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.

To me, I think we have long overlooked the potential client that is coming into this industry with little to zero knowledge.

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—not just regionally or particular to any one country—the site has far reaching implications for any business involved with Internet marketing. Google has made possible the globalization of even small home-based 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. A lot of time has been spent by third party Internet companies research how to best benefit from Google’s searching strengths, and though Google’s search algorithms are priority technology, Google has themselves provided users with a wealth of tools such as Google Key Words and Google Analytics.

Bing- 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. The site was launched June, 2009. As Bing expands into the search engine market share, many web developers are concerned with how web sites are ranked on Bing. Interestingly, not much has changed—quality links, the age of the web site, organized html, updated pages. If a business is gearing their web site for Yahoo or Google searches, the site will also be seen on Bing.

Yahoo - Yahoo comes in second to Google, but provides users with the same basic search functions as Google. Yahoo is also, just like Google, an international web site. Yahoo does not offer the same Internet marketing tools that Google offers but does offer a web site submission form. The submission process is free and does not guarantee top page ranking, but does let Yahoo know about a site’s existence on the Web. It should be noted that Yahoo and Bing are now sharing search results. So if you are ranking number 5 for South Jersey SEO Company on bing, you can expect to be ranked around 5 for the same term on Yahoo.

Next Up The Major Players in Social Media

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.

* (NOTE: Many of my clients have not done a Google AdWords campaign and will need Keyword Research done, that another cost factor in the proposal.)

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!

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.

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.

One of the most under utilized free tools that small business owners in Philadelphia and South Jersey do not use is claiming their Google places page. You know you have seen the Google places page, go to Google and type in, say appliance repair or appliance repair in Haddonfield New Jersey. Here are the results you will see.

Notice the three balloons in the middle of the page? That is called Google places and to get listed there is 100% free. What you need to do is go to Google and type in Google places. Once there, look for your business, see if Google already has a listing for you. If not create one and fill the entire thing out. (You will need a Google account to do this) Once you are done, they will either call you with a recorded message with a pin code or they will send a card to you. The call is instant, the card takes a few days to get to you. That is it, you now have a listing on Google local and depending on the competition for your service in  your area, you can expect to rank fairly quickly.

Now here is the tricky part, if you are in an area where there is competition and you currently see around 7 local listings, that is where  you will need to bring someone in to optimize your places page and start a Google local campaign. While this is not a free service, the ROI on this type of service can be amazing.