The amount of local searches is more than at any other time in the history of the internet. You are about to learn about a few SEO techniques that will take you far in this business.
One of the easiest SEO tips that you can use is to create optimized local classified ads. This is a very easy way to leverage the local searches in your area because the major search engines really like those kinds of sites and using them a lot is a great way to send local traffic to the website of your business. Start out by listing your business on Craigslist because, out of all of the classified portals out there, it is the most popular. To help your business, you should make a habit of posting optimized SEO ads on Craigslist regularly. Your ads need to be targeted specifically for your market. Be careful not to make your ad garish–simple is best. When you write the ad, focus on the title because this is what increases most of the response. Your title needs to have your city, state and keyword phrase in it. It could be helpful to write your ad for Craigslist the same way that you would write a landing page for your business because, often, the ads for websites will outrank the sites themselves in search engine results. The main goal you should have when you use Craigslist is sending targeted traffic to your website, which is just good strategy. You can also use USFreeAds; it doesn’t have the same rate of success as Craigslist but it can still garner you a good response because it is a highly ranked classified ads site. You can either try to piggy back your site’s traffic from the classifieds sites but your main goal should be to simply use them to send targeted traffic to your business directly. 
Different locations of your business should have separate landing pages. When you’re going for local sites, remember that they don’t like a business to have more than one targeted listing, but it’s completely fine if the business has two different locations. The crucial point is that each separate location must have its own unique landing page that is obviously about the business in that specific place. Just don’t have multiple local listings connected to one landing or home page, as this would dilute the effectiveness of each listing. You don’t want to do anything that will confuse search engine users, so your landing pages should match up perfectly with each location. Even though this might look like a simple thing, it does matter.
If you can get significant local websites to link to your site, this will help you rank well in your area with the search engines. Try to get listed by well regarded groups in your area, such as the Chamber of Commerce or Better Business Bureau, as these are the kind of links that give you the most pull. Try several searches using the name of your city and/or county/region in addition to “business directory” or a similar keyword, and you’ll get a list of such organizations. Contact these groups and find out what it takes to get a listing with them. You can do all of this very quickly, and the potential long term benefits are great.
All in all, if you use the SEO methods you just learned about, you’ll see success in no time.
Pick up a free 7 day local business marketing e-course at LocalBizMarketing101.com
Filed under SEO by on Jul 23rd, 2010. Comment. 
If you want to get to the top of the search engine rankings and appear on the first page, then you probably need to enlist the services of one of the reputable search engine optimization companies. If you want to do it yourself you will be facing massive odds and a big learning curve. There are thousands of sites offering to “teach” you how to do your own SEO (search engine optimization) but if they were that great, why are they teaching and not just making tons of money doing SEO for themselves and their own sites?
It is the same argument that works against those infomercial companies and gurus that offer to teach you their secrets of how to get rich quick. You see them all the time offering to teach you how to buy and sell foreclosed properties or make millions off of auctions, or trading stock. If they were really money makers they would not have the time to waste teaching someone else how to do it. The real money is in selling the get rich quick program itself. Those infomercials prey on people when they are at their lowest and that is why the usually air in the middle of the night, when desperate people are most desperate and insomniac, trying to figure out how to make ends meet even though they don’t have jobs or money.
So then how do you find search engine optimization companies that are not just there to rip you off? Check them out as you would any other business. If their claims are too good to be true, you are probably right and should avoid them. If their website is amateurish in look and feel then you should probably keep looking. Once you have the names of some search engine optimization companies that you would like to check out, start by googling them and see how high up on the search they are. If they can’t optimize their own search engine rankings there is probably not a whole lot they can do for you.
There are lots of ways that you can do some SEO all by your lonesome but they are time consuming and hit or miss unless you really work at it at least several hours each day. Remember, your competition works full time at this stuff, so don’t sell it short. Back linking and social network linking and RSS feeds can all improve your rankings. If you are using Google Adsense you can get daily and weekly stats to show you how many clicks you are getting. But the best way of measuring the effectiveness of search engine optimization companies and their work for you is the bottom line. How much money ends up in your Paypal account at the end of each day.
