Archive for the ‘Search Engine Optimization’ Category

Most business owners think that once they have obtained a website it will automatically be visible in Google, Yahoo and Bing. This is usually not the case due to the vast growth of websites over the last ten to fifteen years. In the 1990’s business owners knew that they needed a website, but now almost two decades later not only do they need a website it needs to be equipped with SEO as well. Business owners have to think about what they are trying achieve when it comes to online advertising, who are they trying to sell? For most business owners capturing the local market is the ultimate goal.

To achieve online success within your local market you must gather information about your business that makes it stand out. Point out the specific features that separates you from your competitors, by doing so you now understand the edge that you have against your competition. Next you will want to do some online research and see who exactly who it is you are competing with in your local area. Evaluate the content of three or four different websites, see what they are doing differently and compare the things that are alike. This will give you excellent insight about your industry and will help you determine your companies strengths and weaknesses.

Once you have completed this, take some time and research different free directory services that allow detailed information to be submitted to there site. The sweet spots are the ones that allow links back to your website,like yellowassistance.com or localndex.com if you can find at least ten of these you will dramatically increase your search engine rankings. This is important because these sites generate substantial amounts of traffic due to the magnitude of inbound and outbound links it has running through it. By submitting to these kinds of sites you are esentially building the same kind of links back to your website which will improve your search engine rankings. You should treat these directories with your utmost attention and patience, the more accurate content you provide the better your business will surface. Inaccurate information or limited content not only could loose a potential sell for your business but it can also effect your search engine rankings as well.

Most local small to medium sized business owners make the same mistake when researching their search engine rankings online.  There are many business owners out there who will Google search their business name, see it on the first page and think that there is no need for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Although having their business name surfacing is a good start, the fact is consumers are searching for products and services not a business name. In order for business owners to correctly search for their business rankings online they must first think like the consumer. A consumer will search for a particular product or service they are in need of and in most cases they will also include the city in which they are located. Using these two factors in a search will help them achieve more relevant results. As a business owner it is imperative that these techniques are used to research his or her search engine rankings.

Example Business Name: Awesome Apparel Tulsa, OK.

Example Search Content: digital printing tulsa

Real Search Results:

The screen shot above shows how a company that does business locally would search for their business using the product or service the business provides along with the location of the company. If this technique is used and the particular business does not surface on the first, second or third page you might visit yellowassistance.com for more information. If the business owner has a national or global company these techniques may not apply.

Small to medium sized business owners are struggling to find effective ways to advertise their products and services. In fact most business owners are still using the traditional forms of advertising such as television and phone book ads. Although these forms of advertising are still effective, the return on investment is rapidly declining. Reasons for this can be blamed on the technology that has developed within just the last decade. In recent years television commercials have had a tremendous impact on their viewers, but now with the introduction to DVR’s and Tivo recording devices television commercials have been fast-forwarded or completely skipped. In a recent study by an IBM consumer survey, it was discovered that between the years 2007-2008 24 percent of people in the U.S. owned a television recorder and watched recorded television 50 percent of the time. These numbers are only going to increase in the years to come since most television companies provide these recording devices within their promotional packages.

Other forms of traditional advertising that are facing declines are the yellow page and newspaper companies. Although the value of the ads with these companies have dropped, the price of the ad has remained the same. In the U.S. Internet usage is showing a 20 percent increase while yellow page and newspaper companies are expected to be seeing a 25 percent to 30 percent decline by 2012. Instead of flipping through pages, consumers are now turning to the Internet for all of their products and services when they know it is only a click away.

The solution is online advertising, simply to get Business owners information into the lap of the consumer searching for their products. Business owners need to take advantage of this brilliant source of advertising, the trick however is to be able to surface when a consumer is searching for their product or service. With 95 percent of Internet users using general search engines to find what they are looking for, the business owner needs to be visible on all of them. And since 88 percent of online users do not go past the first three pages on Google, Yahoo or Bing it is imperative that they focus on these areas. Business owners will find that advertising using traditional forms can still be effective, but a smart business owner will shift some of those ad dollars to the most effective form of advertising, the Internet. Imagine being able to target the 63 percent of the people searching online before making a purchase.

