Local SEO Cheat Sheet
Local SEO Cheat Sheet
If you are Not getting leads from the internet, then you Really need to watch this very short video!
Local SEO Systems is a 3-part strategy designed to get your business noticed in search engines.
1. Your Website
2. Google Places For Business (also known as Google Maps)
3. Other citation pages – yellowpages.com, merchantcircle.com, local.yahoo.com, etc.
These days growing your business by using local search technology to your advantage may be one of the most cost-effective and long-lasting ways to continually promote your products and services – period.
You don’t need lots of money.
You don’t need to be an internet expert.
You don’t need to be a computer whiz.
You don’t need to hire an “expert.”
In fact – all you need to know is your own business and who your customers are!
Every business, from small local mom and pop stores to multi-billion dollar mega corporations lives or dies by two simple actions –
Getting new prospects to make contact, and then –
Successfully getting these folks to buy something.
That’s it.
Local SEO isn’t complex or secretive. It can be a bit confusing, initially. And it takes work and needs to be consistently performed over a period of time.
But the benefits far outweigh the costs and time invested and I’ll tell you what you need to know to get your own business optimized for local SEO in your industry niche.
Imagine that local SEO is a three-legged stool made from the following elements. Remove one leg and the stool falls over. Remove one element and your efforts will fail.three legged stool – website, Google Plus and other Citation WebsitesKeep all three legs strong and intact and you will see success.
Your website – strengthen your online business “hub.” (look at cheat sheet image)
Google Places For Business (also known as Google Maps or Google Plus For Business)
Other citation pages – yellowpages.com, merchantcircle.com, local.yahoo.com, etc.
Website (must have one)
NAP: Name, Address & Phone Number on the home page (on every page is best). NAP is critical for businesses like ours.
Your Business Name
123 Main St.
Your City, State, 12345
(812) 867-5309
No other addresses or phone numbers (for a single location business). No tracking numbers. FAX number ok. No other websites for the business with different addresses and/or phone numbers. Your NAP MUST BE CONSISTENT across ALL internet properties.
Expensive & pretty don’t count! Simple, minimal graphics (for fast loading), clear & concise product, service & contact information and easy navigation will win over big & beautiful every time. Think customer experience!
Title Tags: Write for your customers (write for humans, don’t use too many keywords (2 – 4 ideal)
Content: Well written 300 – 500 word pages
Include About, Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, detailed description of products and/or services and any other applicable pages. Include a separate page for every service or product you offer.
Inform & Educate. Robust, engaging and informative content for your customers will build up your website. Don’t over-optimize with keywords!
Be very, VERY careful about hiring an “SEO Expert” or company to “get your website on first page of Google.” Cleaning up mistakes is ALWAYS more expensive, and there are HUGE opportunities for screw-ups. I spend a large amount of time (and my client’s money) mopping up other SEO expert’s mistakes. This is not only expensive, there is a big opportunity cost due to the months of time your business is off the front page, and the corresponding business lost.
Self-proclaimed experts include the largest of online marketing companies. Size does not equal competence. For the most part, once these experts screw up your online presence there is really no way to hold them accountable for their ineptitude. And the recovery, while possible, often takes months (possibly years) and can be quite expensive. Some businesses never recover.
Why am I so harsh on these so-called “experts?” Because I have witnessed their incompetence first-hand when a client asked me to sit through a sales presentation with them. The friendly and accommodating sales representative promised the moon – only available with a 12 month commitment – and failed to deliver anything near the promises once the rubber hit the road.
While I won’t divulge the name of the “expert” company, you would immediately recognize the name – many millions of people throughout the world rely on them for telephone and cell phone service. I’ll leave the details up to your imagination.
And I witnessed the crash – when my client finally realized that they were getting taken to the cleaners and refused to pay the multi-thousand dollar monthly fee. Even though they were only halfway through a one-year commitment. Then the SEO company sent the unpaid bills into collections
Just say NO to the SEO expert!