Google Places Optimization

 

Google has reported that approximately 97% of consumers regularly search online for local businesses. Google has consistently ranked as the most popular search engine for finding anything on the web, and this includes local businesses. Because of this, Google Places has become a popular tool for both consumers and business owners alike. 

Google Places 

 

There are many advantages for local businesses that use Google Places effectively. These pages are like a connection hub which joins your business with the local consumers looking for your products and services. Business website ranking with key search terms is still important, however, it is equally important to participate in Google Places Optimization. 

Google Places Optimization 

Companies relying upon developing a customer base which makes purchases at their physical store locations may attract many more consumers simply by developing their online presence. 

Google Places Optimization has become an integral part of locational online marketing techniques. Any local business may improve their search exposure for consumers  searching for products and services in their particular region. 

According to 2010's Local Search Usage Study, local searches have risen more than 14 percent, just over the course of last year. During the same year, Also that year, Google reported that 20 percent of their searches were local, a third of which were performed on mobile devices. 

Google Places Optimization Pages

Most businesses in cities have found that Google created one of its Place pages for them.  This is accomplished by gathering all of the information received from several established web resources. Some of these may include: 

• An official website;
• Consumer review sites such as Yelp;
• Internet Yellow Pages; and
• Localeze.com.

While the above resources may assist in promoting your business, it is far better to claim the page so as to provide customized information according to what your company offers. Some of the advantages of doing this include: 

• More ease in communicating with potential customers
• Ability to add relevant postings to a the Place page
• Creating a localized place to offer special deals, events, sales and other announcements.

Companies with more than one place of business can also find it helpful to list many of their locations in one place. These enhanced listings can allow businesses to include  photographs, website links, videos or other very useful marketing content. 

Enhanced Company Information 

Any local business could improve customer relations by providing information such as: 

• Store hours and locations;
• Directions, cross streets and landmarks;
• Location photos;
• Nearby attractions.

Thinking about what your potential customers could be looking for when they are seeking out your products and services can really add value to your Google Places Optimization efforts. 

There are basic things that customers use search engines for. Displaying ways to make your business standout is easy to do using Google Places Optimization. Use some of the following as a guideline to include:

• Customer demographics;
• Common questions; and
• Service expectations.   

Social media and mobile advertising has become the juggernaut of online marketing. Savvy businesses have made it possible for consumers to find them easily, while on the go. Google has always been a part of the mobile advertising and marketing landscape since its inception and is available on every device imaginable. This increases any business exposure over a thousand fold. 

Mobile Technology

Social behaviors have heavily influenced consumer web interactions with brands. Taking advantage of the new technology platforms such as with Google Places Optimization will only enhance your online business presence and increase foot traffic into your store. 

Google Places Optimization will expand, so taking the time to explore how to use it effectively will be well worth the time invested.

White Label SEO - 5 Things To Ask Yourself Before You Outsource

 

 

 

1. Can I charge my clients the outsourced agencies rates and still make a profit?

 

To answer this question, you have to understand that the agency you hire to do your white label seo work is doing 80% of the work. What do you think that is worth and how critical is it to make sure you price accordingly?

 

2. How can I trust that the agency I am outsourcing my work to will not blow up my current customers?

 

Simply put, ask them questions about the industry. Ask them how their process works, what do they do to obtain rankings, then traffic then conversions. If they do not want to have a conversation about this, run. SEM is transparent, and due to the rapidly changing nature of the industry, no method stays fresh for more than 6 months at a time.

If they are selling you a secret sauce line, the main ingredient is most likely spam.

 

3. How can I make sure that both my clients and my white label SEO agency are on the same page?

 

This is simply done by talking to your client and establishing  realistic conversion numbers and then discussing with your white label SEO agency a plan to make sure those numbers can be met.

 

4. How involved should I be with the campaign?

 

Involved, but not to the point where you are micro managing it. Look, to grow your business you will need to, "let go" to a point, but that does not mean to just walk away. Review the analytics, compare the forecasted goals to the achieved goals and ask questions. Be proactive but not a hindrance.

 

5. Should I let the white label agency talk to my clients?

 

This all depends on the comfort level you have with both your client and the agency. While there is nothing more important in search engine marketing then conversions, the relationship between client and agency is a close second. However, sometimes, the person doing the work is a vastly better asset to put in front of a client, because they can explain exactly what is getting done or not getting done. My recommendation on this is to hold off until you have a long term relationship with the white label agency.

