Search Engine Domination
Right now, in every community in America, increasing numbers of people of all ages are turning to the World Wide Web to find products and services ~ locally & globally. This article is the focus on your backyard. But first, go to www.websitegrader.com to see how your site is performing.
Below are 7 steps every local business should explore today in order to gain a competitive advantage in their local markets. (Someone in your market and industry will do this, why not you?)
1. Register with the primary, local and social search engines
Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, Ask, Local.com, TrueLocal, mySpace & youTube are all awaiting your information as they build local search directories. Make sure you are listed.
Judy's Book, Craig's List, and Insider Pages are sites building directories with user generated reviews. Get in those as well and manage your online reputation.
2. Optimize your web site for local search
Put local terms in you page titles – not Home page – Houston, TX Cosmetic Dentist
Put local terms in your anchor text – not Dentist – Houston Cosmetic Dentist
Put local terms in your H1 and H2 tags
Put local terms in your body copy
3. Put a map on your site
The whole mapping category just keeps getting easier to use. Google Maps, both mapping and local directory, recently added a feature that makes it super easy to embed a map rather than simply copy an image or link to a map. This means that you can use a map with all the functionality right on your web page. Many businesses can benefit from this tool, especially when it comes to local search.
To create a map for your business, simply visit Google Maps, conduct a search for your business (you've got to be in the Google Maps directory to show up - get listed), hit the "link to this page" link and copy the HTML code for your map. I've simply pasted that code below so the map shows up in this post, but you could put it on any web page. Then create directions in text to your business from various routes and you've created some nice local keyword rich content. (This is a good web content strategy even if your clients don't need to find your office.)
4. Check your InfoUSA listing
InfoUSA compiles lists for direct mail and telemarketing but they also provide a great deal of the directory listing information for many of the smaller search directories. Go here and make sure your listing is correct and up to date. You can also add things like your web site address to the profile.
5. Add local content
You should create several pages of content on your site focused on local angels. You can report local news, talk about your firm's history in a town, give an overview of non-profit activities, even report on the various suburbs your staff hails from. Don't forget to put your physical mailing address on every page - that's local content too.
6. Add a Blog
A blog – not a free blogger one, but one that resides on your domain – is one of the most powerful local search tools going. You can simply post about things going on in the community, school events, neighborhood block parties, the local sports teams. It's helpful if you can do this and post content that is relevant to your primary business, but as long as the towns and neighborhoods you want to score well in the search engines with are in your posts and titles, you will get some serious lift for those terms.
7. Get local inbound links
The search engines give lots of credit for links that are coming back to your site from other sites. Go out there and find some local directories or strategic partners that will link back to your site but don't have them link back to your business name - Joe's Pet Shop. Have them link back to your site with a local search term like - Toledo's Biggest Pet Shop.
8. Search Engin.uity, Inc. ~ powered by Synergy Playgrounds offers advanced search engin.uity with social community networking, link xChange, blogsphere management, iQ PPCamps, underground marketing & innovative synergy driven marketing camps.
Blog Domination
So, you finally decided to take the blog leap. You heard all about the marketing and search benefits, so you stepped up to the plate and signed up for a TypePad, MovableType or WordPress blog software package. Now you’re a blogger.
What next? Add the 10 essential blogging tools listed below and you will be well on your way to creating and promoting a blog that is also a powerful marketing tool. I’ll explain the use of the tool and offer some suggestions, including the tools I use on my own blogs.
Feed reader
The best way to learn about blogs and blogging is to read or at least scan lots of blogs. One of the wonders of blogs is that you can have every new post from every blog you want to read delivered to your desktop or to online location so you can easily read and scan the posts of many blogs in a very short time. Newsgater is a good online choice and also has a version that integrates with Microsoft Outlook. I use a free online service know as Bloglines.
Subscriber center
You need to make it easy for your blog visitors to subscribe to your blog’s RSS feed – so they can read your blog in their favorite feed reader. The best way to do this is to go to FeedBurner and burn your own RSS feed there and use the tools they provide to set up automatic subscriber links. That way people who want to use Bloglines, Google Reader, MyYahoo or Pluck can click on one button to subscribe. Tech types can figure this out on their own but the buttons make it easy for anyone to figure out. You might also look at a free add-on called Add This. It creates a one button subscribe feature.
Side note – subscribe to each of these yourself and you will force some blog spiders (a search engine’s robot that patrols the web for new content) to visit your site.
Email subscription option
A lot of people will never get the whole feed thing, but everyone gets email. Create a way for people to subscribe by giving you their email address – they will simply receive your blog posts like an email message. FeedBurner offers this service for free. FeedBlitz is another option or, if you already have an autoresponder email list service, they may offer this service. AWeber offers this and helps me integrate these blog email subscribers into my other mailing lists.
Blog and RSS directories
There are hundreds of blog and RSS directories, and getting listed in many can be a good thing. I use a piece of software called RSS Submit, but you can also visit Robin Goode’s frequently updated list and submit your blog and feed by hand.
Hint: subscribe to the RSS feed he offers and you will be notified when new directories are added.
Ping service
Pinging is a term used for letting the various blog and RSS directories know when you have posted new content. Again, FeedBurner offers this as an automatic option called PingShot and you should activate it. PingGoat and Ping O Matic are other options, but they require that you visit and update your record each time you post new content.
Bookmark manager
As you surf around the web or hop from blog to blog, you may find sites that you want to point out to your readers. Online bookmark managers allow you to bookmark and categorize web and blog pages as you collect them and are a great tool for managing all of the stuff you find on the web. I use del.icio.us but BlinkList does a fine job as well.
Blog stats
I like to track a few key stats in real time because it shows what other blogs might be linking to you or posting about your blog. A lot of people just like to track this kind of thing for fun and frequently visit sites like Technorati. I like to track it for networking opportunities. I use a tool called MyBlogLog because it allows me to see where traffic is coming from but also tracks what links on my blog visitors are clicking on. It’s amazing how this data can help you write more effectively.
Desktop posting
With most blog software you must go online and post using a set of tools provided by the blog software. Many bloggers like to use a desktop application to create and submit their posts as it gives them some extra tools and allows them to more easily integrate content and files on their computer.
I use w.blogger but also like Performancing, with the Firefox extension, Windows Live Writer and ecto (mac folks).
Tell a friend script
My blog software has a feature that allows a reader to click, link and send the post to a friend. This tactic brings me lots of readers. You might try looking here for some simple scripts that do that same.
Republish feed headlines
The ability to republish your blog posts on other web page, sites you own or sites of strategic partners is a great way to expose folks to your blog content. One more time, we turn to FeedBurner for a painless way to republish your blog post to any web page you choose with something they call BuzzBoost.
National Opimization
Zoom info at www.ZoomInfo.com
Yahoo Directory at http://dir.yahoo.com
DMOZ at www.DMOZ.org
We're beta testing for Synergy Growth, Inc. at SynergyGrowth.com ~ launching summer 2008!
Growth is about leveraging out-of-the box domination in resources that are the best in the world. It's the mass customization of not just aligning talent & skill with a company need, it's aligning the best talent & skill in the world with the company need! World Leaders in Business Growth!
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