Using Search Engines To Connect With New Local Customers

Local Search Marketing provides you, the business owner, with the most targeted and cost effective customer acquisition opportunity. Your customers are more and more often searching for businesses like yours on the Internet. Studies show that these customers have a serious buying intent. As a local business (online or off) you need to figure out how to cost effectively reach out to these “Local” customers and start the business relationship before your competition does. Why should “local search marketing” be important to your business? The Kelsey research group found: • 74% of households use the Internet as an information source when shopping locally. • Approximately 45% of local searches had a buying intent. • The percentage of respondents who used yellow page directories decreased from 75% to 62%. (If you have a yellow page ad, it is time to consider buying a smaller ad and shifting your marketing dollars to the Internet.) As local business owners you need to take action now. You need to keep your existing customers, and gain new customers, so you need to be found where they are searching. Local Search Marketing is where your future clients and customers will come from. So where do you start? Most likely your customers will have a default setting on their computers and this will be set to one of these sites for search; Google, Yahoo, MSN or AOL. These search engines all index web pages and have some form of paid advertising referred to as Pay Per Click. This is fine if you have a website but what about many small and local businesses that have little or no web presence at all? And even if you do have a website, does it show up in the search engines above? Okay, so what other choices have you got? There are those folks, you know whom I am talking about, who will place you not only in a hard copy directory but also have services online. The challenge is in what the financial cost is, BIG, but hey, they have been around a long time and have deep pockets. The other issue is that they often advertise in the search engines and you will find them there BUT if you follow the link to them, you need to do your search all over again! What a pain. There are other commercial "local search engines" and some of these are good value but many are not comprehensive. If there are only a few thousand businesses in a local directory most users will leave given the limited amount of content. So what you need to do is use a search engine like Google and search for "local search directory", make sure you limit your search to the country you’re in. The results include Yahoo local search and a number of local directories. You should check these out and see what it takes to participate in the directories that make the first page of the Google search. By doing so, you’ll be able to get a feel for how they work and what is needed for you to get listed competitively

Making Keyword Optimization Work for your Website

Keyword optimization is a tool that anyone starting a website (or trying to maintain one) should take advantage of. This tool can do wonders for a web-based business, and has proven to keep web visitors coming back to certain sites time and time again—if it’s done correctly. Here are some suggestions for making keyword optimization work for your website that could improve the state of your Internet business or informational website. Test the keywords out yourself. When you’re thinking of keywords that will make your site more searchable, test a few out on popular search engines to see that kind of results a person looking for your site or a site similar to yours will find. You’ll be surprised sometimes to find that keywords you think are ‘common’ or ‘regular’ may not yield the results you expected. Try to think both as practical and as abstract as possible when it comes to keywords, and select keywords that you think are somewhere in the middle. For instance, if you’re opening an online boutique, you’ll want to input keywords like ‘boutique’, ‘accessories’, or ‘handbags’, because it is safe to assume that the people searching for your boutique will be looking for accessories or handbags. However, you may also want to use words or phrases like ‘online boutique’, ‘original designs’, and ‘boutique clothing’ for secondary keywords, so that if people are looking for something a little more specific, they can still be led almost directly to your site. Find out how different search engines work. Another great way to make sure that keyword optimization is working for your website it to test out different search engines, and learn the ‘rules’ behind each of them. Use the keywords you have chosen several times with different search engines, so you can see just how effective they are. Some search engines yield better results when the person searching enters a short phrase (i.e. Yahoo), because more words offer more details, and the search engine can give more specific details in terms of findings. And, some search engines work well when using only one or two words (i.e. Google, Microsoft). Making sure that potential customers can find you no matter what search engine they’re using will definitely help to increase business and traffic for your site. Change your keywords if necessary. Every now and then, you may want to change your keywords or phrases in order to make your site more searchable. This depends largely on the type of content that you’re putting on your site, so you may need to add a few keywords to your list to make sure that customers can find you easily. The more updated your site is, the more attractive it will be for new and existing customers, the more traffic your site will be able to take on.

“Do-It-Yourself”

Ranking high in Google’s search results can have a phenomenal impact on the success of your business.
You can either engage the expertise of a Search Engine Optimisation company, or if you have the time, there are some changes you can make to your website yourself.