 

Want to know more about white label SEO? Visit our white label SEO - SEO Reseller Page

Not Considering an SEO Campaign at this time? Better Think Again.

 

If you are a business owner who is still not sold on the SEO idea, the latest report that came out from Pew Research will quickly change your mind. According to their data, 73% of Americans use a search engine to find information they are looking for. That is up 53% from 10 years ago. Trust me these numbers will only grow with the rising tide of smart phone users in the marketplace.

The days of wondering if an SEO campaign is right for you is over, you need to be listed on the search engines for the services you provide. If you are a local company, you still have a small chance of grabbing tremendous local internet real estate. However more and more small business owners are now getting in the game. The days for wondering should be behind you, the days of action should be in front of you.   – Len Ward

You are read the Pew Report Here.

Assuming The Client Knows What You Are Talking About – Part 2 SEO 101

  

I would say that 50% of the potential clients I talk to in South Jersey and Philadelphia will tell me that they do not understand what SEO is and really have no interest in getting to know what it is. They just want to hire me and let me do my thing.  While this is good, this does come back to my original blog post where I feel very strongly that the client at least needs to have a light working knowledge of what an SEO campaign is and what the components are.

In a nutshell, search engine optimization is configuring your website for keywords that describe your location and business in the attempt to rank high for those keywords on the search engines results page. (Fancy Talk for – Customers can find me)

While there is a TON that goes into an SEO campaign, lets just get you familiar with some of the more talked about terms regarding your on page SEO Campaign

1.  Keyword Research- This is finding the terms your potential customers are typing into the search engines to find you. While there are many different software products and platforms that will recommend excellent keywords, the only way to be 100% positive that are you choosing the right keywords is to test them.  This is done by running a Google Adwords/Pay Per Click Campaign and seeing exactly what keywords people are using to find services like the ones you are offering.

2. Meta Data- Is the title and description of each and every page of your website. When you go to say Google and search for, “South Jersey Injury Lawyers,” do you notice when the results come back up you can read through them? Look at them all, pick the one that jumps out at you and would make you click the link.  The meta data is your explanation to not only Google, Yahoo and bing but to your potential clients what it is you offer. It is like a 3 second commercial, so make it count. While some people feel differently, to me, I feel as if the meta data is the single most import part of SEO.

3.Robot Text- This is code that is put on your site with the single goal of having a conversation with the search engines. Visiting robots or spiders or Google Bots use the Robot Text as instructions when indexing the pages. A map is given of what can or cannot be indexed and the Robot text files have to be located in the web’s root directory. Simply put this is an excellent way to tell Google what it should look at on your site and what is not necessary to look at.

4. Rich Snippets- These are what users see on their search results, they are summaries of the information that came up in the results. This change to the results are displayed allows you to obtain ratings and reviews of services or products and distinguish between people that show up in the results. In order to display them markup formats such as RDFa and microformats are have to be present to show Rich Snippets.

 

5. Canonical Tags- Determining where duplicate content is found on your site is the first step to developing this tag which is a new tool of importance to SEO experts and developers. Canonical tags are new values for a tag attribute that has already been used for a period of time. (Easy Description – If you have like say 7 pages that is basically the same thing, you need to tell Google what page is the main page of all of these similar pages.)

6. H Tags – H tags normally go from H1 – H6, with H1 being the most important. H Tags are the titles you see on the page. Normally you want to title your page first with an H1 tag in bold and in that tag you want to include your main keyword and what the page is about. After that you use H tags for relevance. Halfway down your page you would put an H2 tag which would include your second keyword and what the content that follows it is about.  It is a way to theme your page for both visitors and the search engines.

7. Miscellaneous  – Other terms you will hear while your campaign is ongoing is hReview Microformat, Site Maps, Landing Pages, Calls to Action, Content, Keyword Weighting and more.

Do I really need a Pay Per Click Campaign?

 

I have to admit it, I am a Pay Per Click Fan. Not because of the instant traffic it can generate but more so for the amazing data you can mine from your campaign. Unless you are in an industry or niche that does not warrant a PPC campaign, I nearly always recommend at least a small campaign to gauge the market place.

Here are three reasons I recommend a Pay Per Click Campaign for a business located in South Jersey.

