In advertising, you are competing with other companies. In Internet advertising you're competing with other websites.
Where that competition occurs at is on Google's search results pages.
There simply isn't any other advertising real estate more important to your company than the 160 or so characters that Google gathers as what Google thinks your site is about.
That's all you get! 160 characters to 'sell the sizzle and not the steak'
But... and this is a very BIG But:
Are you attempting to compete, in Google, regionally?
Did you know there is a local Google? (and a yahoo local, a msn local as well?)
If you pitch your wares without deliberately including TEXT (not a graphic, but text) within your sales copy, that does not specifically spell out What Geographic Area you're offering your widget (or widget service)... you are, by default attempting to sell to the entire world.
Big mistake.
If you attempt to go up against walmart, you will loose.
What you are selling, when you're selling it on Google, is not your product or service, the ONLY path to your product or service is a keyword phrase. That IS your product.
the phrase, the keyword phrase is how people are going to either find you or find your competitor.
If that keyword phrase does not include YOUR Geographic Area...
You will not show up in Local searches.
If the arena you're competing in is national there is one level of difficulty.
If the arena you're competing in is local, there is quite another degree of difficulty.
You can probably gather that local Google advertising is what I do, I just gave you, for free, the single most important strategy to use in order to rank locally in Google. Obviously there's a whole lot more to it than that (or else I wouldn't be in business) This article is sales copy, it's a teaser...
Now if you want to dominate the local Search Engine Results Pages (serps in my industry) peruse the verifiable results that follow this article, call the real local businesses and ask them if ranking in Google locally is putting more money in their cash registers than they imagined it would. Then call David Bruce Jr at 240 644-7530
Fee to rank in your US county: $2500.00
Fee to rank in your State: $3500.00
Fee to have a quarter page Yellowpages ad: typically $4,000 to $6,000
Google offers a free business listing to small businesses at the top of most local search results pages.
Anatomy of a Google search result page:
Listings on the right side bar are paid advertisements, often called "sponsored links" The main body of a search result page are called the "organic" or "natural" search listings At the very top in a colored text box are also paid advertisements, sponsored links. Above the organic listings are "Google Local Business Listings"
This wiki deals with only with the Local Business Listings
You will notice a map associated with each listing, this is because Google used the existing infrastructure of Google Maps to implement the free business listings. It's generally thought that Google offered this free service, and gave its location on a search result page prominence above the organic listings because of the popularity of Google's Adwords program.
Adwords is a PPC (pay per click) advertising system where keywords and keyword phrases are bid on in an auction like system. The immense popularity of Adwords priced smaller Mom n Pop stores out of the market due to the ever escalating costs of certain keywords. Google became fearful that it's search platform would be return search results of the "rich and famous" thus reflecting only what the rich and powerful wanted seen on Google search results.
How does Google determine which website should rank higher than another? Google uses a computer program algorithm based on hundreds of factors as the vast size of the internet precludes any human capability of keeping the listings accurate or current. That algorithm is a closely guarded trade secret within Google. Search Engine Optimization Consultants learn what Google apparently likes and doesn't like from the observable behavior of search results.
Google Maps algorithm is different from the algorithm that anoints one site over another. It's also slower to update. If your customers leave glowing reviews of your product or service on the link provided your site will climb in rank. You are permitted up to 10 photos of your product or service, use as many of those slots as possible. Fill out as much information about your business as space allotted provides, being verbose is better than being succinct when it comes to Google Local Business Listings
Many small businesses get leads and interested inquiries from a local business listing even if they don't have a website url. Still other small businesses find it unnecessary to have their company listed anywhere other than the top local business listings. If your listing falls in ranking or is bumped out of it's spot by a newcomer and you find your company losing sales because of it, you may want to outsource your rankings management to a local search engine optimization firm.
The fees involved for a local business listing may be less than the fees for improving your company website's organic listing.
What Determines Google Rank? Ever wonder why your companies listing in Google does OK in the main body of Google's search results page but is not in the top 10 of those pesky Google Local Business Listings?
Ultimately what you want is to be found in BOTH sets of listings, the net effect of which would be to drive home in your prospective customers Mind's Eye that Google apparently thinks pretty highly of your company if Google is displaying YOUR company listing in the Local Business Listings and in the Organic Search Rankings.
Well, people's perception and Google's reality are far, far apart.
Google didn't *pick* you to be #1 and your competitor to be #11
A computer program picked you over the hapless fella you compete with. A person did not visit your site, take notes, compare notes, make a descion, hear the belly aching and whining of the poor fool who got bumped off of his front page listed by a website that ranked better than his...
nope, an algorithm picked you over them.
