Category Archives: Social Media

#5 Optimize for Local SEO & Citations

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56Have you ever heard of a citation? Citations are any time your business name, address, or other identifying factor are mentioned on another website. Citations count in regard to SEO even if there is no link present.

All of the following citations counts, when it comes to SEO:

  • Your business name online
  • Your business name + phone number
  • Your business name + phone number + address

Believe it or not, even just your business phone number is considered a viable citation.

Types of SEO Citations

There are two basic types of citations that apply to SEO and that help with local search results. These include:

  • The structured citation: This is what you find on business listing web pages – Yelp, Angie’s List, etc.

Having citations helps you prove that your business is really what you say it is, is located where you claim, etc.

Google and Bing (as well as most of the other search engines) consider citations an essential part of their ranking algorithms. When all other factors are equal, a business that has a higher number of citations is going to rank higher than those businesses with fewer citations.

When you can achieve citations on well-established and well-indexed portals, it can increase the certainty that a search engine crawler has regarding the information about your business and how it needs to be categorized.

The Local Connection

Citations are an essential part of your Local SEO efforts. Each citation you receive for your business helps to validate that it is part of a local community. After all, it is pretty hard to “fake” being a member of your area’s chamber of commerce or a city index of businesses. Also, receiving citations on the newspaper website or on another local business website shows that you are present – making your site appear more trustworthy and increasing your rank in the search engines.

How to Acquire More Citations for Your Business

There are several ways you can begin collecting citations for your business now.

  • Complete profiles for any business listing site with business name, address, phone number, etc.
  • Request that other businesses add a citation to your page and do the same for them.
  • Join your local chamber of commerce.

When you acquire local citations, you can increase your rank and ensure your website is viewed as trustworthy.

#2 and #3 Do Keyword Research

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Every online purchase begins with a few words typed into a search box.

Keyword research is one of the most valuable, important, and high return activities in the search marketing industry. Being able to rank for the proper keywords can make or break your entire website. Knowing what keywords to target starts with keyword research.

Keyword research isn’t just about getting people to your site, but also making sure you get the right type of visitors.

The Secret Weapon of Keyword Research

There are secret weapons in SEO. One of the most valuable is Google AdWords Keyword Planner. AdWords is the advertising system used by Google. The Keyword Planner is free for anyone to use. (There is now some limit to the keyword tool’s ability if you don’t have an active AdWords account, so keep this in mind).

Prior to using this tool, you need to create a general list of 5 to 10 keywords and phrases related to the website. For example, for a personal injury attorney you could use: personal injury, personal injury law, personal injury lawyer, etc.

Generating your Keyword List is a multi-step process, but a crucial one for SEO success. The steps of this include:

  • Create a Google AdWords account (https://www.google.com/adwords/)
  • Choose the “Keyword Planner” tool
  • Click “Search for new keywords using a phrase, website, or category”
  • Navigate to “Targeting” and choose the geographic area you want to target (you can choose zip code, metro area, state, country, and multiple locations)
  • Use your raw list of 5-10 keywords for the initial search; put the words in the first box (it is best to leave all other fields blank)

At this point, you have a list generated.

Deciphering Your Keyword List

In the report generated you receive a listing of words Google deems related to your root list. The report provides a bar graph of the search volumes, which spans over the previous 12 months.

Other notable items on the list include:

  • Ad Groups – provides insights on keyword association and helps you figure out keyword relevance.
  • Monthly Searches – How many times an exact keyword has been searched.
  • Competition – Is it a competitive keyword?
  • Suggested Bid – Typically only needed if you are planning on running an AdWords campaign.

As you scroll through the list, take note of the averages. It is a good idea to target keywords that receive a large number of searches monthly.

Build Your Spreadsheet

You can add keyword groups to your own spreadsheet by clicking the “Add to Plan” and create your keyword list. Once finished, you can download the entire sheet.

Don’t just try to target the keywords with the highest search numbers. You need to find keywords that have a combination of high volume, a higher suggested starting bid, and a higher competition value. These are referred to as “money words” and convert into better sales than other terms.

#3 Make Your Website Google Friendly with On-page SEO

on page seo

If you want your website to rank on Google for a specific keyword, you have to master two essential components:

  • On-page SEO

Here, you can learn more about on-page SEO, which is 50% of an effective strategy.

What is On-Page SEO?

This refers to optimizing the structure of your page in a way that makes it easier for web crawlers to find the keywords you have targeted.

When discussing on-page SEO, there are some factors that are more important than others.