- With a pay per click campaign you will know without a doubt what keywords potential clients are typing into Google to find  you. No more guessing or assuming, using PPC data is about knowing. To me, this is worth ten times the amount you will spend on the campaign. How many SEO campaigns blow up because the keywords that were selected are non converting keywords?

- Having a sale or special? Need to get the word out fast? Easy, create a landing page telling potential customers of your sale and then create a small but tactical PPC campaign that will start spreading the word today.  That is the beauty of PPC –  it is a nimble marketing vehicle that you can start, shift or stop quickly. PPC should always be a tool in your arsenal.

- You lack patience. This is ok, as a nation we are not known for our patience. Look, an effective SEO campaign can take upwards of 9 months for it to show you some sort of ROI, why wait for that? Start a tactical PPC campaign the same day you start your SEO campaign and you will do two things. One, generate instant traffic and two, eliminate an levels of frustration you may encounter with your SEO campaign.

While there are plenty of reason why you should be running a PPC campaign, the three above should be enough to get you going.

Assuming The Potential Client Knows What You are Talking about – Part 1 The Search Engines

This blog post is geared towards the person who is 100% new to the Search Engine Marketing world. 

One of the biggest mistakes anyone in our industry can make is to, “assume” the potential client  knows what we are talking about. To me you are setting the account up for failure if you are not offering some sort of quick training session on what Search Engine Optimization  is, how you are going to do it and the goals you hope to accomplish when the campaign is in full swing.  Because we are in an industry that is truly new for lack of a better word, to many agencies are getting away with just dropping a proposal on a desk and saying,”Look you need this, now lets start.” The number one reason why clients will drop you is not because you suck, it is because you did not educate your client. When you have an educated client, you have a happy client. Education is critical in the success of SEO campaigns.

Now lets shift over to reality. The reality is that over 80% of new or potential clients do not have the time for a training session, in their mind, they hired you to understand this stuff. So now you go from classroom lecture to twitter updates to try to get your point across. So that is exactly what I am going to do. In an ongoing series I will discuss the top players and terms you need to know to have a better grip on Search Engine Marketing.

First Up

The Search Engines

Google- Google, by far, is the most common and most popular search engine in the world. Because Google is the most popular search engine in the world the site has far reaching implications for any business involved with Internet marketing. Google has made possible the globalization of even small home-based South Jersey businesses. Marketing incorrectly on Google does not necessarily mean breaking a company, but doing marketing the right way through Google can mean the difference between mediocre profits and incredible profits.  Here is the most important thing you need to know about Google. People use it to find companies like yours and if your business is not properly listed in the Google search results,  you will have a tough time competing in the coming years.

Everything in the internet marketing world revolves around the Google search results, you need to be there.

 Bing-  The number two player. Bing is the new kid on the block in search engine services and is Microsoft’s answer to Google and Yahoo. Bing advertises itself not so much as  a search engine as much as a decision helper. Launched in 2009 and now showing both Yahoo and bing search results, bing is another search engine your business needs to be listed on. While the importance is not as critical as Google, you will see traffic come from Bing to your website, if your website is optimized properly.

Yahoo –   Recently, Yahoo has been slipping in market share,  however it still provides users with the same basic search functions as Google. Yahoo does have a loyal following that you need to keep in mind when mapping out an internet marketing campaign. While nothing rivals what is called Google Local (places) – we will discuss that later, Yahoo local is  a place you want your local south jersey or Philadelphia business listed on.

 

Next Up SEO 101 – How do I get my business listed on the Search Engines?

How Much Will An SEO Campaign Cost Me?

This is normally the first or second question I am asked when talking to a prospective client,  and the answer is impossible to predict on the spot.  Here is why, for arguments sake,  lets say that you want to rank for around 25 South Jersey focused Keywords and within that keyword list, you want to rank for the keyword, “South Jersey Pool Renovations.” We will *assume that you have been advertising this keyword on Google AdWords and according to your tracking data, this keyword along with the other keywords are converting into leads. But now, you want to not only rank in the paid section of Google AdWords, but you also want to rank in the organic section of Google as well. So you contact my office to get a quote on what a  South Jersey SEO Campaign will cost.

My SEO Project Management Proposals are done in three steps and here is an  inside look into how I price an SEO Campaign for a South Jersey Website.

The first thing I have to do is look at each keyword that has been selected and gauge the level of difficulty in ranking for that keyword. This is also known as the Off Page SEO part of the Proposal.