Think about it... there are what? a Gazillion webpages already indexed in Google? And how many tens of thousands of new webpages being created as we speak? Some of those tens of thousands are being "generated" by a "bot".
There is no way on God's Green Earth a staff of humans could possibly keep up with that kind of volume. An algorithm did it. The robot that scours the Internet (in the SEO industry we call that "spidering") is titled GoogleBot.
GoogleBot Can't Really *Read*
GoogleBot can NOT read... but it CAN count
Googlebot counts the words on your webpage, it counts the keywords and keyword phrases you use in your copy. Is your company website a little light on copy? Too bad for you.
It matters little to Googlebot if the fancy flash graphic and dramatic digital photos depicting your most important product are... well the damn thing can't decipher a photo! but it CAN read text. This little fact seems to be lost on web designers. What ever makes your photos good, better or best and likewise your competitors photos crappy is subjective. Art is subjective, math is not.
Either the keywords are on your webpage (Prominently placed at the top of the page I hope) or the keywords are not.
He who has the most keywords (elegantly, tactfully and deftly constructed with proper enough grammar for the spell checking programmed Googlebot to index).. Wins that coveted top spot!
But... the Google Local Business Listings are a different story. The algo is different.
What Google is looking for and rewards when it sees it for the organic search results page (the body of the page) is one thing. What Googlebot is looking to see in the Free Local Google Advertising Listings is quite another.
I'm not about to reveal the entire loophole in a "Google Secrets Revealed" post, not even for a hefty $1000 fee for an ebook (I'd do it for that price if it were ticket sales to a seminar and I got a couple dozen of you to buy $1000 tickets to eagerly learn how I do what it is I do) (that's in the works by the way)
No, I'm not telling, not the whole thing but I will give you a hint, and I'm giving said hint in the form of my own Maryland search engine optimization results. This is not theory, This is not alleged, What follows is battle tested.
I'm competing against the best of the best, the top guys and gals in Maryland: other SEO professionals. Link building technicians like me:)
Here Goes, you figure it out:
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Marketing businesses using Google Page Rank - Al - May 12, 2009
I have been in the marketing business for nearly 35 years and have seen just about everything but I am very impressed with David's knowledge of the internet and search engines;knowledge he uses it to get customer top "organic" page rank across a wide variety of business and organizations...and he techniques show actual page rank in a matter of weeks! He has worked with me for 3 weeks and my company is already establishing itself on a page rank basis. I « Hide
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Thanks to Frederick Web Promotions - Stuart - Jul 23, 2009
Frederick web promotions has helped my videography skills become noticed by companies such as the Discovery Channel. With out the help of Frederick Web Promotions more than likely this wouldn't have been possible this soon because the Discovery Channel found me using a google search on Outdoor Videographers a keyword David Bruce and I picked out. He is also a great person to work with because he is so friendly and knowledgeable about web promotions/ promoting. I would definitely recommend him to friends, family, and other businesses.
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Made a profit on the promotion within 2 months! - joesuph - Jul 21, 2009
I'm VERY pleased with David's expertise, it was well beyond what we expected. David is very knowledgable, friendly provides excellent customer service. « Hide
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Search Engine Domination!!! - Josh - Jun 8, 2009
David has been amazing. He has taken our small business site and kept us at the top in search engines in the areas that most help our business. He's been so effective that we've decided to remove our phone book advertising, saving us a ton of money and increasing our advertising exposure. Great communication and stays on the ball. We couldn't be happier! « Hide
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Director of Operations at Commercial Buildings Maintenance Inc - Roberto - Aug 5, 2009
David grabbed us the #1 spot in Google for Maryland Commercial Cleaning. David has been more than a search engine optimization expert for us teaching our organization social media marketing skills « Hide
I have been consulting with David Bruce for several weeks about my website. He has worked with me to developed a SEO and marketing strategy that is working very well. At the time of this review one of my businesses is dominating the first page of Google with 4 top spots for the targeted keywords. I am very impressed with the knowledge and understanding that David possesses about SEO and marketing in general. He is an analytical thinker and it shows in his knowledge of how Google and the other search engines work to rank a website. I am always amazed at how many different approaches he can come up with to obtain the desired results for my business. If you want to hit home runs with your internet advertising give David a call to get start. David knows what it takes to dominate the search engines and he will take the time to find out exactly what your goals are so that he can work to achieve them for you. « Hide
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Effective website promotion! - Christopher - Jan 13, 2009
I had a website that did not rank in google at all. I never received any phone calls from new customers. Since Dave took over my site, I have steadily ranked on the first page when searched under Frederick Maryland printers. This has increased my new customer calls from zero to at least one a day. At this rate, I will quadruple my sales this year. « Hide
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Gets the job done right! - Josh - Jan 13, 2009
We never had any website whatsoever. David contacted us and offered to publish us a site through a local website. We have been working closely with him since, and I can say that even a small page with David really carries a bang for the buck. Just our small advertising page has netted us curious customer both via phone and e-mail, and we look forward to improving and increasing the possibilities the that David and the internet offer our business! « Hide
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Great Service... Highly Recommend! - Pete - Jan 16, 2009
David provided friendly and quality info that helped me dominate local search engine results in no time. If you are looking for LOCAL search marketing knowledge, David is your man! Very good return on investment... Thanks Again David! « Hide
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Was this review helpful? Yes - No Awesome SEO service - car - Jan 21, 2009
With just a few tweaks and ideas, I was able to get to the top 10 of googles results pages. I am really glad I let David give my site a whirl.?