<b>Step 1: Keyword Research</b>
What keywords do you think your customers would type in to search for your products or services? A keyword can be one word (e.g. “optimisation”), but multiple keywords or keyword phrases are usually preferred, because they are more specific and more likely to be what your customers are looking for (eg. “<a href= http://www.cleverclicks.com.au/search-engine-services.php> Search Engine Optimisation Australia</a>”).


Write down as many as you can think of. Brainstorm with your team. Think of alternative words. Consider geographical phrases if they are important to your customer (e.g. “house cleaning Hornsby”). Also, get some ideas from your competitors’ websites. Try to make a list of 20-30 keyword phrases.


Choose the two keyword phrases you think would be searched for the most. But also remember, the more competition there is for a keyword, the harder it is to achieve top rankings.  If you want to rank high in Google for the keyword “insurance”, you have a very long journey ahead. So try your best to select two keyword phrases that are the most relevant to you business but that are not vague nor competitive. It’s a good idea to have 2 or 3 words in each phrase (e.g. “wedding catering services”)


Once you’ve selected your two best keyword phrases the next step shows you how to make some improvements to your home page.


<b>Step 2: Web Copy </b>
Web copy refers to all the words or text on your website. Because content is king in the world of search engines, your keyword phrases need to be placed strategically on your webpage to convince Google that your content is highly relevant to those keywords.  The more prominent they are, the better. (Keep in mind that as important as search engines are, customers come first, so make sure your copy also reads well.)
   

Here’s how you can increase each keyword’s prominence:

•    Place your keywords in headings, preferably at the beginning of the heading;

•    Include keywords towards the top of the page;

•    Bold or italicise keywords where appropriate;

•    Instead of having a link to another page that says "Click here to read more ", reword it to include your keywords, e.g. "Read more about our <a href= http://www.cleverclicks.com.au/web-copywriting-sales-copywriting-services.php>seo copywriting Services</a>".


An important tip is to also include these keywords in your HTML “title tag”. Use your content management system to make these changes yourself, or perhaps ask your web developer to do it if you’re unsure how.


Once you have fine-tuned your home page, consider adding new content, such as detailed descriptions of what you offer, FAQs and informative articles about your products and services. (If you don’t want to write these yourself, they can be located for free on the internet - do a search for “articles directory”).


It’s also good to bear in mind that search engines can only read text, not pictures. Often web developers embed words in images to look better for website visitors or use Flash for animation, but this is a major impediment to search engines.


<b>Step 3: Linking</b>
Each link from another website to your website (not from your website) is considered by search engines as a vote of popularity for your business and will improve your rankings.


But it is the quality, not quantity, of the links that is crucial. The other websites should be relevant to your industry, and preferably highly regarded themselves. Ten quality links count far more than 500 links from arbitrary websites. In the same way your personal business network can have a significant impact on the success of your business, so too the online network you build on the internet.


Brainstorm all the relevant websites that could link to you, such as non-competing companies, and industry bodies and organisations. Write a friendly email to each describing the benefit their visitors would get in knowing about your business, and request them to create a link to your website. Most people will not respond first time round, so a follow-up phone call is usually required.


How do I monitor my results?
Monitor your rankings in Google over the next few months by typing your chosen keywords into the search box, and recording your ranking. Also look at your hosting reports to understand what search terms your visitors are using to find your website.


The above process can be also be repeated for each page of your website. Remember to keep updating your content, and continually increase the number of links to your website.


As you see your rankings climb you should see a corresponding increase in web traffic and a substantial increase in sales enquiries. Be sure to record the source of your customer enquiries, so you can measure the success of your marketing efforts.


Remember, if you measure it, you can improve it.

Is Branding a Legitimate Internet Marketing Strategy

Internet marketing is all about hard results, not generic concepts of branding. Still, there are ways to go about branding your product or service on the net without spending a fortune.

Is Branding a Legitimate Internet Marketing Strategy

Branding refers to the vague notion of creating an identity for a product, service or name with consumers. The classic example, of course, is Coca Cola. Being first on the scene, the company has been able to create such a strong name brand that most people use the word “coke” instead of soda when ordering. This is true even when they prefer Pepsi. In the world of marketing, we all bow before the marketing team that accomplished this branding. The Internet, however, is a different beast. That same marketing team would be crushed if they went after a similar strategy on the net.