This is done in four steps

1. Identifying the top 5 ranking websites for each keyword.

2. Look at the on page factors and why Google is ranking them where they are for the selected keyword.

3. Re Engineering the back link campaign of the websites and web pages of the top 5 ranking companies.

4. Re engineer your companies website to see what back links you currently have.

Once these four steps have been accomplished, I now have an idea of what the off page SEO campaign will look like and the cost to run it.  I achieved my cost basis  by estimating the length of time it will take to qualify and  then obtain the links your competitors have.  Once this is complete I will have the actual blue print of the off page SEO Campaign.

At this point, I also have enough data to start thinking about what the on page SEO campaign will need to look like as well. 

The second step of the proposal process is to establish an On Page SEO Campaign and its costs.

The on page SEO Campaign estimate is established after I look at the on page ranking factors of your competitors, then comparing it to your South Jersey Pool Companies website.

 

A spreadsheet is then developed of what you need and don’t need. The cost basis is then established by combining hours, research and software tools needed to complete the website flow-sheet.

This is done page by page, and many times keyword by keyword.

Some of the factors I consider

- Meta Data

- H Tags

- Alt Tags

- Content

- Page Theme

- Site Speed

- Crawling Issues

- Url Re Writes

- Rich Snippet Code

- And More..

Once the Off Page blue print has been established and priced and the on page blue print has been established and priced, I now have to factor in the fortification of the castle. By this, I assume we will achieve top 5 rankings in say 3-9 months and once we do, I need to develop a plan that eliminates the competitors South Jersey SEO agency from copying exactly what I did for your website.

The Third Part of My Proposal is the on going SEO campaign.

The third part is normally the most valuable part of your SEO Campaign. This is the part where  you not only create and market content, (Video, blogs, Articles, Social Media Interaction – Your back link campaign) to achieve higher rankings and new rankings, but you also monitor the link building & keyword rankings of your competitors.

You want to see if they are making any adjustments to your current campaign and if so, what do you need to do to stay ahead of them. Estimating this out can be difficult, but not impossible. I like to quote out prices that are around 6 months in length, meaning, the price you pay per month is good for 6 months. After the 6 months, I like to take a look at the landscape of the industry and see if we need to increase, decrease or stay the course regarding your campaign.

So, as you can see, it is not an easy process to develop a true quote for a South Jersey SEO Campaign. It takes time and a ton of research, but this upfront research and planning, even in the proposal stage is laying the foundation of Internet Marketing success. Even if I do not get the client for whatever reason, at least I know if they do retain me, that I already have the building blocks in place and that the SEO campaign will be done right.

I want to also caution those who settle for a one price fits all quote. The reason I say this is because how do you know if your one size fits all plan will rank that South Jersey Pool Company for the keyword, South Jersey Pool Renovations?

Research and planning is the foundation of a successful SEO Campaign.

Frozen By Keyword Research – 5 Quick Tips To Get You Started

It happens to all of us. From the person who is just starting out on their first Search Engine Marketing Campaign to the person who has developed hundreds of keyword lists for clients. Because of all of the data that is presented to us and all of the various tools we have at our disposal, you tend to get frozen by the numbers and wonder what is truly the right way to start your list.  Here is a list of 5 quick tips that can get you jump started today.   

 

1. Think of the top ten questions asked by clients. You know, the questions you know by heart and you know they are coming. Write them down and then start to look at each question. Do you see questions like, “What Can I expect from “XYZ?” Or maybe, “How Long does XYZ take?” The XYZ is a keyword to start with and these questions could be really good long tail keywords you should consider optimizing a page for.

2. Go to the FAQ page of your industry suppliers, read through them. You will without quesiton find various keywords in each FAQ. Look at how they are describing the product  you purchase off of them, to perform the services that you are hired for. Those are keywords.

3. Twitter Search. This is a great tool to find out what people are talking about right now. Go to https://twitter.com/#!/search-home and type in the keywords that describe your industry or the services you provide. Look at the tweets that come back, look at how everyday people are describing your industry. While you may think people are describing your service as, “slip and fall attorney” in reality they may be referring to you as a, “lawsuit attorney.”  It is critical to remove yourself from the keyword process and get into the mind of the potential client.