Filed under SEO by on Jun 18th, 2010. Comment.
I’ve recently started an online store to sell sports memorabilia. I know it’s a crowded market already, but I figure I can compete because I have a great relationship with a wholesale distributor so I can offer very low prices and still make a profit. Trouble is, I didn’t realize how hard it would be for customers to find me. There are so many websites out there now that if you don’t rank high on search engine results pages (SERPs) you’ll be utterly lost in a sea of competitors. That’s why I’m thinking of buying some link exchange software to promote my business.
Search engine optimization (SEO) experts have different theories about how Google, Yahoo, and Bing (formerly MSN) calculate their rankings and determine which websites to show in which order in the SERPs. Each engine has its own algorithm, so you’ll often get slightly different results even if you input the exact same query. But almost everyone agrees that backlinks, relevant links from other sites pointing back to your own, are critical to achieving a high ranking — which is where link exchange software can help.
It used to take a lot of time to plant quality backlinks on the World Wide Web. You either had to pay lots of money to an SEO firm to get it done or you had to pick and choose partner sites, and send emails to the webmaster asking backlink placement. But link exchange software has changed the game and made it easier to accomplish this task. Now you no longer have to buy or beg links, and you’ll shoot up in the SERPs very quickly. With link exchange software, everything is completely automated. You simply run a script, then sit back and wait while your ranking improves.
Besides helping with SERPs, link exchange software can also provide a boost in organic traffic. After all, links to your site are actually going out where potential customers will notice — and click — on them. So even as you wait for the Google bots to pick up on all the new links you have out there, you should definitely see an increase in customer traffic on your site. It would be smart to prepare in advance for the extra visits by offering sale prices and other incentives in the hopes of generating some repeat business.
There are a few different link exchange software products on the market, so I’m going to have to check each one a bit more closely before I make a purchase. The going rate seems to be between $50 and $100, which isn’t bad at all considering how much time I’ll save from the automated process. Frankly, it seems as though there’s no faster way to build up traffic, gain standing in the SERPs, and improve website popularity than to use link exchange software to get the job done. I should have tried this the day I unveiled my site instead of waiting this long!
Filed under SEO by on Jun 17th, 2010. Comment.
Jeff Johnson has just released a new absolutely free “get more traffic action” plan and I think you really should check it out.
http://dotcom-masters.com/go/jumpstart
It’s the kind of stuff that you can put to use immediately, for free, and start seeing more traffic to your websites and blogs within hours.
And the free traffic just keeps building up over time.
Here’s the story:
Jeff Johnson has been using a proven system to generate insane amounts of free traffic to his websites for years… and successfully teaching thousands of others just like you to do the same.
The basic strategies have remained the same over the years, but the tools you can use to get the job done as quickly and easily as possible are constantly changing and improving.
So Jeff just keeps updating his proven traffic-getting system to help you gain as much leverage against the search engines as humanly possible.
It’s Jeff’s job to constantly find the new tools and strategies that work and then pass them along to his clients.
He just released a brand new version of his system and he’s calling it his “Traffic-Getting Jumpstart(TM) Master Plan”.
http://dotcom-masters.com/go/jumpstart
I just finished reading it online and I’m telling you it is KILLER stuff. And it’s absolutely free… no email required to access the full step-by-step plan.
I asked Jeff if I could pass it along to you and he said “sure, give it to anyone you’d like”.
So I’m giving it to you.
I’m telling you… you could literally put the stuff in Jeff’s Master
Plan to work tonight and see free traffic from it first
thing in the morning… maybe even sooner.
So head on over here right now and grab your free copy of Jeff Johnson’s “Traffic-Getting Jumpstart(TM) Master Plan” while you still can:
http://dotcom-masters.com/go/jumpstart
You won’t be sorry!
Filed under SEO by on Nov 27th, 2009. Comment.