The Process of On-Page SEO Success

If search engines are unable to find your site, you can optimize all day long but you will never appear. If you use a content management system like WordPress, you can easily check to see if your website is crawlable by just logging into the portal and choosing “Privacy” under the “Settings” tab. Make sure the “Allow search engines to index this site” option is selected beneath the “Site Visibility” heading.

If you don’t use WordPress, you can use Google Webmaster tools to see if the site is being crawled. To find this information simply click “Health” and then choose “Crawl Stats” to determine if the site is being actively crawled and how often the crawling is taking place.

There are several parts of your web page that have to be optimized for success. Here, you can learn about each one.

The Body

You need to include the selected keyword(s) in the body of your content at a minimum four times. If necessary, rearrange the keywords so they fit naturally in the text. Awkward wording can demote your site on Google.

Make sure to write content that is at least 50 words; however, the longer the content the better (as long as it is valuable and not gibberish).

If you put too many instances of the keyword in the document, this not only hurts readability but also your rankings. Try to keep all your content written for your readers but “tweaked” for the search engines.

Images

If you use images, make sure that the keywords are added to the alt tag. Also, make sure you name the image so that it matches your keywords.

Page Title

This is what appears in the tab of the web browser used. If you hover over the tab, it should show the entire page title. The best way to create a page title is to use the following format:

Make sure whatever you create is enticing. After all, what’s the point of a top spot in the search engines if no one is clicking on it?

The Meta Description

This is what you see under your page’s title in the search results. Meta descriptions should be 156 characters and include your targeted keyword.

H1 Tag

The h1 tag is different from title tags. It is important to include the keywords in this and putting them as close to the front as possible. Try to use the keyword only once in the h1 tag.

If you use WordPress, the h1 tag is the default page title. You don’t have to do anything special here.

URL

At the absolute least, include the target keyword in your URL slug, for example:

  • keywordvariation.com/keyword

On-page SEO techniques are crucial to overall search engine success. Keep this in mind when creating your web pages.

#1 Start With Your Marketing Strategy

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Creating strategies and plans for marketing today is more challenging than ever before. In the past, simply launching your website on the World Wide Web was enough to ensure you earned first-page real estate.

While things have evolved, the fundamentals of marketing planning remain unchanged. Regardless of the channels available, you still need to know your customer, develop a superior brand proposition, and communicate this effectively.

It’s up to the search engines if you are found. Then, your content determines if a customer is going to do business with you.

Not only are you being judged by the search engine used, but also the Internet as a whole. If you don’t have a superior marketing strategy in place, you can’t succeed in the modern search engine economy.

A website alone is not a marketing strategy. It is part of an overall marketing plan and serves as your virtual world, business headquarters – but it is not everything.

Just because you makeover your website, it doesn’t mean you have “revamped” your presence and the opportunity you have to be found.

Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating, and satisfying customer requirements profitably.

Creating Your Marketing Strategy

Step 1: Get to Know Your Audience

Ready to develop a marketing strategy that yields results? You have to know your audience. Ask the following:

  • Who is your exact target audience?
  • What type of content does your audience like to consume?
  • What goals do you want to accomplish with your marketing and website?

Keep in mind, you may have a few niche specific questions to answer, as well. The more you know now, the better equipped you will be to create an effective marketing strategy.

Once you answer these questions, you can develop a buyer persona. These are invaluable when it comes to figuring out how to reach your target audience on a personal, emotional level.

Buyer personas allow you to get to know your target audience in a unique, personal way. What they look like, how they behave, what they are worried about, their preferences, etc. When you have buyer persona’s they can be used to hone your content into exactly what your customers need and want, leading to more profits.

Step 2: Determine Your Marketing Strategy Goals

You also have to know what you are trying to accomplish. Why did you create a website in the first place? Some of the most common reasons include:

  • Lead generation
  • More visibility
  • More sales

In fact, it may be a combination of two or all of these. Regardless of your goal, you need to ensure it is clearly defined. At this point, you have something to work toward. No goal is achievable if you don’t have an indication you have reached it.

Step 3: Create your Brand Value Proposition

What makes your brand, your company, and what you have to offer different? A huge part of your entire marketing strategy is to create a brand value proposition and make it clear across your website. When consumers come to your site, they want to know why you are the company to do business with. If you don’t have this defined, your customers won’t see value, either.

Creating a marketing strategy takes time, and requires you to answer difficult questions. In the end, however, you are better equipped to serve and meet the needs of your customers.