Basics of Local SEO - Marketing System Blueprints

1. Local SEO - Demystified Presented By: Chrissanne Long Marketing System Blueprints National Association of Insurance & Financial AdvisorsChrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

2. Some questions before we start… • Do you (does your company) have a website? • Do you (does someone within the company) control the content? • Do you have any analytics (Free Platform, like Google Analytics) tracking traffic/visitors to your company’s website?Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

3. If you DO have a Website…. Do you want TRAFFIC?Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

4. Or do your prefer a billboard in the desert?Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

5. SEO is the way to get traffic! Properly Optimized Sites with relevant content are like MAGNETSChrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

6. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) • SEO isn’t about trying to get the most traffic to a site for the most popular terms possible. Instead, it’s about knowing enough about an audience, and finding the “right words” to use on the pages of a site, instead of the “most popular” words. --Bill Slawski , SEObythesea.com • SEO is about the customer (visitor). By giving them answers to their problems, by providing solutions, you are making the choice to do business with you simple.Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

7. Why should I care about SEO? • Google is # 1 for ALL Web Traffic – 50% of DAILY web visitors go to Google! • Search Engines are the PRIMARY manner for finding content. • 250,000,000 searches per day – 35% of these searches are local searches (include a local term to better define what the searcher is looking for. i.e. flat tire repair your town)Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

8. SOURCE: MARKETSHARE.HITSLINK.COM, OCTOBER 2010Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

9. Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

10. In other words…. People don’t want to be sold! Your customers have questions So….why not make YOUR website content the SOURCE for THEIR answers?Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

11. So…What is Internet Marketing? Also known as digital marketing, web marketing, online marketing, search marketing or e-marketing, it is the marketing (generally promotion) of products or services over the Internet. Source: WikipediaChrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

12. Internet Marketing Essentially, Internet Marketing, or “IM”, is an umbrella term, used to cover many new marketing opportunities, thanks to advancements in technology. • It’s important to note that “SEO” is NOT Internet marketing. It’s simply one facet of Internet marketing!Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

13. What is SEO? • SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – A process of creating and optimizing content in a way that will: – Attract search engine robots to crawl your site, discover and index your content. – Place your content as high on the SERPs (search engine results pages) for relevant keywords – Engage people and drive them to take action because the content relevant to what they needChrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

14. SEO is Two Parts • On Page SEO – The Elements the Search Engine Robots look for to understand your content and how relevant it is to your keywords – These elements are very minute details that help the search engines decide how to rank your website for specific terms – We will talk about that the most because it is the first step and it is under your control.Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

15. SEO is Two Parts • Off Page SEO – The “popularity” of your website – How often it is mentioned on OTHER websites! – The content on those other websites must also match the targeted keywords – Content on other websites has a link to your website (called backlinking) – Google, et al. care where your backlinks are! – We will talk briefly about Off-Page SEO later!Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

16. On-Page SEO • On-Page SEO includes everything on your website - from your website’s domain name, to its title, to your site’s content. Anything that’s directly on your page, would be considered “On-Page”. • There are many variables to consider, but the easiest to identify and repair are: – Search Friendly/Unfriendly URLs – Lack of a proper “title” tag – Lack of “description” tags – Poor use of images and “alt” tags – Poor keyword usage and researchChrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

17. Search Friendly URLs www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/african-elephants Keywords in page name, Single domain separated by hyphen Shallow folder structure with relevant wordsChrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

18. Search UN-Friendly URLs Xyz3.nationalgeographic.com/a/?q=31z&mg=vv7z&sd=8 No keywords in the URL string Unnecessary Subdomain No organized/keyword descriptive folder structureChrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

19. Title Tags • Appears in the Browser’s Title Bar, to let the visitor know where they are • Appears in the title for Search Engine Results • What Search Engines look for when crawling your site.Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

20. Title TagsChrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

21. Meta Description • Appears as the description for Search Engine Results • Should be different on all inner pages, to assist the search engines in indexing the content of each individual page according to the keywords for that page.Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

22. Meta DescriptionChrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

23. Tag Length Recommendations <65 <158 <80 Characters Characters CharactersChrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

