simple.  As a matter of fact, the best way to fail at social media marketing is to not try it all.

In this week’s post we’ll talk about what social media is and why you should be doing it.  Next week we’ll address the steps you should take to implement social media into your SEO campaign.

One of the best definitions for social media can be found on Wikipedia where they define it like this: “Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction.”  Things like blogs, Facebook, Twitter, podcasts, bookmarking sites and even wikis are all forms of social media.  Each of these provides an opportunity for anyone to publish and/or promote their ideas online.  In a sense, social media platforms provide a way for everyone to participate in water cooler chatter from the comfort of their own laptop.

Why include social media in your SEO plan?  When businesses participate in social media, they’re joining a conversation that is loose, relaxed, and far less direct than traditional advertisements.  Is your blog going to be the next dooce?  Probably not.  But your social media accounts may be the perfect space for you to connect to those prospects who like to remain on the fringe.  The ones that don’t want to get your newsletter, won’t sign up for an RSS feed, but every now and then they may check out your blog or even follow you on Facebook because they have the power to turn that off.

Not only is social media marketing something you can get started yourself, it’s free.  It costs your business nothing to set up accounts on social media sites.

If you’re still not convinced, consider that these social media sites are considered to be highly reliable by Google.  So, if you use your keywords in your social media site and in your profile, then when people search using those keywords they may find your Facebook or LinkedIn page listed on the results page long before they’d see your actual company website.

Tune in next week for a detailed description of how to get your social media marketing campaign off the ground.

The world of sales and marketing has changed radically over the last several years.  Today’s consumers are now being asked for permission to advertise to them.  Small business owners are in a unique position to benefit from this shift in marketing, and the email newsletter is one of their most effective tools.

What is email marketing? Email marketing is a form of direct marketing.  Most email marketers utilize a service like Constant Contact to create HTML emails that have the look and feel of their organization’s website.

The goal of email marketing is to build trust and to educate. When people get to your website by clicking an online advertisement they’re in new territory and their guard is up.  They don’t know you and they don’t know your company.  Email marketing provides you with an opportunity to nurture these leads, to build the relationship and to turn them into paying customers.

Be sure that you’re attracting the right prospects. In your keyword research you’ll find that some keywords don’t necessarily lead to sales.  These are the keywords used by people who are still in the research phase; they aren’t ready to buy but they’re eager to learn.  This is your target audience for an email newsletter.

Don’t waste the sign-up page. Your sign-up page should include a sampling of the type of quality material that consumers can expect to receive in your newsletter.  Many newsletter sign-up pages contain a promise of what the newsletter will deliver, a box to enter an email address, and nothing more.  Use your sign-up page to showcase some of your best blog entries, include links to guides, charts, and more.  Use it to convince consumers that your newsletter is one that’s really worth signing up for.  Always be sure to offer a freebie to seal the deal.  A free guide, a consultation, and a sample of your product are all good possibilities.

Deliver a high quality newsletter. Email marketing is not about smoke and mirrors.  It’s about delivering interesting and useful content.  Consider the keywords that these people originally used to find your company.  Tap into what interests them and use your email newsletter to answer their questions.  Don’t push your own products too soon.  They’re expecting high quality, free information.  Give it to them.  This will build trust.  After the first 4-5 emails, then start subtly pointing them back to your products.  Let them know how one of your products provides a solution to a common problem in your industry.

According to BusinessWeek, “videos are 53% more likely to appear on the first page of search results than text pages.”  Clearly, online video is a fantastic way to increase your traffic, propel your brand, and optimize your website.  Here’s a quick rundown of what to consider when creating and posting video for your company.

Video isn’t just about the big ideas. Don’t think that in order to record a video about your business that you need to have something amazing or groundbreaking to say.  In reality, video is just one more way to communicate with your target audience.  What are the questions your clients ask the most about your industry?  If you own a restaurant then make a video of your top chef creating your special dessert or appetizer.  If you own a body shop you can make a video explaining how quickly and easily your shop gets out the most common dents.  Here’s a good example by NYC dermatologist, Dr. Neal Schultz, who releases two to three new videos a week on various skin conditions.

Stay on point. Your video shouldn’t be longer than 10 minutes.  Videos that drag on and on just don’t work.  If you have a lot of information you’d like to cover then do a video series.  Remember that your video is not supposed to replace actual contact with the client.  You don’t need to reveal all of your secrets or tell your prospects how to build their own version of whatever it is that you sell.  Your video should provide a bulleted overview of one your products, services, or update people on what’s happening in your industry.  The key is to add value – inform, educate or solve a problem.