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Read between the lines here, while I'm flattered by the reviews my clients have gone to the trouble of posting(and breaking my arm patting my self on the back with this shameless self promotion), can you reverse engineer what I just did to get your company website Google ranking results?
Of course you can, just link back to my main site. If you need more help my contact information is everywhere (I'm in the publicity business, if you cant find me, I've not done my job!
For marketing purposes you do NOT want to name your company blog, your company name! You want to title or name your blog for two things and two things ONLY:
The product or service you're offering
The Geographic Area you are offering it to
The article below is geared towards a popular blog platform known as Squidoo.com
In Squidoo (I know, it is a goofy sounding name for a blog), blogs are called "lenses":
Your title is one of the key pieces of your page that are picked up by search engines.
As you visit a lens, notice how the title of the overall window is "Whatever Your Title is On Squidoo". When someone searches for your keywords in Google, that's the first thing they are going to see.
So make it interesting.
If you make a lens about American Bobtails, for example, don't title it, "I love my cats." That won't get people clicking on your link.
Instead, make a keyword dense title. The more keywords in your title, the more likely you'll get great results with natural traffic.
So "I Love My Cats" turns into...
"Pet Owners Love American Bobtails For Friendship And Compatibility - These cats are great with kids, too!"
I read recently that about half of all searches done online are done for the first time ever. Using a good title gives you a better chance of introducing your topic to those new searches.
Change your title to fit your page, but make sure you include good keywords. Your title doesn't have to make sense, even. Just make every word count.
Bob Jenkins www.SquidooSecrets.com www.UnstoppableBlogging.com
p.s. Remember - your title is often the first thing someone sees BEFORE they get to your site. So make sure you pack it with good keywords to get them clicking to you.
These aren't the only things you want to know about SEO, but are the areas you should learn first. Some topics will only take you a minute, some will take a little longer, and others will become an ongoing process. But after reading through this list you should have a good handle on where to start and where to proceed next.
SEO Basic 1: Let's start off with a definition. SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization" and is the process by which you Optimize your web site so that it is positioned well in the search engines. This is not the same thing as designing a site so that it attracts customers and entices them to buy.
SEO is what you do specifically on your site to improve your Search Engine Position. If you do a search on Google for any search term you will be presented with a list of links. At the top of the page and along the right side will be PPC links where someone pays an amount per click to get positioned. With PPC the more you pay the better your position. Most people only glance at these listings. You don't need SEO to get one of these positions, just lots of money.
The body of the page contains "organic" listings. These links are listed in the order that Google determined best fit your search, with the best match first. There are only 10 listings per page, most people will only look at the 1st page, maybe the 2nd. So your site needs to be listed within the top 10 and at the worst within the top 20 for any useful exposure. With SEO you will be adjusting your site code so that your site will rank highly. This can be a daunting process as there may be thousands of sites competing for the same top listing. A trick is to aim your pages at less popular search terms to get higher placement. It is better to be on page one for a term that gets 1,000 searches per month than to be on page three for a search term that gets millions of visits.
SEO Basic 2: Your web site must be search engine friendly. The search engines send out "spiders" or "bots" cataloging web pages they come across. If the search engine has trouble getting through to your pages it will either rank your page poorly, or skip your site all together. Making your site Search Engine Friendly means having the code easily accessible, no errors in the code, and guiding the search engine through your site.
