SEO for Business Owners
Top 5 Keyword Phrases to get your site found by Google
Combining the ‘What’ and the ‘Where’ is key for local business owners when choosing which keywords and phrases to focus on. Adding your city and state to your top keyword phrases can boost your search position over much larger companies on Google search pages.
Finding your keyword phrases takes a bit more work. Of course an SEO professional can generate a list of keywords for you. However, if you don’t want to spend the money, you can do it yourself.
- First, list some phrases (10-12) that someone might enter into Google to search for your products or service. Do NOT include your business name.
- Mark the phrases that describe your high profit items.
- Which ones do customers most frequently call about?
- If you were listed in the Yellow Pages, which categories would you be listed under?
- Get feedback from friends or colleagues, what they would type into Google to find your products and services? Add any new phrases to the list.
The phrases that have the most marks are where you should start.
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Guaranteed #1 Ranking
Effective SEO takes time and expertise. It involves setting goals, researching keywords, reviewing your competition, testing and retesting to see what works. It is typically unrealistic to expect to be ranked #1 in Google, especially with all the competition out there. If someone is guaranteeing results, PROCEED WITH CAUTION. Additionally, many of these companies are still practicing old SEO techniques that may have been fine in 2005, but today will get your site flagged by Google and could even result in a drop in your ranking.
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Most Important Step to Reaching Local Customers
Your Google Places or Google My Business page is the single most important directory listing in terms of getting found in search. If you have not already claimed your listing, DO IT NOW. Some things to remember:
- Be sure to use your official business name
- Use accurate address and local phone number. Especially for mobile search, customers may not even click through to your site!
- Write a good description of your business. Write it with your customer in mind.
- Create a quick summery that describes what you do. Don’t try to stuff keywords in there. Just write a natural description about your business.
- Sprinkle your entry with bold, italic, and bullet points, making it easier to read.
- Link back to one page on your site.
- Add at least 5 photos of your building, products, services, etc.
- company vehicle
- store front
- waiting room
- staff
- products
- business complex
- you with a valued client
Don’t forget to bookmark your Places Listing. It can be confusing to find at first!
Check out this handy guide from Google for more info.
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Best source of Content
Your customers of course!
- What questions do they frequently ask?
- What do you wish they already knew before calling you?
- Improve your customer service by providing an FAQ page on your site.
- Share success stories.
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Optimal On-Page Keyword Density
Trick question! There is no precise keyword density. The most important thing is to create content that is useful to your customers and potential customers. Don’t forgo readability for extra keywords, write in your personal voice, create unique content, make it interesting, entertaining, and funny. Building an audience takes time, but if you take the time to get to know your audience, interact and engage with them, that time will return HUGE dividends to your bottom line.
Helpful Hints:
- Write engaging headlines
- Use images and video
- Include calls to action
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Is Mobile Important?
The short answer is YES. Mobile was already a significant part of the market, since mobile users recently passed desktop users when accessing the internet. And of course Google just made Mobile even more important by tweaking their algorithm such that if your site does not have a mobile version, it may not appear in searches on mobile devices.
WSJ Article for more on mobile search…
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If you scored 50-60 points, you are no longer an SEO novice. Congratulations! If you want to take your website to the next level and are looking for some one-on-one coaching, let us know, we’d love to help!