The process that is used to achieve these efforts is called SEO (Search Engine Optimization). SEO uses a combination of techniques that will increase your online visibility. SEO is something any business owner can learn, but what they will soon come to understand is that it takes months and even years to master. This reason is why most business owners hire and outside source to do this service for them, as they do not have time to try and learn the techniques of SEO. Business owners want fast results and although SEO takes two to three months to take effect, hiring someone to do SEO will get them surfacing that much faster. Most business owners will find that they do not necessarily need a website to achieve search engine results. In fact a landing or leaf page can be less expensive and more effective than a actual website. The reason landing pages can be more effective is simple, the directory they are hosted on simply just has more traffic and in and outbound links to it. Making it very attractive to all major search engines and putting your business information on the launch pad for premium visibility. For more information visit yellowassistance.com.

Adam Clayton Powell III author of “Reinventing the Local News,” was the keynote speaker this morning at the Kelsey Conference in Washington DC.  He claims to be a recovering journalist involved in a 10 step program.  During his speech he talked about how the local news needs to reinvent itself by looking to morph into other areas.  He used one example of Cox Communications and their experiment with AutoTrader.com now a $750 million dollar business.  This is example was something he called a Microlocal play.  Microlocal?  He defines this as a small community, but not necessarily geographically based.  Mircrolocal opportunities can occur in a geo target, but can also occur  within a vertical, or a group of people.  One example of a group of people given was the military.  This is a very large group but considered a microlocal target.

His point was that as media companies move deeper into this digital age they need to be aware of microlocal opportunities are around them and be prepared to act even if it doesn’t fit their current model or platform.  John Kelsey commented that many media companies are resisting this change because their management teams were successful with a different plan, the plan they seem to be holding onto.  You can draw another parallel between media companies and print yellow page companies in this area.  While not all print yellow page companies are slow to move many are!  Some companies such as AdVentures publishing are embracing new cross platform sales opportunities and are working hard to provide their customers the very best advertising opportunities.  The large publishers like AT&T (AT&T The Real Yellow Pages/Yellowpages.com, Idearc (Verizon Yellow Pages/Smartpages.com), RH Donnelly (Dex Yellow Pages/Dexknows.com) are very much selling cross platform and have been for almost two years now.  Time will tell if the smaller publishers will see the trend and begin to sell in this new media ecosystem.  Here are some of the pieces to the new ecosystem:

• Print
• Broadcast
• Internet Ads (SEM)
• SEO
• Online Directory
• Video
• Mobile
• Social Networks

I am interested to see what this market will look like in the next 2 years.  I think the economy has thrown jet fuel on the fire and we will see the elimination of a lot of companies who do not figure out how to offer their advertisers a full suite of products.  The yellow page and broadcast companies have an advantage with feet on the street, only time will tell if they will use those relationships, or if new players will step in and fulfill that need for the local advertiser.

Yesterday we listened to several great forums where major players in the broadcast media industry discussed the future of advertising and how broadcasters will play in the game of rounding up advertising dollars.

There is a parallel between the radio broadcast group and the publishing industry.  Both industries are facing declines in advertising revenue, both industries are trying to figure out how to position themselves for the future.  The message is consistent.  In order to play in the future you need to sell multiple pieces of the advertising pie.  In other words you need to be selling more than your core product.  Advertisers today are looking for cross promotional platforms.  Mike Bloxham a very colorful speaker said that if broadcasters are not offering cross platform opportunities then the advertisers will begin to try to figure these out and do it themselves or look for someone who can do it for them.  Cross platform simply means advertising across multiple platforms like broadcast, online (directory, SEM/SEO, website, social networks) and mobile applications. 

Yellow Assistance works with Independent Yellow Pages Publishers and offers them a platform that allows them to quickly offer an online presence that helps their clients by providing them a directory with the latest tools such as text to mobile, driving directions, video, coupons and much more.  This platform is a key piece of an effective SEO strategy for the advertiser.  Our focus has been on the Yellow Pages Industry, but this Kelsey/BIAfn conference in DC has pointed out that or platform is perfect for other industries trying to provide a full suite of advertising services to their clients.  Radio, Newspaper and television all need to offer these products and whether they use our YAP3 platform or internally develop their own internally, it is a necessity. 