The Internet is so large that branding is an expensive and difficult goal unless you are the first major presence in a niche. Sites like EBay and Amazon were the first major money players in their fields, giving them a huge advantage over subsequent competitors. Unless you are coming to a field with a lot of money and no current dominant site, your branding efforts are going to meet with failure or limited success at best. If you want to stick with it, the only cost effective and ultimately successful strategy is to pursue a width search engine optimization campaign.

Search engine optimization is simply an effort to get pages on your site ranked high in search results on the three big search engines – Google, Yahoo and MSN. To establish your brand, the best Internet marketing strategy is to identify every single phrase your prospects use to find services or products in your business area. You then build optimized pages for every single phrase and get them ranked.

This strategy has two benefits. First, it will produce free traffic to your site. If you build 200 pages and each gets 50 visitors a day, your site will receive 10,000 visitors a day. The second benefit is your brand becomes established. Regardless of what the prospect searches for, they keep seeing your site. This creates both recognition and credibility with the prospect as they tend to equate high rankings with quality. As they visit your site over and over, they will also become readily familiar with your unique selling position as presented on the site.

If you want to establish a brand, avoid wasting your money on banners and such unless you are in a niche that isn’t dominated by any single site. Instead, use the width search engine optimization tactic to establish your site and pick up free traffic.

Pay Per Click and Search Engine Optimization – A Perfect Marriage

Pay per click or search engine optimization, which one should you use? Many view PPC marketing as a colossal waste of money while others disdain search engine optimization. In reality, the two marketing strategies form a perfect marriage.

Pay-Per-Click - PPC

PPC marketing is a love it or hate platform. For the “love it” crowd, PPC marketing is a way to get instant exposure and feedback on site designs. In a matter of minutes, you can start receiving traffic and adjusting your site to convert the traffic at the best rate possible. For those in the “hate it” crowd, bids are to high and one never knows how may of the clicks are fake and worthless.

Search Engine Optimization – SEO

As with PPC, seo marketing has its proponents and detractors. Those who love it look at the free traffic and glorious profitability of a site that converts the traffic at a decent rate. Detractors view seo as an unnecessary waste of time since it can take a year or more to get high rankings, particularly on Google. Detractors also argue that high listings are subject to changes in the search engine ranking process, which means you can lose your rankings.

So, who is right? In truth, both sides make accurate arguments. PPC is expensive and click fraud is a monstrous problem. Seo produces free traffic, but it takes along time to get to the top and rankings are subject to the whims of search engine ranking changes. The truth, of course, is both marketing platforms should be used whenever possible.

Marketing Marriage

Every site is unique, but most should combine PPC and seo marketing as part of an overall internet marketing strategy. When starting out, the PPC campaign is critical for getting immediate traffic and tweaking the site to maximize conversions. At the same time, a seo campaign should be undertaken. As the site rises in search results, the PPC campaign should be fazed out for the relevant high listings.

PPC and seo marketing are not mutually exclusive. When married together as part of an overall marketing strategy, both platforms will deliver the goods.

Why is my blogs revenue so low?

Those who blog partly because they want to earn some extra money often ask the question:”Why is my revenue so low?” There are people who think that blogs simply can not generate much money. They are wrong! Blog can generate you the same amount of money if not more compared to any other website. Now im talking about PPC (Pay per click) sorces of revenue such as google adsense here.

The main problem I have noticed is that people tend to concentrate on wider markets. If you are running a personal diary kind of blog, the chances are that there are thousands of similar blogs around. The more competition you have, the harder it will be for you to make some cash. Instead try concentrating on smaller markets also known as niche markets. Not only it will be easier for you to develop the traffic, the CPC (Cost per click) should also be higher due to advertisers demand exceeding publishers supply.

Secondly you need to have a unique selling point. You need to give your readers something that nobody else does. This should really help you get returning visitors.

Finally it’s the ads themselves. You should channel your ads. This way you will be able to measure your ad block’s performance. One of the most important things is to experiment. Try different ad formats, colours and positioning. Run your setup for a few weeks, note the performance and try something different. Even if you think you have found the optimum ad setup keep on trying to improve it. In most cases you can always tweak something to make your ad performance better.

If you need help finding traffic for your blog, you can always submit your blog stories to the new personal blog news publishing system designed especially for the blogging community at the blog reporter