Try to steer away from complicated coding when possible. Check your site for coding errors. This is fairly easy to do with web programs like Dreamweaver which do this for you automatically. Plan on having text based navigation on every page. This is usually placed at the bottom of the pages. You may also want to have a "Site Map" page with easy to follow text based links to all of your important pages. Search Engines will look for a Site Map and will use that to navigate a site if available.
SEO Basic 3: The Most Important SEO Aspect is Keywords. Keywords are the terms you type into a search engine to find interesting web sites. You need to know what search terms people are likely to use to find your site, then use those terms as your Keywords. Make a list of the keyword combinations you can think of that you would use to find your site. Try them all on a search engine and see the results.
You need to see how these search terms perform on the web and what other search terms could be used. A great free tool to help with this research is available at Google:
You type in a search term, then you are given a list of similar search terms, how often they were searched and some advertiser comparison figures. You can quickly find additional keywords and to see how well they perform. A good idea is to optimize your site for a less frequently used keyword combinations so that you can achieve a higher placement. The Google Keyword Tool will help you figure this out.
Insert tip from a seasoned vetran of Maryland Internet Marketing=> Once you get ranked for a less frequently used search term... that's the time to capitalize on your success! Use that as a stepping stone, part of a broader ad campaign! The more local the market, the less competition you have, the easier it is to take it to the next level. You can do a lot of search engine optimization yourself... you wont be able to beat a pro but if your competition doens't have a pro, you'll walk right over them.
Be patient. Even with a perfectly optimized web site it can take several months for it to rise in the search engine standings. I usually recommend waiting at least 90 days and up to 6 months to see how well a web page is doing in the search engines.
Insert tip from Frederick Web Promotions=>The author's statement above is accurate for a conventional website. It can take Google as long as 6 weeks to even acknowledge that you made a change to your company website. It will most definitely take MSN Live and Yahoo much longer...
None of the above is true for a blog, which is exactly why each and every Maryland Search Engine Optimization client of Frederick Web Promotions has 2 blogs per client. I don't care if you already have an existing company website, I don't care if that website is doing fine by itself... YOU NEED A BLOG, you're reading this and not my main site, correct?
Also, even though you have gone to great lengths to target a specific keyword or keyword combination keep in mind that the search engines aren't required to agree with you. So when checking your standings look at several different search terms that you discovered in your research and see how well your page is placing. Hopefully you will find that your chosen keywords are getting your page listed the way you want, showing that your SEO has worked properly.
If you find that your page is ranking better for a different keyword, you should examine your page code to see why and make adjustments as needed. Maybe your page is placing higher for a keyword combination you weren't focusing on, but it is still a good combination for your goals. This gives you an ideal opportunity to go with that new combination to achieve even higher placing.
So, get started right now on your SEO. The longer you wait, the longer it will be before your web site is showing well up in the search engines.
In Closing
There is a lot more to SEO than just these 7 quick points, but this will get you started on the right path. Go through these steps and your web pages will be well positioned for any other SEO you may want to perform on your site in the future.
About The Author
George Peirson is a successful Entrepreneur and Internet Trainer. He is the author of over 40 multimedia based tutorial training titles and several design articles. To get his Free e-Book "Web Design Tips"
The ONLY Maryland Search Engine Optimization firm that Guarantees MULTIPLE rankings in top 10 Google Results... The more links on the front page of Google that point to YOU, the less that leaves for your competition!!
SEO or Search Engine Optimization= I get you to occupy the high ground (useful in any battlefield situation) what YOU do with the high ground is up to you. (if your sales copy sucks or your offer sucks I cant do anything about that, all I did was get you to out rank your competitor) You paid me for that and I gave it to you. the rest is up to you!
It is not enough to have a pretty well crafted company website... that is NOT going to make the phone ring!
If you aren't in the FIRST page of search engine results, no one, I mean NO ONE is ever going to see your pretty site (designed by graphics designers)
The real power in social bookmarking sites is to have someone ELSE vote for/ save/ favorite your offerings. This ebook shows you how to pre-populate YOUR StumbleUpon before you start seeking friends to vote your offerings up
-How To Be A Social Media Whore, without giving or getting social STDs
Having local-to-you people on social media flock to you is one sure fire way of getting Google to see YOU as THE dominant authority of X in your geographical area!
The “machine” can’t really READ, but it CAN COUNT, it doesn’t really know what you just said… but it can sure tell if other people liked it or not… it can track interactions (actually interactions are the MAIN score Facebook uses to figure out if your posts should go to FB purgatory of if they’re “good enough” to be sent to Friends of Friends (btw FoF is marketing nirvana))
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