Companies today offer advertising need to be agents of change and offer their clients a full suite of advertising tools.  It is not enough to just build a TV/radio commercial, or place an ad in a phone book, it has to go much further.  The good news is, it is not difficult to do, there are many good companies that a publisher or broadcaster can partner with to provide these services.  Pick a partner that will help to protect or improve your margins.

Both industries, Print Yellow Pages, and Broadcasters have an advantage in that they have feet on the street, they have relationships with the local advertisers.  The question remains, will they leverage those relationships and offer a full suite of advertising products.�
– Post From My iPhone

In our recent work with small- and medium-sized businesses, the recession and how to get through it is a common subject of conversation.  We’ve found that business owners are becoming more receptive to exploring online solutions to market their companies.  In our current economy, it is imperative for businesses to find more cost effective alternatives to traditional media, and search engine marketing is certainly at the top of the list.

Major Marketing Mistake Number 3: Failing to Optimize Your Website for Search Engines

When I was 16 years old, I worked at a restaurant that was built using actual train cars connected to a central building.  Patrons could dine in a caboose, passenger car, box car or mail car.  It had a lot of things going for it – unique dining experience, great food – yet it closed its doors after only a couple of years in business.  Why?  It was located off the beaten path, making it hard to find.  The result – not enough traffic.

This same scenario happens every day in digital marketing.  You take the time and make the investment for a great looking website with lots of bells and whistles, then let it sit there tucked away in a corner of cyberspace because no one knows it is there.

Now, you could spend a lot of money advertising on search engines, as well as traditional marketing outlets, to drive traffic to your website.  But wait!  There is a low cost (virtually free) way to bring your website out of obscurity.  By simply optimizing your website for search engines, you can bring your website to the top of search results for keywords related to your products and services.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO, for short) is the process of making your website search engine friendly.  Search engines crawl through websites to index and organize information that they will later use in search results. When a web crawler (also called a spider), from a search engine, like Google, visits your website it should be able to easily find and understand what your site is about by it’s structure and content.  The better a search engine sees the content of your website, the more likely it will rank well in search results.

Keywords
The first step in the SEO process is researching the words and phrases people use to find websites like yours. In order to rank well in web searches, you will need to orient your website to reflect these keywords and phrases.  Because most of these search terms are highly competitive, with many sites using them, you’ll want to find keywords that rank well, but are slightly out of the mainstream of keywords heavily used by your competition.

One of the simplest keyword research tools is Google Suggestion.  As you type a word or phrase into the Google search box, Google offers similar suggestions in real time.

Framework
Another key factor in the SEO process is the structure of your website. Creating a proper framework allows the search engine spiders to navigate through your site.

Search engines seek to view a website as an organic whole. While certain individual pages will sometimes rank better than others, the overall impression of your website factors into how this happens.

Content
When it comes to Search Engine Optimization, content is king. If you have interesting information to share, your website will not go unnoticed. Sharing relevant information throughout your site needs to be goal #1.  This is why people come to your website in the first place.  Think of search engine spiders like human web surfers, looking for content that is relevant and organized.

Search Engine Submission
As you make changes and update your website, it may be necessary to resubmit it to the search engines, so they are aware of the most current information on your site. Otherwise, it could take a month or more before they discover and reflect changes. It is your responsibility to ensure that the latest version or your site is available on the web.

Analysis
Tracking and analyzing the effects that your SEO efforts are having on your search engine rankings is an ongoing part of the process. By tracking the results you can analyze what works and what doesn’t. Look for trends in your rankings, as well as the type and quality of visitors who are entering your website.

You’ll find several online resources, like Google Analytics available to assist in your SEO efforts.  Yellow Assistance also offers Search Engine Optimization analysis and services for small business websites.

So, bring your website out of obscurity and into the search engine limelight, reaping the benefits of increased traffic and revenue.  Remember, market smarter - not harder, and be prosperous!