24. Image Alt Attributes Good keyword usage in the alt tagGood keyword usage in image title http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media- live/photos/000/004/cache/african-elephant_435_600x450.jpgChrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

25. How to Choose Keywords Find out what they would search!!!Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

26. Keyword Density • When targeting 1 keyword on the page, shoot for 3% keyword density for your target keyword. • If you are targeting multiple keywords in one article, you should keep keyword density 2% or higher. BUT, WHAT IS KEYWORD DENSITY!!!!!?Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

27. Keyword Density Is the number of times you place the keyword in your content for optimization.Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

28. Avoid Keyword Stuffing!Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

29. Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

30. https://adwords.google.com/select/K eywordToolExternal • Don’t overdo the number of keywords within your content– 2-3% is your goal! (keyword stuffing is penalized) • Consider what someone who does not know your company exists, would enter in a search. • (In many cases, these are your “Services”) Instead of what you ARE, it’s what you DOChrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

31. Local Keyword Examples Business Type Keywords Insurance Agent flood insurance, boaters insurance, home owners insurance discounts, commercial insurance Plumber plumbing repair, emergency plumber, leak detection Massage Therapist lower back massage, therapeutic massage, sports massage therapy Financial Advisor Financial advisor, financial planner, investment advice, retirement planning Veterinarian animal hospital, emergency animal clinic, reptile vet, pet boarding CPA accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, tax filing, corporate taxes, certified public accountant,Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

32. Geotargeting Keywords • Consider the demographic you serve and want to reach. • Add the City or Zip Code to your keywords • Make sure to add these keywords to your website. • Strategically edit your website content to “match” your keywords (with the city included!) • DON’T SPAMChrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

33. Images should be named for your targeted keywords.Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

34. Recommendations • Conduct a few searches on Google (for which you would like to appear) • Notice the Top Sites for your searches • Vary the searches a bit (use synonyms, change the order of the words) – Note how this changes your results. (write down sites that appear frequently) • Look at the Title • Look at the description • Click the links and READ the content the results offer. • Is the content you find relevant to your search? • Now, you can build a content strategy based on your competition. Don’t copy! Just use them as a model. Success leaves clues!Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

35. Off-Page SEO • Backlinks are “Votes” for your website elsewhere on the Internet • Articles, Videos, Social Media, Blog Comments, Directory Listings, Citations/Reviews • Systematic approach to generating content that references (provides a link that the Search Engines can follow to your website to raise your ranking)Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

37. Video as an SEO Strategy • Create a YouTube channel • Create mini-commercials, record events (i.e. ribbon cuttings, presentations) customer testimonials, tours, answer frequently asked questions, etc. • Choose Titles that include keywords (eg, “Lakeland Auto Insurance | Best Insurance, Inc.” • Include link to your website (use http://) (This is IMPORTANT! - It’s a backlink!) • Search Engines are ranking videos on page one for local searchesChrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

38. Mobile SEO • Search Engines deliver different results on mobile devices • Over 50% of LOCAL searches are done from mobile devices • Search Engines are ranking websites that are “mobile friendly” higher than those that are not, when searches are performed on mobile devices.Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

39. Recommended Resources Analyze your current website http://www.websitegrader.com Find your existing listings http://www.getlisted.org Create Listings with one account for 200+ directories (Paid Service) http://www.ubl.org Check your sites keyword density http://tool.motoricerca.info/keyword-density.phtmlChrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

40. Recommended Resources (cont’d) Check your existing backlinks (votes) your site currently has http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/ See what keywords your competitors are using http://www.spyfu.com Determine your Keyword Density http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword- density/Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

41. No matter what your business is, remember…. Your customers have questions. If you make your website THE SOURCE FOR THEIR ANSWERS Your website content will take your business to the TOP!Chrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012

42. Links • Connect! http://www.facebook.com/chrissannelong http://www.facebook.com/marketingsystemblueprintsllc http://www.facebook.com/groups/lakelandbusinessleaders • Request a copy of the PDF of this presentation or the Keyword/Optimization Checklist clong@marketingsystemblueprintsChrissanne Long | © Marketing System Blueprints | September 13, 2012