4. The Youtube Keyword Tool.  https://ads.youtube.com/keyword_tool Very strong, very powerful. First go to Youtube look for videos that are related to your industry. Look for your suppliers videos,  your competitors videos or even your own videos. Take the url and go to the keyword tool. Youtube will extract the keywords that are related to that video. Nice tool that is not really well known.

 

5. Read The Reviews. This is a great way to generate keywords you maybe never thought of. Sort of like the twitter search, you are looking for what real people are saying about your industry. You can find reviews on Google places, Angie’s List or even Facebook. Or to make it really simple, just go to Google and search “south jersey business reviews” or whatever location you are currently in. Look at the citation sites like Yelp and Manta. Look at what real paying customers are saying about the services both you and your competitors provide. The way they describe your service is the exact same way they are describing your service to Google when they are looking for you.

If you use just one of these suggestions, I will bet you will find at least 5 keywords you never thought of before!

 

Is Social Media Right For My South Jersey Companies Internet Marketing Campaign?

One of the most common questions I hear from clients is,  ”What about Social Media?”  My response is  that your South Jersey business needs to have some sort of social media component worked into your internet marketing campaign. The two reasons you need to have this worked into your campaigns are one, the obvious, your clients or potential clients are using Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and two, because from an SEO perspective, testing is showing that companies with a voice in social media are starting to see an increase in rankings on Google. 

Now for some companies this component will be a larger portion of their Internet Marketing plan than others, but understanding the right level of exposure is the first step towards an effective Social Media Marketing Campaign.

What do I mean by exposure. Exposure is the amount of face time you are putting on any given social media network. Look at your business, what kind of business are you operating? What sort of client are you trying to attract in Camden County? Gloucester County? Or Anywhere in South Jersey. Do you think comments or thoughts about your service are the types of things they would want to read on their facebook update? Twitter Roll? LinkedIn updates?

The key to a successful social media campaign is to generate or add to a conversation that gives your business more exposure.  Developing the right content, whether that be text, video, answers, insights or whatever, and then distributing that to an audiences that is receptive to the type of content you are putting out there is the key.

In simple terms, market your content to the right social media platform. Chances are that someone waking up and looking at their Facebook update may not be really in the mood to read about the latest technique in your industry, they just shop at your store, but that person on LinkedIn may be really interested.

 

But it all starts with an audience, in my next post I will show you how to increase your audience in the Social Media world.

Google Places Paid Inclusion For Philadelphia & South Jersey Businesses?

Yesterday there was a buzz around the SEO community about  a published report on search Engine Land  about a  Bruce Clay and Universal Business Listing  joint venture.  The venture was a new marketing vehicle called – Local Paid Inclusion. This story was quickly denied by Google, Yahoo and Bing and in my mind, caused serious damage to the reputation of two online marketing agencies. The joint venture even pulled their website as of last night, 1/31/12.

The story stated that for a fee, this service with the help of Google,  Yahoo and Bing, would place your ad above the Local places listings and just under the PPC ads in their search results.

Now if you have been looking at the search results as of late you can see that being listed in Google Places is a huge advantage. But to gain this advantage, it takes quite a bit of work. Sometimes that work can take months and it is an ongoing process.  So when you hear that you can eliminate  that for a fee and Google, Yahoo and Bing support it well hey,”SIGN ME UP!”

Here is a visual of what they were talking about..

The website  created for this discussed the fees and what the Cost per click would be.  Their angle was, cheaper than PPC and more effective, of which I totally agree. To me, if you are a local business ranking for keywords that are showing a Google local result, there is a growing chance of getting a Click Through than that of a PPC ad.

This is also where this story becomes fraudulent and a flat out lie. For one, Google is not going to work with an agency to help improve paid listing revenue, they will do it themselves, in house, as will Yahoo! and Bing. If you think about it, Google is already doing this with Google AdWords express.  Why would they partner with two agencies exclusively and not offer this platform to current adword members? To even put this story out there is just hard to comprehend.

I am also having a hard time wrapping my head around  how this story ignited a fire storm on Twitter last night. This come down to business 101, and this story should of been dismissed immediately, even if one of the names attached to it is fairly well known.

In summary, I do think Google’s first page will eventually be 50% paid  and 50% organic when looking for local listings, but we are not there just yet. My advice for Philadelphia Pennsylvania and South Jersey companies is to have a combination of a local SEO campaign, a Google Places campaign and a smart Google Adwords Express campaign. This way, your website is positioned for any changes in the coming future.