Come up with a title that ranks and gets people to watch. When creating a title for your video make sure that it’s catchy enough that people will watch it and remember to utilize your keywords so that it can rank appropriately on Google.

Consider third party hosting. You can either host your video on your website or through a third party like YouTube or Metacafe.  Hosting on YouTube or any other 3^rd party site offers you the easiest way to upload, share, and promote your content. You can also take the “embed” code from these services and paste the video on your site.

The bottom line is that online videos are another great way to market your company online.  So, get your camera ready and get in the game.

“Paid Search” is one of those phrases that gets thrown around a lot in the search marketing world.  If you’re not quite sure what paid search is or how it works, then this article is for you.  Let’s start with the basics.  What is paid search?

Paid search is an advertising strategy that involves the purchase of web traffic from search engines.  Paid search listings or advertisements appear in the “PPC Advertising” section shown above.  Clicking on the advertisement will redirect web users to a landing page on the company’s website.  Google’s version of paid search is called Adwords.  Paid search also refers to banner ads when they’re purchased directly from a website owner.

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, a form of paid search, is a method used for purchasing online advertising.  With PPC advertising a company pays for a listing on the search engine results page, but they’re only charged when a web user clicks on the listing.  Since hundreds or even thousands of companies are interested in paying for placement for the same keywords, Google created a service called Google Adwords which functions like a keyword auction.  Companies can create Adwords accounts, select the keywords they’d like to bid on, and then select their per-click price.

However, Google doesn’t simply give the highest placement to the highest bidder.  Google gives a quality score to each paid search advertising campaign that a company is running. Keep in mind that a website’s quality score is an ever changing variable.  It’s something that website owners need to manage and continually work to improve.

Quality scores are determined by three major areas.  The first is click-through rates.  Click-through rates are the percentage of people clicking on your advertisement divided by the total number of times it was shown.  So, if your ad appears a million times in search engine results pages, but only one person clicks on it, then you have a low a click-through rate for that specific set of keywords or keyword campaign.

The second area that Google assesses when determining your quality score is relevancy.  If you’re trying to purchase placement for keywords that don’t directly relate to your business offerings or your services, this will lower your overall quality score.

The third major area that Google assesses when determining quality score is your landing page.  This is the first page visitors see on your website after clicking your advertisement on the search engine results page.  Essentially, the landing page needs to deliver on the promise put forth in the advertisement.  For example, if your ad refers to an online special that your company is having, then when web surfers click that ad the first page they’re taken to on your website should be one that deals with the online special.

So, the company with the highest combination of keyword pricing and quality score will win the bid or get the highest placement on the search engine results page.  The company in second place will get the second listing and so on and so on.

What does all of this mean for today’s small business owner?  Serve your customer.  If you’re creating landing pages that meet the needs of your users, Google will reward you with a higher quality score and therefore lower pricing per click.  It’s as simple as that.  With paid search, even small business owners can compete with the big guys.

Search engine optimization is not simply about getting high results on search pages.  SEO can also be a powerful way to build your company’s brand or identity.  Regardless of how big or small your company is it has a brand.  In other words, your current and many of your potential customers already have an impression about what your company stands for.

One of the biggest challenges in building a brand is finding ways to deliver your company’s message to your target demographic.  When you use high search rankings as an advertising tool you’re much more likely to reach your target demographic than you are with almost any other form of advertising.

When you optimize your site for the keywords that best represent your company, you know that you’re advertising to people who already have an interest in your industry and your products.  To put it plainly, they’re actively looking for you.  They’re not trying to watch a football game when your company’s commercial comes on.  They’re not scanning their favorite magazine when they flip past your advertisement.  When you use high search rankings as an advertising tool, you’re marketing to people who are actively looking for information about companies just like yours.

When potential customers see your company listed in search results, they’ll be reading your title and meta tags.  While it’s important to optimize your title and meta tags for keywords, you can also use them to communicate messages about your company and your brand.  Title and meta tags are a great place to include your company slogan or key phrases that illustrate what your company is all about.

Remember that people trust their search engines.  If your website consistently gets high results for the most common keywords in your industry, it communicates to the consumer that their favorite search engine trusts your company.  Furthermore, most consumers will begin to think that your company is a leader in your industry.

The bottom line is that search engine optimization should be a part of every company’s marketing budget.  SEO is about more than clicks and conversions; it’s also a powerful yet simple way to keep your company in the minds of your target demographic.  If you’re looking for a way to get the most bang for your advertising buck, don’t overlook search engine optimization.